Wake up call - a fresh start

God sent out a wake up call! Last time we studied, we looked at both the fifth chapter of Ezra and the first chapter of Haggai. We saw that the prophet Haggai spoke as the Lord told him to, and rebuked the people. Their priorities had gotten skewed. They were making lovely, luxurious homes for themselves, and neglecting the worship of God. They were happy to have their own houses, but didn't see the importance of God having a house.
They needed a fresh start.
Last week, I was working in my garden, and I realized that the two rows of green beans were petering out. What do I mean? The plants had produced vigorously, and we'd had wonderful side dishes of freshly picked and cooked beans, but now the plants were past their prime. No more blooms brightened the tops, so no more beans would be growing. I needed a fresh start, so I pulled up all the plants, chopped them up and incorporated them into the garden soil (green beans are fabulous since they "fix" the nitrogen in the soil) and tilled it thoroughly. Next step? Plant more beans! I will probably get another crop before frost - another nice thing about living in the south!

The Jewish people needed a fresh start, too. A fresh encounter with the Word of God. In their day, that was a prophet who said, "Thus saith the Lord." (In our day, we can dig in and glean new knowledge from our Bibles.) In the Old Testament, the prophets didn't talk so much about God's already-written Word....they received new revelations from God - He spoke directly to them, and they were to pass His Word along to the people. Consequently, when a prophet spoke, the people realized that God was talking right to them.

We don't depend on prophets anymore to get a revelation from God. The Holy Spirit's job (one of them, at least) is to instruct us as we get into the Word. We have the heart of the prophets' messages in the Old Testament, and we have our Redeemer's words and His disciples' writings in the New.  The thing that will inspire and refresh us most when we are dealing with discouragement is to hear God speaking to us in our particular circumstances, through His Word! Whether we "open at random," seek a particular and familiar passage, or read through the Bible systematically, what we read will have relevance to our day - the Spirit does that. Have you ever had that happen? A verse or a passage will just "get in your face" and demand your thoughts and attention -- it's the perfect verse that addresses just what we are going through. Only the Holy Spirit can do that, and He is a master at it!

Yes, a fresh encounter with God's Word is awfully important. How do we do that? Well, of course, we have to have some exposure to the Word. If we never open our Bibles or sit listening to a teacher or preacher, it's hard for distinctly new and fresh concepts to enter our minds! Yep, I know, when we are discouraged we may not FEEL like getting into the Word, but in this day of technology there are so many ways to do it! In addition to reading and turning real pages, we can listen on tapes or discs; we can pull up a favorite teacher on the web and watch/listen as they speak. It may be necessary for us to schedule a certain time each day - we've discussed this before - to get alone with God. He speaks to us through His Word, and we must take the time and the effort needed to expose ourselves to it.

How is all of this going to work?
What does a fresh start, a fresh "dunk" into the pool of God's Word get us?
The first thing it does is confront sin in our lives . . . .
That's actually the main thrust of the prophet Haggai's book -- in the verses that we've read, he is directly confronting the people with their sin. I'm sure that had an impact on his popularity for a time, but hey, somebody's got to do it! Haggai told the people about their sin of building their own luxurious homes while neglecting God's house. God used Haggai to stir up Zerubbabel, Jeshua (Joshua in some translations), and the people, too:

So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, (Haggai 1:14)

It's not always pleasant, in fact, we may be thinking, "Wow, when I'm discouraged, I sure don't want to confront my sin! I don't think that would be ENcouraging!"

Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper,    but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy. (Proverbs 28:13)

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. (Hebrews 12:11)

It's the medicine we all need. Confession of sin and then receiving a fresh outpouring of grace from our Redeemer can be VERY encouraging! Sin destroys us, and it also damages those who are close to us. To avoid and neglect our study of the Bible because it confronts our sin? That's like avoiding the doctor when we have received a diagnosis that can be treated and cured; our diagnosis is that we are all sinners, and our cure is the love and mercy of Christ. We need to get into the Bible when discouraged, and let the Spirit tell us of sins we may have overlooked.....

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:16)

Our fresh encounter with God's Word will not only point our our sins, but it will confirm for us that if we repent, His grace is there for us. We'll cover this in our study tomorrow!