For God or for us?

"Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me—for Me?  When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have obeyed the words which the LORD proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the South and the Lowland were inhabited?' " – Zechariah 7v5-7

The people Zechariah had no problem being religious. For seventy years they had fasted in the fifth and the seventh month as part of their religious routine. Everyone would have thought that they were okay with God because of their long, proud religious traditions.

But God knew their hearts. ‘Why do you do this? Do you REALLY fast for Me – for Me? Aren’t you really doing this for yourself? Would it not have been better to obey?’

As these folks demonstrated it is easy to get the worship and the practices right. Who doesn’t feel good after a particularly great service? In a lot of situations we seem to judge the ‘success’ of our church meetings by how they make us feel. If we are not careful we may get the impression that Christianity is about us and what it can do for us.

Is that really what worshipping God is all about? It is all about how it makes us feel? Do we worship God for Him? Do we really? Or do we do it as much for us and for Him?

We need to be careful about who is the object of our worship and service. Sure, it is great to be blessed and encouraged by our service. But if that becomes our goal then we are in real trouble because when things go badly or we don’t ‘feel good’ we blame Him.

Why do we do what we do? Really.

Not by might

So he answered and said to me: "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts. - Zechariah 4v6

The first section of the Irish census for 2011 was made public yesterday. As I looked over it I was amazed at what a tiny percentage of people here were part of any group or denomination that could be considered ‘born again.’ Out of 4.5 million respondents only 53,000 fit that description. There were 14,043 apostolic or Pentecostals, 4,188 evangelicals, and 3,531 Baptists in that group.

Let’s double that number of 53,000 to include any on the other Christian religions who might truly be born again and assume that everyone in all those churches above are believers. That means, even with this stretched numbers, that about 2% of the Irish population are born again believers.

It makes our task here in Ireland look a little hopeless doesn’t it? After all, there are about the same number of atheists and agnostics as there are Baptists and evangelicals. The number of

So what do you do in a situation like this?

We take the word of the Lord through Zechariah to heart. Zechariah saw his nation in collapse and yet God was telling him that it would be restored one day. ‘How can this be?’ asked Zechariah. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.’

We as believers in Ireland are greatly outnumbered. Our gospel message is not popular or accepted. We cannot do this job drawing men to Christ through our own might or by our own power. We can only do this through the power of the Spirit. Everything we do must be in reliance on Him. Otherwise we are certainly doomed.

Is the seed still in the barn?

Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.' " – Haggai 2v9

It is easy enough to wonder where God’s blessings are. It is easy to wonder where all the fruit is.

It is easy, while focusing on the ‘nothings’ we looked at yesterday and get discouraged.

Here Haggai asks a rhetorical question. ‘Is the seed still in the barn?’ ‘Of course not’ is the implied answer – the seed has been sown, yet the vines are empty and the trees do not bear fruit.

God’s point is clear. You’ve done what you can. I am going to bless you. Just wait for me now.

This reminds me of the verse in Galatians that reminds us ‘don’t be weary in well doing, in due season you will reap if you don’t quit.’

We do need to check ourselves thought to see if the seed is indeed still in the barn, If we are keeping the message of salvation to ourselves than we have not done our bit and can’t expect God to bless.

Is the seed in the barn?

When we see nothing

'Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? In comparison with it, is this not in your eyes as nothing? Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,' says the LORD; 'and be strong, Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land,' says the LORD, 'and work; for I am with you,' says the LORD of hosts. 'According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!' – Haggai 2v3-5

So the Temple was built. One would think that this was a time of great celebration after fourteen years of waiting. But Ezra records the day for us.


And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: "For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel." Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of the fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off. – Ezra 3v11-13

The young people were excited about what was done. They were shouting for joy. The old people who could remember Solomon’s temple and all of its glory were crying because this temple was like nothing compared to the old one.

There are times in our lives when we feel like we are looking at nothing. Things don’t go our way. It looks like we are just spinning our wheels. We can wonder if we are doing any good. It just doesn’t seem like the good old days.

But God had a word of encouragement for them and for us. ‘Be strong, I am with you, and I am going to do all that I said I am going to do.’

God is not bound by the size or the splendour of the temple. He is not bound by the size or the splendour of our ministries. God can do His work even when we can’t see how He is going to do it.

Praise God that He can work even when we see nothing.

They did it

Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD.   Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, spoke the LORD's message to the people, saying, "I am with you, says the LORD." So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, - Haggai 1v12-14

So finally all the teaching and preaching and challenging was done. It was up to the people to decide what they were going to do about it.

I like the steps involved in doing what God wants.

The leaders and the people obeyed the voice of the Lord
They feared the presence of the Lord
The heeded His word that He would go with them
The Lord stirred up their spirits
And they got to work

I don’t think things are a lot different today when it comes to doing God’s work. The process is still similar. But, obviously, something is missing when we choose not to do what He desires.

Maybe we are just disobedient. Maybe we don’t really fear the Lord. Maybe we don’t trust that He will go with us despite what Jesus told the disciples. Maybe we quench the Spirit so He can’t stir our hearts. And maybe we are just too lazy to get to work.

The important thing is that eventually they ‘came and worked.’ What is keeping us from doing the same thing?

Blessings withheld

You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. – Haggai 1v9

These folks must have been frustrated with their lack of success. Working on God’s temple was a distant memory. They were going about their business watching for God to bless them and wondering why nothing happened. Why was it happening? Because God ‘blew it away’ due to the fact that they had forgotten His work. God held back blessings because they were to focused on themselves.

Obviously we can’t make a blanket statement that we don’t prosper because of our wrong priorities. Sometimes God withholds blessings to teach us needed lessons about depending on Him. But apparently there are times when we don’t see what God is doing for us because we are trying to do so much by ourselves.

Perhaps we need to consider our ways and examine our own hearts when we don’t see God’s blessings to make sure we are doing what He wants us to do. If we honestly can say that we are doing our best we can learn for the lessons He is trying to teach us. If we are focused, like these people, on ourselves we need to make the needed changes and get busy doing want He wants us to do.

Get it done

Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the LORD. - Haggai 1v8

So what do you do to get out of the doldrums? Here’s what Haggai said ‘Go up to the mountains, bring wood, and build the temple.’ Get going, get busy, and just do the work. Like the old Nike ad said – Just so it.’

Sometimes we don’t need counselling or books or seminars or videos. Sometime we just need to get it done.

And what happens when we just do it? God takes pleasure and He is glorified. Our ultimate purpose is, of course to glorify God. Doing God’s work when He wants is to do it though does more than that. It also gives Him pleasure.

Pleasure is part of the issue. What too often keeps me from pleasing God is the desire to please me. Part of showing someone that we love them is doing things that please them. We buy flowers or send cards or unload the dishwasher or whatever because it pleases the ones we love. We lay our own pleasure aside to give pleasure, and if it is done with we can take pleasure as well.

Sadly, for me at least, far too often my pleasure supersedes His. I do what I want without regard to Him. That is a true tragedy considering what He gave up for me. Just do it. Just to the work that glorifies and pleases the One who gave His life for us.

Doing it all wrong

"You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes." Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways! – Haggai 1v6-7

I hope I am not overdoing this little exposition of Haggai, I have loved this book for years and every time I read it some fine detail pops out. I like this verse especially because of the last little phrase.

The people wondered why they were not prospering. Haggai gave them an answer after describing how they felt. 'You plant your crops, but don't harvest enough. You eat, but you are never full. You drink but you are still thirsty. You have plenty of clothes but you are still cold. When you make money it is like there is a hole in your pocket.' Haggai didn't try to find words to comfort or sympathise with them in their trouble. He told them again 'Consider your ways.'

So what was the problem? It seems to me that they were more concerned about their crops and their food and water and their clothes and their pay cheques than they were about doing God's work. When we do that we get caught in a cycle of worrying about those things instead of trusting the One who is in control.

What did Jesus say about this? 'Don't be concerned about tomorrow. There is enough trouble to worry about there. Instead of worrying about tomorrow seek the things of God and His kingdom and He will take care of all the rest.'

God knows what we need. When we learn how to be content and trust Him we don't need to worry about the food and drink and clothes and that money that disappears.

Indeed, it is time for us to consider our ways, follow God, and trust Him, 

Consider your ways

Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built." ' "Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways! -  - Haggai 1v2-5

Instead of focusing on the procrastination I want to stop and look at the last three words here. After showing them their wrong priorities and dealing with their putting things off Haggai tells them simply – ‘Consider your ways.’

‘Consider your ways’ is something I don’t think we do often enough. We get caught in a day after day routine and before we know we go through day after day after day and never stop to think about what we are doing. This is especially likely when life, like it so often does, is just going along. There are no crises and no great victories. Life is just life.

These folks needed a wakeup call. God is gracious enough to provide it. He does that like He always does through His work. He does it here through Haggai. He does it other places with words like ‘It is high time to wake up out of your sleep,’

Lethargy is a terrible state in which to find ourselves. If our Christian life is just in a rut and plodding along perhaps we need to heed the words of Haggai and consider our ways to see if there are things we can be doing for God that we have let fall by the wayside.

Procrastination

Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: 'This people says, "The time has not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built." ' "Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways! - Haggai 1v2-5

For many years as our kids were growing we were blessed by Patch the Pirate songs from Majesty Music. Now, I don’t like everything about Patch the Pirate music but there are so many great character building traits that really stick in your mind even years later.

One of those songs, ‘Do It Now,’ I think it was called fits so well here. The chorus goes like this:

Do it now.
Don't delay.
Don't put it off 'til another day.
Go ahead begin it, right this very minute,
You better do it now!

These folks were procrastinators. Fourteen years earlier they had stopped building the temple because of opposition. The opposition was long gone, but they had not gone back to work on the temple. They had sorted out their own houses. They had put up nice walls and fancied up the interior, but God’s house was still in ruins.

They kept saying ‘It’s not time to build God’s house yet!’ Procrastinating, putting it off, delaying. That was there answer to a difficult task.

Haggai asked them, ‘Is it indeed not time to build God’s house? Think about what you are doing.’

Haggai was challenging them to do the work now. Get your priorities right.

What are the tasks that you and I might be putting off today?

When God sings

The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." - Zephaniah 3v17

I was first introduced to this verse back in about 1985 at a Bible teaching seminar hosted by Terry Hall. Terry authored several helpful books about teaching Bible in creative ways without sacrificing sound doctrine and solid teaching.

He used this verse to teach us how to teach a memory verse in just a matter of minutes.

This whole verse is powerful. The Lord is your God. God is in your midst. He is the Mighty One. He will save. He will rejoice over you with love. He will comfort you with His love. Each of these would deserve its own entry in this list of reflections.

Out of all this marvellous truths two or three of them stick out today though. There are the ones at the end – God not only saves us, but he joys in loving us. He gives us a wonderful quietness in His love. And then, something I think is unique in scripture – ‘He will rejoice over you with singing.’

When I try to imagine this in my mind my thoughts fail me. It is far too wonderful to grasp. God expresses His joy over His people with singing. Did you get that? God’s love for us gives Him cause to sing!

We can only try to imagine this from our human understanding. Think about the things that make us sing. A lovely spring day, really good news, time with family and things like that are ‘happy times’ and being creatures of song happy times make us feel like singing.

There is something about our relationship with God that leads Him to sing. It makes me wonder what it sounds like when God sings. It ought to give us great comfort that when we think things are dark and gloomy our God is rejoicing over us in song when we are walking in fellowship with Him!

No shame

The LORD is righteous in her midst, He will do no unrighteousness. Every morning He brings His justice to light; He never fails, but the unjust knows no shame.  - Zephaniah 3v5

This little verse draws as sharp a contrast between a good and holy God and wicked and sinful man as possible.

The Lord is righteous in the midst of His people. He will never do anything unrighteous. He brings His justice to light every morning. He never fails.

What a beautiful picture of who God is and how He acts toward His people.

On the other hand we have the unjust who know no shame.

There can be no doubt that we live in a shameless world. Turn on the television, log on to the internet, open a magazine, or read a newspaper and that fact is obvious.

We can expect that, after all the Bible says here that ‘the unjust knows no shame.’

It is tragic however when God’s children carry on like they have no shame. It is a shame when laugh at the same off colour jokes, look at the same programmes that promote wickedness, surf the same questionable websites, and give that knowing wink to those innuendos.

‘No shame’ is the common state for the unjust, but it should never describe God’s children.

Seek the Lord, seek...

Seek the LORD, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the LORD's anger. - Zephaniah 2v3

As Zephaniah addresses the people on the Lord’s behalf he specifically addresses ‘the meek of the earth and those who uphold God’s justice.’ He advises them about what to seek in their lives.

Seek the Lord
Seek righteousness
Seek humility

It is amazing how that little list differs from what most of us seek after much of the time. Our normal list might more resemble this:

Seek possessions
Seek approval of others
Seek prestige and honour

When I look at those lists all I can do is be ashamed. We don’t think about them when we are doing it, but seeing it in black and white make the difference clear.

May God give me the strength and the wisdom to seek His list instead of mine.

Turning on the spotlight

And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men Who are settled in complacency, Who say in their heart, 'The LORD will not do good, Nor will He do evil.' – Zephaniah 1v12

We are really thick sometimes. We just don’t get it. We think that we can hide things from God. The people of Jerusalem though they were pulling a fast one on God and carrying on with their sin.

But God gave them a stern warning. ‘I am going to search our Jerusalem to find and punish those who are settled in complacency’

Complacency is the attitude of ‘I don’t care.’ It is a terrible sin because it is not one we talk about very much but it is one that is so easy to fall into. The KJV used the phrase ‘settled on their lees.’ I think this nails it. You can see folks just stuck in a rut and not really caring that they are they.

My problem is that I can find myself here if I am not careful. The hours and the weeks and the months and then the years roll by and pretty soon I look back and say ‘what have I really done for the Lord.’

That can be discouraging. When we get discouraged we can wallow there and settle on our lees. Or, we can pick ourselves up and get back at it.

It is easy to think we can hide complacency. Nobody can really see it. But God can. He casts the searchlight on our lives and finds out our sin. It may not be as bad as the complacency of the people Zephaniah talks about who say ‘The Lord will not do good or evil’ but the root is the same. We forget who we are supposed to be serving and what He has done for us.

No fruit on the vines – yet…

Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labour of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer's feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills. – Habakkuk 3v17-19

It is always interesting to see how people in the Bible change as God deals with them. At the start of the book Habakkuk is befuddled and confused and wondering how God can do what He is doing. God doesn’t make any sense to Habakkuk and he doesn’t mind saying so.

By the time he gets done his tone has changed. Now he acknowledged that God was worthy of His worship no matter what. He learned that his joy should not be dependent on his circumstances. He learned that the joy of the Lord was his strength.

‘Even if the crops fail and all the livestock dies off I will still rejoice in the Lord.’ How many of us could say the same thing? How many of us can find our joy of the Lord in desperate times when we can’t find a job and the kids are sick and the car breaks down and we don’t know how we are going to pay the bills?

Habakkuk’s confidence is clear. ‘I WILL rejoice in the Lord. I WILL joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God IS my strength. He WILL make my feet like deer’s feet HE WILL make me to walk on the high hills.’

When our joy is in the Lord we can walk in safety above all the rotten circumstances that we encounter. Paul put it this way writing to the Ephesian church about the mysteries of salvation – ‘and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’

Where is our joy? Where is our hope? Where is our ability to rise above the circumstances? If it is not in the Lord we are in serious trouble.

You went forth with salvation

You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah – Habakkuk 3v13

As Habakkuk stood there in silence and waited for God he began to see some things about God. He saw that God was not acting rashly. He saw that God had given them a chance and that they had rejected it.

‘You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your anointed.’

Can we possibly imagine what would have happened if God did not go forth with salvation? There is no way that we could have gone to God for salvation. After all He lived in the High and Lofty Place. He inhabited eternity. He was of purer eyes than to behold evil. He was, in fact, inaccessible to His fallen creation.

This is one of those passages that is much more clear on this side of the cross. It is a part of the mystery of the gospel that Paul writes about in Ephesians. Now it is clear to us what Habakkuk is saying.

Eventually, when the fullness of time had come, God did go forth with salvation. How did He do it? Just as the verse says here He went for with His anointed.

Jesus brought salvation to man. God went forth with His salvation in the person of His Anointed, Jesus Christ. We could not go to Him so He came to us bringing the salvation that only He could provide.

Praise God for the hope that comes because He went forth with salvation. It is our only hope.

Keep silence

"But the LORD is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him."   - Habakkuk 2v20

'The Lord is in His holy temple.' This powerful statement of faith is so powerful in its simplicity that we can miss the impact. This is one of the verses I find myself clinging to when things seem to be going really, really wrongly.

I am like most people I think. When things don’t go the way I think they should I often get into a funk and wonder what is going on. I may not say it out loud very often, but sometimes I do wonder about all of this stuff.

The problem is that I only wonder when I forget who is in charge and where the one in charge is.

Habakkuk seems about ready to do just that when he remembered something. The Lord was where He always is. He was in His holy temple overseeing all that was taking place.

While we are waiting on our watch for God to answer we need to remember who our God is. We need to remember that He is still in control. And chances are we need stop complaining, shut our mouths, and let God do His work.

I will stand on my watch

I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. – Habakkuk 2v1

Habakkuk was in a real state of confusion. God was going to punish Israel, but he was going to use a nation even more wicked than evil despite the fact that He was too pure to see evil.

I can understand that , Sometimes God does not make any sense to me.

I like what Habakkuk did. Instead of whinging and complaining and griping he decided to sit down and shut up and see what God was going to do.

We are all going to face times when God doesn't make sense to us. This is when we face the real faith test.

The hardest thing for me to do is to sit back and wait for a situation to get sorted. I hate it. My wife has often stopped me from picking up the phone or hopping in a car to go sort something out. Its a good thing, because I would usually mess it up.

When things don't seem to fit one thing is sure. It is not God who is wrong. It is us.

Sometimes I need to sit in my own watchtower and wait for God to work.  

Pure eyes.

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours A person more righteous than he? – Habakkuk 1v12-13

Poor Habakkuk. He looked around him and saw the miserable condition of Judah. It was a wicked and vile place. So God gave him a solution – He would send the Chaldeans to punish them!

But that didn’t make any sense – the Chaldeans were even more wicked than Israel!

What is a guy supposed to do when God isn’t making any sense? More on that tomorrow, but for now I want to look at a special part of the passage. It is a truth that is real even when we don't understand it. 'God is of purer eyes than the behold evil. God cannot look at wickedness.

It is precisely for this reason that God sent His Son to the cross and at that vital moment hid His face from His own Son. Because God is of 'purer eyes than to behold evil' Jesus could not sense the Father's face and cried out 'Why have you forsaken me?'

Not to long ago I read the novel 'The Help.' We are with Beth and Ronnie and last night the Armed Forces Network showed the film. Toward the end one of the maids has been fired for her role in writing the book about how black servants were treated in the Old South. As she leaves the little girl she cared for is pounding on the window screaming for her as she walks away.

That image reminds me of something of what it might be like to be forsaken. Man's sins separate him from the God who is too pure to look on evil. Man could never look to God for deliverance apart from the sacrifice of the Perfect One who accepted being forsaken for our sake.

Yes, God is too pure to look on evil, but He sent His Son to cover sin over so that we can have communion with Him.  

My favourite verse

The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him. – Nahum 1v7

I don’t necessarily like being tied down to one favourite verse or one ‘life verse’ but when I am put in that situation this is my go to verse. I just love the way so much is packed in there together. The Lord is good. The Lord is a stronghold the day of trouble. The Lord knows those who trust in Him.

This says so much about who our Lord is and how He sees us.

First, the Lord is good. What a simple little statement that means so much. God is good, every day, all the time. His goodness is beyond measure. No matter what I face I can face it in the knowledge that God is indeed good and His goodness will carry me through.

Second, the Lord is my stronghold in the day of trouble. I have a place to run when things get tough. I have a keep to run to for protection when things get bad. The troubles will come, there is no doubt about that. But when they come I have a stronghold I can cling to.

Third, the Lord knows those who trust Him. The psalmist put it perfectly in Psalm 139 when he wrote, 'You have searched me and You know. You know all about me,' When we think non one knows or understands or cares what we are going through we can rest in the perfect assurance that God does know.

God is good. He my stronghold when things get tough. He knows.

What more could we ask for?