The Temple was the place where heaven and earth connected. God was present in the Holy of Holies, more so than on any other part of the earth. When the people chose to build their own houses, businesses, and lives, rather than to be interested in God’s presence, He had to do something.
What He did was bring judgment upon them.
I struck you and every work of your hands with blight and mildew and hail, yet you did not return to me, says the Lord (Haggai 2.17).
Many of my friends showed little interest in God until they reached a point where God was all they had left. It seems that God employs various methods to lead us to acknowledge our need for Him.
Regardless of how we arrive at that realization, it is a gift from God, helping us understand that He is more significant than material possessions, relationships, or anything else we might prioritize over Him.
The Turning Point
There’s an old saying that goes like this: “Give them an inch and they’ll take a mile.” I like to think of that statement and say, that if we give God an inch, He will take a mile.
But He doesn’t take from us; He takes us on a journey to the best life possible.
In Haggai’s day, when the people began to move in the direction of re-establishing their relationship with God by working on the temple, He was free to bless them.
Consider from this day on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month. Since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider:
Is there any seed left in the barn? Do the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still yield nothing? From this day on I will bless you (Haggai 2.18-19).
All of these are rhetorical questions, and the implied answer is: There is God’s favor everywhere. The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, the olive – all yield abundantly because God has blessed his people.
How to Get Started
If you think that you’ve been dedicating too much time to yourself and neglecting your relationship with the Lord, here are some recommendations to help reestablish a foundation. It is upon this foundation that you can rebuild and strengthen your life with God.
(1) Prioritize Daily Time with God – I could write about this in every blog article.
The foundation of our life with God is the conversational relationship we have with Him. He speaks to us through His word, and we respond to Him.
There is no way to have a genuine, personal relationship with God without meeting with Him, and daily is the best way to do it.
(2) Practice Obedience – One of my friends had a complaint in a deacon’s meeting that he kept preaching the same thing over and over. He told the deacons that when you start doing what I’m preaching, I can change the topic and do something else.
That’s the same thing about obedience. Until we start obeying the Lord, we need to hear the message over and over again.
(3) Engage in Continuous Prayer – I expect you have noticed that breathing is pretty important. You don’t just take one big breath a day and leave it at that. Just like breathing is moment by moment, connection with God should be the same.
Rudy Ross engages in daily conversations with God, integrating this practice into all of his activities as a means to keep his focus on God. By inhaling God’s presence, life, and wisdom, and exhaling our bad thoughts, we can foster a stronger connection with the Lord.
When we integrate these practices into our daily lives, we invite God to work deeply within our hearts, transforming our relationship with Him and molding us into the likeness of Christ.
YouTube Video
Rudy Ross and I discuss this passage in an expanded way on YouTube today. Rudy provides insights that I have not included in my article. The video can be found on the Bob Spradling channel.
Real Voices 