The Chastening Hand of God as Found in Haggai

The people of Israel were back in the land following seventy years of captivity in Babylon. They had settled in, made nice comfortable homes, and gotten on with life. Except they had forgotten to rebuild the temple of God. The book of Haggai confronts them over this shortfall. In doing so, it also sets forth a pattern that is applicable to us if and when we neglect doing the work of God in building His church. Haggai 1:9-11 outlines the outcome:

"You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it 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. For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain, and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands."

Who is responsible for this? God is. He takes full credit. In effect, God says,

"If things aren't going so good for you right now, blame Me, because I did it. I have to get your attention some way, so I took an active part in this thing. I turned off the faucet and shut off your water."

Would God really do that? Of course He would. He said He did it, didn't He?

We can see the same idea found in Hebrews 12:6-7,

"For whom the Lord loves, He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives. If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?"

God chastens His own. He disciplines. When we don't obey, He'll spank us. So if it feels, sometimes, that you are being taken to the woodshed for a lickin,' ask yourself if God is doing this. Examine your ways.

It may not always be that. Certainly, Job was not being chastened by God when he was run through the ringer. Even God said that Job was a righteous man. But it could be God telling you to straighten-up. In Malachi 3:8-11, God told the same people that if they rob God, He would punish them. We have to give God His due. If we put God in His proper place, God will take care of us. We learned that in Matthew 6:33, that God would take care of the details in taking care of us if we put Him first.

But they ignored the work God had set before them, so they experienced a drought at the hand of God. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for drought also means desolation or ruin. It is the same Hebrew word that was used in Haggai 1:4 and Haggai 1:9 to describe the condition of the temple. It lay too in ruins. What comes round goes round. If they leave God's house in ruin, they get ruin.

How did they respond? Haggai 1:12:

"Then Zerubabbel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him, and the people feared the presence of the Lord."

Obviously, the words of the prophet, or should I say, the words of God brought conviction. Thankfully, they had sense enough to recognize the message was from God, and they obeyed. If your translations says they listened instead of obeyed, just remember, you don't really listen to God until you obey Him. The essence of faith is obedience. As First Samuel 15:22 says, "to obey is better than sacrifice." They obeyed. do you?