The prophets who ministered in Israel after their return from captivity had a tough time galvanizing the people to a common cause. Morale was low as were finances. Many of the people were trying to pick up life again from the ruins caused by long term captivity. So things like religious duties were far from their view. This was the context in which Haggai ministered, giving a clarion call regarding the temple. He challenged them to “go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple”.

“To serve God acceptably is to be ready to bear some cost. We should be wary of serving God in ways and manners that do not engage us fully – physically, mentally, financially.”

Several lessons can be gleaned from this, not the least being the fact that tough external conditions are not enough reasons to abandon our religious duties. We cannot push God to the back burner simply because we want to take care of life. The error in pushing God behind us is that He is the one who gave life who also can maintain it. When He is out of the equation we are condemned to a long time of struggle. Unless God’s grace is released, all efforts at building life have one certain end – frustration. Another striking lesson from Haggai’s admonition was that he charged them to fetch wood from the mountain. That would take some amount of time and effort. Serving God is not burdensome, but it cannot be done with a layback attitude either. To serve God acceptably is to be ready to bear some cost. We should be wary of serving God in ways and manners that do not engage us fully – physically, mentally, financially. That was David’s mindset, and must be ours too.