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

Trust God’s Promises

June 8, 2014 Background Scripture: Haggai 1:12 – 2:9 Lesson Passage: Haggai 1:12 – 15; 2:1 – 9 I vividly recall two exercises I participated in as part of my training to become a more effective manager. The first exercise was called “The Trust Walk” and the second exercise was called “The Trust Fall”. In the first exercise, I was blindfolded and someone led me around on a walk that involved different terrain. My sense of sound seemed to be immediately enhanced as a result of no longer being able to use my sight. I recall walking on pavement, grass, and even gravel. The shifting gravel under my feet made my sense of balance seem very awkward to say the least. I was led to various objects to touch—such as the side of a building, a swing set on a playground, and an automobile in a parking lot. The passing traffic seemed exceptionally loud as I was led next to a busy street. It was very uncomfortable to feel so vulnerable. The worse was yet to come. The Trust Fall did not involve a blindfold but it probably would have been easier for me with a blindfold. In the Trust Fall, I had to stand on an elevated platform with a number of people standing on the ground behind me. I had to close my eyes and fall backwards from the platform and trust them to catch me. Never before had those people seemed like such strangers to me. I recall wondering if it would be best to simply resign from the company and avoid all training that involved physical activities from that point forward. The fall from that platform felt like it lasted forever. After it was over, I wondered if any of them thought about letting me hit the ground. I don’t know if I trusted them any more after that than I did before. Through those two exercises over twenty years ago, I became acutely aware of how vulnerable a person feels when they must do something that depends totally on others for their security. Our lesson today reminded me that seeing others struggle in their dependence on God is very different than when you have to do it for yourself. In today’s lesson, Israel was challenged to trust God’s promises. As the Jews worked to rebuild the temple, they were disheartened because it did not measure up to the temple built by Solomon. Moreover, Solomon was beyond rich and they were recently returned from bondage and obviously did not possess Solomon’s resources. But God promised them that His spirit was still among them and He would cause the temple they built to be more glorious than that of Solomon. This was difficult for them to accept seeing that their resources were limited. Solomon had access to whatever resources he needed because his father David provided for him before his death. God reminded them that all of the silver and gold in the world belongs to Him and He can choose to use it as He pleases and where He wants to. God wanted them to use the resources they had and to do the best they could with it. All that we will ever have to work with is what God gives us. We should not compare what we do with the work of others who appear to have more resources. If we are good stewards of what God entrusts us with, God will bring glory to the work. We should always trust God’s promises. Robert C. Hudson May 28, 2014