The Book of Haggai

The book of Haggai...usually a book quickly read over(If read at all). It's 2 very small chapters, and it's just so easy to skip over. It's about the Israelites around the time they were allowed to return to their homeland, the promise land...Israel.

Now, the Israelites were there for eighteen years, and through those years they were having some hard economic times.The book of Haggai says the reason for that, was because the Israelites were putting themselves first, before God. I don't know about you, but that sounds kind of familiar. You see God wanted his temple (his house ) to be built, and the israelites just kept putting it off.

"Oh, we will get to it...it's just not the right time right now, you know, uh..maybe later?"

They were more concerned about building their houses, and rebuilding the land to what it was, rather then putting God first. Things happened, like the bad economic times, not enough food, and what not, and that caused them to lose their focus on Gods will. Sounds like my kind of book, just remove the subject about "israelites" and put my name there instead. It's very easy to lose our focus, to lose sight of what is truly important, to put OUR will, above Gods. We all have stressful times, and we all have those bad days/months, where things just seem to never go our way, and we happen to focus a little to much on ourselves, and our situation, and not enough on what God wants in our lives. The United States, has lost their focus on what has made them what they are. I don't mean recently either, we as a country have been slowly losing our faith, and trust in God for decades now. It's just now we are at the point, where you wonder if anyone even remembers this is one nation under GOD, if anyone remembers how this country was built on Gods morals and laws. There are so many ways to relate to the book of Haggai in this day an age.

"Give careful thought to your ways.
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."-Haggai 1:6

eighteen years...they put off building the temple. God said the reason they didn't have enough food, the reason they were struggling so much, was because they didn't look to him. They didn't seek to do what God wanted, they knew what he wanted, but had excuse after excuse of why they didn't do it.

Sometimes God may use the "bad times" to wake you up, maybe you were not focusing on him in the first place, and he figures..

"Hmmm, maybe if I cause this to happen, they will talk to me again, maybe they will remember me...if I let this or that happen"

Or maybe you never lose sight of God, and yet trouble comes anyways. Do you think it's wrong? it's not justified? no harm should ever come to a Christian, that once you become one, that life is just peachy keen? I would suggest you read the book of Job then.

The moral, plain and simple, lets not lose focus on what God wants us to do. lets pray and seek his wisdom, lets make sure we are putting him first and not ourselves, in whatever we are doing. To remember that there will be struggles, there will be mountains to climb, and just because we "Believe" doesn't mean we deserve some kind of reward.
I found this, while reading the foot notes:

"God promises his presence to a people who obey and reverence Him.
His presence assures our needs will be met. It does not assure financial success."

Amen..