Connected to the ancients, stirred by the Spirit, obeying the Lord
By Dean Collins
The situations were entirely different, but the follow-through is connected. Scripture contains many narratives where we get to see “the rest of the story” as the late Paul Harvey liked to say.
Clear connections
Take, for example, the birth of Moses and his early life. Later we understand how his unique background made him the perfect leader to confront Pharaoh and lead God’s children to the Promised Land.
Or consider the call of Abraham as God showed him the stars of the sky and how his own lineage would be so vast it would bless the whole earth. Decades later we read of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, and how the great grandchildren of Abraham became the twelve tribes. And one of these great grandchildren, Joseph, though enduring great difficulty and abuse, played the key role in the survival of his family and the eventual tribes of Israel.
And we can’t forget how the story of David unfolds. We look back to David’s great grandmother and see how she navigates the loss of her husband, survives a famine, cares for and provides for her mother-in-law, and later, by marrying Elimelech, becomes a member of the tribe of Judah. Then we learn decades later that her shepherd boy grandson becomes the king of Israel. From this same lineage we discover the birth line of Jesus, the Savior of the world.
Easy to miss
But there are many stories in Scripture that do not connect so clearly. As I was reading Haggai and James this morning, I realized I’ve never heard any professor or preacher connect the stories of these two servants of God. The only possible connection I can make is that these two men each wrote one short book of the Bible. Haggai’s book is two chapters, and James stretched his to only five chapters.
However, we need to consider that in God’s great drama there are connections easy to miss. And many of these connections come because the Holy Spirit who inspired the writings of Scripture is also at work in us.
The prophet Haggai wrote that the Lord stirred the spirit of Zerubbabel who was the governor of Judah that was in a terrible state of ruin. The Lord also stirred a man named Joseph who was the high priest when Zerubbabel was governor. And the Lord stirred his people, too. I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen lots of people stirred up. Some of them got stirred up watching a ball game. Some by watching election results or a high-profile court case. Some were stirred up at church, but clearly sometimes not by the Holy Spirit. (I suspect that’s true of the earlier examples too!)
But in the case of Zerubbabel, when he and the people got stirred by the Holy Spirit, Haggai tells us they went to work rebuilding the temple. So you might ask what this has to do with James and with us. Maybe nothing. But in the great drama of God’s story that includes you and me, maybe everything.
Stirred to act
Haggai and James were not simply stirred by the Spirit; they took action. For each of them, one act of obedience was simply writing down what God told them. For Zerubbabel, the high priest Joseph, and the ancient Hebrews, their action was to obey the stirring of God and get to work rebuilding the temple.
James wrote that we are not asked, called, or directed simply to read or hear Scripture but to do what the Holy Spirit stirs in us through the Word. We are called to put these nudges into action. If we do, we are blessed and will be a blessing to future generations. If we don’t, according to James we have a worthless religion. And that’s just for starters. When James wrote the second chapter of his little book he said our faith without actions is simply dead.
I am confident you believe God is at work today. We know from the narrative of Scripture that he is at work in those who believe in him and are obedient to his commands. If that’s the case, then it is highly likely that the Spirit of God will do some stirring in you and me, maybe even today. We have choices when that happens. We can enjoy a worshipful moment that soon fizzles and becomes worthless. Or we can be stirred into action, demonstrating that our faith is active and aligned with God in his great mission to redeem and restore his kingdom.
I think you might just be connected to Haggai, Zerubbabel, and James. It’s all possible because we are connected to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.
Your time with God’s Word
Haggai 1:12-15; James 1:22-27; 2:15-18, 22-26 ESV
Photo by Clint Adair on Unsplash
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