Haggai 1: 10
Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew and the earth has withheld its produce.
You don’t have to be very attentive to notice the number of occasions when people blame God for what is going on in the world or in their lives. Well, let’s get a revelation today. God is not the one at fault!
In the book of Haggai, It was God who spoke to the people through the prophet. He heard their complaints and saw their plight. His response was as it always is, to try to help them. Sometimes, though, we don’t let God teach us or lead us. We have our own ideas on how to meet the current need. The funny thing about us, though, is that when our ideas don’t work out, we tend to blame God. “God, why aren’t you taking care of this?” or “Why aren’t you helping me?” Then, of course, there is the famous, “God, why did you let this happen?”
This is the same dilemma the people of Haggai’s time encountered. The rain wouldn’t fall and their fields would not produce. God said, “You have sown much but you harvest little” (v. 6). I imagine the people praying for rain and praying for a bumper crop but they prayed in vain. God wasn’t the problem. They were. God told them, “Consider your ways” (v. 7). In other words, look to your own behaviors. You have sown a lot of seed but are your actions or even lack of actions destroying your crop while it is still in the ground? Has God given you something to do that you have not yet done? Are you doing something which He has already told you to stop doing? Or worst of all, perhaps you haven’t gone to Him for advice at all. You may not know what you are supposed to be doing or not doing.
God always tries to lead us into the paths that will produce a bountiful harvest for us. However, it is up to us to follow Him or not. If things are not going well then it would behoove us to stop and consider our ways. The problem is probably not that God is denying us or ignoring us. It could be there is something about our lives that is preventing our harvest. But fear not! We have a God who is well able and willing to help us. The people of Judah found that to be true. Once they finally turned to God they found their problem and the remedy.
So, before you blame God for the sorry state of affairs in your life or your country, look around. There may be a problem in your own back yard. If you will seek God, He will help you find it and fix it. That’s what He does.
