Haggai 1:1-11 Satisfaction comes through Christ alone

Haggai 1:11

“In the second year of King Darius, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, 2 “Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, saying: ‘This people says, “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.”’”

3 Then the word of the Lord came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?” 5 Now therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways!

6 “You have sown much, and bring in little; 
You eat, but do not have enough; 
You drink, but you are not filled with drink; 
You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm;
 And he who earns wages, 
Earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Consider your ways! 8 Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the Lord. 9 “You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?” says the Lord of hosts. “Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you withhold the dew, and the earth withholds its fruit. 11 For I called for a drought on the land and the mountains, on the grain and the new wine and the oil, on whatever the ground brings forth, on men and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”

John 6:35 states, “And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me will not hunger and whoever believes in me shall not thirst.”

Only the Lord Jesus Christ can truly fulfill our needs.
John 14:6 tells us “Jesus answered, “I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In our lives we are accustomed to try many things, but everything will leave us falling short. Only by putting our faith in God through Jesus Christ will we be able to obtain everlasting satisfaction.

In Haggai 1:1-11, the people of Israel have just returned from exile under the Babylonians. However, the people of Israel placed their own desires first ahead of God. They began to neglect God and go after their own interests and desires. We read that the people of Israel claimed that they had no time to rebuild God’s temple, but as the Lord points out, they have had more than enough time to build their own houses and grow food for themselves. The people of Israel had come to trust in themselves and in their own strength. They were putting their hope in the comfort of the world.

Verse 6 tells us the inevitable consequence of looking for satisfaction and fulfillment through things of the world such as money and possessions: “You drink water but are not filled; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”

Putting our trust in earthly things is a futile thing to do, for all these things are fading away. That is not to say that these things are not important, for they are. Things such as food and water are necessary to survive, however we should not put our trust in these things, nor should we desire solely for these things.  They might bring us partial joy for a short while, but that will soon wear off.

Upon hearing of a local rich businessman who had died, a man asked the deceased’s friend, “What did he leave behind?”… “Everything” the friend replied.

We cannot take any earthly possession with us after we die. There is only one thing that counts for something and that is our faith in God. Hebrews 11:6 states “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”

Romans 10:9 “…if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Like the Israelites in Haggai 1 it is so easy for us to put our own physical needs before God, but we must understand that doing so will leave us feeling empty and unfulfilled. We must desire God first and foremost. He is faithful and promises to bless us.

If we put our trust in God we do not have to worry about earthly things anyway, for the Lord promises to keep us. In Matthew 6:25-26 Jesus promises us “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

We can learn a lot from the mistakes of characters in the Bible. We should learn from the mistake of the Israelites in Haggai 1, that by putting trust in our own strength and in worldly things is pointless. Only by trusting in God can we be truly fulfilled. The world and all that is in it is constantly changing, but the Lord remains the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).

-BACChristian