Bible Reading Plan

A few days ago I mentioned that CrossPoint will soon make available a new Bible Reading Plan for 2008. This morning I woke up extra early to catch up on my reading for 2007. Last week I had fallen behind a few days. Little did I realize how much of a blessing I would receive this morning catching up on my reading through God’s Word. Actually, that should not surprise me.

The reading plan for today required us to read Haggai. I had forgotten how crammed full of truth the book of Haggai really is, although it is only three brief chapters in length.

The first portion of God’s Word that caught my eye was Haggai 1:7-11, where the Bible records:

7 "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors."

Check out the last part of verse 7—Consider your ways.

That was a good reminder for me this morning. We should consider our ways each day. We should examine ourselves to see if we are walking in the ways of the Lord.

Soon thereafter, Haggai added these words:

12 Then Zerubbabel 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 Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, "I am with you, declares the Lord."
Haggai 1:12-14

Next, my attention was drawn to the quote in verse 13 – I am with you.

That should be a real comfort to each of us; that the Lord is with us. We may not always sense He is present, yet He is always present.

As if that were not enough, the Lord spoke to me clearly in chapter 2, when He said through the prophet Haggai:

2 In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 2 "Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 'Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.'"
Haggai 2:1-9

God wanted to restore His temple, and He said the “latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former”; that is, if the people let Him do it His way.

So what is the bottom line? The bottom line from Haggai for me this morning was three-fold:

1. I should CONSIDER my ways.
2. I must remember the Lord is always WITH ME.
3. The Lord desires to do a GREAT WORK in me, if I will only let Him.

That is a great way to start the day.