I Am With You

Haggai is a short book. It doesn’t even take up 2 pages in my Bible, but its message is profound. The people of Israel had returned from exile in Babylon, built houses and planted crops, but they were not yielding anything. God speaks through Haggai and points out to the people that they have spent time preparing their own homes, but His home-the Temple-lay in ruins. 

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. – Haggai 1:12

And with their obedience, God speaks these words, “I am with you,” and goes on to reassure them that He will now begin to bless them. 

From the time we are young, we are told the basic necessities of life are food, shelter, water, and clothing. That’s what these people were taking care of! But in the Kingdom of God there is a paradigm shift. God is first. If we look to him and carefully tend our relationship with him, everything else will flourish from that. 

How many times have we wondered why nothing was going right in our lives? Have we taken the time to see if our priorities were in order? Were we tending to what we thought was necessary before we took care of our relationship with God? (Now I’m not saying that every trial or bump in the road is from our neglect of God, but we should definitely check that first!) All we need to do is re-prioritize our lives!

And what if up to this point we have made a mess of things? Here is the second great message of Haggai: 

Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.” – Haggai 2:19

They had already sown their crops amidst the neglect of their relationship with God. You would think that God would say, “Too bad. Here’s to better crops next year.” But no, the minute they decide to make the change and re-prioritize, God says that he will begin to bless them. 
 
 
 
Even if we’ve screwed up and gotten everything wrong, God can redeem our mistakes. I challenge you to take a look at your life and see if you’ve been neglecting your relationship with God. If so, decide today to make a change. 

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