Day 3: Busy with your own house
"My house... remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house" (Haggai 1:9).
Our Father, You alone are the Almighty God, Lord of heaven and earth. You alone are worthy of all honor, glory, and praise. David calls us to praise as we see the evidence of Your splendor all around us: The whole earth is filled with awe at Your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, You call forth songs of joy (Psalm 65:8).
Yet, so often, in our busyness and our distraction, we miss Your glory, Your presence, and Your wonders. In our hurriedness to be about our own life, we push You to the background, to minimal acknowledgement and low priority, and we fill our lives with things that are meaningless, a chasing after the wind (Ecclesiastes 2:11).
Lord, You know so well our leanings towards self-serving pursuits and self-focused activities. You know the faulty priorities that lead us to the kind of excuses given by the exiles returning from captivity: The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house (Haggai 1:2).
But You have so designed life and the laws that govern our welfare and our well-being, that it is only when we assign priority to God that we thrive and prosper as individuals and as communities, in the way You intended. So when we neglect Your house and allow it to fall into ruin, everything else around us crumbles and falls into ruin.
Father, the principle for us is not about physical structures. The apostle Paul taught the people of Athens, “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands (Acts 17:24). He went on to explain that God desires hearts that seek after Him (Acts 17:27).
The Lord Jesus also explained the overarching importance of seeking God when He taught: But seek first [God's] kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well (Matthew 6:33). He was addressing our misguided priorities driven by fear, fret and worry.
Father, Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment is: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind’ (Matthew 22:37). Forgive us for paying You only token attention while we plunge wholeheartedly into our own interests.
As we look at the drought and ruin in every sphere of life (Haggai 1: 9-11), help us to “Give careful thought to our ways" (Haggai 1:5,7). Turn our priorities towards the things of God. Help us to be preoccupied with our Father's house—our Father's business (Luke 2:49). Help us to take to heart the message You gave to the returning exiles:
This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. 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 (Haggai 1:7-8).
Comments