Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, "Is it time for you, O ye,
to dwell in your sealed houses, and this house lie waste?"
He's saying they're not making his house the priority.
Their house is the priority.
They're being selfish.
They're not putting the work of the Lord first and his house first.
They're putting themselves first.
He says, "Consider your ways."
Verse 6, "Ye have sown much and bring in little.
Ye eat, but ye have not enough.
Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink.
Ye clothe you, but there is none warm.
Ye that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes."
Now look, what are these people putting first?
Material gain, their own material wealth, their own house, their own prosperity.
But God is saying, "Look, think about it.
I'm not blessing you, and therefore because I'm not blessing you, you're failing.
You're not succeeding.
You're not prospering."
Even though, because humanly speaking it would make sense to say, "Well, if I put all my
effort into work, and all my effort into making money and gaining wealth and prosperity, and
make church be on the back burner, I'm going to have more money.
I'm going to do better.
I'm going to prosper more."
But God's saying, "No, because I'm going to curse you, and I'm going to make sure that
you fail because you're not putting me first, and you're not putting my house first, therefore
I'm going to cause you to fail."
And he even says it's like you're putting money into a bag with holes.
You know, have you ever felt that way where you just feel like, you know, you make a little
extra money and you're like, "Oh man, I made some extra money."
And then it's just like unexpected bill that's bigger than the extra, "Oh man," you know.
And look, I'm not saying that it's because God's judging you or God's cursing you, but
what I am saying is that God does hold our fate and our destiny in His hand.
And if God's pleased with us, He can give us as much as He wants to give us.
And if God's upset with us because He feels that we're putting Him last, He can easily
cause us to fail everywhere we go.
Can you imagine walking out the door each morning and going to work having the curse
of God on your life, just knowing that God is up in heaven with the goal of making everything
you do that day fail?
Can you imagine that?
I mean, think about that.
I mean, you walk out the door and you just know that everywhere you go, God is just watching
and just looking for opportunities to just make you fail.
I mean, think about how much damage you could do in one day to yourself and to others and
to your finances and to every part of your life.
I mean, think about how many things can go wrong in a given day at work, driving, you
know, with your family, I mean, so many things.
I mean, that's a reality because God's talking about it here.
And look, he spells it out even more in verse number nine.
He says, "You looked for much," meaning you expected a lot, "and lo, it came to little.
And when you brought it home, I did blow upon it."
So God is saying he's taking an active role in destroying their goods.
He's taking an active role in making sure that they fail, that their crops fail, that
their endeavors fail because they're being selfish and they're not tending unto God's
house.
And he says, "I did blow upon it."
Why?
Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house.