Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD'S message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.”
Haggai 1:13
And with this simple four word encouragement, “I am with you”, God stirred the people of Jerusalem from stagnant complacency back to active, worship-motivated obedience. The particular task at hand was for the returned exiles to re-commit themselves to finishing the task of rebuilding the temple of God. They had started, then drifted to focusing only on their own needs. Then they stopped.
At first God sent Haggai to explain that their selfish disobedience ultimately made their lives much harder. Their crops were meager. A drought had struck them. Through an awareness of this reality, God was calling them to repent and return to Him. Selfishness ultimately led to never having enough. Service would lead to blessing. And then God gave them Himself as the promise!
God was with them. They would be forgiven if they returned to Him. They would be blessed by returning to restoring God’s house of worship. They would thrive again in the presence of the God they obeyed! Obedience made life better.
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