Consider Your Ways

Consider Your Ways…

Haggai 1:2-8…

2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.

7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

8 Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD.

(Intro.)

Tomorrow, we celebrate Pan American Day, or what is also know as Columbus Day. Named after the famous sailor, and explorer of the Americas, Christopher Columbus.

You may have heard the famous little rhyme, “In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue.”

Columbus began his voyage with his crew and those three ships, the Pinta, the Nina, and the Santa Maria.

Wanting to discover a direct trade route with Asia, he set sail in September of 1492, and landed in what is now San Salvador on October 12th, 1492.

Not realizing that he had actually discovered the islands in the Caribbean, he thought he had found Asia.

He spent most of his life convincing himself, as well as, others that he had landed in the islands off of China’s coast.

All of his life he believed, and lived for something that was not true, something that was not accurate. Convinced he was right, he never stopped to evaluate that he might be wrong.

(Summarize Events…)

The Israelites had been driven from their country and had been held in captivity in Babylon for seventy years. King Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed their land, he had broken down the wall surrounding Jerusalem, and had torn down the Temple that Solomon had built for the Lord.

As the children of Israel returned to their land, they began the repairing of the wall, and the rebuilding of the Temple. They laid its foundation once again.

But, over time they received some opposition. Many times the opposition was fierce, even life threatening, as their surrounding enemies tried to stop their progress. But, their enemies alone did not defeat them, for they, themselves, with their priorities misplaced caused themselves to halt the reconstruction.

For fifteen years after their return the Temple remained devastated. The people made excuses, and even convinced themselves they were right. While they stopped the work, while they stopped the progress of the rebuilding of the Temple, they never stopped to evaluate that they might be wrong.

Haggai the prophet comes upon the scene. In the days of the OT, God would often speak to His people through a prophet. They did not have all of God’s Word, the Bible, at that time. So God sends His man, with His message to the people.

Here in the book of Haggai, the shortest book in all of the Bible, only two chapters, only 38 verses total, we have recorded one of the greatest messages, one of the greatest challenges from God to His people.

2 Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, This people say, The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

Because of the opposition they faced, the people reasoned that maybe God did not want His house, did not want His Temple rebuilt. They thought that maybe the time was not right.

We also, see in this verse very quickly God’s displeasure with their reasoning. Rather, than saying “My people” as God often did when talking about the children of Israel, He called them, “This people”. That doesn’t mean that God abandoned them, or that He disowned them, but that He was letting them know how unhappy He was with their decisions.

3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

God questions, and rebukes them...

You don’t think it is time to rebuild My house which was destroyed, but obviously, it must be time for you to build your own personal houses!

The words, “ceiled houses”…refers to the fact that their homes were built beautifully. They were crafted well. Much time and money had been spent on their own homes.

As one commentary best put it… “God asked His people, “How can you live in luxury when My house lies in ruins?” The Temple was the focal point of Judah’s relationship with God, but it was still lying in ruins. Instead the people put their energies into rebuilding and beautifying their own homes.” -Life Application Bible Notes