Wrapping up Haggai 1 - The Grace of God

Before you read this post, make sure you've read the other three in this series. Click here to start from the beginning. Recently, I had a very spiritual breakthrough that will hopefully stay with me forever and has already brought a lot of blessing into my life. The breakthrough was directly focused on me doing the dishes (Yes, the dishes). For the longest time, I've had a massively difficult time getting myself to turn those faucet knobs and get scrubbing. Being without a dishwasher certainly makes you realize how many dishes you go through, even for just two people! I feel like every time I turn around, we have a mount of dishes that weighs like a thousand pounds and takes up all the space that I need in order to wash the dishes. My wife has been incredible and takes care of them now most of the time, but I knew that I should still help out with them too. So on many occasions, I have been in the kitchen, furtively trying to not break any dishes while scraping off whatever leftover gunk is still dwelling on our dishes. It's certainly amazing how certain types of food stick so well to plates and bowls once they've dried.

During some particularly clear moments over the last few weeks while my heart has been melded to God's - and occasionally while my hands were in the sink - I've gotten blown away by a thought I knew was correct but was still having difficulty internalizing. The thought that has been ringing in my ears has been: Don't pretend like you're "doing a favor" for your wife by doing the dishes, do them because of love.

It has been unfolding for me in various ways, but mostly, I've been deeply learning about acts of love through obedience. When I obey God by laying down my own desires for my wife, I am loving God and bringing him honor. When I am doing that, I am genuinely living Colossians 3:23-24 when Paul says, "Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ."

While it wasn't something that I really saw as that important, I have seen a lot of growth in my heart since I have been obeying God heartily, or whole heartedly as I would say. Thanks to God, the selfless joy he has planted within me is sprouting in all areas of my life and I'm loving it!

Let's take a look at what obedience to God and its fruits looked like for Judah in Haggai's time:

Haggai 1:12-15 - "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 Lord. Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” And 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, on the twenty- fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king."

I keep getting really stoked about this part: "'I am with you, declares the Lord.' And the Lord stirred up the spirit of…" In the NLT, the verse says, "So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of…" I love that! I want that! As soon as Judah became obedient, the Lord sent Haggai to encourage them and he also stirred up their souls with a beautiful zeal. That is such a wonderful picture of God's grace and I am continuing to experience it today. That should be an encouragement to anyone who is struggling with anything! Turn to God and he will fill you.

In a big way for me, that was what happened with the little task of doing the dishes. I turned to joyful obedience to God, and through it I was both encouraged through God's word AND I gained a new passion for leaning on him that I would not have received had I continued to be a begrudging servant. As John Piper would say, "For [God's] sake and your joy, go low."

I would like to encourage all of you to pray with me this week to both obey God and do so whole heartedly. If we are to get out of our own selfish gravity and experience what Judah experienced in Haggai, we need God's help to obey Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength.