FEBRUARY 3, 2022

BIBLE READINGS

Haggai 2:15-17

15Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the Lord, 16how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty. 17I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the Lord.

John 14:23

23Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.


Romans 8:28

28And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

HUNGRY I COME TO YOU

Just like in the Old Testament, hard times can drive us to seek God with a hunger for Him that is sometimes lessened in easier times. While bad things aren’t always from God, it’s true that God sometimes allows hard things in our lives to drive us to seek Him more. Author C. S. Lewis called these experiences "God's Megaphone" God's amplified voice of love seeking to awaken or alert us to long and hunger for him more deeply. I have found, perhaps you have as well, God never disciplines us to punish us. He always disciplines out of love and care to restore us to himself.

That is what we witness in the story described in Haggai. The people didn't stop believing in God, nor did they did they forget the call to build the temple, they just became distracted by other things, and those other things were of lesser importance. Doesn't that happen in your life? It sure happens in mine! It is easy to be distracted isn't it? The Psalmist says "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." (Psalm 84:2) Now that is hungering for God. Near the end of Psalm 84 the Psalmists proclaims

"For the Lord God is a sun and shield;

The Lord will give grace and glory;

No good thing will He withholdFrom those who walk uprightly.

How do we walk "uprightly"? Well the answer is by our obedience to God, as John 14 says above by "keeping his word." Notice the promise John 14:23 ends with is that God will make his home in us. What better outcome coould there be!!

REFLECT

What hardships has God allowed in your life?

Did you respond to these difficulties by drawing closer to Him, or did they push you further away?

REMEMBER

God says, “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness." Jeremiah 31:3

PRAYER

“Lord Jesus, my soul aches at the mere mention of Your name. My heart leaps for every rumor of Your coming, and each possibility that You will manifest Your presence. I’m not satisfied with mere spiritual dainties. I’m ravenously hungry for You in Your fullness. I’m desperate to feast on the bread of Your presence and quench my thirst with the wine of Your Spirit.”

(Prayer from Tommy Tenney, Experiencing His Presence: Devotions for God Chasers)