So maybe you’ve heard it said, ‘read your bible’ so you tried and failed. Our hope as leaders is that all of us will pick up God’s word and come to understand the true nature of God. After all, the bible is God’s Word curated over centuries detailing His nature, His will, the meaning of life and humanity’s historical interactions with Him. The Bible details the hidden keys to the Kingdom. Hence, the reason we are reviewing a new book each week.
This week we move ahead to the book of Haggai. His name means “my feast.” The book of Haggai is a prophetic word for the Jewish nation as they return to Judah. The jews had begun rebuilding the temple when they first returned. However, the rebuilding of the temple had caused some of those who had stayed in the land to intimidate those returning and forget about the mission and instead, take care of themselves by rebuilding their property instead. Haggai had to remind them they should be working to please the Lord before they please themselves. Haggai wanted them to know they were depriving themselves and the nation of God's blessing by allowing the temple to lie dormant.
Take a listen to Haggai 1:7-11:
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord. 9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house. 10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops. 11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
Haggai writings are difficult for many to understand. Why would God be so upset with his people about not rebuilding a temple? After all, God is bigger than any building. But this isn’t actually about a building, it's about the chosen people’s heart and more specifically their priorities. They had been taking God's favor for granted.
Have you or are you being taken for granted? If so, take heart. God knows how you feel. He knows when people forget what has been done, or sacrificed or offered in love. Even when we know it's human nature, it's upsetting when we realize the other person's priorities don't include us anymore. They got what they wanted and fail to receive the greater blessing that might have come from the relationship.
An idea, much of scripture reinforces, our relationship with God must be our highest priority as individuals and as the body of Christ. Paul’s words to the Colossians church comes to mind:
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,
Is God your first priority? Do you consider what Jesus did and said, BEFORE you decide whose desire is priority in your life? Are you asking for the Holy Spirit’s direction before speaking or acting?
Priority comes from the word prior, which means to come before something else. A priority is the concern, interest or desire that comes before all others.
Anything you put before (prior) God needs to be considered seriously because the consequences of actions on behalf of that other priority will lead you further away from God. When priorities get skewed, our actions lead us to people, places and outcomes which are not of God.
Now, some will protest and ask, is it even possible to keep God first in the everyday activities of life? The answer is yes, and it takes work. Putting God first means accepting that He loves us unconditionally and trusting God through seeking Him first in all things.
Obviously seeking Him first starts with connection. A connection requires the keeping of a regular schedule of spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, scripture reading, solitude with God, generosity and serving others).
Second it requires commitment to ask for God’s direction in all the daily activities and what the best course of action would be.
This week as I was reading, I came across a story from the theologian philosopher Soren Kierkegaard. The story begins in a small village
The fireman rushed to the scene, but the firemen were unable to get through to the burning building. The problem was the crowd of people who had gathered, not to watch but to help put out the fire. They all knew the fire chief well – their children had climbed over his fire engines during excursions to the fire station, and the friendliness of the fire chief was legendary. So when a fire broke out the people rushed out to help their beloved fire chief.
Unfortunately the townsfolk were seeking to extinguish this raging inferno with water pistols! They’d all stand there, from time to time squirting their pistol into the fire while making casual conversation.
The fire chief couldn’t contain himself. He started screaming at the townsfolk. “What do you think you’re doing? What on earth do you think you’re going to achieve with those water pistols?!”
The people realized the urgency of the situation. How they wanted to help the fire chief. So they started squirting more. “Come on” they encouraged each other, “We can all do better, can’t we?” Squirt, squirt, squirt, squirt. Exasperated, the fire chief yells again. “Get out of here. You're achieving nothing except hindering us from doing what needs to be done. We need firemen who are ready to give everything they’ve got to put out this fire, people willing even to lay their lives on the line. This is not the place for token contributions”
Soren was hoping to get the point across that living for Christ means much more than token levels of support for God's mission in the world. It calls for making it a priority every second of every day.
Finally, Putting God first requires obedience to do what is commanded. If you need a rubric for what this is, just ask, Does this (word or deed) show my love for God and/or his love for his creation or our neighbors?
This is probably the hardest because we often are dealing with our own humanness: fear, loneliness, anger, or rejection
When we are fearful, we need to remember to trust Him to take care of us (Joshua 1:9).
Instead of panicking and withdrawing, we give Him all of our fears and worries. He wants us to face our trials and tribulations with bold confidence in Him (Ephesians 3:12).
When we are lonely, we need to remember God will give us strength when we wait upon Him (Isaiah 40:31).
He is the one we must depend on for hope and reassurance, and we find these things in His living word, the Bible. God is with us when no one else is. When we feel that no one understands our feelings, we can be sure that He does. Sometimes, the best response to loneliness is loving God's people. When we feel that we have been forgotten, we can put God first by serving those who are poor in spirit.
When we are angry or hurt, we need to remember that Anger is a sign that something is wrong in our lives and we need to do something differently.
Anger is also a sign that something within us is unsettled physically, emotionally and usually spirituality. The first step of overcoming this so we can put God first is to choose to forgive others and receive forgiveness.
When we feel rejected, we need to remember as Christ followers, we never place our identity in what they think of us.
Our worth doesn’t come from the approval or disapproval of others. There is always going to be somebody that is disappointed with our choices. We put God first when we seek to do His Will instead of worrying about the opinions of others.
Our approval comes from God, and He has already accepted us!
We put God first by accepting what His Son did on the cross for us. We have nothing to prove to others, and it’s alright if they don’t like what we stand for. Part of being mature in God is not letting others discourage us from what God is calling us to do.
Pleasing the Lord in all we do needs to be our highest priority and we do this in our lives through establishing a connection that leads to a commitment which is solidified by our obedience.
Creative: https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/haggai/ 5:37 Min
References: Quest Bible Overviews p:1375-81, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wiersbe) p.445
https://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/ways-to-put-god-first.html#google_vignette
