“Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “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.” 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. “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.”
When I was growing up, I used to be dumbfounded as I drove through certain parts of town delivering pizza. At first glance, you could see that the neighborhood was not very good. There were run-down houses, piles of junk everywhere, and old vehicles half torn apart. Then you would see it—a brand new shiny Cadillac, polished and looking good. Every piece of the car was clean and nice. The only thing was that it would be sitting in the driveway of the worst house in the neighborhood, completely out of place. It was clear that the car was more important than the house.
These verses in Haggai should be read every day. Every day we get up and do the life thing. We work and work but save little. We purchase food, but it does not last long. Our clothes seem to wear out faster than the money it takes to replace them. Life can be tough.
“Give careful thought to your ways,” the Lord says through the prophet. What are you spending time on? Where does all your energy get placed? Is your planner loaded up with more fun than work? We seem to spend a lot of time mastering the art of self and its interests, and little time building our relationship with Jesus. In verse 9, the Lord tells the Israelites the reason why all their toil seems to be in vain. They have been spending all their time working on their own homes while the house of the Lord remains in ruin, and because of this, the Lord has “blown away” the results of all their efforts. He then commands them to build the house of the Lord first, and for once, they listen.
We do not have a temple to build, and praise the Lord, the Holy Spirit is alive in the hearts of men. Just like the Cadillac that looked very out of place, it showed where the owner’s efforts and money were spent while neglecting the house they lived in. If we are not careful, we can be dragged into the same pattern of misplaced efforts. It is clear that the Lord can and will get our attention if our efforts seem to be out of order. It will not take long to review your life and compare it to the first few verses above.
Today, rearrange your priority list. Put God first in all that you do. His Word in Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.”
In “ALL” your ways—not some of them, not only the ones on Sunday, not only when you are around your Christian friends, but all your ways. Every morning, we should “give careful thought to our ways” and start the day with the Lord. If your life reads like Haggai 1:5-9 above, then your efforts and ways have been spent on something that the Lord would rather you put in second place. Just like a rock thrown into a pond leaves ripple marks, our actions leave ripple marks behind us for all to see, even when the rock is well below the surface of the water. What does the ripple effect of your life reveal about your ways?
Prayer: Father, help me to understand how my ways need to change in order to be closer to You, Lord. I pray that You show me the ways that are not of You, the habits that are not of You, and the thoughts that are not of You. Help me hold them captive and make them obedient to Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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