Faith Well Grounded

Things are looking bleak in America, and all indications are that it will only get worse. The economy is broken and breaking, people are losing their houses, it's becoming almost too expensive even to drive to work. It's getting scary.

But glory to God that He has provided us His Word, which gives us the answers to all of our problems. Praise Him, that He loves us enough to have given us the framework for successfully living this life He's gifted to us.

The prophet Haggai passed the Word of the Lord to the Children of Israel when they returned from Babylon. They were experiencing many of the problems we are experiencing today. They worked more and more for less and less. Their economy was busted. Money was short and wouldn't go far enough. Groceries were too expensive. Their wardrobes were even insufficient to keep them warm.

Hag 1:3-7 Then the LORD spoke his word through the prophet Haggai. He said, (4) "Is it time for you to live in your paneled houses while this house [His temple] lies in ruins? (5) Now, this is what the LORD of Armies says: Carefully consider your ways! (6) You planted a lot, but you harvested little. You eat, but you're never full. You drink, but you're still thirsty. You wear clothing, but you never have enough to keep you warm. You spend money as fast as you earn it. (7) This is what the LORD of Armies says: Carefully consider your ways! (8) "Go to the mountains, get lumber, and build the house. I will be pleased with it, and I will be honored," declares the LORD.

Hint: Any time God says something, and wraps it in the statement "carefully consider your ways", pay attention. :)

If this were written to us, it might read:

"(5) It should be obvious that what you're doing isn't working! (6) Your work amounts to nothing. You have to do more and more of it, but get less and less. What used to fulfill you fails you now. You can't even provide your simplest needs, and it'll only get worse. (7) What's it going to take to prove that you're doing this all wrong?! (8) Here's what you need to do. Rely on me. Concentrate on me. Develop a relationship with me. Glorify me, and let me worry about you."

God basically says that the people's priorities were all messed up. He had brought them home to build His temple, which was a symbol of their relationship with Him, but they had done a half-hearted job of it. They had cared more about their own materialism than glorifying Him, and honoring Him.

And He was calling them out.

When your life gets anything other than Him at its center, it will eventually fall apart. When a nation is founding itself on anything but Him, He will bring the gift of adversity to it. And I believe that is what is happening to America right now. God is giving us the gift of adversity.

In these two chapters, God repeatedly tells them that this is His handiwork-- that He's doing it. It sounds cruel, but it was done for their own good. He was waking them up, showing them how incapable they were, and pleading with them to turn their lives and nation back to Him so that He could provide for them and bless them immeasurably.

Hag 2:17-19 I infested all your work with blight and mildew and struck it with hail. But you didn't come back to me, declares the LORD. (18) Carefully consider from now on, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day when the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. Carefully consider: (19) Is there any seed left in the barn? The vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree still haven't produced. But from now on I will bless you."

I believe that America's current problems are both a judgment from God, and a wake-up call to turn back to Him as a Christian nation. The farther we have gotten from Him, the closer to the brink we have come. We have tried it our way, and He's shown that it doesn't work.

We need a change of priorities. When we concentrate on glorifying God and turning to Him, He will concentrate on working the rest out for us. And think about it, who better to turn things over to than the perfectly loving and all-powerful Creator/Sustainer of the Universe? I promise. He's up to the task. Let Him prove it to you.

Glorify Him, that He may tell you, "...from now on I will bless you."

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