GIVE CAREFUL THOUGHT TO YOUR WAYS
Haggai 1:1-15
Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. (5)
chapter 1
1. In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest:
2. This is what the LORD Almighty says: "These people say, ’The time has not yet come to rebuild the LORD’s house.’"
3. Then the word of the LORD came through the prophet Haggai:
4. "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?"
5. Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways.
6. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it."
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."
12. Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD.
13. Then Haggai, the LORD’s messenger, gave this message of the LORD to the people: "I am with you," declares the LORD.
14. So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God,
15. on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. In the second year of King Darius,
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1. After 70 years of exile in Babylon, the people of Israel, according to the word of the Lord, were allowed to go back to their homeland and rebuild the temple of the Lord their God. Work began in earnest, but it quickly came to a halt when opposition to the building came up. They reasoned that it must not be the right time to build the house of the Lord. Then the word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah and Joshua the high priest. The Lord rebuked them for living in comfort in their paneled houses, while the temple of the Lord remained in ruins. He told them twice to give careful thought to their ways. Their struggles were from the Lord, that they may repent and come back to him and build his house.
2. When they heard the word of the Lord, Zerubbabel and Joshua repented their ways, along with the whole remnant in Judah, and they began building the house of the Lord. Life has many struggles that keep us very busy. It is easy to forget the Lord amidst those struggles. But let us give careful thought to our ways and come back to him.
Prayer: Father, help me to repent my busyness and lack of thought to your ways. Help me to think carefully about my ways and deeply consider yours.
One Word: Give careful thought to your ways