We earn but the money just disappears ...

Haggai 1: 3-6

³ Then the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ⁴ “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? ”
⁵ Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. ⁶ 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 are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

Heard a phenomenal sermon last night from the obscure Old Testament Book of Haggai.  The message of the Scriptures leaped off the page at just how little the world has changed in at least the last 2,500 years. Read verse 6 ... you have planted but harvest little. You eat but are still hungry. You drink but still thirsty. You clothe but remain cold. You work but the money disappears ....

 I had one of those Wow moments as the preacher unfolded the message from these passages for I realize that is America today. Marriages are fewer and more break up due to stress of needing more money flowing into homes only to be squandered on unnecessary things that lead to more gravity due to borrowing is increasing.  We work and work and add incomes but it seems more and more to come up short. As I listened to the sermon I thought about just in the hundred or so in the congregation last night of the Iphones, Ipads, Blackberries, video games, etc, etc, you know, all that stuff society beginning at a very young age cannot seem to live without. We work but the money simply disappears ...!

 I guess I sound like an old crow proclaiming from the tree branches to stop and assess where we are from where we have come and then project where we are headed. I watched the Military Channel last night on combat medics and medical technology of WWII and was astounded at what people like my father and father-in-law saw and had to endure and was left just shaking my head at our world today. We are a needy country but do not really see nor feel the need. We are a society that has hugely turned from a God that loves us and wants the best for us. I believe what Haggai the prophet was sent to do which was to chide the children of Israel to get out of their comfort zones and finally go and build the Temple is exactly where we are today. Our temples are Republican or Democrat, Presidents, toys, things that do not last but still we idolize them, don't we?

 Today just walk down the street or ride down the street with that much needed GPS blaring with the satellite radio blaring and watch the children addicted to the video games and clicking away endless blather on cell phones. Really, this has really dug into my heart the message Haggai was warning the Children about. How different are we, really?   When I read the principles upon which the Founders established this nation which was upon God's Word and see how that has been relegated to near obscurity, I really get angry.  

 

I want so badly to believe America can achieve its global stature we the Baby Boomers grew up under on the backs of our fathers in winning a global war but my doubts of America having the gut strength and conviction to do what is required finds me doubting.  Today, please, commit to praying for our nation and its leaders whether we like them or not.  As the preacher said last night, if you think the November elections will really change much, you have slept under a rock in the last generation or so.  The issues we face in the nation are not political; the issues are spiritual!