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.
Go up to the mountain and bring wood, and build the house, and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith Jehovah.
God speaks here to a people He had brought back from exile to rebuild His house. They had stopped, and set their hearts on their own houses instead. This verse does more than rebuke them. It gives them a job to do, and attaches a promise to it.
God tells this people twice to consider their ways. The two calls do different work.
For the second time the LORD urges the remnant to consider their ways. The first time it was in the way of reproof; now it is to encourage them to resume the work of the house of God. We know that then, as now, it was a day of small things. As we shall see, the house they built was "as nothing" compared with the former glory of the house. Yet to this feeble remnant the LORD says: go up, bring wood, build the house. He promises that He will take pleasure in it and that He will be glorified.
They had set their hearts on their own houses. God answers by telling them where His heart is — and that settles what work is worth doing.
They had set their hearts on their own houses, and the Lord, as it were, says to them, "My heart is on My house. So go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house." This was the object of their restoration. The Lord would still have them share the privilege of fellowship with His own purposes. He even stoops to say that He will take pleasure in it and that He will be glorified. By building the house, they would draw out the satisfaction of His heart and lift up His name. We learn from this that the true way to glorify God is to be in fellowship with His own mind. It is not the activities we may choose, however good they are in themselves. It is not works of kindness and philanthropy, however much they relieve the wants and sorrows of others. It is labouring for the object God has before Him at any given time.
This was a small work with little material. Commentators set it beside the temple Solomon built.
It is good to think that a few faithful hearts, with everything against them, would still build a house for God. Solomon had plenty of material in his day. But God probably found more pleasure in the devotion of these few faithful hearts than in the days of Solomon's temple.
Writers apply the same command to the church. God's people are the ones who carry the material.
God expects His people to make the church visible to all, by bringing materials suitable for her construction. The Holy Spirit uses the evangelist, pastors and teachers to build the church. But we would badly deceive ourselves if we thought that evangelising alone adds souls to the building. It is one of the main instruments. Yet this work needs all the gifts working together. More than that, every witness of Christ is responsible to bring noble and living material to the house of God.
The verse ends with two promises about God Himself. Commentators see the building as a picture of worship.
The Lord declares that He will take pleasure in it and that He will be glorified. How kindly He longs for His people to be wholehearted and fully devoted to Himself. It is in worship, pictured by the building of the house, that we glorify Him. It is worshippers the Father seeks, worshippers in spirit and in truth (John 4).
Commentators trace this failure to its root. Then they point past it.
As with the remnant of old, so with ourselves. The low spiritual condition we so often have to mourn comes from doing our own pleasure and seeking our own glory. Self-will and self-importance lie at the root of our failure. Still, is it not the deepest joy and encouragement to know this? In a day of weakness, and despite all our failure, we can still judge our ways. We can still do what pleases God and what brings Him glory.
- Consider — the same call that first exposed their neglect now sends them back to work. God's second word to a failing people encourages; it does not only reprove.
- Go up — His heart is on His house, so the way to glorify Him is not the good work we pick, but the work He has before Him now.
- Bring wood — plain material carried by a weak people. The devotion of a few faithful hearts may please Him more than all Solomon's plenty.
- Build — no one is a spectator; every witness of Christ is responsible to bring living material to the house of God.
- And He is glorified — He promises His pleasure and His name lifted up, and the promise still stands after real failure.
Ye looked for much, and behold it was little; and when ye brought it home, I blew upon it. Wherefore? saith Jehovah of hosts. Because of my house that lieth waste, whilst ye run every man to his own house.
The exiles were back in their land and settled in their own homes, while God's house — the temple — still lay in ruins. Their harvests kept failing, and in this verse God names the reason Himself.
The people were not lazy. All that effort went into their own affairs.
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.
"I blew it away" makes God the cause of the shortfall. That is what the people never suspected.
They had returned to the promised land. God had been faithful and gracious to them, but they were settling down in comfort while God's house still lay waste. No wonder things went wrong! God's word to them, and perhaps also to us, is "Consider your ways." They earned good money, but it trickled away as if into 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.
God asks "Why?" and then answers His own question, so no one has to guess at the cause of the drought.
In the next three verses (9-11) the Lord reminds the people that He is chastening them because of their indifference to His house. God was drying up the source of every earthly blessing. He "blew" upon their crops and withheld the dew. He called for a drought on the land, the mountains, the grain, and everything the earth produced. The drought fell on men, on cattle, and on all the work of their hands. And why did He send this universal blight upon all their work and all their expectations? Let us write the answer on our hearts: "Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." Is there no voice in these words for believers today? God is still God, and He has His objects now as He had then. If His objects are not ours, is it any wonder that we suffer from spiritual drought and barrenness?
The excuse was that the time had not come. What was filling the time instead?
We may excuse ourselves by saying the time is not right. But the real reason for indifference to the principles of God's house is that we are occupied with our own things. Even in the Apostle's day we read of believers that "they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 2:21). One has said, "It is an unavoidable alternative — we must be occupied either with the Lord's things or with our own."
So whose house are we building?
Notice, too, that our own houses often come into competition with the Lord's house... So we need to think much about this truth: all our "building" is completely in vain unless we do it as the Lord's work.
The lost harvest was discipline, not rejection.
Many among us feel ashamed, and with good reason, at the exaggerated importance we attach to our own things. Meanwhile the interests of the house of God — the church of the living God — occupy so little of our attention. The Lord often shows us where we fall short. He lets us see that even with all our concern for self we still miss what we aimed at... The Lord deals with His people on a principle of retributive justice. These words express it: "whatever one sows, that will he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). This way of dealing takes nothing from the believer's perfect acceptance in his person through grace. It does not touch his standing in grace either.
The blight was never the last word. The moment the priorities changed, the message changed with them.
Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the remnant of Israel came back from captivity in weakness. They at once busied themselves with God's house. They set up the altar as their protection, and then they laid the foundation of the house. But opposition discouraged them, they stopped building, and sorrow and trouble came upon them... But as soon as they began to build the Lord's house, God commissioned the prophet to say, "From this day on I will bless you."
- Cause. The poor returns were not weather, politics, or bad luck — God said He blew the harvest away, and He named the reason Himself.
- Choice. Two houses compete for one heart. Commentators call it an unavoidable choice — the Lord's things or our own.
- Cost. People who put their own interests first lose the very thing they chased; building is in vain unless it is the Lord's work.
- Care. Our business is to care for His things, and His gracious work is to care for ours — reverse the order and both suffer.
- Cure. The discipline touched their circumstances, never their acceptance. When they started building, God said, "From this day on I will bless you."