Haggai brought a needed message to a comfortable people. They had returned to the promised land from a seventy year hiatus. Their initial objective was to rebuild God's Temple, but they had gotten side tracked. They had begun to invest in their own businesses, homes and families. They had completely forgotten about God's Temple. So, along comes Haggai, the prophet, to remind them of their lapse in memory. He asked an initial question, Haggai 1:4 "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" The message continued with a reminder that, all that the people held so dear, had come because of God's blessings. And that the recent dearth had also come from God to spark them to action. This indeed, was an act of mercy. God, through the prophet, gives us good advice for our own plans, when he says, "give careful thought to your own ways" (vv 5,7). So often we think that we are giving much thought to our ...
These are devotional thoughts from a guy who lives in Brazil. I recount personal experiences and Bible applications with most of my posts. These "thoughts" are mostly for me but if you want to, you can read them too!