Consider Your Ways
Haggai 1
Introduction: Our Far Greater Vision.
“Haggai was written to motivate the people to regain the vision of God’s kingdom and to convince them to put God first.” (Michael Barrett)
Yahweh Sabaoth Deals with Israel’s Procrastination – “The time has not yet come” (1:1-4)
A delayed construction reveals a heart that has drifted from the Lord. It reveals a heart that is no longer captivated by God. Procrastination is never just a scheduling problem but a symptom of a misplaced priority (choosing comfort over covenant obedience).
Excuses: John Calvin calls this excuse “a secret alienation of mind.” What are the possible excuses? (Iain Duguid and Matthew Harmon)
Opposition to their rebuilding plans (Ezra 4) – People who are “strong, politically well-connected” and are determined to frustrate their efforts.
These were difficult times for all. Zechariah 4:10 speaks of living in days of “small things.” Resources were tight.
Economic reforms by Darius mean increased taxation, which adds to their financial trouble. There was a general lack of funds for an ambitious project.
The sixth month was harvest time, and everyone would have been busy in the fields.
No work has been done for roughly 18 years. They lost the vision. Their priority shifted from building God’s house (kingdom work) to building their own houses (personal comfort and concerns). This postexilic Jewish community, though not explicit, made every excuse for not doing God’s work. We make the same mistakes today. We make excuses for not going to church. We make excuses for not doing our devotion. We make excuses for not praying. We make excuses for not witnessing. We make excuses for not giving.
Illustration: Joyce Baldwin’s commentary on Haggai (moral paralysis).
Apathy – “It’s not yet time”
Naivety – living in the land does not always mean living for the Lord. Proximity does not always mean fidelity and intimacy.
Vanity – Haggai contrasts their “paneled houses” (paneled meaning “well-appointed” or “comfortable”) with the house of God (temple) which lies in ruins.
The “not yet” is a refusal to see the “already” of God’s grace. When grace loses its wonder (God brought them back from Babylon, the pagan king, Cyrus, funded the rebuilding project), obedience loses its urgency.
How did God deal with Israel’s procrastination? Note here, the name by which God has revealed himself, Yahweh Sabaoth (repeated 5x, verses 2, 5, 7, 9, 14), which underscores that the one confronting Israel’s procrastination is not a local deity but the cosmic King, the Warrior-Redeemer whose purposes cannot be delayed.
Yahweh Sabaoth Desires for His People to Repent, Reorder their Priorities, and Rebuild the house of God – “Consider your ways” (1:5, 7)
“Consider your ways” means covenant re-orientation. The Hebrew phrase literally means “set your heart upon your path.” God is calling His people to evaluate their loves, not merely their schedules. Look at your ways (priorities and pursuits) in light of God’s ways. The real issue here is trust. Do you trust God enough to prioritize him and his cause?
Haggai 1:6, “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 he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” Because Israel pushed God out of the center of their lives, they had fields without produce, labor without profit…fruitless toil…fleeting riches…unsatisfied hunger…futile defenses.
Infidelity leads to futility – Israel’s frustrations were not the result of not working hard enough or not being smart enough, but being disobedient (Stephen Coleman). Futility was at the heart of covenant curses (Deuteronomy 28). Running but never reaching our goals; it’s futile (like a rat race/hamster on treadmill). According to OT scholars, Iain Duguid and Matthew Harmon, “futility curses like these were a standard part of many ANE covenants. Those curses have become a reality in the lives of God’s unfaithful people.”
Idolatry leads to frustration. Putting self first is always self-defeating.
God calls them to repent. It is a serious and dangerous thing not to put God first! The only way for the curse to be reversed is through repentance. God said, “he would be pleased and glorified” (1:7) if they would return to him and redirect their efforts back to him. He calls the leaders to repent. He calls all the “remnant” to repent. But this is a spirit-wrought repentance. Notice the words of Haggai 1:14, “And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.”
God calls them to reorder/rearrange their priorities
God’s judgment fell upon his people because of their misplaced priorities. God frustrated their efforts (“I blew it,” 1:9; “[God] called for a drought on the land and hills,” 1:11). This teaches us a lesson: “If you stop working for God, He will make sure that nothing works for you.”
God calls them to rebuild the house of God. In Haggai’s day, the temple was the enduring visible symbol of God’s presence. The importance of the temple is not limited to the worship place of God’s people. The temple speaks of a Christological promise. To neglect it means to neglect the gospel. So, return to God, reorder your lives, and redeem every opportunity to glorify him!
Conclusion
Jesus never procrastinated. Christ never lost the vision of glorifying the Father and completing His mission. He stayed faithful to the end so that ruined sinners like us could be restored.
Jesus purified the earthly temple and created a new temple.
We are God’s new temple. Stop making excuses. Start trusting the Lord. Seeking God’s kingdom (Matthew 6:33) and his glory is the one thing in life that brings assured, lasting fulfillment to our souls.
The time has come to build this temple. BCI, give careful thought to your ways. Don’t procrastinate, prioritize God and his work. He promised, “I am with you.”
Discussion questions (For Egroups)
Where do you see “the time has not yet come” in your own walk or areas of your life where spiritual delay reveals a shrinking vision of Christ’s glory?
What priorities (habits, pursuits, comforts) compete with Christ’s call to seek first His kingdom (Matthew 6:33), and what would repentance look like in those areas this week, month, or year?
What does “rebuilding the house of God” look like for the church today, both corporately and personally, and how does seeing Christ as the true Temple deepen your commitment to His body?