Build the Lord’s House First - The Crosswalk Devotional - May 9
Build the Lord’s House First
By Deidre Braley
Bible Reading:
Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Haggai 1:7-9
In 586 BCE, the nation of Israel officially fell to the Babylonian Empire. King Nebuchadnezzar and his cronies sacked the temple and carried many of Judah’s inhabitants back to Babylon, where they lived as exiles for nearly fifty years. But in 539 BCE, something interesting happened: the power shifted to King Cyrus of the Persian Empire, and under this new ruler, the Israelite exiles were allowed—even encouraged—to return to Jerusalem and rebuild God’s temple.
At first, the returned exiles got right down to business with rebuilding. But before long, they began to experience threats from surrounding people groups. Under the weight of this opposition, work on the temple ceased, and for sixteen years, it continued to lie in ruins.
In 520 BCE, however, a prophet named Haggai began to rouse the spirits of the returned Israelites again. The Lord gave the Jewish people an obvious message through Haggai: it was time to start building his house again.
During their sixteen-year hiatus from reconstruction, it seems that the Jews had concerned themselves with seeking all the ordinary essentials for living: growing food, eating, drinking, dressing, working, and building homes. But as the Lord pointed out through Haggai, none of these pursuits had been as fruitful as they could have been. He said, “Consider your ways. You have sown much and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes” (1:5-7).
Have you felt like no matter how hard you work, your wages are going into a bag with holes? Or do you seem to keep pulling up weeds no matter how earnestly you plant? In my life, I’ve certainly experienced this type of fruitlessness—and it’s exhausting. Though it looks like we’re doing all the right things, we feel empty and spent at the end of the day.
Now, this is where the world might hand us self-help books, coach us on how to be more effective, or tell us to work harder. But through Haggai, we learn that the answer to our fruitlessness is not to double down and do even more; rather, it is to shift our priorities.
According to the Lord, his people’s frustrated efforts were a direct result of their misplaced priorities. Through Haggai, he said, “...my house…lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house” (1:9). While they had focused on providing for themselves, they had neglected to create a space for the Provider himself to dwell alongside them. They got so focused on the fruit that they forgot about the one who makes fruit grow in the first place. As a result, their efforts came to little.
Intersecting Faith & Life
Are you experiencing a sense of fruitlessness in your life? Do you feel your efforts are constantly frustrating, like you’re running in place while someone holds the back of your shirt? If so, is it possible that you, like the returned exiles, have become so focused on producing the fruits of a good life that you’ve forgotten to prioritize the One who makes them grow?
If the answer is ‘yes,’ then the next step is to ask God what type of space he would like you to make for him in your life.
God’s instruction for the Jewish people in response to their misaligned priorities was this: “Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified…” (Haggai 1:8). And when they had obeyed the Lord in this manner? He told them, “I am with you…” (Haggai 1:13). For you, making space for God might look less like creating a physical temple and more like entering in Sabbath rest, or setting aside time for intentional prayer each day, or being obedient to something that he’s been asking you to do.
It is seemingly ingrained in our human nature to forget that, above all things, the sustenance we need most is neither food nor drink but God’s presence. Haggai reminds us that it is only when we prioritize making space for God in our lives that we will experience the satisfaction we desire.
Further Reading
John 15:1-8
Ecclesiastes 4:6
Isaiah 55
Photo Credit: Getty Images/sculpies
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