When The Lord Stirs The Hearts Of His People Series

WHEN THE LORD STIRS HIS PEOPLE

Haggai 1:11-15

You have all heard the idiom "stirring up a hornet's nest". This means to do something that causes a lot of trouble, controversy, or difficulty. It wasn’t a hornet’s nest, but on Friday I stirred up a yellow jacket’s nest and I am still paying the price! In twenty years of ministry there have been times when I have stirred up some people in the church; without reservation I can say that I would much rather deal with yellow jackets. Their attacks may sting and itch for a few days, but “church people” can scar you for life!

In those rare instances where I have been attacked by professing Christians, the frustrating reality was that it was God and His Word that actually stirred His people, but instead of responding accordingly, they came after the messenger.

In 520 B.C Haggai was a messenger that God used to “stir up the spirits” of His people. Thankfully, they did not attack the messenger, they received the message and as a result there was a great revival among “the remnant of God’s people”.

It is my prayer that God would “stir the spirits” of His people at Antioch Baptist Church. Our selected text shows us how God will do this and what will happen when He does. I invite you to join me in Haggai 1:12-15 as we consider the thought “When The LORD Stirs His People”.

In the previous eleven verses we have God’s confrontation of His people. He first sent His message through the prophet “Haggai” to the civic and religious leaders, “Zerubbabel” and “Joshua”. They in turn relayed the God’s message to “the remnant of the people”. The “remnant” describes those left after a time of judgment to become the focus of God’s ongoing purposes for His people.

Upon hearing the description of their situation, God’s proclamation that He had caused their calamity, and the demand to “consider their ways”, the “remnant of the people… feared the Lord”. The people gave YAHWEH the reverence and respect He deserved as the one and only LORD and their Heavenly Father.

The ”fear” that was experienced by God’s people prompted them to turn away from their own desires and return to the Lord. They transitioned from selfishness and disobedience to a place of sacrifice and obedience. They literally “repented”; that is, they had a change of mind that resulted in a change of actions.

Their new perspective and priorities came with a great promise. Notice verse 13, “Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord’s message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.”

Once again the LORD speaks to His people through Haggai. God assured them that even though they had failed mightily and for an extended period of time, and even though they had experienced severe consequences due to their rebellion; they had been forgiven, their relationship with the LORD had been restored, and He would be with them as they worked for Him. Though it would be another four years before the LORD’s glory would once again fill His Temple, God was dwelling among His people and He would protect them, provide for them, and enable them to carry out the task they had been assigned.

Just as God has stirred the hearts of His people to repentance, He stirred their spirits for the intense labor that was ahead of them. Some sixteen years earlier the Lord had “stirred the spirit” of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1) to allow the Temple to be rebuilt. Shortly thereafter, He “stirred the spirit” (Ezra 1:5) of the exiles to return to Jersualem and begin work on the House of the Lord. Now, once again the Lord “stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel …and the spirit of Joshua …and the spirit of all the remnant of the people”. In response to this “stirring” the people “came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts”. Don’t miss the fact that the LORD is called “their God”. The obedience of the remnant reflects their restored relationship with God.

This work began “on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king”. Haggai’s first oracle was delivered to the people on August 29; now twenty-three days later on September 21st, 520 BC the people began to work.

God stirred up the spirits of His people and their passions and priorities changed. They turned from their selfishness, apathy, and inactivity and focused their time, energy, and efforts on rebuilding the Temple of the LORD.

After turning to Christ, William Booth was called to minister to the poor in Nottingham, England. After some time he founded The Salvation Army. By 1930 there were branches in 55 countries. It is estimated that more than 2,000,000 people have professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ through the work of the Salvation Army.