SOLT Podcast – E20 – Consider Your Ways

Todays, episode came to me during our morning family devotions. We were reading in the book of Haggai and I thought this passage was so good that I had to share it.

Let’s read the beginning of this passage in Haggai.

Hag 1:2 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.

Hag 1:3 Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,

Hag 1:4 Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

The Lord here is speaking through Haggai to His own children, the Lord is specifically talking to the governor of Judah and the high priest in this passage. God is saying that His own people have come up with an excuse to not do some work that is needed done, this is work for God and this is specifically work on God’s house.

God says the people are giving the excuse that it is not the right time to do work on the Lord’s House, the people are saying… The time is not come, the time that the LORD’S house should be built.

The problem here is that, this is just an excuse. This is not true, God wants this work to be done, God’s House needs to be repaired and the work needs to be done but the people are giving the excuse that it is not yet time to do this work.

God then says… Is it time for you… to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste?

God points out that they took the time to make their own houses nice, they made repairs and upgrades to their own houses, while the house of God just sits there needing to be repaired. They have nice and perfect houses that they took the time on all while the House of God lies in waste.

Where are there priorities at? They put their own stuff, their own houses, their own desires and their own selves above the work of the Lord. They got things out of order here. They know and we know that God should always be first.

God goes on to say in the next couple verses… V5 Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

Hag 1:6 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.

We would all benefit from this piece of wisdom! God tells them to Consider their ways! We all need to do this! We need to consider… What are we doing? Why are we doing it? IF we ask these two questions with everything we do, then we will be aware if we are not doing the right thing.

If God’s people would have asked themselves these two questions, while they were taking all the that time working on their own houses, if they would have asked themselves, What am I doing and why am I doing it? Then they would have realized that they were neglecting the work of the Lord and they are selfishly doing things for their selves.

They needed to consider their ways. Well, since they didn’t consider their own way, God does it for them and it is recorded for us in Haggai 1:6.

God tells them that they planted a bunch of seeds but they did not harvest much. They eat but it is not enough, they drink but it is not enough, they have clothes but they are still cold, they work and earn money but it is not enough.

This shows us where their priorities are. They put priority on these things listed, all these material things and eating and drinking. This is where their ways were. They were working for these things, and it seems that it was never enough.

Doesn’t this seem familiar? I feel like there has been times in my life where I would work as much as I could and I would look at my bank account and it just seemed like there wasn’t enough there. God says they put their money in bags with holes, like having a hole in their pocket. I’ve had times where I felt like I had holes in my bank account.

The Bible says in Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

So, I learned in my life to give it all to God. To trust God, to live for God and allow Him to supply my needs. I realized… God is fully capable of meeting the needs in my life and I asked God to do just that and then I trusted Him to do it.

I can tell you there have been times where I knew the money did not add up. I knew we didn’t have enough money to get through the month and I gave it to God and at the end of the month everything was paid for.

Back in Haggai, God was telling them to consider their ways, they were focusing on the wrong things and spend all their time on the wrong things, and they did not give any of their time to the work of the Lord. They actually said now is not the time to serve God.

God goes on to say… Hag 1:7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways.

Hag 1:8 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.

God again tells them to consider your ways. If God repeats Himself then we should certainly pay attention to what He is saying. For the second time here, God tells them to consider their ways. They really were just living for themselves, and they were living for the best and most comfortable lives possible. These are God’s own people, not the wicked nations around them, we are talking about believers in God.

And now we have God telling them directly what they should have been doing all along. God tells them that they should have gone to collect the materials needed to repair His house. God tells them that they should be building His House and once they got that done then God would have been happy with them.

They didn’t do the work of the Lord because they were too busy doing their own things and putting themselves first.

So, what happens to the people here in the book of Haggai? Let’s read a little further down in this chapter…

Hag 1:12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him, and the people did fear before the LORD.

Hag 1:13 Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD.

The people after being told they were doing the wrong things, that their priorities are in the wrong places, they didn’t get offended, they didn’t quit worshipping God, they didn’t leave the work of the Lord… they were told they were wrong, and they decided they were now going to Obey God.

They got things right. They were confronted by God through Hagai and they made the right decision to get things right.

After they get things right, God says in V13 “I am with you.”

The people considered their ways and realized they needed to make some changes, and they make these changes and get things right with God. Their relationship with God is restored and they are now in good standing with God again.

So, what do they do now? They get to work…

Verse 14 says “they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts,”

They finally did the very thing they should have already done.

I talk to my kids about this all the time. They know what they are required to do for chores. They try to get out of it sometimes, they make excuses, they try to be “Busy” doing other things or playing. I eventually pull them aside to talk to them about their responsibilities and I always tell them… You know you have to do this; and you have disobeyed.

They then get punished for their wrong doing and then… they have to do the very thing they should have done to being with. If they had already done it then they would not have hurt our relationship and they would not had to of been punished for their wrong doing.

You see, there are many times of punishment in our life that we could have completely avoided if we would have done the right thing to begin with. Just like the people of Judah in Haggai chapter 1.

I do want to say… PRAISE GOD!!!! They got things right with God!!! So many times, our Christian brothers and sisters don’t, they walk away from God, they walk away from the work of the Lord for many years or maybe even forever.

All these years are wasted years, they could have been used serving God and doing the work of the Lord. They could have been spent having a sweet relationship with God.

Praise God for the ones that get things right with God!!!!

I also want to take a second and remind us Christians that… if God forgives them, we should too! I’ve seen times when a brother or sister comes back to God only to be treated differently by so called Christians.

I say we should praise God when a child of God comes back! The father of the prodigal son did not ask about all the bad things the son did, he didn’t question his motives, he didn’t treat him differently, NO, he ran to him, opened his arms and hugged him, he then celebrated with him and for him!!!!

That is what we should be doing when a child of God makes things right with God.

Now, I want to challenge all of us today… let’s Consider our ways!

Maybe we need to adjust our priorities, maybe we need to put God first all the time, maybe we need to get busy doing the work of the Lord.

Maybe we should consider our ways.

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