Haggai 1:12-15 says,...Bible reading week 26, day 3

Today's verses are Haggai 1:12-15, which read,

12 - 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 showed reverence for the LORD.

13 - Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, "I am with you, declares the LORD."

14 - So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 

15 - on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king.

This is a very beautiful passage of Scripture because the people of God, the remnant that have migrated back from Babylon to Jerusalem, heard the word of the Lord by the prophet of the Lord and actually turn from their ways of focusing on self to actively obeying by focusing on God and picking back up their tools to work on the temple.  Haggai must have been blown away by their adherence to God's command to "consider your ways."

It was the first day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king, August 29, 520 B.C., when the sermon was preached and it was 23 days later on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month in the second year of Darius the king, September 21, 520 B.C., when the congregation responded.  The word of the Lord goes from "consider your ways" to "I am with you."  What a drastic change in the word of the Lord to the remnant who are repenting and obeying Him now.  

How is this obedience seen?  The Scripture says that they "showed reverence for the LORD."  It was more than attendance to the worship service but it was a brokenness of heart to what they were doing contrary to God and a turning to obey His command by picking back up their tools to be used to complete His temple.  The rebuilding of the temple, which was the central figure used to worship God, was symbolic of the rebuilding of their hearts toward God being central to their living.  The New Testament states that we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and we are to be living and holy sacrifices for Christ.  A major shift is happening in the life of the Israelites who have returned to put God first again in their lives and accept His will over their own.

Is God receiving your reverence?  Is God being put first in your life?  Is it seen through your obedience to pick up the tools He has given you and going out to put them into action?  While we do this comes God's words "I am with you" which makes me think of the Great Commission.  When Jesus tells His disciples and all those who follow after them in Matthew 28:18-20, 

"All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo,..."

Let's stop it there to say that Jesus is telling us to be about telling the world about Him and committed to helping others to know and grow and live out Christ with their lives.  While we are doing this comes this familiar phrase from God that was back in the book of Haggai.  Jesus concludes with,

"I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

God's presence comes with our obedience to what He has told us to do.  Do you and I know of His presence?  Are you and I doing what He has told us to do?  If we are not and have put down the tools He has given us, the teachings to observe given to us to give to them, then we are not experiencing the presence of God as with us walking alongside of us and even giving us the very words to say.  We may know of God but that deeper level of presence, Him being with us, is not known because we are focused on ourselves rather than on Him.  I think I have and probably many other Christians have been walking around without God walking with us because we are thinking that we are leading Him around wherever we go rather than following Him wherever He goes.  Who is leading your life, you or Him?  If you are leading then if you turn around to see if God is following then you are not going to see Him.  If you are following after God then all you have to do is look up from the trail you are on and you will see Him ahead of you and sometimes feel Him alongside of you urging you on.  You might even sense God taking your hand and pulling you up the steep grade He is leading you up.

We want God to be "with us always" while we are living apart from His commands.  This presence of God is known by our obedience to Him in regards to our proclaiming Him.  Reverence is seen through obedience and that results in sensing God's presence.  Haggai waited 23 days for this sermon to take hold or maybe he preached this message 23 days straight before his listeners got it.  Maybe I need to change my preaching technique.  Let us pray.

"Lord, we want all the blessings that You can give while we live lives that don't give reverence to You.  We live in disobedience to what You say to do and miss Your sweet presence.  Forgive us and may we rise today to know of Your presence because we are walking again in Your footprints.  Amen."

Pastor Adam