Think Carefully Seemingly Unrelated Things Are Related

Haggai 1:5
Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

Haggai 1:7
This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.

God complains through Haggai because of what Israelites are doing. They have made their private homes a priority over the temple. They are building their homes but have neglected the temple. God is not happy because He has not been prioritized.

Because of their poor priorities, Israelites are suffering. They are suffering because they have not prioritized God and the things of God. They are suffering in many and various ways, Haggai 1:6. They plant much but harvest so little. They eat but they are never satisfied. They drink but the thirst is not quenched. They dress up, but they do not feel warm. They earn wages but they can’t tell what has happened to those wages.

The problem is that Israelites are unable to notice that these problems are related to their choice to build their homes first instead of the temple. Israelites are suffering but they can’t relate their suffering to their choices. Is it possible we too are suffering, and we are unable to identify the problem?

Israelites couldn’t notice that their poor harvest was because they had prioritized their homes over the temple. Israelites couldn’t relate their hunger and thirst amidst plenty as being related to their building of homes before the temple. Israelites did not realize that their inability to save money did not need a finance expert but a return to God and building His temple.

Twice in this chapter, God through Haggai challenges the people to “give a careful thought to their ways.” God asks them to keenly observe and relate the events in their life. Israelites couldn’t see a relationship between the neglected temple and their miserable lives. Now God asks them to keenly study their lives and most likely they would arrive at a realization that no amount of advice from experts in Agriculture would change their harvest until they prioritize God and the things of God. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

God calls their attention and ours to the fact that our spiritual health will affect every aspect of life even if no one notices the relationship. God is everything to us, if we ignore Him, we suffer immensely even if there seems to be no relationship. You can’t ignore God and everything remains the same. You can’t be committed to God and His blessings fail to touch places you least expect. There is a relationship between spiritual matters and everything else. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

There is a relationship between your child’s poor performance in school and your pilfering at work. There is an unseen relationship between your health and how you treat those who can’t fight back. There is an unseen but direct relationship between your progress at work and in business and your attendance and commitment to the church. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

1 Peter 3:7
Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect as the weaker partner and as heirs with you of the gracious gift of life, so that nothing will hinder your prayers.

There is a relationship between prayers that are unanswered in your life and how you treat your spouse. Before God answers any of your prayers, He looks at how you treated your spouse today. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

Ephesians 6:2-3
“Honor your father and mother”—which is the first commandment with a promise— “so that it may go well with you and that you may enjoy long life on the earth.”

There is an unseen but direct relationship between how we relate with our parents and when we will die. If you make life hard for your parents. If your parents are ever in tears about you. If your parents are no longer enjoying life because of you. If you threaten your parents and mistreat them, no amount of healthful living will lengthen your life. Even if you commit to vegetarianism and relevant exercises, you will still die early, young and miserable. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

Deuteronomy 24:14-15
(14) Do not take advantage of a hired worker who is poor and needy, whether that worker is a fellow Israelite or a foreigner residing in one of your towns. (15) Pay them their wages each day before sunset, because they are poor and are counting on it. Otherwise they may cry to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.

James 5:4
Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.

How you treat your workers has a direct but unseen bearing on how you thrive in other aspects. How prompt you pay those you hire will determine even your eternal life. You may create a false dichotomy between your business at work and your church life, but one will still affect the other. How do you treat your domestic workers, business workers, and workers under you? Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

Malachi 3:10-11 tells us that there is a relationship between the returning of tithes and offerings and thriving business. To those who return tithes and offerings, even pests will not harm their plants. Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

Are you having endless problems that are responding to no solution? Are you wondering where the current crisis came from? Are you trying to trace from where the rains started beating you? Are there situations you do not like that are not making sense? Think carefully seemingly unrelated things are related!

Open my eyes, LORD, that I may see how things which seem unrelated are related. May I be wise enough to ensure I do not make decisions that ultimately harm me, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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