Tuesday after the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Posted on October 22, 2019 by under
Scripture: Haggai 1:1-15 (NKJV)
1:1 In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 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 hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on pall the labor of your hands.”
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 presence of the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, spoke the Lord’s message to the people, saying, “I am with you, says the Lord.” 14 So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius.
Devotion
Based on Luther’s four-fold aspect of better understanding God’s Word:
God reveals about Himself that He is fully aware of what our self-centered sins are against Him. The Lord rebukes where He needs to in order to open sinful man’s eyes to his sin. And He is the One who creates the repentant response.
The believing, baptized children of God can be thankful for God’s Law, which brings us to see our sins against Him (tearing down any trust in the flesh); and for bringing us to have the biblical wisdom of fearing the Lord. More thankfulness can be given for His Gospel, which reveals Christ’s fully atoning merits (our only rescue) and for bringing us to trust alone in the blood of Christ for redemption.
The sins revealed could include thinking only about material gain for oneself, while properly supporting the proclamation of God’s Gospel falls by the wayside, as well as believing that it’s not a problem to place God’s commands out of mind.
We are taught to pray for an on-going fear of the Lord; for understanding that the riches of Christ’s fully atoning merits—delivered through Word and Sacrament Ministry, and received through faith—brings us to become rich in our love for God and others.
We pray: O God, because without You we are not able to please You, mercifully grant that Your Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
