Haggai

Have you ever read Haggai? Well I haven't, nor many of the other minor prophets for that matter. There are some Old Testament books that can really speak to me, Genesis, Numbers, 1 and 2 Samuel, Job, Jonah, but never did I think that God would use the prophet Haggai to get my attention the way He did.

Haggai was the prophet at the time the first wave of Israelites left Babylon and returned to Jerusalem. God spoke to Haggai, to warn the Israelites that it was unacceptable to build their houses before God's house was built.

4 Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?

How does this apply to me?

It made me realize how much I think of myself and what I want before I think of what God desires and what He wants me to do. I mean how often am I listening and obeying because He said so? Or am I obeying because it lines up with what I want to do, first? Where does my heart lie?

5 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.

This should impact everything I do, from what I buy, to what I eat, to how I act, and to why I do the things I do.

The Israelites were called to rebuild the temple, but why?

8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD.

They were to build it so that God would be glorified... the exact reason we were made, to glorify the LORD.

The reason Haggai, goes on, to why they are always thirsty and hungry is because the temple laid in ruins while they went along with their day, building their own homes. What if this exact thing happens to us. Seeing that our bodies are now called temples where God's Spirit dwells.(1 Corinthians 6:19-20) When we separate ourselves from God by disobedience and selfish ambition, we grow spiritually thirsty and hungry. But praise God there is repentance and that He truly never leaves us or forsakes us. (Hebrews 13:5)

So how do I put "considering my ways" into action? I don't have prophet on hand to tell me when I screw up and fall away from God, no, I have something even better. I have the Holy Spirit that lives in me and directs and guides me. I believe also convicts me of my sin. How do I know what the Spirit is saying? I read God's Word and be obedient to it.

Lord, show me the times where I am putting myself before you, that I might repent. I need help keeping God as my focus, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through Christ.