How’s this for a poem that captures the sad state of so many people’s lives – “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.” Endless dedication to work, yet there is so little to show for it. Endless pursuit of pleasures but never fulfilled. Endless pursuit of money, but it’s never enough. Yet this accurate picture of our world is from Haggai 1:6, written 2500 years ago. While this is precisely the world we live in, it was also the world of Haggai’s time. We think we are modern, and our desires and pursuits are enlightened and new. Yet, as Solomon once said, “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). While our pursuits of self might be at an all-time high, so too are our levels of depression, anxiety, and emptiness. God is warning us that without him we will live in an unfulfilled, never-warm, life of holes. Just like people over two millennia ago couldn’t find joy without God, nor can we today. We do well to heed God’s warning contained in the next verse – “Give careful thought to your ways” (Haggai 1:7). Open Bible – https://bit.ly/hag1v6-7, http://bit.ly/ecc1v9, https://bit.ly/s-h-a-r-e
