By Paul Cole

Have you ever disappointed God? As Christians, we know that we have failed God many times. Probably one of God’s deepest disappointments comes when we try to play games with him. 

We have company—in the days of Haggai, the people of Israel were playing games with God. They had beautiful homes, but the temple was still in ashes—not a pretty sight. Neither is it a pretty sight today when the lives of God’s people are in shambles spiritually because they have the wrong priorities. It breaks the heart of God. Actually, we break the heart of God.

God’s Discipline

God does not put up with games. If he gives us the best, he expects the best. We have great educations, great homes, great jobs, but something is missing big time. Life is not going well because we have turned our backs on God. We know why we are suffering. God is bringing the wrath of Heaven upon us. 

Back in the time of Haggai, they knew they were under the Deuteronomy curses Moses spoke about (God’s discipline). Jewish people in Haggai’s time had it all, but their lives, homes, marriages, finances, and nation were lacking spiritually. The curses that Moses spoke about in the book of Deuteronomy were being fulfilled back then—and even today in your home or my home or in our nation. God’s wrath rested on his people because they were not dealing with spiritual issues, and the same applies today.

God’s Desire

I suspect that God’s people loved to please God in the time of Haggai about August 29, 520 BC. I suspect that on this day in 2014, as God’s people we still want to please God. In Haggai’s time, they did this by obeying God, and we please God today by doing the same. They built the temple. We must build our temple by letting Christ and his Spirit control our hearts. Then the blessings will return to our marriages, homes, and lives. Most of all, we will have obeyed God and pleased him.

Paul and his wife, Margaret, minister at Town and Country Christian Church in Alva, Oklahoma.