(Haggai 1:4-11)
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!” (Haggai 1:4, 5 NKJV)
In verses 6-11 of Haggai, God goes on to say how they sow much but reap little, drink but are not filled with drink, wear clothes but none are warm.
“Consider your ways!” He says again in verse 7.
He tells them to go to the mountain and get wood to build the temple so He may be glorified.
He tells them that though they expected much they got little, and when they brought that home it blew away because they neglected his house, the temple, to take care of their own houses.
He says the heavens withhold the dew and the earth withholds its fruit.
“For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands” (verse 11).
“Consider your ways!” is great advice for us all. The Israelites had ignored the things of God (in this case, the rebuilding of the temple). Though they were working hard, things weren’t going very well for them because they were tending to their own wants and not to the things of God.
Does God get our first fruits, or does He get a minute or two after we watch hours of TV or finish our video game? Does he get a minute here and there when we are not watching or participating in sports? Does he get a quick prayer of “give me, give me, give me” when we have a second or when we are in trouble or feel threatened? Does God get a contribution from the leftovers after we have satisfied all of our own desires for things, food, fun, pleasure, etc?
Be sure to put God first in your life – actually first – and fit everything else around that commitment.
Consider your ways!!
For the elders, Gary Woodall