Readings for the day: Haggai 1-2
St. Augustine once wrote that the main problem with humanity is our disordered loves. Our misdirected desires. Our disoriented passions. Human beings were created perfect. Made in God’s own image, each man, woman and child bears His likeness. In the Garden at the dawn of time, we experienced perfect fulfillment. Complete satisfaction. True joy. Nothing threatened our peace because all our passions and desires were directed towards pleasing God. We loved Him with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength. From this intimate relationship wiht our Heavenly Father flowed every blessing.
Then sin entered the world. Sin wrecked us at a foundational level. Psalm 51 says we are conceived in sin and born in iniquity. This brokenness exists on a cellular level. It is present from the moment the sperm meets the egg in the womb. Everyone is born this way. It is something we all hold in common though it takes different forms in each of our lives. Whatever passions, desires, and loves we are born with, they all are ultimately misdirected and disordered without Christ. What this means is that everything is oriented inward. Towards the self. So we take the good gifts God has given us and we primarily use them to self-promote. We take the good resources God has given us and we primarily use them to self-protect and self-provide. When we struggle, we turn to self-help. We seem obsessed with self-awareness, self-esteem, and self-fulfillment. Fundamentally, we have removed God from the center of our lives and replaced Him with the false god named Self.
We see this bear out in Haggai’s time. The people of God returned from exile. They rebuilt their homes. They replanted their fields. They made sure to take care of themselves and their families first before turning to the work of God. “Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, "Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes...Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the Lord. You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the Lord of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors." (Haggai 1:3-6, 8-11) Was there anything wrong with building homes? Of course not. Anything wrong with planting fields? Nope. Anything wrong with eating and drinking and wearing clothes and earning a wage? Not at all. The key was the attitude of their hearts. They didn’t put God first. They didn’t seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Instead, they were trying to do all life on some level without God. They were trying to make their own way in the world. They wanted to be self-sufficient. God confronts them on the sinful, selfish trajectory of their hearts. He exposes their disordered loves and calls them to repent. To demonstrate their love for Him by rebuilding His house.
Thankfully, the people of God respond. They obeyed God. And the result is the promise of His abiding presence. "I am with you, declares the Lord." (Haggai 1:13) There is no greater blessing than the Lord’s presence in our lives. The people of God have always found peace and comfort and safety in His arms. God told Abraham He would be with him and his descendents forever. God commanded Moses to build a tabernacle in the wilderness so the people would always have a visible, tangible sign of His presence. God moved from tabernacle into the Temple during the reign of King Solomon. And it was the failure of the people to truly apprehend how unique and special it was for them to have such an intimate relationship with God that gets them in trouble and leads to exile. Now they’ve returned. They’re rebuilding. They’re re-establishing themselves in the Promised Land. Surely the most important task they can set themselves to is to restore God’s house so they can lift up His name in worship and praise!
Haggai is a very convicting read. Especially for 21st century American Christians. We are raised in a culture that prizes self-sufficiency. Idolizes the self-made man or woman. Stresses over self-protection. We are the richest nation on earth and yet, if we’re totally honest, most of our wealth is spent on selfish pursuits. Most of our times is directed towards selfish ends. Most of our energy is wasted on selfish aims. Does this mean we never help others? Of course not. We often help others...because we love, in part, how it makes us feel. Does this mean we aren’t generous? Of course not. We are a very generous nation...because we love, in part, the feelings of moral superiority it gives us. Does this mean every good thing we do is evil? Of course not. We simply have to recognize how sin wields its corrupting influence over our loves, passions, and desires.
So what’s the answer? Jesus. Once we submit our lives to Christ, He deposits His Holy Spirit into our hearts. And once the Spirit takes up residence, He begins to go to work. Reordering our loves. Redirecting our desires. Re-orienting our passions towards God. We start to find joy as we worship and serve Him. We experience the peace that comes along with our awareness of His abiding presence. We start to discover a fulfillment and satisfaction we never thought possible because Christ is now our greatest treasure.