"First Things First" (Thanksgiving 2025)
- Brian Lee
- Nov 23
- 6 min read
Haggai 1:1–15
The Command to Rebuild the Temple
1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” 3 Then the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 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.
7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 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. 9 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. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 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.”
The People Obey the Lord
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.” 14 And the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the Lord of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.
“First Things First: When God Rebuilds, He Begins with the Heart”
Introduction
A.W. Tozer warned,
“If the Holy Spirit was withdrawn from the church today, 95 percent of what we do would go on, and no one would know the difference.”
In other words, it's entirely possible for us to gather for worship and stay busy with church events without God occupying the center of our lives. That’s what happened in the days of Haggai.
The people of Judah had returned from exile with great hope. They had endured Babylon, survived the long journey home, and even laid the foundation of the temple (Ezra 3). But after facing opposition (Ezra 4), the work came to a halt. One year passed… then five… then ten… then sixteen years. Life went on. The temple remained in ruins.
And amid that spiritual drift, God speaks a piercing, awakening word through the prophet Haggai.
This morning, we are hearing the same word. God spoke to the covenant people then, and now to us:
“Consider your ways.” (Haggai 1:5, 7)
Let us consider our ways. First things, first.
1. God Calls Us To Reorder Our Priorities Under His Word (Haggai 1:1–6)
5 Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 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.
The Hebrew word for “consider” literally means “Fix your whole inner attention on the path you are actually walking.” God is saying: “Stop. Look. Reflect. Examine your life in the light of My Word.”
The people had convincing reasons for the delay.
“It’s not the time to rebuild.”
“We’ll get to it later.”
“We’re too busy trying to survive.”
They were busy, but not satisfied. This reveals the deeper spiritual issue. Their loves were disordered. They were prioritizing good things—homes, work, stability—over the greatest thing: God Himself.
Augustine describes this condition with striking clarity:
“My sin was this: that I looked for pleasure, beauty, and truth not in Him, but in myself and His other creatures—and so I fell.” (Confessions 2.5.10)
When we seek ultimate satisfaction in created things rather than the Creator, life becomes restless and fractured. We end up exhausted, frustrated, and spiritually empty.
Augustine’s insight helps us understand Haggai’s audience. They were not rejecting God outright. They were simply looking for meaning, security, and identity in something other than God. And when our loves are disordered, our lives become disordered.
Tim Keller said,
“The human heart takes good things and turns them into ultimate things.”
This is why God tells them—twice: “Consider your ways.”
2. God Lovingly Disrupts Us So That We May Return To Him (Haggai 1:7–11)
10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 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.”
Why would God allow this?
To wake them up.
To rescue them from spiritual numbness.
To save them from wasting their lives.
“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I [Paul] will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”—2 Co. 12:9
Divine disruption is an act of divine mercy.
God frustrates our lesser loves to bring us back to our first love.
3. God Restores His People and Empowers Their Obedience (Haggai 1:12–15)
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. 13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the Lord, spoke to the people with the Lord's message, “I am with you, declares the Lord.”
What happens next is remarkable. The leaders and the people respond with obedience (v. 12). This is the fruit of God’s Word and the work of the Spirit.
And then comes one of the most beautiful promises in the Old Testament:
“I am with you, declares the LORD.” (v. 13)
Here is the heart of the gospel in Haggai. God does not say, “Work harder so I will be with you.” He says, “I am with you. Therefore, rise and build.”
Christian obedience flows from assurance, not fear. Grace precedes action. God's presence produces our perseverance.
Then verse 14:
“And the LORD stirred up the spirit of the people.”
The same God who commands obedience creates obedience. The same God who calls us to repentance empowers repentance. This is grace. God requires what He Himself provides.
Application 1: Reorder your life under the Word of God.
The question is not, “Are you building something?”
The question is, “Whose kingdom are you building?”
Spiritual drift rarely begins with rebellion. It starts with preoccupation. Not wickedness, but distraction.
Application 2: Trust God’s Loving Disruptions.
Whenever God disrupts our comfort—
Whenever He shakes our plans—
Whenever He exposes our emptiness—
He is not abandoning us. He is calling us home.
The people of God in Haggai’s day did not need more time, better leaders, or better plans. They needed a reordered heart, and so do we.
Application 3: Repent by reordering your life around God’s presence, God’s Word, and God’s mission.
Repentance is not merely feeling bad. Repentance is reordering—placing God at the center again.
For some, it may mean reordering your time.
For others, reordering your habits.
For others, reordering your ambitions.
For all of us, it means reordering our hearts.
On this Thanksgiving Lord's Day, I am grateful for the promise that God spoke to His people in the days of Haggai. The same promise God gave them, He also gives us: “I am with you.”
2 Chronicles 7:13 “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, 14 if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
