What is the thing that you are putting off? It could be the decision to move job or house, to start a family, to get involved in a particular area of ministry. Sime times it feels like the time is never right.
Read Haggai 1:1-2
The background to these verses is the first few chapters of Ezra. In Ezra 1:1-4, we are told that Cyrus had given an instruction for the temple to be rebuilt in Jerusalem. However, building work stalled. The building work generates opposition from other people groups in the region. Initially, their tactic is to infiltrate God’s people by pretending to want to help.[1]When this fails, they try to discourage the people, to undermine their efforts, to bribe those involved in the building work and later to even complain to the emperor and make false accusations to get him to stop the work.
This is the context for Haggai to begin prophesying to the people and in particular their leaders, the governor and the high priest. His very first statement from God is:
“These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’”
Digging a little deeper
It seemed that the opposition was coming from the outside but there was a greater opposition from within. For whatever reason and maybe partly because of the opposition that the people were facing, there were strong voices from within, calling for the building work to halt.
Petterson observes that the term “this people” as opposed to “my people” seems “pejorative and indicates relational distance between them and Yahweh.[2] There may have appeared no the surface to be good reasons for delaying building work. Jeremiah has prophesied that the return to the land would come at the 70-year mark[3] whilst Ezekiel had looked forward to a Davidic king rebuilding the temple.[4] Of course, both of those prophecies are meant to focus our attention on Christ but this did not take away from the call at this stage to build a temple. Perhaps a prophecy through a pagan emperor was felt not to have credibility. Yet, whatever the reasons for their excuses, ultimately, the responsibility for delay was theirs alone.[5] It was really about their own selfish self interest as Zechariah also identifies.[6]
A look at ourselves
We can always find reasons as to why it is not the right time to do something, especially when that thing is costly and risky. We need to be careful that we don’t become so focused on circumstances that we miss God’s leading when it is time to act.
The Temple represented God’s presence through his Spirit with his people. So crucially, we should never find excuses to put off seeking him. This means first of all that we should be aware of the temptation to put off responding to the Gospel. It also means that we should be alert to those distractions and excuses that hold us back from growing in our relationship with him. It is always the right time to prioritise God’s presence in your life through the Holy Spirit.
[1] Ezra 4:1-2.
[2] Petterson, 56.
[3] Jeremiah 25:11-12; 29:10.
[4] Ezekiel 37:24-28.
[5] Petterson, 58.
[6] Zechariah 7:6. C.f. Hill, 63.
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