Haggai 1 – 2

Verse 1:9 talks about people’s focus:

You expected to be well rewarded for all your hard work. But as you see, you are getting back almost nothing. As you have brought in profits, I’ve blown them away. Why? I, the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, will tell you why: My house has remained in ruins while each of you has been chasing after your own concerns.

We do this today without even thinking about it, our pursuits even when God driven once successful often become a distraction from God. I pray that once our family settles into an increase we don’t grow away from God, but rather closer. The people of Israel built their homes before honoring God. It’s not that God needs a great temple for a home, but rather wanted to see the people honoring Him as they prospered. I am not saying we should build lavish structures to honor God, but rather put Him first in our “concerns”!

Verse 2:3 asks the king to reflect on how things were verse now:

“Are any of you still living who saw how glorious My first house was before it was destroyed more than 60 years ago? How does this current one look to you now? In comparison to the first, does this one look like nothing? Of course it does.

We tend to think our work is something pleasing when generations before honored God much greater than we do now. I look at how church was the center of Christmas decades ago and now is the one time people go other than maybe Easter. We lose focus on God easily today with hundreds of channels, information at our fingertips in the woods and gadgets out the wazoo.

The focus should not be building churches and ornate buildings in “honor” of God, but rather focus our attention on God rather than the latest trinket. Solomon was right in Ecclesiastes when he said everything on this world is a mist, the only lasting memory of us will be the souls we saved and touched. Those memories go into eternity where the new home will be gutted in 50 years. Heck the Braves “new” stadium is being trashed after 20 years!! So build God, not your comfort.

Verse 2:19 talks to me about my wanting things now:

 ‘Is there seed left unplanted in the storage barns?’ No. But you must be patient. The grape vine and the fig tree, the pomegranate trees and the olive trees have not borne fruit yet. From this day on, I will bless you.”

It being Christmas and the question is what do you want. This was easy this year since my wants have diminished, but I still just buy what I need and not worry about it. This has developed into a problem we see throughout society, we want immediate gratification. We could not imagine planting and waiting months for fruit, heck even farmers are bringing their environment indoors and controlling the seasons such that they have fruit year round. We need to “wait for it” and not demand it now. Heck it’s taken God 10 or more years to answer a prayer, which is being delayed a few months and driving us nuts. We need to relax and wait for God!!!