OUR DAILY BREAD : LIFE LAB

[cimi]

September 3
Wednesday


LIFE LAB

READ:
Haggai 1:2-7
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Thus says the LORD of
hosts: "Consider your
ways!" Haggai 1:7
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Hurricane Andrew struck the US mainland in August 1992. As residents tried to cope with the destruction, scientists turned Florida into a huge laboratory. Teams of researchers descended on the state to measure the storm's impact on everything from building materials to tropical fish. Psychologists analyzed the hurricane's influence on children. Geographers mapped sunken boats. Marine scientists cataloged the damage done to reefs, sea grass, and mangroves. Criminologists studied price-gouging and the breakdown of social order.

The prophets of the Bible did a similar evaluation after spiritual disasters. They documented the personal, social, and environmental effects of turning away from the one true God (Ia. 1:1-9; Hag. 1:2-7).

In behalf of loving God, Haggai urged his neighbors to give careful attention to what had happened. He noted the priority they were giving to their own comforts and wanted them to observe how dissatisfied and empty they still were.

If God didn't care, He wouldn't ask us to consider the time and effort we are spending on diminishing returns. If He didn't love us, He couldn't remind us of all that he has given us. God sees what has happened to us and knows how much we need to focus on Him today. _Mart De Haan
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``````````````````I would live for thee, Lord Jesus,````````````````
````````````````Keep my eyes so turned toward Thee``````````````
``````````````````That the world and all its system````````````````
````````````````May attract no part of me. __Graves``````````````
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When christ is the center of your interests,
life will be in focus.

****************Today's Bible Reading __ Haggai 1:2-7*************

2 Thus speaks the LORD of
hosts, saying: "This people
says, 'The time has not
come, the time that the
LORD's house should be
built.' "

3 Then the word of the
LORD came by Haggai the
prophet, saying, 4 "Is it time
for you yourselves to dwell
in your paneled houses, and
this temple to lie in ruins?"

5 Now therefore, thus says
the LORD of hosts:
"Consider your ways!

6 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."

7 Thus says the LORD of
hossts: "Consider your
ways!"

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

The name Haggai means "festive" and may have referred to one
who faithfully observed the feast times of Israel. As the time of
Israel's captivity in Babylon came to a close, Haggai was one of
three prophets (along with Zephaniah and Malachi) whose focus
of attention was on Israel's return to their homeland. Within that
framework, the prophet Haggai stressed the need of the returning
exiles to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem, so that once again there
would be a center for their national life that focused on God.
__Bill Crowder