Consider Your Ways

 

Twice the prophet Haggai tells the Jews to “consider your ways.” He calls them to look around, examine their circumstances, and honestly read the consequences that have flowed from their actions. Their situation was not mysterious. If they were willing to reflect, at least three realities would have been evident.

The Law of Diminishing Returns

Haggai points to several areas of life where the Jews were already experiencing God’s judgment. Because worship had not been restored to its central place in the community, loss had become a defining feature of their labor. They sowed much but reaped little. They ate and drank, but were never satisfied. Their clothing failed to keep them warm. They worked hard, yet their wages slipped through their fingers—like money placed in a bag with holes.

Haggai describes their experience as a drought. Everything dries up, and whatever remains is blown away. The judgment was not sudden, but it was unmistakable. Over time, the blessing of God had leaked away. This is the law of diminishing returns: much effort, little fruit.

The Law of Misplaced Priorities

The Jews had stopped building God’s temple because of opposition from the people of the land. In response, they turned their attention to tasks they could accomplish. They built their own homes, secured their financial well-being, and even constructed houses adorned with paneled walls. Gradually, they came to believe their own justification: “The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”

But opposition is not an excuse for disordered affections. Instead of pressing forward toward the primary goal, they devoted themselves to secondary concerns—wealth, leisure, relationships, and security. These are good gifts, but never when they displace worship. Good things, when elevated to ultimate things, become idols. Haggai calls them to reorder their loves and to give God once again His rightful place at the center.

The Law of Declining Expectations

When I place myself in the position of these Jews, I understand the temptation. If temple construction was impossible for the moment, it would seem reasonable to busy oneself with other responsibilities until circumstances changed. After all, they faced political, social, and physical opposition. Fear and discouragement were real.

The pain is understandable. But sixteen years is a long time.

Over time, discouragement lowered expectations. The dream faded. What once felt urgent became optional. Obedience was quietly postponed. And so God sent Haggai—not merely to comfort them, but to confront them.

Diminishing returns. Misplaced priorities. Declining expectations.

Can we see these same forces at work in our own spiritual lives? Haggai’s word to them is God’s word to us still:

“Consider your ways.”