As we turn the page from Habakkuk and Zephaniah to Haggai we see a different setting for this prophet’s work. Habakkuk and Zephaniah (amongst many others) forewarned the destruction of Judah and Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians. We know from 2 Kings 24-25 that God followed through on His warnings. Judah is conquered and taken captive in Babylon and remember this is where Ezekiel and Daniel’s prophetic ministries took place.
Haggai comes on the scene after the captivity in the same portion of biblical history as Ezra and Nehemiah, in the reconstruction. Babylon was judged for their sins (just as God told Habakkuk!) and they were overthrown by the Persians. As a result, the people of Judah were allowed to return home to their own land. The promised land was going to be home again!
Yet, upon their coming home, the people quickly found themselves distracted by their own well-being. We know from Ezra’s account that the people had begun work on the temple, but because of some persecution they didn’t finish it. As such, God pronounces through Haggai that His house, “lies in ruins” (Hag. 1:4). The problem though, wasn’t just that the Lord’s house was in ruins. The problem was that while His house was in ruins, the people were dwelling in paneled houses (1:4) and each one was busy with his own house (1:9). The issue came down to priorities. The people needed a roof over their heads, sure, but they didn’t need anything ornate. The people went beyond basic needs and were taking care of themselves in excess and were forgetting about God.
In response? God brings some problems into their lives to get their attention. They had sown much but harvested little. They drank but weren’t filled. They earned money but their moneybag effectively had holes in it (1:6). God says, “Consider your ways” (1:5,7). Think about how your life is going.
God allowed all manner of problems to come into their lives to get their attention. They were distracted. The worship of God had taken a backseat in their lives. Their material wants had come before their God. God brings some problems along and tells them to take a good hard look at their lives and see if maybe something is out of alignment, because there was.
We see throughout the Scripture that God works in these ways. In fact, this is the story of the entire period of the judges! Sometimes God allows or even directly brings trouble into our lives to wake us up and to cause us to turn to Him. Now, this doesn’t mean that if you have problems in your life you’re automatically failing in your relationship with God. God has trials come into our lives for a number of reasons according to His plans, but we don’t want to automatically check this off as an impossibility. Perhaps struggles in life at the present have come about to wake us up because God’s been pushed to the side. Perhaps after weeks away from church, or a lax devotional life, or a life just consumed with other things, God decides to wake us up. The message of Haggai comes to American Christians just as easily as it did to Jews in the reconstruction, “Consider your ways.” Perhaps, God needs to be taken from the periphery of life and to be placed back where He rightfully belongs, enthroned in the center.
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