Today, as I write this, we stand in the midst of an unprecedented season of quiet.
Quiet--such a funny word to use--as the decibel level in so many of our homes are probably pegging the needle, as kids of all ages, spouses, and pets are all under one roof, so much of the day.
No, I'm talking of a different kind of quiet, the quiet that comes from a suddenly cleared schedule. Our day-to-day lives as we knew it just a week or two ago look drastically different from this time of social distancing due to the corona virus.
As one of my friends posted earlier this week: "This might get depressing."
As we discussed before, I hope we are leaning in to listen to what God has to say to us during this unique season in our lives.
It's interesting: another group of people in recorded history got caught up in their busy personal affairs and were called out of it by God--by a drought, not a virus--to reconsider their priorities and be faithful to do the important work He had given them.
We see this in the itty-bitty, two-chapter-long book of Haggai.
Before we dive in, allow me to briefly supply some historical context. Haggai was called to speak to the people of God who had returned to Jerusalem after their time of exile in Babylon. They had started to rebuild the temple, faced some obstacles, and had stopped their work. When Haggai was called by God to speak to them, the temple still lay in ruins, and the people were working on their own projects at home.
Haggai calls them out on this and to a higher purpose:
"Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house [the temple] lies in ruins? Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: 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...Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house [temple], 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? ...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 1:4-11 (emphasis mine)
In short, God's people were not living according to God's priorities, but were living according to their own.
They were not living for His glory, but for theirs.
They were described, to quote directly from the scriptures, as "busy."
Does this sound like our culture, too?
But there is good news here!
Fortunately, when Haggai called God's people to stop their busy-ness and start living according to God's priorities, they obeyed. The people stopped living regular life as they knew it--in the face of this drought and in the face of this call--and started working together to build God's temple.
And there is even better news!
During this difficult season of drought, as God broke into the busy-ness and called His people to obedience through Haggai, God reminded them that He hadn't forgotten them. Quite the contrary! No, He was in their midst, offering them peace and His presence.
"My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not....And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts." --Haggai 2:5, 9 (emphasis mine)
So friend, I must ask, have you been heeding the call of God in your life and prioritizing His work for you? Or have you, like so many of us, just been "busy" in these recent months and years?
God is calling, dear friend.
God is near.
God is faithful to us, offering us His peace and His presence.
"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." --Matthew 6:33
Will we listen and obey?
I am excited to see what God will do in and through His people in the weeks and months ahead, as He trust and walk with Him, dear friend!
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