Thoughts on Haggai

Today’s reading: Haggai 1-2; Hebrews 11

Haggai shows us that God was not concerned about the scale and grandeur of His people’s output for Him, but was concerned that His people gave Him the proper place of priority in their lives.

Haggai opens by calling the people to consider their situation. They have built themselves paneled houses while leaving the temple of the Lord untouched, and as a result, all of their enterprises either fail or are severely hampered. This isn’t God being petty or vindictive and withholding from them because they aren’t giving Him "enough," or even expecting them to rebuild the temple before taking care of themselves and their families. The fact that Haggai doesn't just call out houses, but specifically "paneled houses" means they are settled to the point of upgrading and decorating their homes, while continuing to neglect the Lord. In settling (or resettling) an area, this kind of paneling would be the last step in getting established. You would be content with a tent or a basic shelter while you got farms, flocks, and wells established in the area, and then would start building more permanent houses, shops, etc. Having excess materials and labor to start making paneling for the walls of houses really points to a significant level of establishment in the land.

So just like in the centuries leading up to the exile, here too as they return, God is trying to get His people's attention by withholding the blessings and bringing the curses that He had promised before they even entered the land. As they are experiencing struggle and failure on every front, especially in all these areas that God had promised blessing, it was supposed to have the effect of making them stop and ask why God would allow these things to happen, and ultimately realize that they had failed to be faithful to Him.

What is personally really encouraging to me about this is what God says after the people listen and rebuild the temple. He says, "Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?" The new temple couldn't hold a candle to the glory or grandeur of Solomon's temple, and yet the next thing God tells them is that He is pleased with it and His presence will be with them. He declares that He will ultimately increase the glory of the temple until it is even greater than it's former glory, but that was His promise to them, not His expectation of them.

God wanted His people to make Him a priority, and when they were willing to do that, He blessed them and promised to advance the work from there.

This makes me think of Jesus' words in Matthew 6 when He says, "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you."

As followers of Christ, we are called to make Him a priority and pursue the work of His kingdom. At times that can feel overwhelming, especially if we look at the work others have done or are doing, and don't feel like we could offer anything close to that to the Lord. But God isn't sitting back waiting for us to make a large enough contribution, He is simply looking for us to make Him a priority, and when we do that, when we are willing to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, He is the one who picks it up from there to ultimately bring about a work of incredible glory and grandeur. That's on Him, not on us. Our part is just to be willing to prioritize Him and faithfully take the first steps that He has before us.