Pelajaran 10 _ Selasa 30 Ogos_

Tuesday
August 30
“Consider Your Ways”
Read Jeremiah 29:10–14. What does this tell us about the character of God? What hope can we, in our own context, take from these verses?
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After seventy years, as foretold, the Lord began the restoration of the exiles back to the Promised Land. Israel was to be given another chance to fulfill her prophetic destiny.
Central to that role was, of course, the temple, the sanctuary, the place where the entire plan of salvation was taught through the types and symbols of the service. Here the work and mission of the Messiah, through which the whole world could have salvation, was prefigured (see John 3:16; 2 Cor. 5:19; Heb. 8:1, 2).
Yet, the work of rebuilding the temple did not go as smoothly or as quickly as it should have. Forces, internal and external, got in the way, and the work was delayed. This was not as the Lord would have it, and He spoke through Haggai to let the people know of His displeasure.
Read Haggai 1. What happened here? What diverted their attention? Why is that so easy to do?
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How easy it is to let worldly toils, worldly desires, even worldly needs get in the way of our spiritual responsibilities. The Lord let them know that they would never have true satisfaction apart from their devotion to Him and the work He had given them to do. All too often we can, in our own way, make the same mistake, getting so caught up in the ways of the world that we neglect what should be first and foremost in our lives: our relationship with God. Maybe the Lord is saying to us, either corporately or individually, “Consider your ways.”
Consider your ways. What do your ways, your actions, the things you do, and don’t do—what do they say about your relationship to the Lord? In what ways might you be guilty of the same things as the people depicted here in Haggai?