Haggai 1:10-11, “Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands.”
The Book of Haggai records a wonderful and blessed time in the history of Israel. The Lord had blessed the people to return from the Babylonian captivity and the Lord’s goodness was guiding and helping them as they rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem and the House of God. And still during all these rich blessings, the children of Israel would continually disobey God following in their own ways. The fact that men are sinners and since they are sinners they will sin is something found throughout scripture and something we all can easily see in the world we live in.
Our study verses tell us how the Lord chastened the people because of their sin. The sovereign God of the universe is over all things, even the weather. Please do not misinterpret the last statement and believe that God is the cause of all bad weather storms, but the statement is intended to declare that nothing is over or more powerful than God. According to Amos 4:7, God is able to give on one piece of ground and not give rain to another. Matthew 14:25 tells about a time when the Lord came walking on the sea during a storm that caused seasoned fishermen to tremble. And the Bible tells us about times when God’s people were chastened by the Lord withholding rain and our study verses are just one example of this fact.
Question: What if the events of Haggai 1:10-11 happened today where you live? I’ve lived during times of drought and have heard many prayer requests from the saints in the House of God. Those precious children of God pleaded that the congregation would pray with them to the Lord that He might give rain. But how would the societies of the United States of America respond to such events? My guess? Most would say that “It is all part of Global Warming.” Why would you say such a thing Br Ronnie? Recently we have witnessed record snow fall in areas of America. Temperatures that were well below what was expected for the season. When I challenged the false idea of Global Warming by these events, the response I received was, ‘This is all part of Global Warming.” So it’s Global Warming when the temps are warm; it’s Global warming when the temps are colder; It’s Global Warming when there is no storm; It’s Global Warming when there is a storm. It’s all Global Warming. Sounds silly, right? The reason it sounds silly, is because it is silly. Unbelieving infidels have affected the minds of the people to the degree that the people do not look to God, but to nature and the world around them.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, who or what do you believe? Do you believe in the God of the universe, or do you believe the ideas of sinful man? I never want to be a person that blames God for all the terrible things that happen in this world, but I beg God that He would bless me to always stand for the truth that God is God and that He is above and over all things. Psalm 33:6-9, “By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.”