What does it all mean?

What does it all mean?

Our beloved United States of America has been assaulted with everything from an unprecedented assault on one of our own contiguous States to economic woes and a great divide in our moral makeup to a hurricane of biblical proportions.  Are we to read anything into this or are all of these things simply the ebb and flow of life?  

I want to draw your attention to the scriptures for a period when Israel was experiencing much grief; during the time of Haggai the prophet of God spoke through the His prophet and said this…

(Hag 1:5-11)  Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.  Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.

Consider your ways… God points them in the direction of their own behavior to explain natural phenomenon (famine).  Simply put, their own outcome was intrinsically linked to their relationship (or lack thereof) to God.

I have worked for several years in the quality department and one of the things that is repeated time and time again is your product is only as good as your process.  In light of this little axiom this is what God is saying here, “Your quality of life is only as good as your hearts towards me”.

From time to time it is important for us to consider our ways…let me also say this:  Prov 26:2 - “…The curse causeless [without a reason] shall not come”.

I have no intention of being a “Disaster Monger”; but let me put this to you for your careful consideration.  When the Lord said, “Consider your ways”, did he mean it for just Israel alone or did he mean it for the entire world?  The answer to that is very simple, it has been made available for the whole world to read, therefore, it is for the whole world.  When I see the profound devastations that came upon Louisiana and I consider the words of people like the Mayor of New Orleans, Mayor Nagin, I shudder.  His advice is; “America, we are a party city, GET OVER IT!”  Let me take pastoral liberty to wholeheartedly chastise him for his reckless statement.  If he truly cared for the people he would say something a little more meaningful and penitent such as “God save us, we desperately need your help; help us to change our ways!”  This would go much further in the efforts to cheer the heart of God and to rebuild his city.

Rev Frank R. Anderson