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. – Haggai 1:12
And with their obedience, God speaks these words, “I am with you,” and goes on to reassure them that He will now begin to bless them.
From the time we are young, we are told the basic necessities of life are food, shelter, water, and clothing. That’s what these people were taking care of! But in the Kingdom of God there is a paradigm shift. God is first. If we look to him and carefully tend our relationship with him, everything else will flourish from that.
How many times have we wondered why nothing was going right in our lives? Have we taken the time to see if our priorities were in order? Were we tending to what we thought was necessary before we took care of our relationship with God? (Now I’m not saying that every trial or bump in the road is from our neglect of God, but we should definitely check that first!) All we need to do is re-prioritize our lives!
And what if up to this point we have made a mess of things? Here is the second great message of Haggai:
Is the seed yet in the barn? Indeed, the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have yielded nothing. But from this day on I will bless you.” – Haggai 2:19