Responding to God

In the book of Haggai, we read in chapter 1, beginning in verse 3, Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye that dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. I will stop there, friends. Here in our text, God was speaking to the Jews in Haggai's day to hear him and to heed him.

They were living self-centered lives, and God's kingdom work was in decay. They were focused on improving their own personal dwellings without being obedient to God in the rebuilding of the temple. The exiles had returned under Zerubbabel in 536 B.C., but opposition from the surrounding rulers and their self-absorbed lives kept the returned exiles from doing any more than laying the foundation for the temple.

The people of God listened intently to God speaking to them by his prophet, and they responded through revival of changed behavior and changed priorities. We see this is the case in verse 12. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheetal, and Joshua, the son of Jozdek, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord and the words of Haggai the prophet as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the Lord.

There are several aspects from this passage, friends, that I'd like for us to see today because I believe they can apply to us and our lives as we serve God for his glory. 1. God has something he wants to say to us, a particular truth, regarding something personal in our lives. We ought to hear what he has to say, understand what that truth means to us personally as found in his written word and applied to our hearts.

Secondly, we ought to do as the people of Israel and consider our ways. Because God wants to change our ways, we ought to apply that truth to our lives in a personal application as we consider what God has spoken. Lastly, we ought to respond to him, respond to that revealed truth through our behavior and attitude, which will reflect in a changed life in obedience to that revealed truth and obedience to God.

It reminds me of the story related by the saintly F.B. Meyer, who was rooming with the youthful C.T. Studd at a conference. F.B. Meyer asked Studd to explain why he kept reading over and over a particular Bible passage that particular morning, and C.T. Studd replied, I have been asking God to make this passage a reality in my life today. I like that story, friends, don't you? Has God been speaking to you, friend, lately to consider your ways? Are you in step with God for your life right now? Have you tried to go your own way? And have God not a step with God and is best for you? God has a specific purpose for you in this chapter of your life, friend.

And are you ready to hear him and to respond to him? God wants you to join him in his kingdom work, and he's ready to equip and enable you to enter that spear of service to him. We must respond to God with an open heart and an open Bible, as we follow him along the narrow way. And as the people of God, led by Zerubbabel and Joshua, finished the work on the temple, let the Holy Spirit lead you to finish the work God has set before us.

Let us pray.