18 ‘From this day on, from this twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, give careful thought to the day when the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid. Give careful thought: 19 Is there yet any seed left in the barn? Until now, the vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree have not borne fruit.
“ ‘From this day on I will bless you.’ ” – Haggai 2:18-19 (NIV)
It seems as we come near to the end of the book of Haggai that it’s here the real beginning takes place. It’s almost as if this “twenty-fourth day of the ninth month” is when real change and real work begins. The people have been rebuked by the Lord, had their hearts stirred, and they even began some of the construction efforts of the Temple rebuilding project. But as we addressed in previous devotionals, true repentance has now finally taken place in their hearts.
Even though the people intellectually understood what the Lord was saying through the prophet, Haggai, and even though they were doing some good deeds, and even though what they were working on was going to help fulfill God’s mission in the world, they had not yet become what He desired them to be – completely sold out for Him and surrendering their entire beings to His sanctifying grace.
It’s almost like the Lord is reminding them one more time to think deeply about what their work and life looked like before. He wanted them to pause and reflect on the weariness they experienced in their own strength. He wanted them to recall the lack of results in spite of all their efforts. He wanted them to come to the realization that He was not blessing what was taking place.
Could it be that as we near the end of our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting that the Lord is graciously offering another reminder today? Is He reminding that good deeds do not make us holy? Is He calling to attention once more that doing work for Him does not put us in right relationship with Him, nor does it make us holy? Is it possible that the reminder we’re being offered today is one to cause us to realize that life without Him yields less-than-desirable results and there’s nothing we can do to change it apart from Him?
Could it be that the Lord is reminding us as a church that we must be consecrated in order to see His blessings? Is He reminding us that we can keep exhausting ourselves and working in our own strength only to find that it’s not producing the fruit that it should? Maybe He’s reminding us that the harvest we desperately long for will not come until we, as His body, become a holy, sanctified people?
Church, it’s only when we’ve been cleansed from sin and defilement…it’s only when we’ve been filled with the Holy Spirit of God…it’s only when holy people are doing holy tasks from a place of holy love for the God they love heart, soul, mind, and strength that He promises His blessings.