Open the heavens, God, and come down! That’s our heart’s cry when we are tired and hurting, when life is disappointing. But what are we doing about it?
In Haggai 1, we learn that the Israelites have plenty but are dissatisfied. Disappointment sets in, and then people make (bad) decisions operating out of that disappointment. We face the same problem and make those same mistakes today.
The Israelites were in captivity in Babylon but have now returned to Judah. They have been focused on rebuilding their own homes. The Israelites are taking care of themselves but neglecting God’s house, leaving it in ruins. Those are their priorities. “Give careful thought to your ways,” God says (Haggai 1:5).
When God is forgotten, the fear of the Lord is missing. We are putting God on the same level as everything else in our lives.
But if we make God’s house a high priority OVER everything else, our dissatisfaction with life will decrease. Blessings will fall upon the people of God when we elevate God.
In verses 10-11, God tells Haggai that He has closed up the heavens—because His people have used up the wood for their own houses and forgotten His house, forgotten their God.
For revival to happen, we need open heavens. We need God to open the heavens and come down! We must elevate church in our lives and make sure it comes first. Revival cannot and will not happen while we keep God’s house equal to or even lower than everything else in the world. We need an increase of God and a decrease of ourselves.
Finally, the Israelites respond obediently and set to work. So God promises them, “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house” (Haggai 2:9). That’s revival. We will see God’s glory when we bring Him glory and put His house first.
5 Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
6 You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”
7 This is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.
8 Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the Lord.
9 “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the Lord Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.
10 Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.
11 I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the olive oil and everything else the ground produces, on people and livestock, and on all the labor of your hands.”
4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
5 ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
6 “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
7 I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty.
8 ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
9 ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.”
Questions:
Do you put God’s house above the other things in your life?
How do you make God’s house a high priority?
In what ways can you work on restoring God’s house? How can you give/do more?
Action Point:
Pray for open heavens—for you, your family, your church, and the Church. Pray for the renewal of people’s hearts, that they will once again be devoted to God’s house and advancing His Kingdom over themselves. His will and His House before our will and our desires!
