"Is it time for your 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! 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! 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. You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, it blew 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. Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit" Haggai 1:4-10.
This is an incredibly foreign concept in our world- the idea that our hard work won't pay off no matter how hard we try. Try, try again the saying goes. And while that is very, very true, if we try, try again and continue to withhold from the Lord He may again and again withhold from us. In a world built on results from smart business practices, God sure does throw a possibly huge wrench in our plans.
I often think I placate God in my prayer life. I spend time asking for God to bless this and bless that. Bless me; bless my work; bless my family and my friends; bless us as we travel and keep us safe; blah, blah, blah. God watch over us. Blah. Now I in no way mean to trivialize any form of prayer or dishonor any moment we spend with God or talking about God but simply put, a quality prayer life starts with getting out of the habit of praying monotonous, unnecessary prayers. He's already promised to never leave us or forsake us. He's already promised to bless us within His will. CHECK. No need to pray for that anymore. It's not a time saver in your time with God but it is a quality check and results booster.
But, steering back on topic, how often do we consider that God is withholding His blessing because of our lack-luster following or disobedience? In a world stricken with recession, it's an ironic juxtaposition to consider that possibly, in some individual or corporate cases, God just might be withholding our earthly blessings because of our unwillingness to further His kingdom. Your salary might just be frozen where it is until you honor God; your ability to have children or get married just might come second to what needs to be done in the church. Or what's more, our culture that most of us so willingly accept and absorb into just might be holding the lot of us back in one big sweep.
Do we believe God has this power? Do we believe He uses it? What God do we believe in, exactly? I don't know about yours but the more I read passages like this the more I realize my God's not as squeaky clean, good-guy, loving grandfather god. He is completely clean. He is completely good. And He is completely God. But He's not our world's definition of those words. He's different. He's God and if you don't fear Him, you don't know Him. And if you don't believe He would withhold from you, you don't trust Him enough and you just might find out the hard way like too many of us quite possibly are currently experiencing.
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