And now thus saith Jehovah of hosts Consider your ways.
These words come to people who had returned from exile to rebuild God's house. They left it in ruins and finished their own homes instead. So before God tells them to do anything, He tells them to think.
The Hebrew behind "consider your ways" is not a mild suggestion to reflect. It asks for the heart, not just the mind. And it points them to what their own experience already showed.
Then comes the exhortation to consider their ways (literally: set your heart upon your ways). Had it been profitable for them? No. Ever since they stopped building His house, bitter disappointment had been their lot. All their self-seeking brought them no gain, but steady loss.
Verse 5 turns God's charge against them into a demand for self-examination. The subject is the clash between our own interests and His.
After this solemn appeal to the conscience comes the exhortation, "Consider your ways." God asks the remnant, as He asks us, to consider one thing. What comes of being taken up with our own things and our own soul's blessing, while we neglect the deeper interests of the LORD and the things that concern His glory?
God does not leave them guessing what to examine. The next verse lists what their hard work produced. Each loss there has a spiritual meaning too.
The result then, as now, shows in the words, "You have sown much, and harvested little" — great activity but little return. Moreover, this neglect of the house of God leads to spiritual starvation, for, says the prophet, "You eat, but you never have enough." Again, it brings no spiritual satisfaction: "you drink, but you never have your fill." It leaves the spiritual affections cold: "You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." And it carries no reward: "he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."
They had explanations ready for the shortfall.
No doubt they blamed the recession, the political instability of the time, the abnormal weather conditions. It never occurred to them that God was trying to get through to them.
The strange thing is that these people were not lazy. They worked hard — for themselves — and still came up empty. One writer connects that outcome to a principle Jesus taught.
As our own blessed Lord taught, "Whoever would save his life will lose it," so it was with the remnant. They set their hearts on rest, ease, and prosperity in this world. They wanted to find their "life" in their comforts, and so they lost it, for they had left God out of the account. They made themselves, and not God, their object. They put their own things first and grew indifferent to His honour, claims, and interests. So they forfeited the very blessings they worked for.
The same writer explains what God was aiming at.
In this way God dealt with them, to exercise their souls, to wean them from their selfish aims, and to recall them to the purpose for which He had brought them back to their own land. He wanted them to lose sight of themselves and find their blessing in fellowship with the mind and heart of God.
The danger here is self-deception. We assume all is well while God's hand is already correcting us. So this weighing must be constant, and done in one place.
Considering our ways in the presence of God should in fact be our constant, everyday work. There all delusions disappear. There, in the pure light of His holy presence, the secrets of the inmost heart come to light. And there alone we discern our true condition and our failures, and receive grace to judge ourselves by the infallible standard of God's glory. So, confessing our sins, we enter once again upon the enjoyment of forgiveness and restoration.
The same command comes back later in the book, pointed at something new.
The frequent occurrence of the word "Consider" in this short prophecy is worth noting. Twice in the first section the prophet had to say to the people, "Consider your ways." In this later section the word comes three times. Now the prophet says in effect, "Consider God's ways." He is glad to recognise any measure of energy and faithfulness in His service, even when uncleanness and failure are mixed with it. And He delights to answer it with blessing.
- Consider — the word means "set your heart upon your ways." God asks for the heart's attention, not a passing glance.
- Consider the cost — work aimed at ourselves came back empty. Sowing without harvest, eating without fullness, wages in a bag with holes.
- Consider the cause — they had left God out of the account. They put their own things first, and lost the very blessings they worked for.
- Consider often — do this weighing in God's presence. There delusions vanish, and confession opens the way back to forgiveness and restoration.
- Consider God's ways — later the same word turns outward. He is glad to recognise even faltering faithfulness and answer it with blessing.
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but are not satisfied; ye drink, but are not filled with drink; ye clothe yourselves, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages for a bag with holes.
The people had come back from exile. They worked hard, yet nothing they earned stayed with them, and Haggai lists their losses one by one before naming the cause.
The verse is not one complaint said four times. Each phrase marks a different emptiness, and each one has a match in the soul.
The result then, as now, comes out in the words, "You have sown much, and harvested little" — great activity but little return. This neglect of the house of God also leads to spiritual starvation, for the prophet says, "You eat, but you never have enough." It brings no spiritual satisfaction: "You drink, but you never have your fill." It leaves the spiritual affections cold: "You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." And it carries no reward: "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."
Nobody in Haggai's day was lazy. They aimed all their energy at their own comfort while God's house lay in ruins.
There was diligence for themselves; but what was the result? Bitter disappointment, as always, must come to the people of God who live for themselves instead of trusting the One who especially looks after the faithful. Our business is to care for His things; His gracious work is to care for us in our own things and indeed in all things.
A leaking bag looks like ordinary wear and tear. But where did the damage come from?
I believe it is often proved with us, as you find it stated of Israel in Haggai's day. They were living in panelled houses, and the house of God was lying waste. Self was uppermost, but God was watching over His people. His hand was on them, and so we read, "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes." How did the holes get there? I believe the Lord cut them.
They lost the very thing they were working for. The Lord's own teaching names that pattern.
As our own blessed Lord taught, "Whoever would save his life will lose it," so it was with the remnant. They set their hearts on rest, ease, and prosperity in this world. They wanted to find their "life" in their comforts, and they lost it, for they had left God out of the account. They made themselves, and not God, their object. They put their own things first and grew indifferent to His honour, claims, and interests. So they forfeited the very blessings they were working for... Let us never forget that there is such a thing as a present judgment of God. He notices the conduct of His people. As a Father, in His government and care, He deals with them according to their state of heart. He dealt with them this way to exercise their souls, to wean them from their selfish aims, and to call them back to the purpose for which He had brought them home.
A shrinking income always has an explanation ready to hand.
They earned good money, but it trickled away as in a bag full of holes. No doubt they blamed the recession, the political instability of the time, the abnormal weather conditions. It never occurred to them that God was trying to get through to them.
The verse sits under the command to consider their ways. That call is the way out, not just the accusation.
Again, the Lord calls His people to consider their ways. This is blessed work for His saints at all times. We always tend to deceive ourselves into believing that all is well, above all in times of decline. It can be so even when we may be under the chastening hand of God for our unfaithfulness... Considering our ways in the presence of God should in fact be our constant and habitual work. There all delusions disappear; there, in the pure light of His holy presence, the secrets of the inmost heart are revealed.
- Sown — They sowed much and brought in little. The problem was not a lack of effort. It was the direction of that effort.
- Starved — Food, drink, clothes and wages each fail in turn. Neglecting God's house starves the soul in the same four ways.
- Cut — The holes in the bag were not accidental. God's hand was on His people while self stayed uppermost.
- Forfeited — They put their own things first and lost the very blessings they were working for. Whoever would save his life will lose it.
- Considered — The remedy is the call itself. Consider your ways in God's presence, where self-deception cannot survive.
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts Consider your ways.
God's people had come back from exile to rebuild His house. But the work had stopped, and they built their own homes instead. Now the same short command they had already heard in verse 5 comes a second time — and the repetition is the point.
God gives the call twice in this chapter, and the two calls differ in aim. William Kelly reads the first as a rebuke and the second as an invitation forward:
There was diligence for themselves; but what was the result? Bitter disappointment must always come to the people of God who live for themselves instead of trusting Him who especially looks after the faithful. Our business is to care for His things; His gracious work is to care for us in our things, and indeed in all things... In grace there is another call to consider their ways. The first was to reprove them; the second is to encourage and exhort them.
The command asks for more than a passing thought. One writer gives the word's literal sense:
God appeals five times to the Jews to consider their ways. The word literally means "to concentrate one's heart upon something," because man makes his decisions in the heart. These passages are in chapter 1:5, 7; 2:15, 18, 19.
The "ways" in question had left visible marks — full effort, thin returns. Hamilton Smith takes each line of verse 6 in turn:
The result then, as now, comes out in the words, "You have sown much, and harvested little" — great activity but little return. Moreover, this neglect of the house of God leads to spiritual starvation, for, says the prophet, "You eat, but you never have enough." Again, it brings no spiritual satisfaction: "You drink, but you never have your fill." It leaves the spiritual affections cold: "You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." And it carries no reward: "He who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes."
Left alone, a people under God's discipline will conclude that nothing is wrong:
Again, the Lord calls His people to consider their ways. This is a blessed occupation for His saints at all times. The tendency always exists — especially in times of decline — to deceive ourselves into believing that all is well. That can happen even when we are under the chastening hand of God for our unfaithfulness. Heeding this call would spare us many an evil, many a breakdown, many a startling outbreak of sin among God's people. We should consider our ways in God's presence constantly. There all delusions disappear, and the secrets of the deepest heart come to light. Only there, seeing our true condition and failures, can we receive grace to judge ourselves by the infallible standard of God's glory.
The failure was not laziness. These people worked hard — for themselves. Edward Dennett applies the pattern to Christians today:
They set their hearts on rest, ease, and prosperity in this world. They wanted to find their "life" in their comforts, and they lost it, because they had left God out of the account... How common this mistake is even among Christians... You may see a child of God who is always absent from the gatherings of the saints, because of his family or business claims, as he will tell you. He has hardly any heart for the Lord's objects. He is dried up in his own soul, has little peace in his family, and not much prosperity in his affairs. And why? Not because he neglects his own concerns; as we have seen, those come first in his mind. No — it is because he is caring for his own things while indifferent to the desolation of the house of God.
The call to consider does not stop at self-examination. The next verse tells them what to do, and Dennett shows what that work was for:
They had set their hearts on their own houses, and the Lord, as it were, says to them, "My heart is on My house. Go up therefore to the mountain, and bring the wood, and build the house."... We learn from this that the true way to glorify God is to be in fellowship with His own mind. It is not found in activities we may choose, however good they are in themselves. It is not found in works of kindness and charity, however much they ease the needs and sorrows of others. It is found in working for the object God has before Him at any given time.
- Consider. The word asks you to fix your heart on something, not glance at it. God repeats the appeal five times in this short book.
- Twice. The first call convicts; the second, in the same words, encourages them to pick up the work again.
- Evidence. Much sown and little harvested; food that never satisfies; wages in a bag with holes. God puts these facts in front of them to weigh.
- Self-deception. In times of decline we tell ourselves all is well. Considering our ways in God's presence kills that delusion, so we can judge ourselves.
- Build. The considering has a destination. God's heart is on His house. We glorify Him by working for what He has before Him, not for goals we choose ourselves.