What a beautiful morning! (I could’ve put an “O” in front of that sentence and stuck a song about Oklahoma in your head for the day … or maybe I just did!). I live in Indiana all year for the weather we’re having right now.
Last week, our meditations focused on words from the Old Testament “minor” prophets that have a message for us today. There are a couple left to hear, and Haggai is one. It continually amazes me how their words, spoken over 2,500 years ago (and in some cases closer to 3,000 years ago), resonate equally with us. While our standard of living has vastly improved and we’ve made incredible technological advances, it seems that human nature hasn’t changed much … and neither has our relationship with God.
Haggai’s words speak to the importance of faith to busy and distracted people.
The people of Israel, after decades of exile, had finally been permitted to return home and rebuild their lives in their homeland. After a time of settling, they were called to begin rebuilding the temple. For the Jews of that time, the temple was not just any other building, and it was than just a symbol of their faith. It was the living place of their living God. But rebuilding the temple stalled. Life got busy. Priorities shifted. God’s house was neglected while everyone worked on their own homes. Through Haggai, God asked them to pause and “consider their ways.”
“Give careful thought to your ways… Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin? Now thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider how you have fared. You have sown much and harvested little; you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages earn wages to put them into a bag with holes.
You have looked for much, but it came to little, and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord of hosts. Because my house lies in ruins, while all of you hurry off to your own houses.” (Haggai 1).
It’s also easy for us to get busy. Calendars fill, bills stack up, there’s always work to do and errands to run … and God can slip to the margins. Haggai’s message isn’t just about a building—it’s about priorities. How important is our faith to us? Are we seeking God’s kingdom first, or have we drifted into living as if our plans come first?
Like Haggai’s people, we, too, look for much in the world around us and find it comes to little. The good news is that when we finally realize the truth and turn to God, God’s promise for them is also true for us: “I am with you.” (Haggai 1:13). God’s presence fills the spaces where he is put first.
What might God be asking you to reprioritize so that he comes first in your life? We all lose sight of God every now and then, distracted by the bright, shiny objects in the world around us. When that happens to you, how do you “rebuild your temple” to turn your eyes back to God and reorient your priorities?
Prayer: Lord of all our days, forgive me when I put my plans above yours. Teach me to seek first your kingdom and trust that everything else will follow. Dwell with me as I put you at the center of my life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
