Haggai 1:5 (AMP)
Consider your ways and set your mind on what has come to
you.
Are you unfruitful, unsatisfied, unfulfilled,
unproductive, inefficient, lacking, and frustrated in spite of your hard work
and effort?
Haggai 1:6 (ESV)
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.
Take an honest look at yourself, your habits, your work ethics, and your character.
Haggai 1:7 (AMP)
Consider your ways (your previous and present conduct) and how you have fared.
Have you been obedient and faithful to what He asked you
to do? Have you been diligent?
Or have you become distracted and focused on your own
comfort and well-being. Have you settled into building your "own
house"?
In Haggai, God shows his displeasure through inflation,
bad crops, and bad weather because his people had not completed the
construction of the Temple like He had instructed them to do.
Haggai 1:9 (AMP)
You looked for much [harvest], and behold, it came to
little; and even when you brought that home, I blew it away. Why? says the Lord
of hosts. Because of My house, which lies waste while you yourselves run each
man to his own house [eager to build and adorn it].
Sometimes God uses difficult and unpleasant circumstances to get our
attention and help us get back on track.
Haggai 1:12 (AMP)
Then (they) listened to and obeyed the voice of the Lord their God
[not vaguely or partly, but completely, according to] the words of Haggai the
prophet, since the Lord their God had sent him, and the people [reverently]
feared and [worshipfully] turned to the Lord. (Parenthesis mine)
When He helps us get back on track, we are revived
and restored from the inside out and we become fruitful and productive once again.
