Tag: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Haggai 2:3-4

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“Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Doesn’t it seem to you like nothing by comparison? Even so, be strong, Zerubbabel — this is the Lord’s declaration. Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land — this is the Lord’s declaration. Work! For I am with you — the declaration of the Lord of Armies.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever tried to pick up the pieces again after blowing it? That’s no small task. In the first place, you have to remember where things were. That can be its own challenge. Then, there’s the challenge around the fact you may not want things to be just like they were. Sometimes a complete and total restoration is simply impossible. In this situation, we begin to wonder if it’s even worth it to try. This is something the people of Israel struggled with when Haggai called them to rebuild the temple.

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Digging in Deeper: Haggai 1:1

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“In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest:”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

A new book and a new theme today. And this is yet another minor prophet book, written some 2,500 years ago to a people entirely different than us on almost every count, yet whose central message is remarkably relevant to our lives today. Perhaps that’s why God preserved it for us. What is this message? It all centers on this question: What comes first in your life?

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Digging in Deeper: Zephaniah 3:5

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“The righteous Lord is in her; he does no wrong. He applies his justice morning by morning; he does not fail at dawn, yet the one who does wrong knows no shame.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

“Shame on you!” Have you ever heard that before? Have you ever said that before? The answer is probably yes on both counts. It is for me. Why? What is shame that it would be projected onto us by other people or by us onto them? And besides, isn’t shame a bad thing? We’re sure told as much by our culture. We should live lives that are free from shame, shouldn’t we? Well, yes, but maybe not for the reason you think. Let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Luke 23:33

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“When they arrived at the place called The Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals, one on the right and one on the left.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

These are perhaps some of the most unlikely words ever written. God, the eternal creator of the universe, died. On a cross. That’s what it means when it says, “they crucified him.” All modern theories about His perhaps not really dying on the cross to explain away the resurrection aside, when someone was crucified, the end result was their death. Always. But why did it have to be a cross?

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Digging in Deeper: Luke 24:21

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“But we were hoping that he was the one who was about to redeem Israel. Besides all this, it’s the third day since these things happened.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

If this virus outbreak hadn’t happened, tonight I would have been sleeping under the sharks with my son. This week, his class was set to go on a three-day, two-night trip to the coast. As a part of it, tonight would have been spent in an aquarium where they have you sleep in a room where the whole ceiling is a giant fish tank. I could have drifted off to sleep to the soothing images of sharks wishing they could bust through the glass and eat me. I, like my son, am disappointed. Have you ever been disappointed?

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