Haggai 1:5-6 (KJV) “Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. [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; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes.”
Our Scriptural text begins with a call from God to His people to consider their ways. It is also a call to us today, to have a self-assessment of our lives. About what? About the priorities of our lives. God’s people were said to have sown much and brought in little. That is what we call “frustrated labour or effort.” What was the cause of this experience? They neglected the house of God. They lived in paneled houses, while God’s house laid in ruins (Hag. 1:4). When God is displaced from first place, life may be busy yet barren.
This passage teaches that life works best when God is first. Hard work cannot compensate for spiritual disorder. Productivity without priority leads to diminishing returns. God allowed the labour of His children to be frustrated, not because He delights in hardship, but to redirect their hearts. That unexplained losses in your life may be traceable to that misplaced priority in your walk with God. A permitted loss may just be God’s corrective discipline. It is time to go before the LORD our God for realignment.
Written by: Andrew A. Esemudje