In 1:2, we saw that the people had drawn the wrong conclusion regarding the difficult situation they faced. They had concluded that the time had not come for the Lord's house to be built. 'Wrong' says God through Haggai. But he has more to say: he wants to speak to them about Priorities, Providence and Pleasure.
1. Priorities
In v.4, the LORD asks his people a rhetorical question: "Is it a time for you (emphatic) yourselves to be living in your panelled (roofed) houses, while this house remains a ruin?". Very clearly he is questioning their scheme of priorities. Having concluded that it wasn't time to rebuild the temple, they had seen to it that their own homes were rebuilt.
There is nothing bad about wanting homes to live in; that's not the point. The point is: they'd failed in the task the LORD had given them to rebuild the temple. And they'd failed not just because they were discouraged but because they got their priorities wrong.
We live in days when 2 concepts are often set against each other: the urgent and the important. If you're used to having to allocate time to specific tasks, you'll know all about that tension and not wanting to let the urgent squeeze out the important.
Well, as Christians, we are all called to prioritise. The Lord Jesus said "Seek first his Kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well".
Very interestingly, given the context in Haggai, the 'things' Jesus has in mind are food, drink, clothes and presumably houses too.
Are our priorities right? That is not the same as asking, Do I get to every meeting? We need to remember that it isn't only 'full-time' work that is legitimate. We can seek first his kingdom & righteousness in the mundane aspects of our lives too. It is the heart that matters most, not the specific nature of the work.
But having said that, there is work that is at the leading edge of the advance of the Kingdom and as a church & as individuals, we need to make sure we're gospel centred & kingdom centred. "My talents, gifts & graces Lord, Into thy blessed hands receive".
2. Providences
Having adopted wrong priorities, the people continued to misread God's providence. Or to be more accurate, to fail to read God's providential dealings with them.
The LORD calls them to give careful thought to their ways. He urges them to think seriously about their lives and what is happening to them in their experience. In the circumstances of their lives in the promised land, he is shouting at them but they are too deaf to hear.
What was that experience? Famine, drought, failed crops, galloping inflation; in modern terms, they were in a deep recession. Why was that so? The Lord spells it out to them in vv.9,10: it is because of their disobedience in neglecting the temple.
But this is something they should have seen for themselves! They knew what the Lord had said through Moses about curses on the land if they failed to honour him in the promised land. And that's what was happening to them!
But are we any better at listening to God? Someone has said that "This experience of failing to see God's hand in our troubles is common among believers today; we do not realise the effects of the sin that we tolerate in our lives. This is not to say that all disaster is because of sin, but rather that sin has consequences.". Does he sometimes shout yet we fail to hear? Are we really listening to his word?
We do need, however, to beware the dangers of introspection and over-analysis of situations. The Lord's dealings with them were a fulfilment of what he had promised in Deuteronomy. Our own interpretation of providence must be provisional unless it is based on and sanctioned by the Word of God (& even then we must be careful how we interpret & apply scripture; the NT does not say that we will experience famine for disobedience).
3. Pleasure
Their priorities were wrong and they had neglected his word & his providence. Now the Lord speaks to them about Pleasure - not theirs but his!
Verse 8 is the centrepiece of this chapter (structured around this command). This is the heart of Haggai's message: build the temple. We need to see where we have gone wrong in terms of our priorities and neglect of God's Word but we must be ready to move on from there and respond to what the Lord is calling us to do.
And what he wants is a rebuilt temple. Why? For his pleasure & his glory.
Pleasure Does he delight in buildings?! No; he delights in that which is in buildings out of love & worship for him. What we do, when we do it with right motives, brings pleasure to God. He is truly happy & fulfilled in himself but he also says that he is made happy by what we do. Do we understand that?
Glory Because there God would be manifested & his grace made known (but most fully in the NT). Today, he is most glorified in the building of the spiritual temple, his people. That is why priority must be given to it, that is why we must learn to read providence aright.
The priority was to be given to the temple because it would bring pleasure to God and glorify him. But it was in pleasing and glorifying him that they would (and we do) experience the highest degree of personal happiness. "When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word, what a glory he sheds on our way".
He is worthy of all our service, of our unsparing efforts in seeking to glorify him in all we do, seeking first his kingdom & righteousness. But such is his grace, our own prosperity and the true prosperity of this world are also bound up in these things.
So let's give careful thought to our ways...and build together, for his pleasure and glory. Amen!
