Consider Your Ways
Hi Everyone,
Today is the first day of April and it is beautiful. It is wonderful to take a walk with God outdoors. I even saw a few tiny blue wild flowers. Last Sunday we saw the first signs of spring with the forsythia in bloom. We can rejoice in God’s creation and in all his goodness, for life is returning to the landscape! Just this morning, the Lord gave me a vision that I would like to share with you.
The Vision
The Watch
In this vision, I saw a black watch which had a message in raised letters centered on the back side. Two arrows on either side of the message pointed in opposite directions.
Generally black plastic watches are made to be water proof or water resistant. The words on the back of the watch were not legible. But what was most prominent were the two arrows pointing away from the center of the watch.
The Meaning
A watch speaks of time: past, present and future, eternity or outside of time. The two arrows indicate direction: right or left, forward or backward, past or future, or right or wrong. Because they are pointing in opposite directions, they are to be contrasted with each other.
The scripture that came to mind was this: “Consider your ways…”
Here is the full context:
In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.’”
Then the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet, saying: “Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?”
Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways. You have planted much but harvested little. You eat but never have enough. You drink but never have your fill. You put on clothes but never get warm. You earn wages to put into a bag with holes.” This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways. Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD.
You expected much, but behold, it amounted to little. And what you brought home, I blew away. Why? declares the LORD of Hosts. Because My house still lies in ruins, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, on account of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth has withheld its crops. I have summoned a drought on the fields and on the mountains, on the grain, new wine, and oil, and on whatever the ground yields, on man and beast, and on all the labor of your hands.” Haggai 1:1-11
The Lord was asking the people to view the present - the Lord’s temple was in ruins. They were to look at the recent past - there was not enough to eat or drink, their clothes were not sufficient for warmth, and their pockets had holes in them. God withheld the rain so that he would get their attention.
And now that he had their attention, he gave them the reason why they are experiencing hardship. Their priorities were not right. They put their desires before the Lord, working on their own homes rather than rebuilding the house of God.
In the next few verses, he asked them to look into the future:
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. So the people feared the LORD.
Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, delivered the message of the LORD to the people: “I am with you,” declares the LORD.
So the LORD stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, as well as the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and began the work on the house of the LORD of Hosts, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius. Haggai 1:12-15
The Lord had given them a drought to get their attention, but they were not listening or noticing that they had a serious problem. So He had to raise up a prophet to speak to them. Haggai delivered God’s message clearly. There was no doubt what caused their hardship. Then the Lord gave them instructions as to how to correct their error. Once they accepted his word, and changed their behavior, they were motivated to begin to work on the temple.
I believe that the Lord is asking us to consider our ways. Perhaps we have had trouble, and hardship because of our attitudes, or sin in our lives. The Lord will turn us over to our own sin, so that we might come to the realization that our difficulties lie with our waywardness and our sinful behavior. The Lord does test our faith, even when we are obedient, as in the example of Job. He did nothing wrong, but was devoted to God and sacrificed every day just in case one of his children sinned. Yet God allow him to be tested. He lost all his children, livestock and everything except his wife. She had a terrible attitude - she told Job, “Just curse God and die.”
But in the end, Job did not accuse God of wrong doing, nor did he sin. He accepted his fate as God had given it.
Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing. Job: 1:20-22
When we are tested, we can sin. And sometimes it is not a test but it is our nature to sin, and we simply give into our flesh. God may be trying to break us of “habitual” sins, like being argumentative, or being a gossip or a complainer. These might not look or sound like sins, for we can rationalize them as being our personality. But in reality, they are sins.
Years ago I was at the altar praying when suddenly the Lord spoke to me saying:
“Would you stop complaining? Do you want to be like the Israelites who wandered in the desert for 40 years?”
I was shocked! And immediately I repented, promising not to complain anymore. But within 10 minutes of leaving the altar, I found myself complaining again!
These habits need to go. Complaining really means, “I deserve better.” That is a terrible attitude. We have to repent and do whatever it takes to “nip it in the bud.” We have to be prayerful and ask the Lord to give us a “heads up,” before we start to complain.
So God is asking us to take a good hard look at our attitudes, our behaviors, and our priorities. We should ask God to reveal our sinful patterns.
Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23-24
When we ask God to lead us, he will take us in the direction that we need to go. On the watch there were the two arrows. We can choose to walk on the path that leads to the Lord and to life or we can stay on the worldly path that leads to destruction. If we have chosen to follow Jesus, then his will becomes our priority.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31
We are to be devoted to the Lord and not have split loyalties, or a divided heart.
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. Matthew 6:24
Teach me your way, LORD, that I may rely on your faithfulness; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name. Psalm 86:11
We want an undivided heart, one that is clearly devoted to the Lord, for a divided heart is unstable, unreliable, and unfaithful to God. We certainly would not want a spouse that was unfaithful. And God certainly does not want us to be unfaithful to him either.
I think that it is important to consider our ways. Should we continue on the path that we are on, or should we return to a time when we were closer to God? if we have fallen away, or become too enamored with the things of the world, perhaps repentance is in order. To repent means to change one’s mind. So if there are other things that have captured our heart or hold our attention to the detriment of our relationship with God, then we need to cut bait with these things, for this is idolatry. Even our relationships can become idolatrous, when we choose to put the desires of someone “special” ahead of what God desires.
We must ask ourselves, “Do I have a relationship with someone who causes me to compromise my faith, or causes me to sin, or to turn away from God?”
This is a simple question to answer, but not so easy to change. If you hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, you will know that it is sin to compromise your values, beliefs and testimony for another person. That is why the Lord spoke these very strong words:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. And whoever does not carry his cross and follow Me cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26-27
We cannot put anyone ahead of God. When we give in to others’ demands or desires rather than please God, we commit sin. Compromise in this way ruins our witness, and testimony to the very people that we want God to save. If they see our willingness to put God’s desires aside, for them, then how will we be able to convince them that God is worth everything? By our actions we have denied God and negated our own testimony of who God is, and what he means to us. They will see our hypocrisy and not listen. And both our relationship with God and them will suffer.
We need an all or nothing commitment to God. He does not care for lukewarm devotion and complacent hearts. This is an insult to God. That is why the Lord said to the church at Laodicea:
“‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing,” not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me. The one who conquers, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’” Revelation 3:15-22
Joshua saw the fickleness of the Israelites’ devotion to God. They were always seeking after other gods, and taking on the religious practices and cultural norms of the people around them. This is what grieved God the most. It was their inability to stay faithful to him.
In the Old Testament, Joshua, as the leader of Israel, gathered the people and spoke to them, warning them to be faithful.
But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15
This world that we live in is very real. And all our problems and our concerns are also very real. But we have to understand that there is another very real dimension, a spiritual dimension, the kingdom of God. If the Holy Spirit lives in us then we are part of the kingdom. It operates on different principles and values than the world. The world’s view is selfish and self-centered. It reinforces the idea that “I come first.” It is all about: “Me, Myself and I.” This world values the physical and the material. It values physical prowess, performance, beauty, wealth, power, influence, notoriety, dominion, authority, and material possessions. It is humanistic, not based on the attributes that God desires. It is contrary to God entirely.
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4
The world is filled with people who do not have the Spirit of God and so they operate out of their sinful nature. Sin is the norm. It is the default setting. Therefore the world is motivated by money, power and fear. The world runs on competition, pride, material gain and greed. It is what our flesh craves: to be liked, to be envied, to be in control, to dictate to others, and to be free of all restraints.
Our sinful nature is innate. Without the Holy Spirit we cannot please God. Before the flood in Noah’s time, the world was just as evil as it is today. However, the Lord promised that he would never destroy the earth again with a flood. Hallelujah! This is God’s mercy and grace, for we have certainly tested his patience.
Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. Genesis 6:5
The Lord puts up with the world, for a time, but periodically he bring judgment to a nation or people group. But with those of us who are his children, he disciplines us, so that we do not conform to the ways of the world or its values, but grow in the likeness of Jesus, his son. Paul tells us to know the word of God so that we will stay clear of the world’s influence, and understand God’s ways.
Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2
The vision of the watch and the arrows pointing in two directions really speak of how we use our time, and what direction we will choose to go. The time is now, for we cannot change the past, and our future can be greatly blessed by God, if we look to him for our direction today. Just as the first scripture quoted, the Lord promised that if they left their houses till after the temple was finished, and chose to make God’s house a priority, then God would bless them. The hardships of the drought would be lifted and their needs would be met. Our future is in the Lord’s hands. We should not be seeking what he can give us or how we can have a carefree life. God never promised such things. But we can have the joy of our salvation right now, we can have peace with God right now, we can have fellowship with him right now. That is grace, that is love, and that is God!
His Word tells us the way to go. His Word gives wisdom, knowledge and truth. When we follow his word, it will lead us to God, for he is truth, and life everlasting.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6
Thanks for reading. I hope you will share this post with others, for we all need to know God and understand what his will is for us.
