In the second year of Darius the king, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came by the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'This people says, "The time has not come, even the time for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt."'" Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying,
"Is it time for you yourselves
to dwell in your paneled houses
while this house lies desolate?"
Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts,
"Consider your ways!
"You have sown much,
but harvest little;
you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied;
you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk;
you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough;
and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes."
Thus says the LORD of hosts,
"Consider your ways!
"Go up to the mountains,
bring wood
and rebuild the temple,
that I may be pleased with it and be glorified," says the LORD.
"You look for much, but behold, it comes to little;
when you bring it home, I blow it away.
Why?" declares the LORD of hosts,
"Because of My house which lies desolate,
while each of you runs to his own house.
"Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew
and the earth has withheld its produce. (Haggai 1:1-10 NASB)
Way back in 586/7 BC, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob punished His people by sending the last of them (Judah) into exile in Babylon. There they stayed for seventy years. Once the Persian King, Darius took Babylon, he released the captives, incuding Judah, to return to their lands and rebuild. The first group back was led by Zerubabel as governor, and Joshua as high priest. They ran into obstacles, and eventually progress slowed down to a crawl, then stopped. The people stopped working to rebuild Jerusalem, and started just existing. God wasn't ready to leave them that way.
The prophet, Haggai, was given a "word from the LORD" to the leaders. It's an interesting "word". It seems that work on the Temple had stopped, people had finished their own houses, and were now consumed with providing for themselves. The people had said, "The time has not yet come for the house of the LORD to be rebuilt." Now, God does not "live" in houses constructed by human hands (Acts 7:48). So, why is He so upset here? I believe that my Master is looking for a particular change of heart.
In each of the phrases translated "Consider your ways!" the literal term is "Set your heart on your ways!" It may not seem like a big difference, and really it has to do with Hebrew idiom, but by bringing the word, "heart" into it, I believe it puts in front of me the issue my Master has.
It is the desire of my Master that I have a heart passionate for the things that are His. Notice two things in this passage. First, He doesn't condemn them for having houses to live in, but rather for having taken care of their houses, but then didn't work on His. Second, the people were seeking to do the things necessary for life, and it wasn't working. It's like Matthew 6:31-34, where Jesus' comment on running after these things is that such behavior is like "Gentiles" or unbelievers. Jesus' answer is "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."
God's answer to His people through Haggai is to start work on the things of His, and the necessities of life will be taken care of by Him. How often do I think of things others are not doing? How often do my own "necessities" distract me from my Master's Kingdom? When does it become clear that I am passionate for the things of my Master more than my own?
Wouldn't it be nice to not have a bank account with "holes"? I would love to be "satisfied". The way I get there is to become passionate for the things of my Master.
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