Don Graham Revival Ministries

"Consider Your Ways"

Haggai 1:5,7

Text: " Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider Your ways..."

Following the seventy year Babylonian captivity Ezra leads a faithful band of the remnant to return to Jerusalem to resettle their land and rebuild their city and the Temple. No sooner has the groundbreaking ceremony finished for the Temple than the Devil stirs up adversaries against the people and they promptly wilt, abandon the project, and focus on the building of their own homes (Ezra 4). Fifteen years later God raises up the prophet Haggai to call them back to their priority task. (Ezra 5). In four brief but powerful messages Haggai calls his people to the experience of revival which always begins by the necessity to "consider our ways. They, like we, need to...

I. Consider Their Delay (v.2)

They need to consider that their delay is not of the Lord's doing. They have been insisting that it is not the time to build the Lord's house while they have found ample time to build themselves very nice homes (v.4). Like these early patriots we often blame our inherent selfishness on the timing of God's will when in reality we neglect His work so that we can focus on our own selfish pursuits. The problem is priorities—God was not first in their lives or His House would have taken precedence over their own. We must repent and put God first in our life. As Lord He will brook no rival in our life for the place of supremacy.

II. Consider Their Disappointments (vs. 6, 9)

They need to consider and understand that the disappointments they are coping with are none other than the scourging hand of God's appointments to help them see that their delay is wrong. They have "sown much" but brought home "little"; they "eat" but are never satisfied; they have plenty of clothes but are never warm. When they get their pay day it has disappeared before they get home for the bag was full of holes. What they did get home with, God "blew upon it" and it is indeed "gone with the wind."

That picture seems hauntingly familiar, doesn't it? When will we recognize all around us the hand of God scourging and chastising those He loves, to call us to consider our ways and come running back to the cross?

III. Consider the Draught (vs. 10, 11)

They need to consider that the moisture from heaven is stayed by the hand of the Lord because of their delay. Across our land we continually hear of large pockets of draught where the rains have ceased and the people are suffering. But greater still is the spiritual draught that sweeps across our Lord's church. The church is so dry, so very barren, so bereft of the "showers" of God's spiritual blessing. Of old God promised: "I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land springs of water" (Isa. 41:18). Oh, that we might learn to cry out to God as the teenager in the Welch revival prayed: "Lord, You have promised to pour waters on him who is thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. I'm thirsty, ours is a dry ground. Now, Lord, keep your promise. Send the floods." As a result of that young man's boldly claiming God's promise revival came to his parish unparalleled.

IV. Consider Their Duty (vs. 12-15)

They need to consider that it is their duty to rise up now and build the house of God. The Lord so honored the anointed preaching of Haggai that He "stirred" up the spirit of Zerubbabel and the people that they returned to their task and the Temple was soon rebuilt. When we delight in fulfilling our duty God delivers all the needed resources. The only thing that will turn drought into victory is obedience to the Word of God. When that occurs the Lord can "stir up" the spirit of His people and the work will be accomplished.

Will you "consider yours ways"? Will you call others around you to do likewise? Place your ways under the searchlight of the Spirit's scouting and...

REMEMBER............REPENT.........REPENT.. (do the first works)

Lest He comes to..."REMOVE your candlestick" (Revelation 2:5)