A PURSE WITH HOLES IN IT

HAGGAI

Read Haggai 1

     Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: "Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it." Haggai 1:5–6 NIV

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     It had been 15 years since the people of Judah had begun to rebuild the temple, but the work had ceased because they were too busy with their own affairs. The Lord, through the prophet Haggai said, "Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?" (1:4)

     The people, no doubt, were struggling in a broken down economy trying to build up the infrastructure of their city. In the busyness of it all, their priorities had slipped.
     So the Lord said, "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…You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house." (1:7-9 NKJV)

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     Forgive us Lord when we become overly concerned with earning wages to furnish and maintain our houses. As necessary as those activities are, they are not as important as ministering in our families and churches. Give us a balance that brings glory to You and encouragement to other believers.

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     And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. Hebrews 10:24–25 NKJV