By Shannon Marshall

Once King Solomon was gone the nation of Judah began to follow other gods. The Lord allowed the Babylonians to become stronger and mightier. The Babylonians took over the government of Judah. The Babylonians took many from the nation of Judah and exiled them to Babylon. The Babylonians destroyed the temple Solomon had built. Fifty years following the destruction of the temple some of the nation was allowed to come back. The returning exiles built the foundation for the new temple. Those who returned had the task of building the temple. The foundation for the temple was built. Then the Samaritans came and threatened the workers of the temple. The workers stopped working on the temple. For thirteen and a half years the temple remained unfinished.

God called a prophet by the name of Haggai to get the nation of Judah to finish the temple. The people of Judah said now wasn’t a good time. “The time has not come, the time that the Lord’s house should be built.” (Haggai 1:2). Why would the nation think the time was not now?  Why do we think the time is not now?

First, there is opposition. There will always be those who oppose when we are doing the Lord’s work. We need to choose the hard right over the easy wrong.

Second, there needs to be observation. Haggai told the nation to, “consider your ways.” (vs. 5). They were living in high end living. Nice things had them. The people had put their own comfort ahead of God’s house. The task of completing God’s house needed to be finished. Their life wasn’t turning out like they had hoped. Haggai said, “You have sown much and bring in little.” (vs. 6). No matter how hard they tried they couldn’t get ahead. Why? God’s work wasn’t first in their life.

Third, there needed an objective. God gave them three steps for completing the task. “Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the temple.” (vs. 8).  Step 1: go up the mountain, Step 2: get wood, and Step 3: build the temple. We must take steps 1,2,3 before we worry about 4,5,6.