“Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.” Haggai 1:8
Christianity is often expressed by the preferences revealed in it. For example, the Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, said: “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matt. 6:33) The preference here presented to the believer, or disciple of Christ, is that of seeking first the kingdom of God, as opposed to the things and pursuits of this world, even legitimate things. When Jesus visited the house of Mary and Martha on one occasion, Mary chose, instead of being preoccupied with serving the disciples, to be rather sitting at Jesus’ feet to hear His words. Martha spoke to Jesus about Mary’s choice, to which the Lord answered: “…one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:42) Mary made a choice, an eternal one, and this because of a preference in her heart. Preferences, especially those that are put into the heart by the Spirit, are used by God to accomplish in the life of an individual, or even a nation, His will and purposes on this earth. The question is, “What is the response to His calling, and the preferences, that He puts before the believer?”
In the book of Haggai, after one of the several returns from captivity to the land of Israel, particularly Jerusalem, the people, because of the resistance to the rebuilding of the temple, had ceased the work. This situation remained in tact for about fifteen years. There was by the people a settling down, and acceptance of the situtuation like it was, where neither the builder nor the one who resisted the builder moved forward. It was, in God’s time, that all began to change, and this because God spoke through His servants Haggai and Zechariah. Most certainly during those fifteen years of the stalemate, there were many who thought, and even declared, that work on the house of the Lord should continue. But nothing significantly changed. However, when the conviction that God was speaking in power, through the prophet Haggai, and that the time had come to shift from one set of preferences in living to an entirely different set, work did resume. It all began with, “…the word of the Lord” which came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, to Joshua the high priest, and then to the remnant, the faithful few who were in Jerusalem. These were certainly waiting and praying. God would speak through Haggai at this time, specifically presenting to the people a “preference” that they had forgotten, or neglected. And so, the word of God would come asking, “Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste.?” (Hab. 1:40) The prefence was here declared, and put by God before the people. Then came the Lord’s case, reasoning with the people. It was one of contrasts. Instead of the fulness of blessing that was promised by God, the people seemed never to get out of the hole they were in…nothing changed, or could change. It is at this point that the Lord presents to them the means by which all would be changed, by declaring: “Consider your ways…Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house (i.e. the house of the Lord); and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord.” (1:7,8) What was the effect of the people choosing to adhere, and respond to God’s preference as opposed to their own? It was the stirring up by the Lord of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the people. It was the moving of the Spirit in them, putting in them the strength and power to accomplish His will. We know this because the people realized that God had sent Haggai. So convinced they were, that they “…did fear before the Lord.”
Dear Father, Stir us up. In Jesus’ name, Amen.