Give Careful Thought to Your Ways

Think a minute. How many snap decisions have you made that turned out well?  Now think about this. How many decisions have you prayed about carefully, sought advice from godly people on, and let some time pass before you acted that you regret? Hmmm… 

Proverbs 19:2 says, “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way.” How much damage has been done by folks with little information and a lot of passion? I know I have made that mistake. Maybe you’re nodding your head, too. 

The people in the day of the prophet Haggai had this problem. They were putting everything into their lives, but nothing was working out. Haggai 1:5-7 says, “Now this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways.” 

The people were supposed to be building the LORD’s Temple. They started, but they had gotten caught up in taking care of their own little world, building their own “kingdom” and were neglecting to finish the Temple. So, God stopped blessing their efforts to take care of themselves. 

Brother, what is your focus in life? Are you working frantically to build your own kingdom, but neglecting the will of the Lord for your life? Matthew 6:33 tells us, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be given you as well” [Emphasis mine]. Does it seem impossible for you to get ahead? Maybe you need to stop and give careful thought to your ways. Ask yourself, “Who is running my life? What is my chief goal?”  

I encourage you to pause and think this through. Maybe ask a godly brother some tough questions and be ready for the answers. Your God is always calling you to a deeper walk with Him. Are you listening? It’s a great way to start a new year!