We are the human race and it is our demise that we keep thinking WE know better than God. We keep contorting our philosophies and theologies to what brings comfort to us.

The short work of Haggai has a phrase repeated that needs to be shouted to us once again, especially as the people of God:

So now, this is what the Lord of heavenly forces says:
Take your ways to heart. (Haggai 1:5, CEB)

As the NIV puts it: “Give careful thought to your ways.”

For Israel, it was the time when they returned to Jerusalem for the purpose of rebuilding the House of the Lord. They had laid the foundation, but then dropped the work. They got consumed with their own stuff. They needed housing… then, they needed nice housing… you know the drill. It happens to the best of us.

Yet, they just didn’t seem to have enough. They were planting, but the crops weren’t producing. They worked harder, but less production resulted.

Take your ways to heart.

They were ignoring God’s best for their misconstrued definitions of what they thought was best for themselves.

We are constantly in that dilemma. We argue and contort and whine and cry and think we know what God wants. Sometimes, we are at least honest enough to say, “I don’t care what God wants. I want what I want!”

Too often, in the name of our own convenience, our own desires, our own selfishness, we think we know God’s best for us. Yet, we too often are guilty of stopping to ask. We know the reason: we may not like the answer.

But what is it we really want then? And at that point, should we keep up the charade by calling ourselves the people of God?

May we truly give up our own agendas and get back to finding out, “What IS God’s best for us?”