2026-09-18
Haggai 1:5-6 NKJV
In Haggai chapter one, we see a group of people whom God told eighteen years previously to rebuild His house. They still had not obeyed Him, yet they didn’t understand why their lives were a mess. They wondered why God was not blessing them.
So He said to them: “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?… Consider your ways! You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled… you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes… .Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified” (vv. 4-8 NKJV).
When God says, “Consider your ways,” He’s asking you to stop and examine your life. If you are not satisfied with the way things are going, is it because you have not done what He told you to do? James wrote: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (James 1:17 NKJV).
The words “no variation or shadow of turning” mean that God is intrinsically good, and He longs to shower your life with His goodness. But to experience it, you must walk in obedience. “No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11 NKJV). Obedience is your key to victory and blessing.
Soul food: Zech 7-8; Mark 14:27-31; Ps 19; Pro 24:19-22
2026-09-17
2 Korintiërs 9:10 NLV
Drie jong mans het elk drie mieliepitte van ‘n ou wysgeer ontvang. Hy het hulle beveel om die wêreld in te gaan en die mieliepitte te gebruik om vir hulself goeie geluk te bring. Die eerste jongman het sy drie mieliepitte in ‘n bak sop gesit en dit geëet. Die tweede jongman het gedink: ‘Ek kan beter doen as dit,’ en sy drie mieliepitte geplant. Binne ‘n paar maande het hy drie mielieplante gehad. Hy het die mieliekoppe van die plante afgehaal, dit gekook en genoeg mielies vir drie maaltye gehad.
Die derde man het vir homself gesê: ‘Ek kan nog beter doen as dit!’ Hy het ook drie mieliepitte geplant. Toe sy drie mielieplante egter opkom, het hy een van die koppe gestroop en al die sade daarin herplant, die tweede mieliekop vir ‘n liewe meisie gegee en die derde het hy self geëet. Die herplante mieliepitte het hom 200 mielieplante gegee! Met die pitte daarvan het hy aanhou herplant en slegs ‘n absolute minimum opsy gesit om te eet. Hy het uiteindelik ‘n honderd akkers mielies geplant. Met sy fortuin het hy nie net die hand van die lieflike meisie gewen nie, hy het ook die grond wat aan die lieflike meisie se vader behoort het, gekoop. Hy het nooit weer honger gehad nie.
Daar is ‘n belangrike Skriftuurlike beginsel hieruit te leer. Aan wie voorsien God saad? Saaiers. Wanneer vermeerder God saad? Wanneer dit in goeie grond gesaai word om goeie dinge te bereik. Wees dus ‘n saaier.
Sielskos: Sag 4-6; Mark 14:12-26; Ps 24; Spr 24:15-18
2 Corinthians 9:10 NKJV
Three young men were each given three kernels of corn by a wise old sage. He told them to go out into the world and use the corn to bring themselves good fortune. The first young man put his three kernels of corn into a bowl of soup and ate them. The second thought, “I can do better than that,” and he planted his three kernels of corn. Within a few months, he had three stalks of corn. He took the ears of corn from the stalks, boiled them, and had enough corn to eat for three meals.
The third man said to himself, “I can do better than that!” He also planted three kernels of corn. But when his three stalks of corn produced, he stripped one of the ears and replanted all of the seeds in it, gave the second ear of corn to a sweet maiden, and ate the third. His one full ear’s worth of replanted corn kernels gave him 200 stalks of corn! And the kernels of these he continued to replant, setting aside only a bare minimum to eat. He eventually planted a hundred acres of corn. With his fortune, he not only won the hand of the sweet maiden, but he also purchased the land owned by the sweet maiden’s father. And he never hungered again.
There’s an important scriptural principle here. To whom does God supply seed? Sowers. When does God multiply seed? When it is sown into good ground to accomplish good things. So be a sower.
Soul food: Zech 4-6; Mark 14:12-26; Ps 24; Pro 24:15-18
2026-09-16
2 Corinthians 4:17 NKJV
Without God’s Word, most of our experiences in life make no sense whatsoever. With it, we can decipher our experiences. Few things are more comforting or more exhilarating than knowing that God is the One putting together the jigsaw puzzle of your life.
It was a London cartographer, John Spilsbury, who is credited with commercializing jigsaw puzzles around 1760. During the Great Depression, they were popularized in America as a cheap form of entertainment. Puzzles come in all shapes and sizes, including the latest and greatest – 3D spherical jigsaws. But the method of assembly has not changed. It requires the fitting together of oddly shaped, interlocking pieces. The key is the picture on top of the box. Without it, you’re lost.
And that’s why many of us feel helpless and hopeless at times – because the pieces of our lives don’t seem to fit together, and we can’t see God’s vision for the whole. Few have suffered more than the apostle Paul, yet he wrote: “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NKJV).
Yes, bad things do happen to good people. But God has promised to recycle it, redeem it, and use it for our good and His glory.
Soul food: Zech 1-3; Mark 14:1-11; Ps 78:65-72; Pro 24:11-14
2 Korintiërs 4:17 NLV
Sonder God se Woord maak die meeste van ons ervarings in die lewe glad nie sin nie. Ons kan egter ons ervarings deur middel van die Woord ontsyfer. Min dinge is meer vertroostend of opwindend as om te weet dat God die Een is wat die legkaart van ons lewens aanmekaar sit.
‘n Londense kartograaf, John Spilsbury, het glo begin om legkaarte rondom 1760 te kommersialiseer. Tydens die Groot Depressie het hulle in Amerika as ‘n goedkoop vorm van vermaak gewild geword. Legkaarte kom in alle vorms en groottes voor, insluitend die nuutste en beste – 3D sferiese legkaarte. Die metode om dit te bou het egter nie verander. Dit vereis dat jy stukke wat vreemd gevorm is, in mekaar moet probeer pas. Die sleutel is die prentjie bo-op die boks. Daarsonder is jy verlore.
Daarom voel baie van ons soms hulpeloos en hopeloos – omdat die stukke van ons lewens nie bymekaar pas nie en ons nie God se visie vir die geheel kan sien nie. Min mense het meer as die apostel Paulus gely, maar hy het geskryf: ‘Om hierdie rede gee ons nie moed op nie. Al is ons uiterlike mens besig om te vergaan, innerlik word ons van dag tot dag vernuwe. Ons swaarkry op die oomblik is gering en tydelik, maar dit bewerk vir ons ‘n heerlikheid wat alles verreweg oortref en vir altyd vas sal staan. Ons oog is nie op die sigbare dinge gerig nie, maar op die onsigbare, want die sigbare dinge is tydelik, maar die onsigbare vir altyd’ (2 Korintiërs 4:16-18 NLV).
Ja, slegte dinge gebeur wel met goeie mense. God het egter belowe om dit te herwin, te verlos en vir ons beswil en sy heerlikheid te gebruik.
Sielskos: Sag 1-3; Mark 14:1-11; Ps 78:65-72; Spr 24:11-14
