February 6 Daily Discovery
February 6 Daily Discovery
Read Haggai Chapter 1
Consider Your Ways
In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying,
2 Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.
3 Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying,
4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?
5 Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.
6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.
~ Haggai 1:1-6
Consider Your Priorities
Haggai is preaching to the leaders and laity of the Jews that had returned from Babylonian captivity. They had been commissioned by Cyrus of Persia to rebuild the temple and had been provided with the tools and materials that were required.
However, the temple was not being completed, and all of the people were focused upon building their own houses instead.
There was a problem in their priorities.
Even though God had made the way clear so they could rebuild His house, they said, "It's not time to do this yet."
This was simply their excuse for putting themselves first instead of committing their best energies to the completion of their house of worship.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
~ Matt. 6:25-34
Seek God's kingdom FIRST. God promises to meet your needs if you make Him primary in your life.
Consider Your Results
God was displeased with the Jew's lack of enthusiasm and energy for the house of God. We see that God was hindering their worldly successes and diminishing the results of their labors as a result of their bad priorities.
They were putting their wages into a bag that was full of holes.
God was resisting their efforts to take care of themselves.
God wanted to take care of them, but they would have to take care of His house first.
Consider Your Future
7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.
~ Gal. 6:7-9
God promised them the blessings of fruitfulness again once they started putting Him first.
They listened to the preaching and started obeying and God confirmed through the prophet "I am with you now."
PUT GOD FIRST. PUT HIS KINGDOM FIRST.
--------------
Continue Your Search
Do you see any: Commands to Obey, Warnings to Heed, Promises to Claim, Examples to Follow, Vices to Avoid, Praises to Emulate, Prayers to Use, Principles by which to Live, Questions to Ask or Actions to Take?
Follow
