A Nugget from New Life Network
Scripture for the Day (January 2, 2018)
Honor the Lord with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce. Then he will fill your barns with grain, and your vats will overflow with good wine. (Proverbs 3:9-10)
It is just amazing to me to read accounts in the Old Testament that give us so much wisdom about our own actions thousands of years later. The Book of Haggai is one such account.
The Book of Haggai records how there was an extensive delay in building the House of God (the second temple) after the people of Judah returned to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity. Zerubbabel and Joshua were the leaders in Judah and God was not exactly pleased with their priorities or the priorities of the people.
Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say, The time has not come that the Lord’s house (temple) should be rebuilt. Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you yourselves to live in your [expensive] paneled houses while this house [of the Lord] lies in ruins? Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways and thoughtfully reflect on your conduct! You have planted much, but you harvest little; you eat, but you do not have enough; you drink, but you do not have enough to be intoxicated; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns wages earns them just to put them in a bag with holes in it [because God has withheld His blessing]. (Haggai 1:2-6, Amplified Bible)
This whole episode was about the people of Judah becoming complacent about the things of God. They were distracted by the things of the world. They were spending more of their resources on their own houses than they were God’s house. Sound familiar? What they did not recognize was that because their priorities were out of order, it was affecting their income. Sound familiar? Our generation is probably the worst when it comes to this. We just get so busy with our own stuff that God’s stuff becomes secondary.
In Haggai 2:19 God asked the following profound question, “Is the seed yet in the barn?”
This question has been debated by theologians and commentators for years. I personally look at this scripture as a question from God that follows the entire theme of what the Prophet Haggai was prophesying about. What has been your priority? What have you done with your seed? Has it been stored in barns or banks?
As long as our seed is in the barn, there will be no harvest. As long as our seed is in the barn, God will withhold His blessings. We, probably more than any other generation, are good at building bigger barns. God’s blessings are stored in Heaven and are released when His people put their priority emphasis on God’s house versus their own house.
Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)
We encourage every one of you to find a good church or ministry in 2018 that you can support. I promise you this. If you take care of God’s house, and help build His house, He will take care of and help build your house.
Happy New Year!!!!
