A House in Ruins

“Consider your ways!” Haggai 1:5

In 520 B.C., the work on the second Jewish temple was lagging, and God urged the people through the prophet Haggai, to continue building. “Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:3)

“You have sown much, but have brought in little; you have eaten but have not been satisfied; you have drunk, but have not been exhilarated; have clothed yourselves, but not been warmed; and whoever earned wages earned them for a bag with holes in it,” Haggai prophesied. Are we not sometimes puzzled about some very rich politicians who do not get satisfied with their hundreds of millions of pesos? They want more and more and more! It truly does seem as if they have a bag of holes. 

As the wise Saint Augustine wrote in his Confessions, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” We were made to seek God, but there are many counterfeits and many wrong roads. Should we not listen to our Maker? God wants us to know Him, and His plans for us, and how we should live. That is why we have the Bible, our manual. If there’s something wrong with our phone, our car, our washing machine, don’t we look for the solution in our manual or search for it online, or bring it to the manufacturer? We too have our Maker to consult. 

God says in Haggai 1:7: “Consider how things are going for you! Now go and rebuild my house. My house lies in ruins.” Are we like the people of Jerusalem in Haggai’s time? Are we not tending the house of the Lord, the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in our own hearts?