Setting our priorities aright 

In the days of King Darius, the prophet Haggai received a word from God in regards the the peoples’ lack of desire to repair and care for the house of God. Their attitude was, “The time is not yet come for building the house of the Lord.”  But God said in reply, Is it time for you to live in nice homes while my House lies desolate?

Since they were all about themselves and nothing else, everything they attempted to do for themselves came up short. That is why they planted much and gleaned little, and suffered from hunger and thirst.

That is why they were insufficiently clothed and suffered from the cold, and why  their earnings were “put into bags with holes”, or as we as would say, “right down the toilet.”

Because they did not care for God’s house, whatever they strived to earn for themselves became less, and whatever they tried to hoard, God “blew it away”.

Because God’s house remained desolate and “every man made haste to [take care of his own stuff], the heavens and earth stopped yielding her fruits.”

Their priorities were mixed up.  They worked and worked to fill their own barns and suddenly, their number came up and everything they worked for never materialized and what did, ended up going to another who did not work for it.

We can take this piece of history and apply it to our own lives.  If we see our hard earned money going up in smoke and if we can’t seem to keep the dike of life from crumbling around us, what are we doing wrong?

Are we putting ourselves and all our wants ahead of God’s? Are our priorities backwards? Probably.

God wants our attention and He will do what is necessary to get it for our own good. So, when the bills are mounting, and our “progress” is one step forward, five steps back, we have to evaluate our lives for clues as to the reasons why.

Are we hoarding or cheating others of our goods?  Are we treating our brothers and sisters in the Lord with contempt or gossiping and spreading rumors about them? Are we focused on putting on that new deck instead of tithing money to help others who suffer want?

These things may seem like small matters to us, but not to our Lord. If we want have peace in our hearts and homes, we need to “Set our hearts upon our ways, and go up to the mountain, bring timber, and build the house: and it shall be acceptable to me, and I shall be glorified, says the Lord.” Haggai 1: 10