May I Say

NOT THE LORD'S WILL?

By Dr. J. Vernon McGee

When the Israelites returned from Babylonian captivity to their own land, they returned with great anticipation, and their enthusiasm for rebuilding ran high. But they met gigantic obstacles which required herculean effort and hardships. After they had gone through a period like that, they were discouraged when they began to build the temple. The difficulties seemed insurmountable. They had laid the foundation of the temple, but the opposition of the Samaritans was so intense that they simply stopped building. They rationalized and decided that it was not the time to build. They said, "It is so hard, evidently God doesn't intend us to do it."

Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not
come, the time that the LORD'S house should be built. (Haggai 1:2)

Notice that God says, "This people say" — ordinarily He calls them My people, but not here. By this He doesn't mean that He has disowned them; He is just displeased with them. They are not in His will, and they are covering their disobedience with a pious-sounding excuse.

What Haggai is going to say will hurt a little. He is going to stick the knife in the trouble spot that, by the way, touches the lives of many Christians. Have you ever heard people say that they had given up trying to do something or that they did not go someplace because it was "not the Lord's will"? They will sometimes say that the Lord directed them to do something else. Saying that it is the Lord's will to do this or not to do that is a Christian cliché that covers a multitude of sins. It is so easy, when things get hard and rough, to turn in a report to everyone that says, "The Lord wanted me to do something else."

The crowd that Haggai is addressing rationalized in the same way. When the Lord's people started building the temple and the going got rough, they said, "It's not the Lord's time to build." So Haggai pulls the Band-Aid off and exposes the sore. And it isn't an "ouchless" Band-Aid — it hurts, you may be sure of that.

Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for
you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? (Haggai 1:3, 4)

These folk who said it was not time to build the Lord's house had all built their own houses! And the Lord pointed out that their houses were "ceiled." This means that they were beautifully paneled; they were luxuriously built. And for fifteen years, while they had been building their elaborate homes, the Lord's house had been laying waste. How in the world were the people able to build their lovely paneled homes? Surely they encountered difficulties, but they were not willing to face the same difficulties to build the Lord's house.

It is amazing, but I have found it true throughout my many years in the ministry, that a great many people say, "I feel it is God's will for me to help you in your ministry," and then when the going gets a little rough, say, "It doesn't seem to be the Lord's will for me to help at this time." You see, the minute that things become difficult, that is the time most people decide their resolve is not the Lord's will. But when it is something for their own selfish ends, they usually go ahead and do it, don't they? Most people are that way. We make the effort to accomplish that which will always be to our advantage.

Oh, I get so weary of hearing people give that excuse for not doing something for God! What do they know about the Lord's will? Just because something is difficult and hard and is going to cost you something, does that mean it is not the Lord's will? May I say to you, that is not the way to interpret the Lord's will. Sometimes the Lord's will is very rugged. If we could just listen to the stories of some of God's choice saints of the past, they would tell us that God's will was not always a smooth path.

I told you that what Haggai has to say will hurt. He would never win a popularity contest. He is rather like an alarm clock. The alarm clock will never become the most treasured possession. We do not like to be awakened from a sound and restful sleep. We have come to a place where it is woe to anyone who disturbs us, sounds an alarm, blows a whistle, or turns on a siren. That is the reason God's prophets never won a popularity contest. Haggai is an alarm clock. He wakes us up, and he disturbs us. We don't like that. And the people in his day didn't like it. They had just come out of the Babylonian captivity, and they didn't want to hear his message. Haggai occupied a very difficult position. He stood between a rock and a hard place. Yet he attempted to wake up his people to do something for God.

— Adapted and edited from

Edited Messages on Zephaniah and Haggai

by J. Vernon McGee
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