TO CHEW ON: "'...and in this place I will give peace,' declares the Lord of hosts." Haggai 2:9
Haggai confronts the priests of the exiles with a grave denunciation. He says that it's their uncleanness that has polluted the entire land, to the extent of spoiling their crops and making each venture a disappointment: "When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty" (Haggai 2:16).
It's happening because they are violating the principle of uncleanness that governs the handling of holy things. Haggai quizzes them on it and they know the right answers — that a holy item (like meat sacrificed to God) is made unclean by coming into contact with an unclean person who has, say, touched a dead body. Yet, though they know the right answers, they aren't living them. Haggai tells them that their unclean lives are violating this principle and their behaviour is the reason for Israel's agricultural funk.
But, Haggai promises, the presence of God among them as signified by the temple will change all that. God promises, "Consider from this day onward ... Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you" (Haggai 2:18-19).
Can we similarly claim God's blessing because of His presence in our lives? Oh, I know it's not realistic or biblical to expect everything to go smoothly once Christ enters our situations. We have sickness, and crop failures, and failed business ventures like everyone else. And yet I believe there is a sense in which God's presence in our day-to-day even through these difficulties, translates them into peace (as the temple would bring peace and plenty to Judah back then).
Here are some promises that God will be present with us, particularly through difficulty. Let's meditate on and claim them today:
- Psalm 34:19-20
- Psalm 138:7
- Isaiah 43:2
- Isaiah 51:22
- 2 Corinthians 4:17
- 2 Corinthians 12:19.
PRAYER: Dear God, may Your presence in my life bring the peace and abundance pictured in Haggai. Please show me any disobedience that would cancel out Your blessings. Amen.
MORE: Handel's Messiah Alert: Chorus 5
Two verses of today's reading (Haggai 2:6,7) appear in Handel's Messiah, Selection 5.
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