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. (Haggai 1:9 ESV)
Haggai is one of my favorite books in the Bible. The message is so simple – put your own things aside and take care of God’s house. If we place this in context, Haggai is address the Israelites who have given in to the world around them. Nehemiah had been commissioned to go and rebuild temple in Jerusalem. The project started out well but soon the world around them was distracting them, suppressing them, and generally causing them to loose focus on their mission, their purpose. As the Israelites gave into the world, they began to focus on their own needs, wants, and desires. This then leads to the conditions described in the earlier verses of Haggai where the prophet describes the futility of the life they are living.
What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:16 ESV)
The question I need to be asking myself today is how am I being distracted by the world around me? You see as Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians “We (I) are the temple of the living God.” How am I doing at building and maintaining God’s temple within me? I’m teaching a class this summer call Soul Care: tending to the heart, body, and mind where the students are focusing on this very question. I find it interesting how many are glad that they can take the time to focus on their soul rather than the business of life around them. It only strengthened my belief that we, just like the Israelites that Haggai addressed are busy with the world and our own lives that we are neglecting to focus on building God’s temple by tending to our soul.
As the story continues to unfold in Haggai, we see the Lord producing a drought on the land until the people come together, refocus their attention on God and begin once again the build the God’s temple. The world around them notice this and try once again to stop the work, but God’s people have a renewed focus on getting the work done. I know in my life when I neglect the work I need to put into tending to my soul that I also feel like I am in a spiritual drought and life seem a bit futile. It is not until I refocus my attention on God that the drought turns into a refreshing rain that nourishes my soul and the work resume on soul, God’s temple within me.
The question I pose is a simple one – How is your soul care going? Is the work on God’s temple moving forward or has is come to a stop? Are you in a drought or are you experiencing a refreshing rain?
If you would like to talk about your soul let me know.