There are no shortcuts in life. The people of Israel realized this in the book of Haggai. God had told them to rebuild the temple so that He could dwell among His people. They were anxious to rebuild their lives in Jerusalem as individuals and not so much in terms of their relationship with God.
When God told them to go up to the mountains and harvest timber for siding, they were faithful to do this. But after they brought down the timber, they used it for siding for their own houses and not for the Lord’s.
While the Israelites lived in their paneled houses, the Lord’s house was in ruin.
For 17 long years, they put emphasis on building their own homes instead of building the Temple. So there the foundation sat in ruin.
The Israelites were hard workers but they noticed that their work was not reaping rewards. They planted much but harvested very little, they made their own clothes but the cloth was too thin to keep them warm, and they ate but it was never enough for them to be full. .
Because of their disobedience to God’s command to build the Temple, they were not reaping the rewards of their work.
The Israelites, in their desire to avoid poverty, put their priorities before God’s agenda. But the poverty they were trying desperately to avoid by focusing on their homes, God brought on them for not building His own house.
They had put an emphasis on their agenda instead of God’s and as a result, God withhold blessings from them.
I feel like I often struggle to prioritize my time in light of God’s priorities even when I have the best motivations. I love my job and God has put it in my life as a blessing to our family. But if I put it before my relationship with Him and His priorities, my work will not reap the benefits that it could have if I had put Him first.
The same concept applies to rest in addition to our work. God commands us to rest one day a week as He did on day 7 of creating the heavens and the earth. But if I use my day of rest to finish up extra work I’m running behind on, I’m being disobedient and will actually accomplish less in the long-term.
The same applies when we procrastinate in putting off what God has commanded us to do with our time. Procrastination is the universal human tendency to put off what God requires of us today. But we are not only postponing God’s blessings but we could be forfeiting them altogether.
When I struggle with this principle I realize that the root of my problem is lack of faith in the Lord’s control and provision. When we set our hearts on being obedient to the Lord in all He asks, He will surely bless our work!
God is faithful to bless our efforts when we align our work and resources to honor Him and His agenda.
To read more about how God wants us to put Him first, read my post Who is #1 on Your Checklist?
