"Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:5)

Consider your ways! God spoke this admonition to His people Israel over 2500 years ago, yet it is one that God's people still need to heed, even today.

The nation of Israel had been carried into captivity by the Babylonians around 606 BC Their temple was destroyed and their city was left in ruins. All this came as a judgment from God upon this nation for their idolatry. Seventy years later, in 536 BC, the people of Israel, who were now under Medo-Persian rule, were allowed to return to their promised land to rebuild their temple. The book of Ezra records how a small remnant of about 50,000 Jews, led by Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, and Joshua, their high priest, returned to the land and in 535 BC laid the foundation for a new temple. But then, the work of the temple ceased-for the next fifteen years! The question is "Why?"

Many factors contributed to this work stoppage: social problems, civil disputes, physical difficulties, and economic hardships all were seemingly roadblocks to the temple's completion. However, when we look at what God had to say, it becomes clear that the real problem, as is often the case, was spiritual.

After fifteen years of inactivity on the temple, God sent two prophets to the Jewish remnant: Haggai and Zechariah. We need to remember that a prophet was not just one who foretold the future, though they often were used in this way. A prophet was one who spoke in behalf of God. Haggai was sent by God to admonish these Jews for not working to complete the building of His house, the temple.

"Thus speaks the LORD of hosts, saying: This people says, The time has not come, the time that the LORD's house should be built. Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 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 1:2-5)

The first thing the Lord points out to Israel's leaders is what the people were saying. "This people says, The time has not come that the Lord's house should be built" (verse 2). The people may have believed that the seventy years of desolation upon the land, prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer. 25:9-11), were not yet fulfilled. As the foundation was laid in that first year, the prospects for rebuilding the temple must have seemed bright, but then circumstances changed. The neighboring Samaritans sought to hinder their efforts, inciting the civil authorities to question the Jews' rights to rebuild. No doubt the physical task itself was quite daunting, seeing that the temple and the city both lay in ruins, and then economic conditions made things harder as well. These difficulties must have discouraged this small remnant of Jews and so they reasoned, "the time has not come ... that the Lord's house should be built." The Lord pointed out the hypocrisy of their statement by asking them this pointed question: "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" (verse 4).

Though the Jews left the Lord's house in ruins, they still found the resolve to build their own houses, and paneled houses at that. The word "paneled" refers to a paneling used to cover the walls or ceiling. It indicated that the people had not only finished their houses, but had added decorative touches as well, even a bit of luxury. Thus, the Lord admonished them: "Consider your ways!"

The word "consider" literally means "to set your heart upon," the heart referring to their minds or their inner-most being. The word "ways" has three different aspects to its meaning. The Lord was directing them to think about: (1) What they were doing, (2) Why they were doing these things, and (3) How things were working out (i.e. the results).

The Lord's house still lay in ruins, but their own houses were finished, even quite luxuriously. How had this happened? It was a matter of priorities. The Jews had focused their time and efforts on themselves and had neglected the Lord. Their hearts were moved away from the Lord. The reason they stopped work on the Lord's house was not a social, political, physical, or economic problem. It was a spiritual problem.
How were things working out? The Lord summarized for them.

"You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes. Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways!" (Haggai 1:6-7)

The people were carrying on with their own lives and trying to provide for their own needs, but without much success. They were hard at work planting, but saw very little harvest. They ate and drank, but there was never enough. They clothed themselves, but could not keep warm. They worked and earned wages, but it was like trying to fill a bag with a hole in it-inflation was so bad they could never keep up, much less get ahead. All their efforts were not sufficient to meet their needs and certainly did not satisfy them. In view of these results, the Lord again says, "Consider your ways!"

Then the Lord told them exactly what they needed to do.

"Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the LORD." (Haggai 1:8)

The Lord instructed Israel to "build the temple!"-to get back to the work that He had called them to do. For what purpose? "That I, the Lord, may take pleasure in it and be glorified." The aim of our work for the Lord is two-fold: the Lord's pleasure and the Lord's glory. It was true in Israel's day and it's true today as well. The Jewish remnant who had returned to their land had forgotten this, and God rewarded their work accordingly.

"You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? says the LORD of hosts. Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore the heavens above you 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." (Haggai 1:9-11)

The people expected so much from their work, but it came to little, because the Lord blew it away. Why would He deal with them so harshly? Because while every one of Jews was occupied with building and providing for their own houses, the Lord's house lay in ruins. Therefore, God brought a drought upon "all the labor of their hands."

The Lord's admonition to Israel is one for us as well. We also need to "Consider our ways!" What are we doing with our lives and why? What do we spend all our time and efforts on-all the labor of our hands? Our own houses, our own lives, our own needs, our own wants, or the Lord's?

As believers during this present age of grace, we too have been called to build the Lord's house, His holy temple. This is not a physical building that we worship in, but a living body of believers-the Church, the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). It is called by the apostle Paul "a holy temple in the Lord," which is "being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit" (Eph. 1:22-23). As saints of God, believers today are to be engaged in the edifying, or building up, of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:12). This building process includes seeing more people added to the Church through faith in Jesus Christ, as well as having members of the Church grow and mature spiritually in their Christian walk.

This ministry that God has called us to do requires work-work that God has prepared for us to do (Eph. 2:10). We are to be zealous for these good works (Titus 2:14) and diligent as workers for the Lord (II Tim. 2:15). Yet, how many of us truly spend our energies, day by day, on this most important work? Like that Jewish remnant who were called to build the temple, we too are often focused on our homes, our families, our jobs, our needs, and our pleasure. Our hearts are not on the Lord, but on ourselves. Like Israel, we rationalize and make excuses for not doing the Lord's work, but at the same time we find it easy to continue our own. "Consider your ways!"
You may respond, but I have to provide for the needs of my family, isn't that what God's Word teaches? Yes, we do need to take care of our families' needs, that's not the real issue here. The Lord wasn't reprimanding the Jews for building their own homes, but for doing so at the expense of His! If Israel had continued the rebuilding of the temple, as they were sent to do, then God would have had no problem with them building their own homes as well. The problem was that their own homes took priority over the Lord's, their work over His. That is the problem in the lives of many believers today.

If you find yourself living with the same priorities as the Jews at that time did, ask yourself the same question the Lord asked them, Does all the time and effort you spend on yourself, while neglecting the Lord's work, really bring the results in your life that you want? While God may not bring ruin, poverty, or drought into your lives, remember this, the real sufficiency and real satisfaction that is needed in our lives is not physical but spiritual! While you may be successful in accumulating material things in this world, these things can never meet your needs and can never satisfy your hearts.

Remember, too, that our purpose, as believers, is to please God and to glorify Him (II Cor. 5:9, Eph. 1:5-6, 9, 12). In order to accomplish this purpose, we must set our hearts upon the One who loved us, died for our sins, and rose again-the Lord Jesus Christ (II Cor. 5:14-15), and to give Him the pre-eminence in all things (Col. 1:18).

What happened as a result of Haggai's prophecy?

"Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him; and the people feared the presence of the LORD. Then Haggai, the LORD's messenger, spoke the LORD's message to the people, saying, I am with you, says the LORD. So 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, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month, in the second year of King Darius." (Haggai 1:12-15)

The leaders of Israel, along with all the people, in godly reverence at the presence of the Lord, obeyed His voice (Word). They were encouraged by His promise, "I am with you." In this way, the Lord stirred up their spirits and the people came and worked on the house of the Lord their God. Five years later, the temple was complete. Friends, the time has come for the Lord's house to be built! This is the work that God has given His saints today-to build the Church, the Body of Christ. Let's heed His admonition and truly "Consider our ways!" Let's bow in godly reverence at the presence of our Lord. Let's listen to His Word and let Him stir up our spirits. Then, let's rise up and build together, faithfully doing the work of the Lord, for His pleasure and for His glory.

"For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." (Phil. 2:13)