Theme: PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE
Text: “Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD”. – Haggai 1:8.
Comment: Worshippers of God are enjoined by Him to work hard to enable them to support the work of God, help themselves and the needy. The Bible does not teach that one could fold one’s hands and expect money to fall on one’s lap. Rather, it is the hand of the diligent that maketh rich.- Proverbs 10:4.
The text for today was prompted by the attitude of the people at the time while Darius was king and Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah. God sent word through Haggai the prophet rebuking the people for saying it was not yet time to rebuild the house of God whereas they were living in luxury, building expensive houses for themselves whereas the house of God lay desolate. (Haggai 1:1-4) It is when we are not selfish with what we have that God will continue to bless us instead of a situation where we put money into bags with holes. (Haggai 1: 9-11) Again, they should not be giving excuses that they had no money to rebuild the temple; they should go out and work to get materials for that purpose.
Another point is that in our quest for material things to support the work of God, we should do honest things. King Solomon says: “Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase”. (Proverbs 13:11) In chapter 10 verse 22 it is written: “The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it”.