Tag Archives: Haggai 1-2

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2023 Bible Study — Don’t Wait Until You Have It Together to Do God’s Will

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zephaniah and Haggai.

Zephaniah begins by prophesying that God will wipe all life off of the face of the earth, sparing no one and nothing.  While the rest of the book suggests that is hyperbolic, I believe it also reminds us that this universe will end one day.  Zephaniah proceeds to tell us that God will wipe out everyone in Jerusalem who worships idols, even those who also worship God.  After describing the overwhelming destruction which is coming, he tells the “humble of the land” to seek the Lord.  If we do what God commands and humbly seek Him, perhaps we will be sheltered when His anger finally bursts forth against the land.  Up to a point, Zephaniah’s prophecy contains many reasons for us to fear the future.  Then, after telling us that the entire world will be consumed by the fire of the Lord’s anger, Zephaniah tells us that God will purify the lips of all peoples.  Thus allowing everyone to call upon His name.  God will bring together the meek and humble who choose to serve Him.

Haggai has a completely different feel from the prophets who preceded him.  Haggai was prophesying to those who knew what God wanted of them, and who wished to do that, but who were also convinced that they needed to “get their house in order” before they did God’s will.  The Returned Exiles wanted to get their economic situation in order before they began rebuilding the temple.  They intended to build the temple with the economic surplus they were sure would soon come their way.  Except that it never did.  Haggai tells them that they are waiting on a surplus that would never come unless they began serving God in earnest.  The Returned Exiles did as Haggai suggested and began rebuilding the temple.  We learn an important lesson here.  If we wait to do what we know God desires of us until we have our life “in order”, we will never get there.  On the other hand, if we do God’s will, even when we don’t have our act together, God will take care of that part for us.

 

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2022 Bible Study — Do Not Be Complacent, Seek To Do God’s Will Now

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zephaniah and Haggai.

Zephaniah writes of the day when God will wipe everything from the face of the earth: man and beast, birds in the sky and fish in the sea, and the idols worshiped by the wicked.  Zephaniah goes on to say that neither silver nor gold will save anyone on the day of the Lord’s wrath.  He writes that God will make an end of all who live on the earth.  However, Zephaniah leaves one little window of hope.  He tells us to seek the Lord, to seek righteousness, to seek humility, and perhaps we will be sheltered on that day.  We cannot be complacent, we must actively seek to do what God desires of us.

Which brings me to Haggai.  When I started writing today I did not see a connection between the passage in Zephaniah and the passage in Haggai.  Then I wrote my thoughts about Zephaniah and realized it leads right into what Haggai said.  Zephaniah wrote that we cannot be complacent and just ignore the evil in the world around us.  Haggai wrote that we cannot wait to build God’s house until we have our lives in order.  The time to go out and actively do God’s will is now.  Zephaniah tells us to seek the Lord, to seek righteousness.  Haggai tells us to do it now.  This passage really speaks to me today.  I need to go out and find the tasks which God wishes me to do, and do them.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2021 Bible Study — Do God’s Will First And He Will Sort Everything Else Out For You

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Zephaniah and Haggai.

Zephaniah prophesied during the reign of Josiah, who implemented religious reform and tried to turn the people of Jerusalem back to God.  Some references I found suggested that Zephaniah prophesied before Josiah began his reforms, but this reads to me as directed at those who paid lip service to Josiah’s reforms while worshiping idols in secret.  More than that Zephaniah also seems to prophesy against those who are indifferent to the idolatry and corruption going on around them.  Zephaniah calls the people of Jerusalem and Judah to seek the Lord with humility.

Haggai prophesied to the Returned Exiles.  The Returned Exiles had not begun rebuilding the Temple because they wanted to get themselves solidly established in the land before doing so.  They believed that they should make sure that they had enough to survive before they began spending resources on building the Temple.  There is merit to such an attitude: one should not starve oneself or one’s children in order to have a more pleasant place to worship.  However, the problem with that attitude is that there is always more one must do before one’s own survival is assured.  Haggai actually tells us another reason to not take that approach.  If we truly put our faith in God then we will trust Him to provide us with enough to do His will and to survive.  Haggai’s message was, “Don’t wait to get your affairs in order before doing God’s will.  Do God’s will first, and He will sort that all out for you.”

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2019 Bible Study — Doing What You Know Is Right Will Help You To Stop Doing What You Know Is Wrong

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Zephaniah and Haggai

Zephaniah starts out with what I take to be a bit of hyperbole, but might refer to the end of time.  Zephaniah writes that God says that He will wipe all people and animals from the face of the earth.   However, toward the end of his prophecy Zephaniah writes of those who remain will be the lowly and humble who trust in the name of the Lord, which leads me to believe that the beginning is a bit of hyperbole.  That hyperbole does address those who might say, “Well, He can’t kill us all.”  God says to those who say such things, “I will indeed kill all of those who remain complacent in their sin.”   God’s terrible day of judgement is coming for those who do not seek the Lord and humbly obey His commands.

Unlike many of the prophets, Haggai addresses not those who sin, but those who strive to serve the Lord.  The message of Haggai really resonates with me.  I interpret this message in two ways.  We should not wait to get our financial house in order before we start helping others both financially and in other ways.  In addition we should not let the fact that we keep on sinning in one area stop us from doing what we know God wants us to do in another.  In both cases, doing the right thing in one area will make it easier for us to stop doing the wrong thing in another.

 

 

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2018 Bible Study — Live Humbly and Do What Is Right

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Zephaniah 1-3 and Haggai 1-2.

    There are two ways to read Zephaniah (OK, there are probably more, but I am just going to consider two): as a single prophecy about the coming fall of Jerusalem containing some hyperbole, or as two prophecies, one concerning the end of the world and one concerning the fall of Jerusalem to Babylon (or perhaps some other historic event). I believe that Zephaniah considered it a prophecy about a single event. While I believe that elements of this passage concern the end of the world, I think that it is best to consider it as a prophecy about a single event.
    The main point of this passage is that the day of God’s judgement is coming. When that day comes it will not be limited to just a few people, or even a limited geographic area. When I was growing up during the Cold War, we understood how comprehensive that day would be. We read passages like verses 2 and 3 of chapter 1 and thought of nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. Our understanding of the worldwide devastation which would follow was influenced by those who remembered World Wars I and II. We understood and talked about how such a war would be indiscriminate in killing people throughout the earth. That was the image we had of the Day of God’s Judgement.
    However, Zephaniah tells us that perhaps there is yet time to seek God so that He will protect us on that Day. But this is not a private, personal seeking to do what is right. Zephaniah tells us that this salvation is corporate. Each one of us must choose to seek the Lord ourselves, but we cannot go it alone. We must gather together with those others who are also seeking the Lord. We must humbly test our understanding of what is right against others who also seek to do right.

    Haggai has a message which is timeless. All too often we do what the Returned Exiles were doing when God called Haggai. We tell ourselves that as soon as we get our lives together we will begin serving God. I have been guilty of it myself. Through Haggai God tells us that we will never get our lives together until we put Him first. We will never have enough to fully meet our needs as long as we put our needs ahead of serving God. Our “needs” will expand to consume all of our resources as long as we put them first. When we start putting God first, we will find that we have a surplus to serve Him even more. Sometimes, that surplus will be because God has blessed us with more. Sometimes that surplus will be because we realize that we did not need many of the things we called “needs”.

Daily Bible Study

September 28, 2017 Bible Study — Put God First, Or Forget About Him

I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Zephaniah and Habggai.

    It is not clear to me if the opening of Zephaniah’s prophecies is about the end of the world, or merely hyperbole to get people’s attention. However, in either case it is quickly apparent that while he is mainly talking to the people of Jerusalem his message is for everyone. Actually as I start to write more about this passage I realized that the opening message is a kind of warning (and perhaps gives us an idea about the conditions which will exist just before the end of the world). Zephaniah condemns those who claim to worship God, but also worship the sun, moon, and stars. Those who claim they can worship both the Creator and the Creation. Further there is a reference to those who claim to worship God yet also worship “Molech”. The translation notes that the Hebrew word translated as “Molech” could also be translated as “their king”. I think that these two possible translations are intentional. “Molech”, as used in Old Testament literature, was a god who demanded child sacrifice. I believe that Zephaniah was telling us that when we worship our king, our government, we will end up sacrificing our children. We cannot worship both God and Nature. We cannot worship both God and government. If we make Nature our god, it will make demands upon us which are incompatible with those made by God. The same is true of the government. Although the latter will do so whether we worship it or not.
    Zephaniah’s prophecy is not completely pessimistic. Zephaniah promises that the day will come when God will purify the speech of all people. God will gather together those who seek to do what is right and live with humility. The day of God’s judgment will come upon the earth. On that day, He will wipe from the face of the earth all who are arrogant and haughty. Only those who humbly trust in the name of the Lord will remain. Again and again God has given us warnings, messages, and examples that this day is coming, but we as people refuse to pay heed.

    I started out to say that Haggai’s message is completely different from Zephaniah’s, but realized that is not really true. Zephaniah warned about the suffering we will experience if we try to worship something else alongside our worship of God. Haggai tells us the importance of putting God first. If we wait to give to God until we have enough for our other needs, we will find that we never have enough. On the other hand, if we discipline ourselves to give the first fruits to God we will find that we have enough for everything else we need. This works in two ways. First, if we give first to God we need to discipline ourselves and our desires in order to do so. As we discipline our spending and our behavior we will find that our resources seem to go further. Second, if we give first to God, He will bless us. That blessing may be material things which we can further use to honor God, but much of that blessing will be in the positive position we find ourselves in before God. I always have trouble properly expressing the nature of God’s blessings here. God does not promise us material rewards for following Him and His instructions, yet often when we do so we receive greater material goods. The complicated thing is that many of those most faithful to Him seem to be always lacking in material goods.

Daily Bible Study

December 20, 2015 Bible Study — Serve God First

For today, One Year Bible Online links here.

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Proverbs 30:15-16

    The lesson here is that some problems cannot be fixed by giving them more. You do not stop a fire by feeding it more fuel. You will not fix a desert by pumping water into it. In both of these cases the solution is more complicated. You stop a fire by removing its access to fuel. While you may be able to fix a desert, it is complicated (and I do not think that is the writer’s point). Overall, I believe the point here is that there are some enemies with whom giving them what they want is not a viable path to peace.

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Psalm 139

    Another psalm to meditate on. God knows every detail about us, even more than we know about ourselves. No matter where we are, or where we go, God is able to see our actions and our thoughts. If we want to get away from God, there is no place we can go to do so. If we want to turn to God, to call upon Him, He will be there for us, no matter where we are. He planned out every aspect of our bodies and our lives before we were born. There is nothing about our bodies that does not serve God’s purposes (if we allow it…and even if we don’t). Every aspect of our personality will be used by God if we choose to serve Him. God loves us deeply, is always thinking about us, and seeking to show us how to live joyously.
    I will ask God to show me the things I think and the things I do which offend Him. With His help, I will strive to remove those things from my life so that I can follow the path He has for me.

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Revelation 11

    This passage is worth some careful thought. Are the two witnesses in this passage two individuals? Or is there something more symbolic about them? My inclination is that they are two individuals. As I read this, I wonder how anyone will fail to recognize them when they appear? Or if there appearance is more subtle than the most literal reading of this passage suggests, how will I recognize them when they appear (assuming they appear during my lifetime)?
    My experience leads me to believe that when God moves in this world He does so in a manner which allows those who reject Him to come up with logical explanations for events which do not require His existence. It requires at least the acceptance of the possibility of God to see Him working in the world. Therefore, I believe that when these two witnesses appear there will be those who call themselves Christians who will not recognize them. On the other hand, I also believe that there will be those who falsely present themselves as these two prophets. So, my fear is that I will either fail to recognize the real thing or fall for the imposters.

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Haggai 1-2

    The lesson of this passage is that if we put taking care of our own needs ahead of serving God we will never have enough to give to God. It does not matter what the resource is, whether it is material goods, or time, or any other resource which we perceive to be in limited supply. We need to put God first. As soon as our most basic needs are met–shelter from the weather (even if it is only the most basic), clothes to wear (even if they are ill fitting and unfashionable), food to eat (even if we don’t like what it tastes like)– we need to start looking for ways in which we can serve God. And, when we hear the call to serve God, we should, at least sometimes, put that ahead of our needs. When Elijah went to the widow in Zarephath she was about to use the last of her food for a final meal. He told her to first prepare him a meal. As a result of serving God in this way, the meal she prepared was not her final meal. God provided her needs. He will do the same for us.