Haggai: You Expected Much

“You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house. Therefore, because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops.  I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands.” - Haggai 1:9-11 NIV

I have found this true in my own life.  When I spend my time building up anything for my own benefit, it comes to nothing, it blows away like a dry leaf on a windy day.  When I concentrate on my own life, my own dwelling place, at the expense of God, I become overcome by an enormous drought of the spirit.  If the spirit of God now resides in us, if we are his temple, then we must make it a welcome place for him to dwell.  We need to fill God's temple with all of the precious things, not a bunch of junk not worthy of the King of Kings.  We need to keep the temple swept clean of anything that is filthy or unworthy.  Otherwise, no matter what we expect of God, it will turn out to be little.

2010 Post - Haggai:  Build My House