Category Archives: Haggai

Haggai 2:1-9

And actually, this isn’t all God has to say about his divine presence. He continues with that theme is chapter 2 verses 1 through 9. We’ll read that.

[2:1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, ² Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, ³ Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? ⁴ Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: ⁵ According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. ⁶ For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; ⁷ And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. ⁸ The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. ⁹ The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.]

So it’s about one month after Haggai’s second prophecy. And God now wants to continue to encourage his people. Why did he need to encourage them? Well, some of them were alive to see the first Temple – Solomon’s Temple. Remember that glorious Temple? Now, this second Temple actually was larger than that first one according to measurements we find in the Scripture. But even though this second Temple was larger, it was a little less glorious looking. After all, we know that in Solomon’s time gold was so plentiful that silver really counted as nothing. That’s a lot of gold! And a good deal of that gold was used in his Temple. In addition to that, there were skilled craftsmen carving wood and fashioning metal. There were other precious adornments in that first Temple. And of course, there was the ark of the covenant in there as well. But this second Temple of Zerubbabel’s… well, it had wood in it. Did it have some gold? I think it probably did. But it certainly didn’t have as much as it had previously. Were there carvings in it? Maybe some. And they apparently didn’t have the ark. And so in these ways this second Temple seemed to be less glorious than the first. The people perhaps wondered if it was even worth working on this seemingly-inglorious project.

But God doesn’t view this as some inglorious task. This is of utmost importance to him. So he comes and tells his people through Haggai to “be strong!” He tells them to work. And he again reminds them of his presence – “I am with you!” That’s in the present.

He also looks back to the past. He reminds Israel of the promise he made with them when they left Egypt. I think this is referring to his covenant that he made with them at Mount Sinai. That’s the covenant that brought Israel into an official relationship as a nation with the Lord. His spirit – or probably something like his essence – was among them at that time and was still presently.

So with Lord’s presence with his people in the past and present in view, he turns also to the future. He says he’s going to shake the heavens, earth, sea, land, and all nations. I think this is looking back to his activity in delivering his people from Egypt. He shook that nation with plagues and judgments. And remember when Israel left Egypt, the Egyptians gave them gold and other valuable objects. Well, here God promises to shake not just one nation but all nations. And the result is that all the nations are going to bring what’s desirable among them to this Temple in latter days. Some have interpreted this to be a Messianic prophecy. I don’t think that’s the case. We need to ask ourselves – “What do the nations desire?” Currently judging by the way things are in this world I think that most of them aren’t desiring Messiah. Well, what s this talking about then? I believe the answer is in verse 8 – the silver and the gold belongs God. This second Temple is lacking these kind of things. But God is promising to make his Temple glorious with gold and silver and other precious materials in latter times.

The question we all have is – when is this going to happen? I mean, do you remember Pastor Fuller’s discussion of the glory of Herod’s Temple – the one that existed in the time of Christ? That Temple was glorious. And it came after Zerubbabel’s. Is that the fulfillment of this prophecy? I don’t think so. I don’t know of a shaking of all nations at that time or a shaking of all creation. And really, only the Romans were involved in bringing wealth to the Temple at that point. But God here promises that all the nations will bring their wealth.

I think the key to when this shaking will take place is the end of verse 9. God promises that when this shaking happens he’ll bring peace to “this place” which is probably referring to Jerusalem. When has there been peace in Jerusalem since Haggai issued this prophecy in about 520 BC? I can’t really think of a time. But I know a time will come when Messiah returns and will set up an earthly kingdom over which peace will reign. I know nations and their kings will stream to Jerusalem and bring their glory there. So for these reasons, I think this is speaking of a time yet to come in the future.

So this is the 3^rd encouragement to do God’s will. Being reminded of God’s constant unending presence – in the present as it was in the past and as it will be in the future.

Haggai 2:1-9 Illustration

Isn’t it an encouragement (to keep following the Lord) to remember all that he’s brought you through? Do you remember his presence with you back then? And isn’t it amazing to know that he’s still with you? And then we’re reminded that the Lord will never leave or forsake us. He will be with us always. To the end of the world and then even after that. We can’t flee from his presence. He won’t let us go.

Haggai 2:1-9 Application

Are you allowing this blessed truth that God is with you now as he has been in times past and will be into the future – are you allowing it to be the catalyst to continue doing his will? Don’t give up, brethren. He’s with you if you’re his.

Haggai 2:10-19

But while we think of the past, we can certainly see God’s presence with us. But if you’re like me – and actually like Israel – you can call to mind not only God’s presence but actually your own failures in the past. Let’s read about that in Haggai’s 4^th message from the Lord in verses 10-19.

[2:10 ¶ In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, ¹¹ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying, ¹² If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No. ¹³ Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean. ¹⁴ Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, saith the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean. ¹⁵ And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD: ¹⁶ Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the pressfat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty. ¹⁷ I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labours of your hands; yet ye turned not to me, saith the LORD. ¹⁸ Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’S temple was laid, consider it. ¹⁹ Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, hath not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.]

This prophecy happens about 2 months after the last one Haggai delivered. And it starts out seemingly not so happy again. Haggai asks some priests about the law. In particular, what does God say about a piece of meat that had been sanctified – if it touches something else, does whatever it touched become holy? The answer, as any priest would have known, was “no”. That wasn’t part of the law. But what about this? If something that’s holy touches these things and they’re not made holy… then if any of these things touched something unclean, what would happen? The answer? Those things would be made unclean. So touching a holy thing doesn’t make it holy. But touching something unclean does make it unclean. And then God uses that as a picture of how he viewed this nation of Israel. Anything unclean that touched them in any way made them unclean. They were so easily swayed by the paganism around them. And unfortunately they had no positive influence on those around them. And yet even all the holy things they knew and practiced didn’t ultimately make them holy as God wanted them to be.

So with that stated, then God again calls his people to consider some of the realities he already reminded them of in Haggai’s first prophecy. “Remember before you started building the Temple and I made life so difficult for you? And you didn’t turn to me – that’s what I truly desired. Well, remember that time and now be aware of this reality. From this day onward I will bless you.” What a beautiful statement. What a relief. “I will bless you.” And this was a bold promise to make from the prophet Haggai. Haggai had started his ministry only about 3 months ago from the time of this most recent prophecy. And before that time Israel had apparently experienced difficulty after difficulty directly from the Lord for their disobedience. And now Haggai pronounces blessing from the time that the Temple started to be rebuilt. This is a rather startling claim. How could they be sure he was telling the truth? That’s what verse 19 is getting at. The seed is still in the barn. Nothing has born fruit yet this season. It’s not as if Haggai could look around at the produce of the land and kind of gather that this year was just going to be a better year for planting. No, this was a word from the all-knowing Lord. And thus it would certainly happen.

So what we have in this 4^th prophecy is this. It’s a reminder of past failures because of disobedience, coupled with promises of present and future blessings for doing God’s will. This is yet one more encouragement to obey God.

Haggai 2:10-19 Illustration

Have you been saved? We’re talking about doing God’s will. What in this day is more the will of God than you trusting his son to be saved? Have you trusted Christ – that he suffered for your sins so that you could be forgiven and be a child of God? If you have, then you can certainly identify with this prophecy. Remember the old things you got in to before you knew Christ? Remember the shame? Remember the years of wandering? Of fruitlessness? Your vain life? But now that you know Christ you’re experiencing blessing. No, everything isn’t just easy. But relationships perhaps are being mended. You have a peace that totally eluded you before. You have confidence of your eternal destiny. The Lord is using you to advance his kingdom in ways small or large. Things have changed for the better generally. This is all from God. And what can we do but humbly give him thanks for these wonderful blessings? Blessings instead of the curses we deserve.

Haggai 2:10-19 Application

So have you taken note of the blessings that God has used to replace the curses he sent on you previously? Remember those curses, but don’t focus on them. Focus on God’s promise of blessing both now and into the future – really forevermore.

Haggai 2:20-23 Explanation

And really these blessings for those who obey the Gospel and the curses for those who disobey and disbelieve continue on – into eternity. And we see some parallels to this in the next and last prophecy of this book. Let’s read verses 20 through 23.

[2:20 ¶ And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying, ²¹ Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; ²² And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother. ²³ In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.]

This prophecy comes out the same day as the last one. And it’s addressed to only Zerubbabel. Some of the content is familiar. We’ve already seen God’s promise to shake the heavens and the earth. But this time Zerubbabel is told that God will totally overthrow the pagan kings of this world. And when God does that he’s going to take Zerubbabel and make him as a signet ring. What does that mean? Well, there are a few things to say about this. First, a signet ring was something very precious to a king. So precious in fact that he would keep it on his person constantly. So that act of giving someone this ring would have been an act of supreme trust. The signet ring was used to give the king’s authority to something like a document—like we saw in the book of Esther with Haman’s edict and then Mordecai’s as well. So that’s what a signet ring is. But why does God mention a signet ring anyway? And why does he say he’ll make Zerubbabel like one of those to him? In the book of Jeremiah in chapter 22, God has a message for Zerubbabel’s Grandfather Jeconiah. The message is that even if Jeconiah was a signet ring – something precious to him – yet God would cast him away. And then God goes on to curse Jeconiah’s line and say that none of his descendants will prosper sitting on David’s throne. So it sounded like Jeconiah and all his lineage were cast off from the Lord. But here in the book of Haggai, God reverses this curse in a way. Picturing the signet ring as Jeconiah, you can imagine then God coming and picking up the ring which is now Zerubbabel and putting it on. When God goes to topple all the nations and their kings, he will prefer Zerubbabel because God had chosen him.

But this toppling of nations hasn’t happened yet as far as I can tell. And Zerubbabel is dead now. So what I – and I think just about all the commentators – see happening here is God using Zerubbabel to symbolize the Davidic line – and ultimately Christ, the son of David. When God overthrows all nations and sets up his Millenial kingdom, Christ will reign on the throne.

So what do we have in this 5^th and final prophecy? Really what we have is a promise of future judgment for those who refuse to do God’s will. And along with that we have the assurance that God will favor those who are doing his will – even their descendants.

Haggai 2:20-23 Application

The kings of the pagan nations had no concern for doing God’s will. And they will be overthrown some day along with everyone else who refuses to love and obey God. Zerubbabel on the other hand was following the Lord. And as a result both he and his family to future generations would be blessed… Would you submit to God and do his will? In our context, for any one here who doesn’t know the Lord, would you obey him by believing his son? If you do this you and your family after you for perhaps a long time will reap the rewards. And really for the rest of us who know Christ, this last prophecy wasn’t so much a challenge or commandment to Zerubbabel as it was a promise. No strings attached. Just a promise from God of future blessings and an assurance of God’s favor.

We’ve seen throughout this book that God wants to get your attention if you’re putting off doing his will. He wants you to get to work. And he may make life difficult until you do. But once you do, he’ll promise you his presence. He’ll stir you to be able to do his will. His presence will be with you always. You will remember past failures from your life of disobedience. But the blessings you receive will far outweigh those memories. And when judgment comes in the future, God will still have a plan for you, while he’ll need to punish those who have no interest in doing his will.

Haggai 1:1-12

Let’s find the first encouragement God gives the Jews to do his will. We find it in 1:1-12. Let’s read that.

[1:1 ¶ In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, in the first day of the month, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, saying, ² Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built. ³ Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, ⁴ Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? ⁵ Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. ⁶ Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. ⁷ ¶ Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. ⁸ Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. ⁹ Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. ¹⁰ Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. ¹¹ And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands. ¹² ¶ Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, 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 did fear before the LORD.]

Haggai 1:1-12 Explanation

So this is how the Lord begins to speak to his wayward people. Did this sound encouraging to you. Whether it did or not, we see here that God sends a message through Haggai to the two leaders of the Jews – Zerubbabel the governor and Jeshua the high priest. And this message is necessarily negative. God needs to state the obvious to his people. He tells them that he knows what they’re saying. They’re convincing themselves that it’s not time yet to do the Lord’s will and rebuild his Temple. But it hasn’t been time for now 17 years! When will the time come to start doing his will? God’s had enough. He shoots back at them and asks a rhetorical question. I’m paraphrasing, but he says something like “Oh it’s not time to rebuild the Temple, is it? To rebuild my house? You really have no concern for my house? What about you? Each one of you runs to his own nice house. And your houses actually have ceilings. Mine? Well, look at it. It’s in ruins.”

God then commands them to consider their ways. He points to the fact that really every endeavor they attempt to undertake comes to little or absolutely nothing. Yeah, they can plant seeds. But there’s not much of a crop as a result. They can put on clothing. But everyone is still cold. They can eat. But no one feels full. The one who earns some money brings it home and puts it into a bag in order to save it. But it’s as if that bag has holes in it! The money metaphorically falls right out of the bag. What little they were able to make and bring home, God pictures himself as blowing on it and it flying away like so much dust. God admits that he’s the one behind all these hardships of theirs, trying to get their attention because they’re refusing to rebuild his house. He called for a drought on everything. To an agricultural society, that’s deadly.

And why was God doing this again? He restates it – because my house lies desolate while everyone runs to his own comfortable home. So God rebukes his people. But he doesn’t stop there. He offers the correction. What do you suppose the correction to letting God’s house lie in ruins is? Yeah, rebuilding it! He tells them as much. He instructs them step-by-step. “Go up to the mountains. Get wood. Come and use that wood to build my house.” Nice and simple, really. “Just do what I sent you to do almost 20 years ago!”

How do the people respond to that rebuke? Let me ask you, how did those people, the Jews, respond to God’s rebuke through his prophets before they were exiled in Babylon? Think of it. Some of them would have struck whatever prophet that gave God’s message of rebuke. Some would have lied about that prophet. Some would have planned to murder that prophet. And by-and-large, no one listened to the prophet delivering God’s message of rebuke in those days. But what did we see here? Remember this message was primarily to Zerubbabel and Jeshua. But what other group responded with them? The rest of the people. Here’s how they responded to this message. All the people including their two leaders obeyed God’s word through his prophet. That’s incredible. It shouldn’t be. Obedience to God should be a normal activity. And yet far too often it isn’t.

So what we see in this first prophecy is this. We see words of rebuke that yield a response of obedience. That’s the first encouragement to do God’s will we see in this book.

Haggai 1:1-12 Argumentation

Wait, words of rebuke can be an encouragement? Rebuke and encouragement might seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum. But remember, whom the Lord loves he chastens. Wise men love instruction. They love correction. The wounds of a friend are better than the kisses of an enemy. God’s our best and heavenly friend. And when he wounds he does it in love and for a purpose. He does it for our good.

Haggai 1:1-12 Illustration

Can any of us relate to being encouraged to do God’s will through words of rebuke? King David could. He murdered Bathsheba’s husband Uriah after committing adultery with her and then took her as his wife. He spent a while acting as if nothing was wrong. Whatever else we can say about that episode we can say this. David was certainly not doing God’s will at that point. And so God waited a little while and then he sent Nathan the prophet to rebuke him for his sin. And how did David respond? “I have sinned.” As the song goes, he “rent his heart and [did] his will.”

Haggai 1:1-12 Application

What about you? How are circumstances for you? Have you taken an inventory of your life? Is God withholding rain from heaven for you, literally or metaphorically? Is he allowing everything you’re pursuing to be fruitless and disappointing? Is he making life hard for you? Now, don’t get me wrong. In this life we shall have tribulation. That’s what Jesus promised us. Things will be difficult. But can you trace your hardships back to an unwillingness to do God’s will? Search your heart. Or even better, ask God to search your heart and reveal any wicked way in you. And when it becomes apparent what is holding back God’s blessing, confess it to God. Say to God about that sin what he says about it in his word. And with God’s help forsake it and move forward doing God’s will.

Haggai 1:13-15

So we just saw words of rebuke that yield a response of obedience. That’s one encouragement to do God’s will. We see a second encouragement in verses 13-15 of chapter 1. Let’s read that next prophecy from Haggai.

[1:13 Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD. ¹⁴ And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, ¹⁵ ¶ In the four and twentieth day of the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.]

Haggai 1:13-15 Explanation

So sometime between the 1^st day of the 6^th month and the 24^th day of that same month Haggai is again commissioned by the Lord to speak to his people. Haggai’s first message was one of rebuke. But how would we characterize this message? It’s pretty pleasant, isn’t it? After the rebuke, how do you think this statement sounded in the ears of the Jews – “I am with you.” That must have been very comforting. God gives a reassurance of his divine presence with the people.

But that’s not all he gives to them. They apparently started the work after the last message from Haggai. But now on the 24^th day of the 6^th month – about 3 weeks after the first prophecy – God goes a step further and stirs the spirit of the people to do his will – to rebuild the Temple. So, they originally consented and started to do the work. But then God comes in and graciously bears them along in doing his will now.

So the second encouragement to do God’s will that we see here is this. A reassurance of God’s presence and a stirring of spirit to do his will.

Haggai 1:13-15 Illustration

Jesus left us with the command to make disciples. This is a rather difficult endeavor. What was his encouragement? “Lo, I am with you always.” I am with you. He promises us his divine presence as we attempt to do his will. And isn’t this area one in which we need God to stir our spirits? We can feebly and yet faithfully try to disciple folks. But unless God is with us and stirring our spirits to help us do the work, we really won’t get very far. And it just occurred to me as I was making final touches on this message that this point was the thrust of Pastor Fuller’s message this morning, wasn’t it? We can’t do it, but God can!

Haggai 1:13-15 Application

So the first prophecy in this book was a message of rebuke. And if you and I respond to the rebuke God sends to us through his word like the Jews did, we will receive the kind of comfort this prophecy gives. God will surely be with you as you strive to do what’s right in his sight.

Haggai Commentary Introduction

Let’s open our Bibles to the Book of Haggai. Haggai – Zechariah – Malachi – Matthew

The year was 520 BC. God’s people had returned from exile in Persia in 539– 19 years earlier. They came for one major purpose – to rebuild the Temple that had been destroyed by Babylon in 586. According to the Book of Ezra the Jews returned to their homeland and gave sacrificially to that work of rebuilding the Temple of Yahweh. They not only gave financially, but in the second year of their being there – 537 or 538 BC – they actually started the work of rebuilding the Temple – Cleaning off and re-using the stones that were still there. Getting wood to furnish it – since all the previous wood was burned. They even had a celebration commemorating the fact that they started this work. It was a great source of joy for them to be involved in rebuilding God’s temple.

And yet, right after the people start building, they face some opposition and stop their work. And so for about 16 or 17 years the Temple lies desolate. No one is working on it. It’s a eye-soar in the middle of Jerusalem. And yet the Jews are still there in the land. But they’ve abandoned the primary reason God sent them back to that land – to rebuild his Temple!

You and I can be like that, can’t we? Think of the numerous things that God has called us to do as Christians – evangelize the lost, edify the saints, worship and glorify him all the time, raise our families in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, be zealous for good works. The list can go on. We have a lot to do… Are we doing it? Have we been discouraged from doing God’s will?

The Jews who returned from exile were discouraged. And God is so gracious. He didn’t let them wallow in despair forever. He did however let the Jews just sit there for 17 years, not doing his will. Was God doing anything with them during those years? He was. He was actually making life difficult for them in an attempt to shake them out of their complacency. But actually that didn’t work. So finally, God decided he needed to step-in in an unmistakeable way and get his people’s attention. How would he do that? He sent two prophets. One was Zecharaiah. The other is the prophet whose book we’ll be studying today – Haggai.

In this book of Haggai we’re given five of Haggai’s messages from the Lord to his discouraged and somewhat unmotivated people. So I would summarize this book with this title – “Encouragements to do God’s Will”.

Haggai 1 Commentary

Learn more about Haggai 1 here.

Haggai 2 Commentary

Likewise, you can study Haggai 2 here.

Haggai Commentary Conclusion

So, you might be wondering – how did Israel react to the prophecies of Haggai – these encouragements to do God’s will? We’re finishing this prophecy on the 24^th day of the 9^th month in the 2^nd year of Darius. After that, chronologically speaking, the book of Ezra records this – “And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it”. And it goes on to tell us that the Jews finished the Temple on the 3^rd day of the 12^th month in Darius’ 6^th year. Haggai started his prophecy in the 6^th month of the 2^nd year of Darius. How long did it take for the Jews to finish the Temple, then? 3 ½ years. How long had they waited and dragged their heals before starting the work? Probably about 17 years. They could have saved a lot of time just getting to work and doing what God wanted them to do originally.

And isn’t that like you and me? How many times have we found ourselves wasting precious time putting off doing God’s will? But God is so gracious and patient. He will wait for you to do right. But in the mean time you and I loose out on numerous blessings and find ourselves facing some pretty tough situations – all because we’re so slow to obey God. May the Lord help us and encourage us to do his will.