(15) Now then, consider from this day onward. Before stone was placed upon stone in the temple of the LORD,
(16) how did you fare? When one came to a heap of twenty measures, there were but ten. When one came to the wine vat to draw fifty measures, there were but twenty.
(17) I struck you and all the products of your toil with blight and with mildew and with hail, yet you did not turn to me, declares the LORD.
I realize that I keep writing about this, but that's only because it keeps showing up in the Minor Prophets (or the Twelve, if you want to go with the Hebrew name). God uses trials to bring us to Him. Sadly, this doesn't seem to work all the time.
What I see is that folks were just as narcissistic then as they are now. If something doesn't seem to immediately benefit us then we cannot see its value. I can remember going through trials as a child and my dad would say that it is "character-building." Of course, a child doesn't really understand that, but I do now. God uses trials to build our character and bring us to Him.
This is easy to write about here in the comfort of my home with nothing pressing on me right now. But I think now is the time to consider such things before the pressures do mount because they certainly will someday.
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