A God Who Exposes Our Sin (1:3-6)
3 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet,
4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?
5 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways.
6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
The message that God speaks to His people through Haggai is one of indictment. The Israelites are making excuses and claiming that now is the ‘not the time’ to rebuild the temple (1:2). However, while they claim this, they have the time and energy to rebuild their own “paneled” (1:4) houses (“paneled” here may point to luxury). The people have not done what they were supposed to do and God exposes their sin through His Word.
The exposure of sin is itself a gracious act. Sin is ruinous and self-destructive. Sin alienates us from the holy God who made us and love us. Sin leads us away from the truth and beauty of God’s good plan. Thus, it is kind and good of God to expose the sins of Isarel through Haggai.
Tim Keller once said that if your God never disagrees with you, then you do not have the true God, but a god of your own imagination. When we read the Bible or hear the Word of God preached, we ought to regularly be exposed and confronted with our sin. If we are not, it questionable whether we are actually listening. Or maybe we are just waiting to hear what we want to hear while we pursue our own self-centered agenda.
Praise God who speaks the truth to us and exposes our sin! Though it is often painful to see our sin, it is God’s loving grace that exposes sin, so that we might repent of it and walk in His ways. May God grant us soft hearts to repent of sin that God’s Word exposes in our lives.
