Haggai - just 2 short chapters. But it carries with it a mighty punch and brought home to me lessons long forgotten and now tears of regret.

Haggai’s prophecies were given 18 years after the Persian king Cyrus had permitted the Jews to return to their homeland from exile in Babylon. Despite the length of time, the second temple remained unfinished, and Haggai’s messages urged the people of Jerusalem to complete the task.

Bible Passage: Haggai 1-2

I remembered when I first studied the book of Haggai, it was during my Student Theological days back in the late 70s (oopss.. I just revealed my age). The message of Haggai was so compelling that I can now still distinctly remember that I told myself that I would not be like the Jews during Haggai’s time who neglected the work of God and concentrated on their own welfare.

But now that the years have passed, and looking back at what I had done and not done, and where I am now… I am filled with remorse that I had become exactly like them … one who dwelled in our paneled houses while His temple lie in ruins (Haggai 1:4).

The Lord of Hosts says, “Consider your ways!”. I guess there is lot of considering to be done today…

I just like to share a few things that came to my mind as I read today’s passage.

First Things First

I am sure you have heard many of these statements before. Maybe you have even uttered a few yourself. I know I have….

“I will be more involved in church work as soon as my work schedule lightens up!”

“I’ll get back to reading the Bible and pray regularly once my project is over.”

“One of these days I will get round to joining the home fellowships that I have been thinking about.”

“Once I have established my career and family, I will be back to serve God in whatever He wants me to do.”

I am sure you know of more of such statements and have a few that you have said many times before.

And if you have made these or similar statements in the past, then you will have some idea of the situation in the post exile Judah. The people had started to rebuild the temple, but stopped after a year or two of work. They got involved in other commitments, and before they knew it, 16 years had gone by!

The temple was still incomplete. “We’ll get round to it,” they apparently said. “It’s just not time yet” (Haggai 1:2).

“We’ll get round to it.”

“It’s just not time yet.”

How many times have I uttered these words when faced with doing what God wants of me? Even as I type these words… my heart sinks like a leaden ship and my tears will just not stop flowing.

The people in Jerusalem had their priorities distorted. They were putting God at the tail end of their commitments, rather than honouring Him as the Lord of their lives. The neglect of the temple was essentially a neglect of God.

Is this where we are right now? It is time for us to reconsider our priorities.

We are almost at the end of another year. What were your spiritual goals and priorities you had in the beginning of the year? How far have you come? Or how far are you behind what you had set out to do? If your spiritual life is slipping, maybe it is time to put first things first and place God back at the centre of your commitments.

Consider your ways!

It is not too late. Just as God raised Haggai to rebuke the people of Jerusalem for their neglect and bad attitude towards God, He is using Haggai today to rebuke and admonish us to change our ways.

The people during Haggai’s time did. We can too. I can and must.

Unfinished Business

Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,” says the LORD.

Haggai 1:7-8

Spiritual growth is often likened to a journey. A person who believes in the Lord begins walking with Him, step by step, year by year, travelling to ever higher realms of spiritual maturity. That is the theory.

But we know for a fact that for many of us, the journey seems to peter our along the way. Perhaps we feel that it has become too difficult.

We get tired. We feel sian. We get lazy. We want to give up.

Perhaps we get sidetracked by distractions or detoured by sin. Perhaps we feel we have reached a dead end and can go no further.

Whatever the case, our spiritual life remains at a standstill. Worse still, some of us have slipped backwards several notches. Our spiritual journey remains incomplete.

The people during Haggai’s time had an unfinished project. The initial zeal and enthusiasm that accompanied them when they first returned to rebuild the temple has somehow fizzled out. The work came to a standstill.

There are so many reasons why which may have been legitimate or not, but for 16 years … nothing more was done.

Instead, the people went about the rest of their lives, making a living, establishing families, building houses, setting up businesses - but the work of God - the temple - remained unfinished.

I always wondered how is it that the people could do that? I mean, an unfinished building is an eyesore. And what more, this temple occupied a big piece of land and was in an elevated position where everyone could see everyday. And yet this visual daily reminder did not stir their hearts. In fact, they were oblivious to it and largely ignored it.

But then when I think about myself, I find that perhaps it was not strange to see why they acted in this way because I am exactly the same.

The huge Bible beside my bed remains unopened despite the daily reminder before my eyes.

The kneeling pads stacked neatly in the bedroom is left untouched.

The posters in church calling for volunteer workers in the various workgroups but I have mastered the art of not seeing it.

The evangelical invitation cards stick out in my bag but there it remains… together with last years invitation cards.

The list just goes on and it is just too painful to think and reflect on this.

I am not sure about you but just as God sent Haggai to the people to get them to consider their ways and get back to work, perhaps God is also asking you to do the same.

Is your spiritual life an unfinished business? Perhaps you have stopped growing as a believer. “Consider your ways!” You can take steps to get back on track. Perhaps you need to repent over some sin. Or perhaps you need to reestablish contact with fellow brethren who can encourage you and hold you accountable. Perhaps you need to renew some of the spiritual disciplines that foster growth like Bible reading, prayer and fasting.

Whatever steps are needed, the Bible encourages us to finish the journey (Heb 6:11)!

There are 2 major events coming up that can help us get back on track in our unfinished business.

First there is the Spiritual Meeting from 26 Nov (Thurs) evening till 29 Nov (Sun). This 3 full days of Spiritual Meeting is a wonderful way for us to put aside our worldly concerns and once again, renew our commitment to God and our relationships with fellow brothers and sisters. It is a chance of us to renew of spiritual strength and find mercy in the Lord for our unfinished business.

Second, there is the Evangelistic Services from 11 to 13 Dec 09. While that may seem faraway, the work of preparing to go out and invite our friends and relatives, and also to knock on doors and extend a Gospel invitation starts right now.

We may have in the past thought about preaching for Jesus but never got started. Now is the time. We have had setbacks in the past when we tried telling people about Jesus. Now is the time to get back on the saddle! The church will be organizing outdoor tracting on 5 & 6 Dec 09. Make yourself available for this!

In this way, we can all get started once again getting involved in our Father’s business.

愛，我願意

Today was not supposed to be my turn to write. But God gave me the opportunity and when the call came, I was listening to this wonderful song that the TK Choir will be singing during the Evanglistic Service at the end of the year. It is called “愛，我願意” - meaning “I Am WIlling - Love”

It talks about how because of the love of God that we are willing to do what it takes.

In my years of service to God, there are indeed times when I do not feel like doing anything anymore. I want to give up. I want to stop.

But I have learned that if we do the work out of anything other than Love for God… we will not get very far or last very long.

What made me like this song very much was when a sister explained to me the Chinese words in the chorus. There is a part that has these words…

我願意降服，我願意降服，

在你愛的懷抱中，我願意降服

The word that the sister explained to me was

降服

This meant “surrender” with a sense of “obedience” and “conviction” （服从; 信服）).

I marvelled at how the Chinese language can just use 2 words to convey such depth of meaning.

Indeed, during the time of Haggai, because of his message and admonishment that they have neglected God, the people turned in obedience and left their former ways to once again burn with zeal to rebuild the temple. And we all know that the temple was completed soon after.

That is what we need if we want to restart our spiritual engines to finish our spiritual business. We need love. We need obedience and a conviction that we need work for the Lord.

We have learned in our reading of Ecclesiastes that we need to make use of every opportunity that God gives us… God gave me a chance to have a good reflection of where am I today by getting me to write today’s posting. He is also giving you and I other chances to do what we need to do…

Let us consider this as we listen to ths song “愛，我願意”.