Today’s Reading: Haggai 1, Psalm 99
Return, REBUILD, renew, repent.
Return to me. Come to me. Pursue my ways for I have redeemed you.
Rebuild my house. Create space in your life to worship me. Be satisfied with me.
The people had returned to Judah and started to rebuild the temple, but their enthusiasm soon turned to discouragement and then to apathy. They turned their focus to their own homes and started making a living for themselves without restoring worship back into the community. Here is God’s response:
“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins? This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Look at what’s happening to you! You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. Your drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes.”
“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Army says: Look at what’s happening to you! Now go up into the hills, bring down timber, and rebuild my house. Then I will take pleasure in it and be honored, says the Lord. You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, while all of you are busy building your own fine houses. It’s because of you that the heavens withhold the dew and the earth produces no crops. I have called for a drought on your fields and hills – a drought to starve you and your livestock and to ruin everything you have worked so hard to get.” – Haggai 1:4-11
Some were saying it was the wrong time to start rebuilding the Temple. The foundation had been laid but no growth was taking place. God’s people had settled for an altar on a foundation when God was calling them to so much more.
Rebuild my house. Create space in your life to worship me. Be satisfied with me.
Complacency had settled in and the people had made themselves comfortable. They had everything they needed – nice homes, food, drink, clothes, income — but they were not satisfied because the only thing that truly satisfies in Jesus. We can have lots of nice things and our basic needs can be taken care of, but it’s nothing if we are living in disobedience to what God has asked us to do.
So the Lord sparked the enthusiasm of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the enthusiasm of Jeshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the enthusiasm of the whole remnant of God’s people. They began to work on the house of their God, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. – Haggai 1:14
Lord, we pray that you will forgive us for our complacency and wake us up from our apathy. May we hear your voice today calling us to more — calling us to obedience. Lord, break down our resistance and spark a new enthusiasm in us. Help us to see the areas of our life that need repaired; help us to see the areas of ministry that need rebuilt, especially since the destruction of the recent pandemic. Wake up our churches that choose to slumber and give them a renewed passion for building your kingdom. Dust off our bibles and give us a new song. Let us never become so comfortable that we become satisfied with the bare minimums instead of growing in our relationship with you.
Praise him, O heaven and earth,
the seas and all that move in them.
For God will save Jerusalem
and rebuild the towns of Judah.
His people will live there
and settle in their own land.
The descendants of those who obey him will inherit the land,
and those who love him will live there in safety. – Psalm 69:34-36
Rebuild my house. Create space in your life to worship me. Be satisfied with me.