I sent this out on my phone to some friends, but then I felt like I should write it on my blog and post it, so here it is.
I was reading Haggai today and I really feel like The Lord has a message for anyone who has felt like they’ve been really complacent in their walk with The Lord lately.
The context of this book of The Bible: the Jews had begun building the temple, but they got discouraged and faced opposition so they kinda just quit and abandoned it. And so this book is The Lord encouraging them to repent of complacency and pick up where they left off. And it’s such a parallel to our faith. These verses are God encouraging you to go back to the abandoned temple (your relationship with Him, or something He asked you to do) and pick up where you left off, moving out of a state of complacency. The whole book is only 2 pages, but I’ll just put some verses out here:
“These people say, ‘the time has not yet come to rebuild The Lord’s house.”‘ (That’s us saying, “well I have finals this week, so I’ll just wait until that’s over to get close to God again” or “When the New Year starts, that’s when I’ll pick things back up with God and spend time with Him.”)
“Then the word of The Lord came through the prophet Haggai: ‘is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?'” And that’s basically God saying, “Um excuse me, is there ever a time for complacency? Nope. Quit with the excuses, I wanna be with you, and you need Me.”
Then He goes on to say, “My house remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own houses.” i.e. why are you so dedicated to everything but Me and our relationship?
“Therefore, because of you, the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.” Don’t blame God for what your complacency has done in your life. It’s because of OUR unresponsiveness that God’s presence doesn’t permeate into our daily life. Don’t have your door shut and be mad at God for not coming in. He’s been knocking the whole time.
AND THEN (this part is SO good)…
Verses 12-14 highlight this: when we obey God’s call to return to Him, He stirs up our spirit to reignite the passion. When it’s been a while since you’ve spent time with God, you don’t feel very passionate so you just keep your distance. But He tells us that when we return and obey Him, He begins to fill us with that passion. Trust that He will meet you when you return to build the temple.
Then in chapter 2 God tells them to be strong, because building can be hard work sometimes. There may be some resistance when you return to Him, but that doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel again. As you return to the temple to be with Him, the work is literally how you tangibly come to know the nature of God. Brick by brick, you come to know a new facet of His nature.
And then God encourages them with this: “‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house. And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares The Lord Almighty.'”
So, there is literally NO SHAME in coming back. God is not like “dadgummit where have you been. What’s wrong with you.” Nooooo. He is EXCITED to show you how much He loves you and what He has planned for you and Him together. He’s there to show you how much grace and patience He has for us. Prodigal son, man. AND your relationship will be replenished and room is made for more glory and beauty and goodness and sweet friendship and obedience.
God is really, really sweet to us and He’s so patient. He’s always elated when we return to Him. So if you’ve been complacent, today is the day to return. Don’t wait.