WRONG PRIORITIES: HAGGAI 1

INTRODUCTION

In the time of the prophet Haggai, the context of the people of Israel was quite complicated: they had just come from being captives in Babylon for 70 years; they had been stripped of everything due to their disobedience to God. Our greatest enemy is not demons or Satan (they are a counterweight), but rebellion against God carries more weight in preventing the people from enjoying the privileges of being a Child of God.

Israel returned to their lands with some excitement. The books that narrate this history are Nehemiah and Ezra. For example:

• Ezra speaks of the first ones who returned to Jerusalem along with Zerubbabel, who had the first mission, the divine priority and ordinance in mind: the reconstruction of the temple.
• Upon arriving, they found much adversity, obstacles, and their morale wasn't the best; the temple project stopped. For almost 15 years they didn't look at the house of God and their priorities before God were wrong, because according to men, their own priorities are unique.

1. GOD SENDS THEM A PROPHET

A. Ezra had a mission

Ezra was not a prophet; he was a priest and scribe, who came with the role of restoring the cult, the rituals, and the worship. But without a temple, there was no reason to have a priest.

B. God raises Haggai

The prophet God raises, a contemporary of Zechariah, is one named Haggai (in Hebrew Haggai). His name means "Festive" or "festival".

Remember that in the Bible, names mark the personality and context of the people. Haggai is a way of seeing how the people should have been:

• In full festivity because they had returned to their land; there should have been a party because it was acknowledging that God had had mercy on them.
• In celebration and rejoicing because they were no longer going to be in bitterness; the captivity had passed, and now they had to worship God more than ever.

But that was not the case. They got a breather, but their priorities were misplaced.

2. WRONG PRIORITIES

These people were in a situation of deep lament, pain, sadness, and resentment, and they blamed the past for the failure they were living. God confronts them:

"Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: 'Give careful thought to your ways.'" (Haggai 1:5, NIV)

A. What is a priority?

Priority is that which must be considered or attended to first over other things; it implies a preference or superiority to be attended to or done before. Its etymological origin comes from the Latin prioritas, which means "quality of previous or first".

B. The Lord's reprimand

The purpose of the message was to get their attention: they had other matters and did not give priority to the main issue: the restoration of God's worship. 70 years passed and they didn't understand; days go by and there are people who still don't get it.

There are people who think that being festive means parties and trips; that is their priority, and they are out of the divine context. Others seek God only when they have time, as if God were filler in their schedule.

3. CONSEQUENCES OF THESE WRONG PRIORITIES

A. There was drought and scarcity (Haggai 1:7–11)

Israel was in an economic crisis, and this brought more discouragement. The drought was a reflection of their situation. The harvest bore no fruit, it dried up because there was no rain.

"When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people" (2 Chronicles 7:13)

There are people who know God, but days go by without drinking the rain from heaven. They continue to think that without delighting in God everything is fine. God is not their delight.

"Lord, you alone are my portion and my cup; you make my lot secure." (Psalms 16:5)

Satan's sin was: "I don't need God". Adam and Eve's sin was: "I don't need God". Humanity's sin is: "we don't need God". What do you think your sin is?

4. THE PEOPLE'S ATTITUDE TO THE PROPHET'S MESSAGE (Haggai 1:12–15)

A. Fear

"Then Zerubbabel... and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai... And the people feared the Lord." (Haggai 1:12, NIV)

They feared because they knew what they had gone through. There are people who seek God more out of fear than rejoicing: they do things so that God doesn't punish them. They go to church to calm their conscience, but their priorities are elsewhere.

B. Nostalgia for the past

"Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?" (Haggai 2:3, NIV)

Whoever lives always blaming the past, or longing for the past, will never be able to move forward. What was is no more. To complain is to live in defeat; sighing because you think it was better is a fallacy.

"Do not say, 'Why were the old days better than these?' For it is not wise to ask such questions." (Ecclesiastes 7:10)

Israel always longed for Egypt:

"If only we had died in Egypt!... Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?" (Numbers 14:2–4)

God comforts those who wept for the previous temple (Haggai 2:1–5). And declares that the glory of the new temple will be greater than the former (Haggai 2:6–9).

C. Religiosity

God also reprimands the religious (Haggai 2:10–14): appearance without obedience, routine without priority, form without essence.

5. WHEN YOU ORDER YOUR PRIORITY, EVERYTHING CHANGES

A. Give careful thought to your ways (Haggai 2:15–19)

God honors those who honor Him. Whoever sets their priorities straight will never be destroyed; on the contrary, the promise is of victory.

This is a requirement from God: the spiritual must be above the material, above the flesh. That is why the correct order is spirit, soul, and body; not the opposite.

When God is your priority, everything else looks different: instead of ruin there is abundance; instead of sadness and discouragement there is hope.

B. A practical closing

Don't wait another 70 years to understand. Order your priorities now and you will see how the drought turns into a rain of blessing.

"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)