Live Pure Lives

June 15, 2014 Background Scripture: Haggai 2:10 – 19 Lesson Passage: Haggai 2:10 – 19 Continuous disobedience causes long-term spiritual uncleanness. That’s the message God sent to Israel by way of Haggai. They could not simply be obedient for a short while until God blessed them and then afterwards they could go back to their lives of spiritual disobedience. The nation had become very self-centered and continued to live as though their past actions and activities did not matter. God rejected their attitude of indifference about their past. Apparently, unbeknown to them, their past was indeed affecting their present relationship with God. God clearly expected more from His people than brief moments of uprightness. Again as before, in this passage from Haggai’s message, God shows the connection between the fruit of their labors and their lifestyles. The misfortunes in their lives were the result of how they had been living. Israel was living a life where they were constantly not receiving what they were expecting. There was a clear reason for it. God reminded them that their reality had not measured up to their expectations since the day they started to walk in disobedience to Him. Because Israel refused to accept the connection between their behavior and the lack of blessings, they did not turn to God in repentance. God made it clear that His desire was to bless them but their deliberate lives of ungodliness prevented it. God was not going to reward their disobedience and yet they had refused to change even when punished. God told them that if they would accept responsibility for their unrighteous lives and repent, He would bless them again from that day forward. Strangely, this message from God to Israel sounds quite similar to God’s dialog with Cain after Cain brought an offering to God that was rejected. God did not condemn Cain as an evil person for bringing an unacceptable offering to Him. Rather, God asked Cain to redo his offering so that it would be acceptable and God assured Cain that He would accept it if Cain brought Him an acceptable offering. Israel, like Cain and children of God today, had their own ideas and plans for how they wanted to interact and relate to God. The problem is God does not accept our ideas or plans in place of what He has already provided. We have a relentless propensity to attempt to modify God’s plan and we want Him to endorse our plans instead. We want God to accept what we believe to be superior plans to what He has provided. We want our partnership and relationship with God to be on an equal level. We want the power to veto God’s plan. We want God to accept our plans rather than insist on His. I believe the church today has a lot to learn from Israel’s history. As we study Israel’s history, we study the attributes and expectations of God towards a covenant people. God desires to bless His children as they live in obedience to Him and live pure lives. When we miss the mark, God waits for us to turn to Him for help; for it is He who works in us both to will and to do His good pleasure. Robert C. Hudson June 2, 2014