Whose house are you building? 

I recently went on a kind of puzzle inspired treasure hunt. These little clues were placed in front of me that ended in a kind of “X marks the spot” moment at the book Haggai. It began and ended with a signet ring as a matter of fact…. As I ponder, it makes sense that I had to find my way there like Alice following a rabbit because I have in the past and likely would have again overlooked this little book with 2 brief chapters- unless it was clearly the destination of a treasure map. Why make such a big deal of the search it if the destination wasn’t of value?

So I spent a few days going over the text in different translations and looking up some of the original language and contextual history of the characters. Indeed, the treasure was rich and worthwhile for me. Maybe it will resonate in some way with your life too.

First we should know that this time comes after the people of Israel and Judah were taken captive by the Babylonians and their cities totally destroyed. God was pretty angry that his chosen people had so turned away from him their governments were corrupt and they did not honor or love the people around them. They were selfish and destructive and pretended to care about God by showing up at church but in their hearts they were just going through the rules so they could go about their own interests and carry a self-righteousness that comes from being good at the rules. This is why God said he sent the Babylonian empire to burn it all down. He promised he still loved them and would go with them and protect them in captivity, but for the most part the people did not listen and they fought this sentence tooth and nail. This brought devastating consequences because they not only lost the battle, but the siege was long and horrific (women eating their children to survive). Finally as always happens, the word of God prevailed and the people went into captivity.

God said it would be about 70 years there before they could return home. This was a sentence of forced reset. The book of Haggai takes place after that 70 years when people were allowed to return home and begin to rebuild Jerusalem. The main characters are Haggai who is the prophet, Zerubbabel who is the governor (he was from the line of David and would be a king if they weren’t still a people under a foreign government), and Joshua who was the high priest.

As far as I understand, the people began work on rebuilding the utterly destroyed temple which was glorious in it’s day. But the work was difficult and opposed by outsiders, also it appears many couldn’t see how investing their time in rebuilding the temple made sense when their own homes were also in ruins. So gradually they gave up on the temple and began to work on their own homes. They began getting more and more extravagant in their “paneled houses” and the temple was all but forgotten.

We pick up the story with God looking down on Jerusalem and speaking to his friend Haggai about what was happening so he could help the people understand. 

“These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” (the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet), “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? Now, therefore, consider your ways. 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 Lord said: Consider your ways. 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. 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. Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 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.”

Haggai 1:2-11

God clearly said the people were exhausted from their hard work and yet it was never enough… the money seems to drip through their fingers like putting it in a bag with holes. That rung with me as I have felt the pain of being someone who could eat and drink and never feel truly satisfied. I have lived through seasons where I am making money but it never seems to cover all the expenses. I have great ideas but they don’t seem to get me anywhere useful. I do my best to use my time wisely and somehow I never have enough. 

Here God is telling the people, it’s because you’re focused on your own house. Something I love about this book is the people respond! There are so many books of prophets where the people do not listen to God and things continue to go horribly wrong, but here the people respond and have their eyes open and the are willing to change!

In the second chapter God encourages them and assures them he is with them: 

“Yet now be strong all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.”

Haggai 2:4-9

This is so encouraging! God assures them that if they change their focus to building the temple that God will stand with them, protect them, and supply all the provision to do the work. What a beautiful promise. If we seek first the kingdom of God, he will provide everything… and later Jesus adds a bonus all these things will be added to you… which is to say, you build my house… and in the right time and in the right way, I will build your house. Consider Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.

This deep truth I already knew, however it was like God highlighted it as a reminder. In the past year I felt God asking me if I would trade my hopes and dreams for his, and I considered it and then agreed. I knew that his would be better than mine, and yet it’s not easy to let go of the paneling of our own house… can’t we do both? Apparently not well. That is a house divided. My heart was touched in reading this because I could relate to it and because I had already made that choice like the people in Haggai and so for me in this moment the book did not feel as much of a conviction to change, but a promise to keep working forward even in the resistance. 

The book reminded me that if I am indeed wholeheartedly working on God’s dreams and visions and how I can participate, he is with me, he will provide everything, and I can have peace in the work. There’s no striving, only participating. And I know that the seeds will now harvest in exponential numbers. The wine will never run dry and there will be joy- even when things are hard. Don’t give up, do not fear, keep building my house because I will be with you every step.

“Consider from this day, since the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider: 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 2:18-19

I have seen the flip side of never enough. I have seen mysterious provision and unexplainable finances when there shouldn’t be enough but somehow there is. I have looked back in wonder at some of the amazing things that have been possible that defy explanation. Times when I can eat my fill and be content and there is still enough to share. And yet this wonderful promise of blessing also came with a strange story. 

God brings up the idea of clean and unclean things. He is talking about pollution of sorts. We all know that if something is pure and we add impurity the whole thing becomes impure. This is basically the way of the world in its current state. God wanted to address something deeper than just the action of laying a foundation of his temple and doing the right thing. He was clear to warn people that their hearts had to be in the work in love. 

If anyone has been in a relationship or marriage where we require something of our spouse we know we do not want them to comply because of the rule or demand we set. That makes the act itself impure. Everyone in a healthy marriage has a basic understanding that fidelity matters. Do not go outside the marriage to meet your deep heart, or physical intimacy needs. It is better to comply with that because you know it’s required than to disregard and totally damage the relationship- however most people agree that the healthy relationship we all want is one where the beloved wouldn’t trespass that line because they love and respect the other.  We all know that if someone is only doing the right thing because they have to, it’s not the same. We deeply want the heart connection.

So does God. In fact he demands it.

Here I considered the ironic twist that God says he removed blessing from the people because they aren’t building his house- and yet, if they only turn back to building his house because they want their blessing back, he is reminding them, it’s still polluted. We have to get to the heart.

What also struck me about this story is that it is not about the “heathen” communities. All those people who don’t know God. It’s about the people who DO know God. In today’s terms it’s about Christians who have already come to know the truth about Jesus. In fact as with most things that come out of this book, it’s best applied to the person in the mirror if at all. It’s not about “them” it’s about “me.”

When we show up to church and run the programs and tell people about Jesus, or go on “mission trips” because we think we’re supposed to, because it’s commanded of us, or because we hope he will bless our house and give us things, we are still sick inside. So we can look like we are building his house, and still not be in love and relationship on the inside. The integrity is missing. The love is hollow. The fruit smells funny.

I heard a message last week about how the betrayal of Jesus comes when we have a realization that building his kingdom will cost us more and not look at all like we had hoped or imagined. When we first come to him we are sick, or broken and need healing and a change in heart, this is a process we go through and have to submit to and continue walking out. He is gentle and patient with us as our eyes gradually open to this new way of life, but at some point we come to a moment where we realize aghast that we thought he was going to take over the political leadership and set up a government, but he plainly tells us his real plan is to to let the current leadership torture and kill him.

This is what creates a Judas. I was great with building your house when it made sense to me, I could go along when I realized that I would be blessed and so my house would be awesome too, but when it starts to look completely opposed to what seems good for me, I’m out. The people after the exile began to work on the temple but it got hard and they decided it was better to just go work on their own homes instead. 

When Jesus looked at Peter who told him no way you’re not going to die don’t talk like that! He told him Satan get behind me for you do NOT have in mind the things of the kingdom but of this world.

Peter did betray Jesus and three times over, but he repented like the people in Haggai and returned and had an amazing but not unchallenging future. 

I think the temple was not only because God wanted to be important and at the center, it also created a center of community for the people trying to establish a new life in a difficult time from ruins of their past. Everyone going home to build their own homes was symbolic of doing their own things which is what got them into trouble in the first place. God was calling them to stop thinking of their own needs first. Even after the captivity they were headed quickly back to their old established destructive ways. 

Oh how often we come close to ruin in some scary way, and God gives us grace and a new start and we seem to keep reverting to the ways we know instead of allowing him to truly change us deeply? This process, at least for me, maybe I’m hard headed, it takes a lot of time. It takes years of submitting to the growth and difficult choices to do it God’s way even if it seems slow and tedious.

When the people’s hearts changed and they built the temple, they had a place to come together and to worship together and hopefully learn to love each other which is what God wanted all along. Put God first, then live in a way that honors the people around you and love extravagantly. Then things will go well for you, in blessings and peace. This is how we bring light into dark places and also find grace and life ourselves… although as soon as we do it in order to save ourselves we lose the balance, miss the point and have to try again. Thankfully we get infinite opportunities and each time I think we can get better within the cycles. Since we aren’t able to do much to change our own hearts I’ve found simply being willing and asking for help goes a long way.

In the end of the book God says he is going to shake the heavens and the earth and the seas. Everything is going to get unsettled. But those who are building God’s kindgom will not fear, in fact he says something very interesting to me: 

“Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I am about to shake the heavens and the earth, On that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, my servant, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts.””

Haggai 2:21, 23

I did some research on what a signet ring is about. Oddly around Christmas I sensed God bringing to mind a signet ring and I could not figure out what he was getting at. But I tucked it away to have it show up in my treasure hunt last week landing me at the end of Haggai. In certain times that ring was more authoritative than a signature. It carried authority. I sensed God reminding me, reminding us in this little somewhat forgotten book, that when we are pure in heart, and when we are working on his dreams for our lives and the lives around us, that we carry a strong authority, and when everything else of this world is shaking, our work will stand secure. Because we are not of this world anymore. We have entered into eternity, where our work is solid and where God is with us. Where we do not fear and where there is peace.

He doesn’t promise to take us out of the shaking, he promises to stand firm with us as the shaking happens. And just maybe, we can create places that others can find refuge in that shaking whirlwind going on in all the other houses.

May it be so!

[cover image by menarai]