“‘Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the LORD. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.’”
God longs to be glorified. God created us to glorify Him. God created all the peoples of the earth to glorify Him. And it breaks His heart when we withdraw our praises from Him to give it to ourselves. In verse eight God states His desire to be honored and worshiped by His creation, and in verse nine God reveals why our expectations aren’t always met. Our expectations fail when we expect things to happen in such a way that we are “glorified,” “honored,” and “worshiped” instead of God. Ephesians 3:20 (“Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask for or imagine…”) is one of my favorite verses. In this verse it is clear that God wants us to have high expectations and that He longs to completely blow our minds when He answers our requests in ways we never imagined possible. However what verse nine in Haggai reminds us of is that our expectations and requests have to be founded in bringing glory to God and not in honoring ourselves.
A quote by William Carey fits well here. Carey says as Christ followers we are to: “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” I love this quote. It reminds us that we cannot expect great things from God if we are not at the same time attempting great things for Him. When our expectations lie in pleasing ourselves God will blow them away (as in Haggai 1:8-9); however when our expectations lie in glorifying Christ and we are living out our faith by attempting great things for His name, then instead of our dreams being blown away, our minds will be blown away as God outdoes all we asked Him to do (as in Ephesians 3:20).
One last thought I was reminded of as I read these verses. In March I was privileged to hear a man speak about his experiences sharing the story of Jesus with a remote people group in Papua New Guinea. He and His family lived there for many years as they learned the language/culture and formed relationships with the people. Once the language was learned he was able to share God’s story with them. The group was very responsive and at the end of 7 months of teaching many people believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and trusted Him for salvation. There are many details that make this story powerful but that is not the focus of what I want to talk about today. The thing that left me heartbroken was when he said it took 2,000 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection for this specific people group to hear the message. Jesus bought these people 2,000 years ago with His life, and it took us 2,000 years to deliver the message.
“‘Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build my house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,’ says the LORD. ‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the LORD Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with your own house.’”
Are we asking God to do things for our “glory,” “honor,” and “worship” or are we attempting great things for Him so that the glory, honor and worship return to Him? God longs to be worshiped. He longs to be glorified. He longs to be praised by all the peoples of the earth. It took 2,000 years for a secluded people group in Papua New Guinea to hear His message, how much longer will it take for the message to be delivered to those who still haven’t heard?
Dear Lord,
Forgive our lack of zeal for Your name. Forgive our longings to bring glory and honor to ourselves and for stealing Your praise. Renew our hearts and our minds to be more like You. Teach us to give You all the glory. Send us out into the world to deliver Your message to those who haven’t yet heard. Prepare the hearts of the unreached peoples so that they are ready to listen and accept Your message and Lordship in their lives. Lord, send out workers into the harvest. Stir up a longing within Your people to take Your message to the ends of the earth. Send us out to make Your power known. I pray that all the peoples of the earth would bring honor and glory and praise to You. That You would take pleasure in the unique customs and worship styles of all the people You have created as they seek to lift Your name up in their daily endeavors. May the expectations of the peoples of the earth be shattered because they are attempting great things for You, and not be blown away because they are seeking to glorify themselves. May You not have to wait any longer to receive the praises of the people You have already bought at a price. May the waiting be over and the praises be only beginning!Amen, let it be so!
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