Consider your ways!...the Wayfarer 1/22/16

Consider your ways!

1/22/16

“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways.

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.”

(Haggai 1:5&6)

Today we go to the words of a lesser known prophet whose message bears directly on the condition of our nation, and our Church in today’s time so conspicuously that it may not be ignored.

We live in a world, and time where all peoples seem to be dissatisfied with their lot in life, their living conditions, their interactions with others around them and wonder why things are not better than they are.

We have indeed sown much,


Especially the nation in which I live. We have made alliances, sent aid in various forms throughout the world to improve the lot of those other nations in an attempt to bring them to our way of thinking and make them reliable when needed to stand with us for the principles and guidelines on which this particular nation was formed.

We have also sown discontent through efforts to remake other societies in the image of our own.

In our own society, the same discontent, and malaise is abundantly prosperous as we find far too many wanting to take from that society but unwilling to return the effort and labor necessary to maintain it.

WE bring in very little  in return for what we have sown,


 Other than a further discontent and greed for still more of the THINGS  that somehow have taken precedence over all else in our lives, and have all but eliminated all thought of the NEEDS  to which we should be paying attention.

We eat, 


and most have an abundance of available sustenance, yet complain that it is inadequate because they would rather experience the culinary delights of fast food industries, than to actually take the time to grow and cook the plants given us by God to sustain and satisfy our hunger.

 Few take the time to sit down at a dinner table and offer thanks for the food given or in fact to even sit down with family to enjoy the bounty given us together. Instead we each go our separate ways, rushing about our “busy lives”, and then wonder why we find no real comfort in the way we live.

As we choose to ignore the customs and traditions of the past, we find that the pleasures of the family dinner and the conversation that gave guidance as well as sustenance, provided closeness to our God, as well as to each other, gave us shared laughter and joy, as well as a time to solve minor problems before they became major ones, our society becomes ever more one of: “ME, MY, MINE.” It also becomes one of less “WE, OUR and YOUR!”

As this happens, all possible attempts to teach morality and the needs of others are ignored, replaced by the pressing and demanding need for self-gratification NOW without regard to its effect on the future of ourselves, and without thought in regard to the consequences to others.


We drink.

The varieties of liquid refreshment are seemingly innumerable and are advertised constantly on the many entertainment venues, which themselves expand on a seemingly daily basis.

Water, the Gift of God to sustain life, is most often ignored in favor of various combinations of flavors and ingredients that are often not only unhealthy, but in the long run poisonous to our very bodies.

Things once reserved for special occasions are now considered a need, instead of a want and are consumed as rapidly as possible, no longer in moderation and no longer to the benefit or even true pleasure of our bodies.

Here I would add to what the old Prophet referred, as he was talking about the copious use of wine at the time, the other substances that are readily available and constantly abused again to the detriment of our bodies.

Substances that were once intended to be used to alleviate pain and suffering are now taken for the “Pleasure” that some seek to find in their use, far too often resulting in the death of those indulging in those “pleasures”.

We clothe ourselves 

in bright colors with materials never before available to our ancestors, constantly aware only of the fashion trends and the name brands that indicate affluence, with no regard to their intended purpose of utility. It has become more important how we look to others than how effectively our clothing does its job. This leads in turn to a “Need” for many shoes to fit each occasion, many suits and dresses to match to the occasion to properly impress those around us, and all the accessories to match them again to impress others.

We find little to no regard for those less fortunate who have no coat to warm them in the winter, no shoes to protect their feet as they walk the streets with no place to find shelter from heat or cold, because the greed of others dictates that they have more, more, more instead of looking to NEEDS as opposed to WANTS!

We have wage earners that do indeed put their earnings into bags with holes.

The holes are too often of their own creation. Credit has become the magic genie that gives all when a wish is made, instead of sweat, hard work and savings as has been the guidance of our bible and the dictates of our morality in the past.

It seems that no one is willing to live within the means they have available, to include our very government, which also creates holes in the wage earners bags by relentlessly taking more to give to those unwilling to earn those wages. Again this is caused by a government that fails to recognize the difference between the needs of its people and the wants of those who support the politicians in power.

At the same time this government takes more and more of the earnings of those willing to produce and gives it to supporters to buy far more than is needed, it ignores the true needs of those, silent, suffering, truly poverty stricken citizens truly in need because they are an invisible group of people, powerless to help them, (those same politicians, or perhaps a better word is thieves), to remain in power.

Let us return to the writings of that old sage for further insight about the state of our world and what is truly needed to cure the ills I attempt in such a poor way to enumerate:

“Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

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.

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 mine house is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.”

(Haggai 1: 7-9)

“Consider your ways!” Give thought to each thing we do with our lives, give thought to where we place our trust, and to what we are truly trying to build for ourselves. As long as our ways are so selfish and take no thought to the will of our Father, how may we expect to continue to prosper as individuals, communities and as nations?

Haggai told them to go up to the mountain and bring down wood to build the house of God instead of running to their own connivances and the “house” each of them was attempting to build for themselves.

God said that He blew on the efforts to provide much because His House was being neglected! He told them to build HIS house and that HE would take pleasure in it and provide the blessings that they were seeking without having sought them through honoring and glorifying HIM.

This describes the state of most churches and Christianity in general in this world today! The wood we need to go to the mountain to get is the building material to be found in the words of Christ Jesus and in His teachings, not in the brick and mortar in which we invest so much of our money….again more to impress man than to please our God who would have us expend our efforts and funds toward the NEEDS of HIS children!

We need to build upon the Rock spoken of In Matthew at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, instead of on the sand that rapidly allows the destruction of what we think we are attempting to build.

I encourage the reading of the entire Book of Haggai, especially to any who would search for its pertinence to today’s dissertation. For an albeit belated attempt at some brevity I would take you to the 6^th verse of the second and final chapter of this short book  to give you just a bit more of this prophet’s message that is as pertinent to us today as it was to Israel at its writing:

“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;

 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.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine saith the LORD of hosts.

The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the LORD of hosts”

(Haggai 2:6-9)

God will not continue to tolerate our greed and attention only to self! 

As this is being written, nations are being shaken. This shaking will continue until we turn back to the will and honor and glorification of God that is intended to be our very purpose for living and to the means of doing so given us by his Son, Jesus!

 UNTIL we begin to remember from whom  all wealth comes, we will not remember that only HE has the right to distribute and re distribute it to HIS glory, not to that of any man or group of men!

As those in our society and those in all societies go about their attempts to rob each other and garner greater and greater wealth for themselves, that shaking will increase until the time finally arrives to shake the very foundations of our universe because of the sinfulness of a creature intended to be perfect, that will only once again be perfect when the dross of that sin is finally expunged from our midst by Christ himself!

As stated before, I fully and firmly believe that we have entered the time of sorrows spoken of by our Savior in Matthew. He warned us that the love of many would wax cold.

 He also told us that those who endure will be saved!

I implore the reader to endure in His love, never failing to recognize that endurance includes the sharing of that love and the attempt to build a house worthy of God’s blessing instead of the ones that we too often find among us that may only meet with His disdain!

REPENT, FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND!

Again, I encourage the reader to read all of the work written by this old prophet that I reference today, and I pray that you will find guidance in what the requirement for you individually, as a community, as a nation is to survive the shaking that must occur as it was promised by ONE who cannot ever break that promise.

I close as always with the sincere love of all, given me by my Lord to share with all, still just a simple sinner saved by grace through faith in that Lord, and still an unworthy, but willing soldier in His service.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen
the Wayfarer