Haggai 1:5

New International Version (NIV)

Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

For Meditation

Sometimes we get careless with the Lord. Other times we simply presume on Him until He rudely awakes us. There are times too when we get too busy and preoccupied with ourselves that we forget God completely or second Him to our material needs. These are the times we need Him to shake us and tell us to, “Wake up and sit up.” This was one of the times with the Israelites returnees from the Babylonian exile under Zerubbabel.

They had work to do on rebuilding the Lord’s temple for the restoration of the proper worship. They started with enthusiasm, but they abandoned the work after the foundation was laid. Maybe the work became too much for them because they had their houses to build too. After seventy years in exile, there wasn’t much to come back to anyway. The two building projects may have gotten in each other’s way, and the Lord’s temple became the victim (Haggai 1:3-4). Their priorities became regretfully misplaced, and they did not realize the collateral damage it caused to their lives (6). But God is merciful. He sent the Prophet Haggai to challenge them to consider their ways and see how much they were losing (5), and what to do to gain His pleasure (7-8). That was the voice of love.

When God confronts us this way, it is not so much what He wants for Himself as what He wants for us. He doesn’t compete with us for anything. They are all His anyway (2:8; 2 Chron. 29:14), including ourselves. What pains God is how often we trade the riches of His grace for the rags of this world. It hurts Him to see the anguish and pain we bring on ourselves as a result. The Israelites planted much, but they harvested little (6). They were cheating themselves, and they did not know it. How relevant Haggai’s message is to our time!

1. Is it not time for us to give careful thought to our ways too?
2. Have you noticed how our spiritual life is suffering because of our busyness?
3. How about its collateral damage to our lives – our relationships, family, health, mental and emotional stress?
4. Do we consider that maybe we’re caught up in the situation Haggai spoke to?
5. If we are honest to ourselves, don’t you think God will reveal much more to us? Does He not reveal to redeem?

I pray we will accept the truth that our inner life is of much consequence than all the acquisitions of this world. God knows we need them, and He will give to us (Lk. 12:30-31). But under no circumstance should His blessings displace Him in our lives.

So: May you respond like the Israelites responded to Haggai (1:12); and may you hear from the Lord in your new determination to spiritual renewal: “I am with you” (13).

Jesus is not an item to be prioritized in our lives. He is our life.

Shalom