SATURDAY, JANUARY 21
Scripture: Haggai 1:3-6

In 538 BC, Cyrus of Persia was called by God for a specific event. Even though he did not know the Lord, he issued a decree allowing the return of Jews to Jerusalem including the rebuilding of the temple. The Jews were sent back to their land with a contingency to rebuild. That group was met with opposition and as the opposition increased, it resulted in the call of Haggai and Zachariah. The prophet Haggai got to do something somewhat unique in the realm of the prophetic. He got to encourage the people to rebuild a temple that the Messiah would one day walk in. Haggai 1:3-6 says, “Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, ‘Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?’ Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; You eat, but do not have enough; You drink, but you are not filled with drink; You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; And he who earns wages, Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.’” Haggai had to tell the people the reason they were in the condition they were in was because the Lord’s House was not being taken care of. If the people would take care of God’s House, He would take care of them. This was a very different prophetic assignment than most other prophets who frequently had to expose sin and corruption and warn of the resulting destruction. He got to tell people how to do a specific job for God. What kind of a kingdom did Haggai have to subdue? He had to subdue lethargy, an attitude that was not of God. Haggai got to participate in building something exciting – a future temple moved forward by his life-filled declarations.