Haggai 1:4

Covering the roof of a room with wood, shaped into patterns. Some panels were fir, as in 2 Chronicles 3:5; others were cedar, and painted.

After the first burst of enthusiasm, when the people were as one man, they lose confidence in God's power and the work stops. Fifteen years go by. Only the foundations of the temple have been laid. All building has come to a halt. During these long years the people have to be doing something. And when the Lord no longer has His place in the heart, what fills a person's time if not his own interests?

They had begun well, as we read in Ezra 3, when they set the altar on its bases. But now they had given up that effort. Their interest in the one thing had faded, and selfish aims took their place. They were living in luxurious houses, while His house lay neglected and in ruins. So their empty excuse was shown to be insincere.

I have examined the prophecies that throw so much light on the history of that time, and I have compared their dates. From this it seems clear to me that the true hindrance was a lack of faith in the remnant… They did not start building again because the king's decree reached them. They started again because they feared the Lord and did not fear the king's command, as seeing Him who is invisible. God was no more to be feared in the reign of Darius than in the reign of Cyrus or Artaxerxes. Their weakness came from having forgotten God.

How could they claim this was a good moment to put their own interests first and neglect the Lord's claims? The secret was simple: building and decorating their own houses raised no opposition. Doing good to themselves would sooner win the approval of their enemies. Only testimony for the Lord — in word, work, and life — stirs up the hostility of the world. So they had chosen the path of selfish ease and self-interest, minding their own things, and not the things of the Lord.

They were diligent for themselves. And what was the result? "You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm." Bitter disappointment, as always, must be the portion of God's people who live for themselves instead of trusting Him who takes special care of 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.

In Haggai's day the people were living in paneled houses, while the house of God lay in ruins. Self was uppermost, but God was watching over His people. His hand was on them, 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.

Whatever excuses we make about the time not being right, the real reason we neglect the principles of God's house is that we are taken up 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 inevitable alternative that we must be occupied either with the Lord's things, or with our own."