The Return Part I

³Then 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?" ⁵Now 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." ⁷Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Consider your ways! ⁸Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the LORD.Haggai 1:3-8

I have been studying the return of the Jews to Jerusalem in 538 BC. The Jewish Diaspora had been living in Babylon for 48 years. Many of the Jews became comfortable in the new culture. Only a small remnant of the Jews who left in the deportations returned home to rebuild Jerusalem, the temple, and their lives. Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah they made the 300 mile journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. Eighteen years went by as they resettled in Jerusalem. Then the Lord spoke to them through the prophet Haggai and told them it was time to rebuild the temple.

The history of southern Sudan is similar in many ways. During the more than twenty years of civil war, many Sudanese were killed and many left their country to settle in the relative safety of the surrounding countries. Now many of the southern Sudanese are returning home to a country which has been ravaged by civil war. They are now in the process of rebuilding their country just as were the Jew returning to Jerusalem.

How comfortable have we become in our culture? How difficult is it for us to get less involved in our cultural activities and pursue activities for the Kingdom of God? It is easy to criticize the majority of Jews for choosing not to return home to rebuild Jerusalem, but would we have been any different? We need to reconsider our ways and make intentional choices to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). The ways of the world can be subtle and seductive and can appear to be the right way, but we, as God's children, through prayer and with the direction of the Holy Spirit must make choices with God's kingdom in mind.

Mike McMahon

"History is but the unrolled scroll of prophecy." - James Garfield

Prayer Power

Lord, please bring comfort to those who need it and for those of us who are too comfortable use your Spirit to arouse us to awaken and be about Your work.