In the devotion “Consider Your Ways” (please read the previous two devotions before continuing), we found that you must first Reflect on God’s Rebuke and secondly, you must Admit that you do have a problem. The next step is to “Identify the Problem.”
Could your problem be that you are as these Jews were? (Haggai 2:11-14) They were not holy before God, and all their works and worship were unclean. “And so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.” Then God said in (2:15), “And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:”
1) (verse 16) I did not bless your crops, cattle, etc
2) (verse 17) “I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me”
3) (verse18) “Consider now from this day and upward…”
Could it be as you consider your ways that:
First, could your work be unclean? In that you are doing what you want to do, but not what God has called you to do? You have put other things before God. You have “run every man unto his own house” and have left God’s House a waste. (That is, you have taken care of self first and forgotten about God’s Work.) Many people today pay their tithes where they attend Church and give offerings, but do not give themselves. They give money, but are not willing to surrender to God, submit to His Word, obey His Word and determine by His Grace to endure unto the end. You may be willing to give money, but not give your entire body, soul and spirit to God, to be a holy vessel separated from this world to serve Him in His Kingdom’s Work. You are unwilling to forsake all and take up your cross and follow Him. “You can have part of me, but not all of me.”
Secondly, could your worship be unclean? In that you come to the House of God and lift up unholy hands in worship? You really are a hypocrite; you seem to be holy on the outside, but on the inside you are not single-eyed. You are trying to follow two masters. Your treasures are the things of this world, material, carnal, earthly things; and not spiritual, heavenly things which moth and rust cannot corrupt. You have set your affections on earthly things and not heavenly things. Your entire effort and strength is to seek after carnal things and not things above. Remember, your heart is where your treasure is. You appear to love God, you come to Church, you sing the songs of praise, but your affections are on earthly things and not on God. You really are a Pharisee: your outward garments are holy, but your heart is divided. James 1:6-8 says, (verse 8) “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.” (Verse 7) “For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.” (Verse 6) “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering…”
This was the problem of the Jews in the days of Haggai the prophet. Yes, they were God’s people called to build the Temple; but instead, they left that work and tended to their own houses. And God said that their work and their offerings were unclean and unholy. So it is today, God has not changed. If He has called you to His Service and you are not doing it, then “Consider Your Ways.” Are you being blessed? Or does your bag have holes is it? Do you have a drought in your spirit?
Consider Your Ways. Identify the Problem. “Is the seed yet in the barn?” (Haggai 2:19)
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