Haggai 1:3-5 ERV
Again Haggai received a message from the LORD. Haggai spoke this message: [4] “You people think the right time has come for you to live in nice houses. You live in houses with beautiful wooden paneling on the walls, but the Lord’s house is still in ruins. [5] Now the LORD All-Powerful says, ‘Think about what is happening.
People say you must think of number one, think of yourself. Our culture emphasizes putting self over anything or anyone else. Yet God, through Haggai, told the people that as they trusted Him and gave to Him of their time and money, He would see to their needs. “Consider your ways.”
We are all so busy making a living, running our seemingly endless errands, fulfilling requirements, seeking to achieve at work, organising and running a household, taking care of our health. Sadly, some of us come to the end of the day and we struggle to make meaning of our day, trying to understand how we spent our day. As life becomes increasingly busy, we find ourselves losing sight of the important things: to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; to be passionately involved in the building of “the house of the Lord.”
The foundation of the temple of God had been laid fourteen years before, and some considerable progress made in the building, but it had been lying waste in that unfinished state to the present time. The Lord found it heartbreaking that the people were so busy building themselves edifices to the detriment of the Holy Temple. Hence, the “consider your way.” Vs 5,7.
We neglect kingdom issues but pay careful attention and expenses to personal issues. Our accounts grow fat from all the money we spend our time making but neglect to offer anything to building the kingdom of God. We put so much effort into looking good and presentable to make good impressions but never bother to address spiritual and kingdom falsification and misrepresentations- we tend to add our quota to an already bad press of the kingdom.
Consider your ways! Self-examination is a practical way of living, more so when kingdom issues are at stake. We should consider our ways and directions and be sure we are following God’s instructions, we should view our conduct on all sides, Psalm 119:59.
The word “ways” means, journey, or manner. God is asking the returned remnant to reflect on their priorities. The same can be asked of you and me today, we must reflect on our priorities.
God wants us to honestly consider the direction of our lives; to consider the road we are on and whether we want to continue to head that way, Proverbs 14:12 says the end of whatever road we chose to travel may not be right but maybe eternally destructive. There are times in our Christian walk that we need to “consider our roads.” There are times when we must consider our ways and ask, specifically, “Are am I properly investing in the kingdom of God for His glory or myself?”
Times, society and ways of life are changing moment by moment but the word of God never changes-Isaiah 40:8.
Vs 3, 4 deals with changes. A lot of people don’t like change, but it is a necessity of life. They preferred how things were, may want to go back to the old ways or will say it doesn’t matter how I do things, God sees my heart and understands.” How do you handle change in your life? As Haggai 1:7 instructs, consider your ways and ask God to show you areas in your life that need prioritising. Consider your ways.
Shalom