Haggai 1:3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, 1. Men are always prone to put religion off with scraps and leavings, and serve God with what costs them nothing. In the outward things of religion, they are much more disposed to work for themselves than for God; and if they have time that cannot be otherwise used, or funds that are not very current, to give them to the treasury of the Lord, and if any larger expenditure of either is urged, to plead that "the time has not come" to do this work. In the inward things of religion the same spirit is shown. The young, the middle-aged, and the old, all alike procrastinate the great work, on the plea that "the time is not come," the convenient season that, like the horizon, recedes as we advance (ver. 2). 2. Our expenditures on ourselves, whilst we pretend to have nothing for God, will bear emphatic and fearful testimony against us. The carved ceilings and costly ornaments will have a tongue in the day of judgment (ver. 4). 3. No man ever gains anything by trying to cheat God. He makes a fool's bargain, bartering a real good for a perishing bauble, and losing at last even what he gained (ver. 6). 4. A careful pondering of God's dealings with us will often indicate to us God's will regarding us. The events of life are the hieroglyphics in which God records His feelings toward us, the key to which is found in the Bible (ver. 6). 5. Obedience to God is an advancement of His glory (ver. 8). 6. Disobedience to God will often, even in this life, issue in disappointment and disaster (vers. 9, 10). 7. God has not abandoned the universe to the sightless action of general laws, but is so related to that universe as to be able to direct its laws to the fulfilment of His purposes, whether in rewarding the good, punishing the evil, or answering prayer, without deranging or destroying the normal action of those laws themselves (ver. 11). 8. True religion manifests itself in fearing the Lord, and in obeying the voice of His servant (ver. 12). 9. The presence of God with a man is the best blessing he can receive, for it includes everything else (ver. 13). 10. God is waiting to be gracious, and will meet the returning wanderer, even before his hand has begun the actual work of His service (ver. 13). 11. Every good impulse, or reviving of religion in the hearts of men, is produced by the direct power of God, through the Holy Spirit (ver. 14). 12. Obedience to the commands of God will always end in a blessing, whilst disobedience will always end in a curse, if not in time, surely in eternity. (T. F. Moore, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,WEB: Then the Word of Yahweh came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, |
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