27/06/2022 - CONSIDER YOUR WAYS

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Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways!  Haggai 1:7

Why did the Lord repeat this warning when once would have been enough? The truth is that this subject is of enormous importance, because we need to think about what we do with divine revelations. Instead of just walking on them, we have been trying to mold them to our liking. Now, all guidance from God must be received as a command. If He speaks about anything, we need to change or improve our actions.

After sinning, instead of answering right away, Adam hid himself when he was called by the Creator (Genesis 3:8-10). It was necessary to ask where Adam was for him to give his version of what happened in that garden. Now, he knew that he had done wrong when he followed Eve in her error. Stay alert, because the devil will tempt God’s servants for them to lose their eternal happiness (1 Peter 5:8). Watch and pray!

In the same way, God’s voice has echoed in our spiritual ears. Sometimes there is no answer to the questions we ask Him, because we feel so filthy. Sin always brings remorse and so we lose the courage to go to God. Sometimes it seems that we lack familiarity with Him, which was not Samuel´s case. Upon hearing his name, the young man ran to ask Eli what he wanted. However, after being instructed by the judge of those days, the future prophet was able to understand what the Most High was saying to him (1 Samuel 3.1-9).

Gideon heard the Lord when a man of God went around Israel, showing their error of disregarding the Almighty’s prohibitions. That young man felt he had to plant wheat, even though the others thought it was unwise (Judges 6:11). Never be deceived by the enemy by listening to other people. Stand up on what God tells you and carry out that command. The heavenly Father always gives His servants the tools!

David declared that if God had delivered him from the lion and bear that attacked his flock, He would also help him defeat the giant and consequently deliver Israel (1 Samuel 17:37). Thus, the son of Jesse wasted no time and set out to face the big, nosy man. After the battle, David was all smiles, because the one who had risen up against the Israelites was gone. The enemy is no more since the day he was defeated, in his own house, by Jesus.

The people’s deviation was warned about by several prophets. Isaiah, for example, prophesied, more than a hundred years earlier, that if that sinful conduct continued, God’s children would be delivered into the hands of the Babylonians. The Lord also warned them through Jeremiah´s ministry. This prophet, wept and showed that they would spend 70 years in captivity and so it happened. Now they were warned by Haggai to consider their ways, for they were doing wrong!

This prophecy is valid for God’s people, who must examine how they have been walking in the Gospel: See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise (Ephesians 5:15). Those who have faith in the Lord will see that the Almighty’s words were for the sake of His work. So, believe and be an overcomer from now on, and consider yourself warned.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares