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"Running on Empty"
Sometimes, we can get caught up in the "responsibilities of life": careers, family, money, relationships, health problems, you name it. It's enough to make you want to scream if you sit down and think about it long enough, and most of us really don't want to do that. But yet, we drive ourselves up a wall by letting it get to us and wear us down to a frazzle, and run us down in more ways than ONE.
Let me introduce you to some folks who took it WAY too far...
To set the stage for you: the Israelites had been allowed after 70 years of captivity to travel back to their homeland of Israel and start rebuilding the city of Jerusalem. They were SUPPOSED to start with the Temple, and work out from there, but along they way, they got...
..er...distracted:
"In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘This people says, “The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt.” Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?” ( Haggai 1:1-4, NASB, emphasis mine)
Now, God wasn't telling them to live in tents and eat gruel for years on end, but they left the temple as just a foundation and that was pretty much it. Some prep work had been done, but not much else. Life had "gotten in the way", and as a result, they got so distracted by other things that their priorities became a bit skewed. But then they began to suffer some pretty strange stuff...
"Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” ( Haggai 1:5-6, NASB, emphasis mine)
Now, at first blush, it looks like God made it to where their food, wine and anything else they enjoyed would not provide them with any pleasure until they finished his temple, right?
Nope.
When we lack spiritual nourishment, the bread of LIFE, we begin to wither inside. And when that happens, we begin to try to fill that with material things such as food, drink, money, careers and whatnot.
Let's look at verses 5- 6 from a different perspective:
"Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." ( Haggai 1:5-6, NIV, emphasis mine)
These folks had as much as they could want, but it just wasn't enough; it provided NO comfort to them, because they were lacking SPIRITUAL FOOD. Clothing did nothing for them, and money just seemed to fly out of their pockets because they were spending it on things to fill the empty pit inside. They had neglected the work on the temple, and as a result, they could not worship the Lord as Levitical law instructed them to.
This is what they had not had in 70 years, and now that it was within their grasp, they let it lie.
So, God decided to get their attention:
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways! “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD. “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house. “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce. “I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.” ( Haggai 1:7-11, NASB, emphasis mine)
God was now showing them PHYSICALLY what was going on in their hearts SPIRITUALLY. He stopped the rain, and sent mildew on their crops to demonstrate what was going on inside of them. Spiritually, they were just as dead as the moldy, shriveled-up wheat they balefully glared at under a parching Judean sun.
Centuries before, the author of Ecclesiastes (presumably Solomon) came across a VERY interesting observation:
"“Vanity of vanities,” says the Preacher, “Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” What advantage does man have in all his work Which he does under the sun? A generation goes and a generation comes, But the earth remains forever. Also, the sun rises and the sun sets; And hastening to its place it rises there again. Blowing toward the south, The wind continues swirling along; And on its circular courses the wind returns. All the rivers flow into the sea, Yet the sea is not full. To the place where the rivers flow, There they flow again. All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor is the ear filled with hearing. " (Ecclesiastes 1:2-8, NASB)
He noted that in spite of all his labor, the world still kept going round, and that in the ultimate scheme of things, work on its' own meant nothing:
"Thus I hated all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun, for I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the fruit of my labor for which I have labored by acting wisely under the sun. This too is vanity. Therefore I completely despaired of all the fruit of my labor for which I had labored under the sun. When there is a man who has labored with wisdom, knowledge and skill, then he gives his legacy to one who has not labored with them. This too is vanity and a great evil. For what does a man get in all his labor and in his striving with which he labors under the sun? Because all his days his task is painful and grievous; even at night his mind does not rest. This too is vanity." (Ecclesiastes 2:18-23, NASB, emphasis mine)
It is NOT to say that we should not work, but when we do so aimlessly, as in what we call a "daily grind", it is not of the Lord but instead a means unto itself, and it cannot fill the empty space left without the Lord.
Jesus had something to say on this matter as well:
"“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? “And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life? “And why are you worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin, yet I say to you that not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. “But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith! “Do not worry then, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear for clothing?’“For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things." ( Matthew 6:25-32, NASB, emphasis mine)
Jesus has to stop his audience (including us) and point out that god KNOWS what we need even before we ask him. God's aware of what we need and will provide for them. note I said NEED, not WANT.
He fed the Israelites in the desert, but he NEVER promised them VARIETY!
Now, the Lord does not expect us to simply drop everythign and let our responsibilities go to blazes; but without him, we run low spiritually. When that happens, life begins to grind on us, we stop reading scripture, stop praying, and begin to take the burdens of the world on our shoulders. And THAT is where Satan wants us; a christian who is starving inside and spiritually dry.
So what do we do? Jesus tells us what we need to do:
“But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. "[/B] ( Matthew 6:25-34, NASB, emphasis mine)
We are to seek HIS kingdom and HIS righteousness first! This means if we are dry, we need to go to where the water is, and if we are hungry, we need to go to where the bread is!
"Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst." (John 6:35, NASB)
"Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13-14, NASB, emphasis mine)
So, to get to the point: if we feel that we are just working simply to work, or we are going in an endless circle, that is the point we need to go before the Lord (DRAG ourselves if needbe), get into prayer and get into his word. its' too easy to skip on it, and that is what the Enemy counts on to weaken us.
And you never know: sometimes, the Lord wants us to just slow down. After all, it's a journey, not a race.
I bid you all peace.
YBIC,
-Robert
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"it makes you want to run and grab your Bible and spend Time with The Father"
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