If you haven't read the post "Barking Up the Wrong Tree part 1" I'd encourage you to do that- being that this is part 2! Find it here. It's not long, I'll wait.
Haggai? Where in the Bible is that? I hope you found it and had a chance to read the massive (kidding) 1 and 1/2 pages that it is! Oh, but hang on there, Haggai holds his weight in seeing into the heart of God way beyond a single page and 1/2 worth!
First, let's review part 1 of the post:
Barking up the wrong tree? I was. I was putting efforts into the 'wrong tree' thinking I had the target in sight- I had the goal just were I wanted it and all I had to do was make a little noise and it'd be all mine for the taking. That is until God decided to set me straight, point out my wrong path, and of all places He sent me to the bible book of Haggai to call me off the tree. Is there a book of Haggai? Who? What?
So, I think I have life all figured out, things are going fine, but I think I need, well, more! I start following my dreams (note to "my"), putting my time and efforts into making them come true and guess what? They don't, and nothing works out. Now, it may have taken some time to run around in my self-created circles, but I'm no dummy and I know when things aren't working out it means something is up. Where does one turn? Up. I ask God why He doesn't want to grant "my" "desires of my heart?" I mean, isn't that scriptural? It is, to a point, but read all of the verse and the verse after. Psalms 37:4 says,"Be delighted with the Lord. Then He will give you all your heart's desires." and verse 5 says, "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will do this." Key in on the beginning of verse 4, and beginning of verse 5, "Be delighted with the Lord. Then..." and 5," Commit everything you do to the Lord." Do you see where first God asks us to seek Him, love Him, commit our ways to His ways first?
God isn't a Genie in bottle, not a Santa Claus, or a wish-upon-a-star that we ask Him to fulfill the "desires of our heart." He holds the bigger picture, He knows more than I, and He knows what is best. In this I trust. God is always at work, always. He is never resting. It is just a matter of if we get on board with where He is working, or not. The idiom I used, "barking up the wrong tree" means, I wasn't on board with where God was working and with what He was preparing for me. I had to find out, find Him, and find the "right tree."
I turned to the scripture ready to read whatever I flipped open to because I wasn't particularly inspired to read anything. Haggai. Never can say in all my Christian raised life, have I ever read Haggai. Now that I did, I'll never forget how God spoke to me.
(Oh geez, I just lost my page again- Haggai can be hard to find, so bookmark it!) Psalms, Proverbs, skip a few, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, skip some more, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai ! Ok, we found it.
Haggai was a prophet and delivered this message in near 520 B.C. to the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest. These men represented all the Jews who had returned from exile and who had begun to rebuild the Lord's temple, but basically stopped because of opposition from neighboring peoples, and just losing track of the goal, God's work.
Haggai 1:2-8 "Why is everyone saying it is not the right time for rebuilding my Temple?" asks the Lord.
Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it then the right time for you to live in luxurious homes, when the Temple lies in ruins? Look at the result: You plant much but harvest little. You have scarcely enough to eat or drink, and not enough clothes to keep you warm. Your income disappears, as though you were putting it into pockets filled with holes! Think it over," says the Lord of Hosts, "Consider how you have acted, and what has happened as a result! Then go up into the mountains and bring down timber and rebuild my Temple, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory," says the Lord.
The Lord is speaking through Haggai telling the people that they have lost site of His plans for them to do His work, which in this case is to rebuild the Temple for worship. When reading these verses God spoke to me about doing His work. I felt like God was saying, "When do you think it's the right time to do my work? When are you going to join me? After you live in those luxurious homes and have your life all 'set up'? Then, then, you'll do what I ask you to do?"
Haggai 1: 9-10 "You hope for much but get so little. And when you bring it home, I blow it away- it doesn't last at all. Why? Because My Temple lies in ruins and you don't care. Your only concern is you own fine homes."
Here in verses 9-10, the Lord is basically saying, "So you wonder why things aren't going how you think they should go and your goals haven't been met? It's because you are barking up the wrong tree! I am not there. There is work to be done, and it's with ME. Not what you think YOU need to be doing. Don't you care? Join me in my work. I hope you don't just care about your plans and neglect mine."
Funny thing is, what I was seeking, my "wrong tree" is that I wanted to build a new house. Very much like "living in luxurious homes" that we just read about in Haggai, I figured we'd have everything all 'set up' first. (Not that there is anything wrong with building a house- I wanted to, and it is a blessing. It is just not what God was planning for me at that time and I needed to get with God and where He was working in my life.) I got carried away with house plans and dreams of granite counter-tops, new carpets, jet tub in the master bathroom...ahh, doesn't that sound lovely? Well, it tempted me, consumed me, and blinded me of knowing where God was doing His work or I should say wanted to do His work through my life. I had plans for my next income to go towards the granite. Again, funny thing, my income wasn't coming in. Haggai 1:6 "Your income disappears, as though you were putting in into pockets filled with holes!" Fortunately, God spoke strongly to me and my heart was changed, my focus changed, and my entire life has turned around. The things of this earth that will fade away, decay, and rust with no eternal value. Money wasn't wasted on building that new house. It never got built. Ours never was even sold. For all of this I am so thankful for now, but it was frustrating then. Haggai's words helped to put it all into perspective.
I let go, and let God. A hard thing for me to swallow, but I know it needed to be done if I wanted God's ways to shine through my life-If I want my life to give Him glory. Haggai 1: 8b "rebuild my temple, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory, " says the Lord."
Wow. I don't know about you, but this is a powerful book. God is asking for His work to be done so He can appear there in His glory. For Haggai's message to the people, God's work is that the temple be rebuilt. Now, think for a minute: Where is God's working around you? And more importantly, are you joining Him? Is there something God has placed on your heart to do, but you are putting it off 'til life is more 'set up', money is more secure, or your plans are completed first? If we look at the verses in Haggai and replace "the temple" with "God's work" (because that's what the rebuilding of the Temple was- God's work) it can paint a very clear message to us. It looks like this:
Haggai 1:2-8 "Why is everyone saying it is not the right time for ____(God's work that He is asking you to do)_____?" asks the Lord..."Is it then the right time for you to _______(whatever is holding you back)____ while ___(my work)___lies in ruins? Look at the result: You plant much but harvest little...your income disappears, though you were putting it into pockets filled with holes!" "Think it over," says the Lord of Hosts...."Then go up ___(and get started!)____ and _____(do my work)___, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory, " says the Lord.
Haggai continues to send this message to the people: God wants His works to be started so that He can carry it on to completion and He will be honored. God wants the people's ways to be submissive to God's ways and trust Him that He will bless their work and their hearts for serving Him.
As we read further in the book of Haggai, the Lord gives an example to point out how our own ways and selfishness can interfere with the Lord's plan. In Chapter 2 verses 11-13 the Lord asks through Haggai about contaminated sacrifices. Remembering that sacrifices are offerings to the Lord, and holy, worthy, offerings at that.
Haggai 2:12-13"If one of you is carrying a holy sacrifice in his robes, and happens to brush against some bread or wine or meat, will it too become holy?" "No," the priests replied. "Holiness does not pass to other things in that way." 13 Then Haggai asked, "But if someone touches a dead person, and so becomes ceremonially impure, and then brushes against something, does it become contaminated?" And the priests answered, "Yes."
Well, the example used shows that the holiness of the sacrifice was contaminated by the 'brushing up against something unclean' right? For the Jewish people, what was the "unclean" or the "sin" that was contaminating their 'service'? For us, what is contaminating our 'service'? Read on.
Haggai 2: 14 "Haggai then made his meaning clear. "you people, " he said (speaking for the Lord), "were contaminating your sacrifices by living with selfish attitudes and evil hearts-and not only your sacrifices, but everything else that you did as a 'service' to me. And so everything you did went wrong. But all is different now because you have begun to build the Temple."
Do you see it? The people were contaminating their sacrifices, and not only their sacrifices, but everything else that 'they thought' they were doing for the Lord, by .....drum roll...."living with selfish attitudes and evil hearts."
Confession time! I was "living with a selfish attitude." I had "my" plans in site and my mission set. I was going for the tree...the "me" tree, the "wrong tree." What about you? I know I'm sharing what God laid on my heart, and apparently it was an "evil" one (wink), but what about you? Is there is sin in your life hindering you from following God's perfect plan for you? Are you "brushing up against something unclean" and it is contaminating the all the 'services' that you 'think' you are offering to the Lord? Ouch, tough questions, but worth a self examination.
Romans 12:1-2 "And so dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy-the kind He can accept. When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. That you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect WILL OF GOD."
Not sure? Ask the Lord to reveal any ways in you that are keeping you from following Him. He will let you know if you are seeking. Psalm 139:23,24
God will show His mercy, forgive, and put us to work with Him!
Psalm 51:1 and 10 "Oh Loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again." 10 "Create in me a clean heart oh God, filled with clean thoughts and desires."
Let's end with God's promises. He asks great things of us knowing that He has great rewards and blessings to pour out on us too. Haggai 2:21 "I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow thrones and destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations...." verse 23 "But when that happens, I will take you,...and honor you like a signet ring upon my finger; for I have specially chosen you," says the Lord of Hosts."
"Haggai's purpose was simple and direct: he wanted the people to see that they had deprived themselves of God's blessings by allowing the temple building project to lie dormant." -Quest Study Bible commentary
God's word spoke to me, clearly and simply too with the message He used through Haggai.
1. Recognize when your ways are not God's ways and when your plans are not God's plans.
2. Seek His ways and join Him in His work. What does He want you to do in order to bring Him glory?
3. Ask God to reveal to you what ways you are 'contaminating' your services to Him.
4. Seek forgiveness and mercy.
5. Join Him and where He is working and 'Re-build!'
The work that God was asking of me, and my family, to do was to adopt and care for the orphans-His children. In my "wrong tree" mind set, I wanted to have the new house set up, the money secured in the savings, and all would be well. But that's not where God was. He showed me my "selfish attitude" and I returned to Him. He was asking us to step out in faith, to put our trust in Him, that His timing is perfect, and that He will receive the glory as our provider! Isn't God awesome?! I pray that by my opening my heart and sharing with you the life lessons that I've learned, that you may desire to seek God's plan for your life.
Haggai? Where in the Bible is that? I hope you found it and had a chance to read the massive (kidding) 1 and 1/2 pages that it is! Oh, but hang on there, Haggai holds his weight in seeing into the heart of God way beyond a single page and 1/2 worth!
First, let's review part 1 of the post:
Barking up the wrong tree? I was. I was putting efforts into the 'wrong tree' thinking I had the target in sight- I had the goal just were I wanted it and all I had to do was make a little noise and it'd be all mine for the taking. That is until God decided to set me straight, point out my wrong path, and of all places He sent me to the bible book of Haggai to call me off the tree. Is there a book of Haggai? Who? What?
So, I think I have life all figured out, things are going fine, but I think I need, well, more! I start following my dreams (note to "my"), putting my time and efforts into making them come true and guess what? They don't, and nothing works out. Now, it may have taken some time to run around in my self-created circles, but I'm no dummy and I know when things aren't working out it means something is up. Where does one turn? Up. I ask God why He doesn't want to grant "my" "desires of my heart?" I mean, isn't that scriptural? It is, to a point, but read all of the verse and the verse after. Psalms 37:4 says,"Be delighted with the Lord. Then He will give you all your heart's desires." and verse 5 says, "Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust in Him and He will do this." Key in on the beginning of verse 4, and beginning of verse 5, "Be delighted with the Lord. Then..." and 5," Commit everything you do to the Lord." Do you see where first God asks us to seek Him, love Him, commit our ways to His ways first?
God isn't a Genie in bottle, not a Santa Claus, or a wish-upon-a-star that we ask Him to fulfill the "desires of our heart." He holds the bigger picture, He knows more than I, and He knows what is best. In this I trust. God is always at work, always. He is never resting. It is just a matter of if we get on board with where He is working, or not. The idiom I used, "barking up the wrong tree" means, I wasn't on board with where God was working and with what He was preparing for me. I had to find out, find Him, and find the "right tree."
I turned to the scripture ready to read whatever I flipped open to because I wasn't particularly inspired to read anything. Haggai. Never can say in all my Christian raised life, have I ever read Haggai. Now that I did, I'll never forget how God spoke to me.
(Oh geez, I just lost my page again- Haggai can be hard to find, so bookmark it!) Psalms, Proverbs, skip a few, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, skip some more, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai ! Ok, we found it.
Haggai was a prophet and delivered this message in near 520 B.C. to the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the high priest. These men represented all the Jews who had returned from exile and who had begun to rebuild the Lord's temple, but basically stopped because of opposition from neighboring peoples, and just losing track of the goal, God's work.
Haggai 1:2-8 "Why is everyone saying it is not the right time for rebuilding my Temple?" asks the Lord.
Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: "Is it then the right time for you to live in luxurious homes, when the Temple lies in ruins? Look at the result: You plant much but harvest little. You have scarcely enough to eat or drink, and not enough clothes to keep you warm. Your income disappears, as though you were putting it into pockets filled with holes! Think it over," says the Lord of Hosts, "Consider how you have acted, and what has happened as a result! Then go up into the mountains and bring down timber and rebuild my Temple, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory," says the Lord.
The Lord is speaking through Haggai telling the people that they have lost site of His plans for them to do His work, which in this case is to rebuild the Temple for worship. When reading these verses God spoke to me about doing His work. I felt like God was saying, "When do you think it's the right time to do my work? When are you going to join me? After you live in those luxurious homes and have your life all 'set up'? Then, then, you'll do what I ask you to do?"
Haggai 1: 9-10 "You hope for much but get so little. And when you bring it home, I blow it away- it doesn't last at all. Why? Because My Temple lies in ruins and you don't care. Your only concern is you own fine homes."
Here in verses 9-10, the Lord is basically saying, "So you wonder why things aren't going how you think they should go and your goals haven't been met? It's because you are barking up the wrong tree! I am not there. There is work to be done, and it's with ME. Not what you think YOU need to be doing. Don't you care? Join me in my work. I hope you don't just care about your plans and neglect mine."
Funny thing is, what I was seeking, my "wrong tree" is that I wanted to build a new house. Very much like "living in luxurious homes" that we just read about in Haggai, I figured we'd have everything all 'set up' first. (Not that there is anything wrong with building a house- I wanted to, and it is a blessing. It is just not what God was planning for me at that time and I needed to get with God and where He was working in my life.) I got carried away with house plans and dreams of granite counter-tops, new carpets, jet tub in the master bathroom...ahh, doesn't that sound lovely? Well, it tempted me, consumed me, and blinded me of knowing where God was doing His work or I should say wanted to do His work through my life. I had plans for my next income to go towards the granite. Again, funny thing, my income wasn't coming in. Haggai 1:6 "Your income disappears, as though you were putting in into pockets filled with holes!" Fortunately, God spoke strongly to me and my heart was changed, my focus changed, and my entire life has turned around. The things of this earth that will fade away, decay, and rust with no eternal value. Money wasn't wasted on building that new house. It never got built. Ours never was even sold. For all of this I am so thankful for now, but it was frustrating then. Haggai's words helped to put it all into perspective.
I let go, and let God. A hard thing for me to swallow, but I know it needed to be done if I wanted God's ways to shine through my life-If I want my life to give Him glory. Haggai 1: 8b "rebuild my temple, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory, " says the Lord."
Wow. I don't know about you, but this is a powerful book. God is asking for His work to be done so He can appear there in His glory. For Haggai's message to the people, God's work is that the temple be rebuilt. Now, think for a minute: Where is God's working around you? And more importantly, are you joining Him? Is there something God has placed on your heart to do, but you are putting it off 'til life is more 'set up', money is more secure, or your plans are completed first? If we look at the verses in Haggai and replace "the temple" with "God's work" (because that's what the rebuilding of the Temple was- God's work) it can paint a very clear message to us. It looks like this:
Haggai 1:2-8 "Why is everyone saying it is not the right time for ____(God's work that He is asking you to do)_____?" asks the Lord..."Is it then the right time for you to _______(whatever is holding you back)____ while ___(my work)___lies in ruins? Look at the result: You plant much but harvest little...your income disappears, though you were putting it into pockets filled with holes!" "Think it over," says the Lord of Hosts...."Then go up ___(and get started!)____ and _____(do my work)___, and I will be pleased with it and appear there in my glory, " says the Lord.
Haggai continues to send this message to the people: God wants His works to be started so that He can carry it on to completion and He will be honored. God wants the people's ways to be submissive to God's ways and trust Him that He will bless their work and their hearts for serving Him.
As we read further in the book of Haggai, the Lord gives an example to point out how our own ways and selfishness can interfere with the Lord's plan. In Chapter 2 verses 11-13 the Lord asks through Haggai about contaminated sacrifices. Remembering that sacrifices are offerings to the Lord, and holy, worthy, offerings at that.
Haggai 2:12-13"If one of you is carrying a holy sacrifice in his robes, and happens to brush against some bread or wine or meat, will it too become holy?" "No," the priests replied. "Holiness does not pass to other things in that way." 13 Then Haggai asked, "But if someone touches a dead person, and so becomes ceremonially impure, and then brushes against something, does it become contaminated?" And the priests answered, "Yes."
Well, the example used shows that the holiness of the sacrifice was contaminated by the 'brushing up against something unclean' right? For the Jewish people, what was the "unclean" or the "sin" that was contaminating their 'service'? For us, what is contaminating our 'service'? Read on.
Haggai 2: 14 "Haggai then made his meaning clear. "you people, " he said (speaking for the Lord), "were contaminating your sacrifices by living with selfish attitudes and evil hearts-and not only your sacrifices, but everything else that you did as a 'service' to me. And so everything you did went wrong. But all is different now because you have begun to build the Temple."
Do you see it? The people were contaminating their sacrifices, and not only their sacrifices, but everything else that 'they thought' they were doing for the Lord, by .....drum roll...."living with selfish attitudes and evil hearts."
Confession time! I was "living with a selfish attitude." I had "my" plans in site and my mission set. I was going for the tree...the "me" tree, the "wrong tree." What about you? I know I'm sharing what God laid on my heart, and apparently it was an "evil" one (wink), but what about you? Is there is sin in your life hindering you from following God's perfect plan for you? Are you "brushing up against something unclean" and it is contaminating the all the 'services' that you 'think' you are offering to the Lord? Ouch, tough questions, but worth a self examination.
Romans 12:1-2 "And so dear brothers, I plead with you to give your bodies to God. Let them be a living sacrifice, holy-the kind He can accept. When you think of what He has done for you, is this too much to ask? Don't copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. That you may prove what is the good, acceptable, and perfect WILL OF GOD."
Not sure? Ask the Lord to reveal any ways in you that are keeping you from following Him. He will let you know if you are seeking. Psalm 139:23,24
God will show His mercy, forgive, and put us to work with Him!
Psalm 51:1 and 10 "Oh Loving and kind God, have mercy. Have pity upon me and take away the awful stain of my transgressions. Oh wash me, cleanse me from this guilt. Let me be pure again." 10 "Create in me a clean heart oh God, filled with clean thoughts and desires."
Let's end with God's promises. He asks great things of us knowing that He has great rewards and blessings to pour out on us too. Haggai 2:21 "I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, and to overthrow thrones and destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations...." verse 23 "But when that happens, I will take you,...and honor you like a signet ring upon my finger; for I have specially chosen you," says the Lord of Hosts."
"Haggai's purpose was simple and direct: he wanted the people to see that they had deprived themselves of God's blessings by allowing the temple building project to lie dormant." -Quest Study Bible commentary
God's word spoke to me, clearly and simply too with the message He used through Haggai.
1. Recognize when your ways are not God's ways and when your plans are not God's plans.
2. Seek His ways and join Him in His work. What does He want you to do in order to bring Him glory?
3. Ask God to reveal to you what ways you are 'contaminating' your services to Him.
4. Seek forgiveness and mercy.
5. Join Him and where He is working and 'Re-build!'
The work that God was asking of me, and my family, to do was to adopt and care for the orphans-His children. In my "wrong tree" mind set, I wanted to have the new house set up, the money secured in the savings, and all would be well. But that's not where God was. He showed me my "selfish attitude" and I returned to Him. He was asking us to step out in faith, to put our trust in Him, that His timing is perfect, and that He will receive the glory as our provider! Isn't God awesome?! I pray that by my opening my heart and sharing with you the life lessons that I've learned, that you may desire to seek God's plan for your life.
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