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Haggai brought a needed message to a comfortable people. They had returned to the promised land from a seventy year hiatus. Their initial objective was to rebuild God's Temple, but they had gotten side tracked. They had begun to invest in their own businesses, homes and families. They had completely forgotten about God's Temple.  So, along comes Haggai, the prophet, to remind them of their lapse in memory. He asked an initial question, Haggai 1:4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" The message continued with a reminder that, all that the people held so dear, had come because of God's blessings. And that the recent dearth had also come from God to spark them to action. This indeed, was an act of mercy.  God, through the prophet, gives us good advice for our own plans, when he says, "give careful thought to your own ways" (vv 5,7).  So often we think that we are giving much thought to our ...

"I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth," declares the Lord. 3 "I will sweep away both man and beast; I will sweep away the birds in the sky and the fish in the sea— and the idols that cause the wicked to stumble." "When I destroy all mankind on the face of the earth," declares the Lord...  When did God say this?  You might be tempted to think that God spoke these words to Noah, or to the Apostle John in the Revelation. But you'd be surprised to discover that he revealed them to Zephaniah, one of the minor prophet, some 600 years before Christ.  When did what God talked about happen? It's drastic stuff. Just the first line is difficult to imagine even though it is stated in simple language. This is the stuff of study Bible notes. Mine says the following: " Basic Training for Satisfaction  Because Yahweh's day of fury is coming, Judah must repent and wait upon God. The prophet calls the people back to the basics as the only...

This poor man cried!  Men crying seems out of style these days. Men are to be brave tough and stoic. "Real men don't cry" is the battle cry, so to speak.  Yet we all know that crying is a natural reflex for either of the sexes. If you don't believe me, then just let a man watch a good "dog-rescue" video and you will see what I mean. There is a trigger point in every one of us, whether male or female, that when sprung, makes the tears flow.  However, in Psalm 34:6, David is talking about another type of crying. There he's speaking about a desperate call for help. It is the type of shout that we hear Peter squeal as he began to slip beneath the boding waters of the Sea of Galilee in Matthew 14. David was in deep doo. According to the suspect, title of this psalm, he was brought before a pagan king and accused of treason. An act that would bring instant death in most cases.  The title is suspect because this lovely psalm it doesn't fit that weird circum...

Both Jeremiah chapters 15 and 16 are shocking, curt and devastating to the land of Judah. Blood would fly and carcasses would be left to the dogs and other wild beasts. Children would be punished for their father's sins and all because they had abandoned their God. I have withdrawn my blessing, my love and my pity from this people," declares the Lord (Jeremiah 16:5b).  God's blessing had promised success in crops, healthy families and dread in enemy hearts. His love was enduring, protective and satisfying. His pity saw the helpless and poor and aided both. For God to withdraw these fundamental elements from his people would be devastating. And it's happened to us.  Why? Because we've abandoned him.

At times we haphazardly use the Bible. We try to prove a point or one of our long-held beliefs, and we yank a verse out of thin air to confirm what we mean. This practice is called "Taking a verse out of Context." One classic example of this practice follows. The Bible teaches that smoking is OK. If Rebecca did it, we could do it. How do we know that Rebecca smoked? Look up Genesis 24:64. There you will find these words - And Rebekah lifted up her eyes, and when she saw Isaac, she lighted off the camel. Of course, this is a ridiculous illustration. However, it is no more silly than many so-called theological "proof text" to absurd arguments these days.  When studying the Bible, we must remember the age-old adage that says context is king. If we don't know the context of a single verse, we will err in its interpretation. Theologian Dr. D. A. Carson attributed his father, saying, " A text without  a  context is a pretext  for a proof  text . I bring up this s...

Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: " If you repent, I will restore you... " If you repent, I will restore you ."  Wow! I often think of the prophets as supermen. First, they received their call from God, and that was that. Then, they did according to the Word of the Lord from then on. However, pausing to think about it, we will remember that Moses, Elijah, and Hoseah got discouraged and wanted to quit.  The " discouragement   prophet " would have been Jeremiah. From his initial call in chapter one until the end of his book, he is a weeper. And, seemingly, rightly so. But, my word, his message was a downer. Who wouldn't get disheartened if he had to take bad news to the public every day? Jeremiah had no wife and seemingly no friends but his amanuensis Baruch. Yet over and over, his message was a bummer.  Chapter 15 brings a startling conversation between Jeremiah and God not only about the people's rejection of, and by, God but near th...

Reading Jeremiah 14 today, I found interesting some parallels occurring in our world. For example, one study app had this cheery title, Drought, famine, and sword. The chapter starts with God describing a current drought. Every living thing was suffering from the lack of water. In his desperation, Jeremiah cried out to God, "Although our sins testify against us, do something, LORD, for the sake of your name. The prophet went on to call on the Hope of Israel, the Savior, and LORD, to not be like a stranger, surprised man, and powerless warrior. Why? Because He was among them! They bear His name. Therefore he should not forsake them. However, the LORD did not accept that designation. Because the people love to wander from him, their pretended spirituality would go unnoticed. And instead, he would destroy them with sword, famine, and plague. The prophets, the intercessors between God and the people, were low-down liars. They talked about the good that was to come and how God would bl...