Obey the Lord

June 1, 2014 Background Scripture: Haggai 1:1 – 11 Lesson Passage: Haggai 1:1 – 11 Obedience is a word that is used many times in the homes of God-fearing people. First, children are taught to obey their parents from infancy. Secondly, children are taught to respect and honor adults. Thirdly, children are taught to be kind and courteous towards other children. Then fourthly, children are taught to reverence, pray to, and obey God. I know we start with God when we are talking about adults but there is a very good reason the training often follows a different sequence for children. Children identify with people first and they have to be taught how to have right relationships with others. In fact, it is of the utmost importance that children learn the proper behavior towards their father or the “father figure” in their lives. It is the father-child relationship that forms the basis for a child’s first concept of what God is like. Christian men who would be leaders in the church are required to first be leaders in their homes (1 Timothy 3:5). Certainly this makes it easier to teach obedience to God knowing that the foundation for it should have been established in the home. In our lesson today, God rebukes Israel for being negligent in rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. The work on the temple’s foundation had begun 18 years prior to the prophecy of Haggai. However, because of local opposition from some Samaritans and other neighbors, the work ended immediately after the foundation was completed two years after it was started. The Jews in Jerusalem had neglected the temple construction for sixteen years but they had not neglected to rebuild their own houses during that same time. Although there was local opposition, God had made the way plain for them by moving on the hearts of the kings of Persia who endorsed and decreed that the work on the temple should be done. Again it should be noted that the local opposition did not deter the Jews from finishing their own houses. It was to that attitude that the word of God responded. They were indifferent to the house of God but responsive to their own housing needs and desires. For this, God would withhold blessings from them, curse the work of their hands that it would not be fruitful, and frustrate their personal plans. God sent Haggai to prophesy to Israel and tell them that their misfortune was not a coincidence. When Israel questioned what was happening to them, the prophet’s answer was: “Consider your ways.” It was not coincidental but rather God’s hand working against them. God was not destroying them. Physically, that would have been very easy for God to do. Instead, God was working against them to cause them to reflect on their disposition towards Him and change their behavior. Zerubbabel had led 50,000 Jews out of captivity back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. They had not worked on completing that project for the last 16 years and they were going on with their lives as though it didn’t matter. It mattered to God and now it needed to matter to the Jews. They were not sent back to Jerusalem to restore their personal houses but to restore the house of God. Today’s lesson was a reminder for them to obey the Lord. Robert C. Hudson May 27, 2014