1:13
The priests had been ministering quite happily before the altar, secure in the relative prosperity that the nation was enjoying, but the Lord had other plans. The Lord was not happy because of the unrighteousness in the land. So the instead of being complacent, the priests should lament and wail. They should be repenting before the Lord for their own sin, and for the sin of the nation. The Lord had intervened to force the people to pay attention to what really mattered. We have an important lesson here. The Lord does use “natural disasters” to speak to a people. The problem is usually look at these things in terms of what God is doing to other people, about why they deserve what is coming to them. The right response is to ask what can I or we learn. And when we see others suffering the right response is what can we do to help them.
1:14
The priests are ordered to call a fast, to consecrate themselves to the Lord. All are to be called to humble themselves before the Lord. Contrast this with the reaction that the church so often has, which is to seek to explain why God’s word does not mean what it says it means. We are all priests now, but especially those of us who are in any position of leadership we need to remind ourselves that we are there to serve God’s purposes, and to lead the people in the ways of God. It is a tragedy when leaders or even churches lead people in the way of the world.
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