I say it a lot, but I don’t say it enough! Thank You, Father, for the abundance of blessings that You pour over me! Small details and big things, Your hand is in them all!
Haggai 1-2 (<<click here to read the passage)
A friend of mine contacted me this evening about a Bible verse that popped up on a daily app on her phone. It was the book of Haggai and, as she said, “Can you (in layman’s terms) tell me about that book?” I was tied up when I saw her question but couldn’t wait to get home and get back to her!
Off the top of my head, in the middle of all that was going on, all I could think of was that he was an Old Testament minor prophet. First of all, the label “minor” prophet has nothing to do with the importance or lack of importance of what he had to say as God’s mouthpiece. It has everything to do with the length of what they said.
The major prophets contained quite a few chapters. For example, Isaiah has 66. The minor prophets contained fewer. Haggai has only two. Isaiah communicates a lot of important things through his writings. And Haggai, though brief, contains communicates equally important things, that challenge us yet today…25 centuries later!
I’ve read Haggai a few times over the years, and for good measure, I read it through this evening, as well. I found the introduction to Haggai in my Life Application Study Bible to be spot on!
Pressures, demands, expectations, and tasks push in from all sides and assault our schedules. Do this! Be there! Finish that! Call them! Everyone seems to want something from us – family, friends, employer, school, church, clubs. Soon we have little left to give as we run out of energy and time. We find ourselves rushing through life, attending to the necessary, the immediate, and the urgent. The important is all too often left in the dust. Our problem is not the volume of demands or lack of scheduling skills, but values – what is truly important to us.
Our values and priorities are reflected in how we use our resources – time, money, strength, and talent. Often our actions belie our words. We say God is number one, but then we relegate him to a lesser number on our “to do” lists.
Take a moment and read through the book of Haggai – it is the third from the last book in the Old Testament. See where the remnant of Israel for themselves after returning from exile in Babylon. God called them on the carpet for their lack of priorities, then see what happened when they got things in the right order.
Don’t forget, God’s words, spoken through Haggai, challenge us today, as well. Let us get things in the right order and see what only God can do!
July 21st, 2022, Thurs, 9:41 pm
