SPINNING TIRES BUT GOING NOWHERE
Are you stuck in the mud? Are your wheels spinning but you don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere and no matter what you do you can’t seem to get ahead? I’m sure we have all felt like this at one time or another. These words have come out of my mouth on numerous occasions…”I feel like I’m trudging through mud”.
The book of Haggai spells out to us the importance of priorities and what happens when they get out of whack. Read Haggai 1:6 - “you have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes.”
This is God speaking to the remnant of Israel when Darius the Mede was ruler. Darius came to power after Nebuchadnezzar’s son, Belshazzar, was killed (Daniel 5:31). But why would God do this to His people? Verse 9 tells the reason - “Because of my house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house.” But I thought God was loving and kind and only wanted the best for us?!? Yes, that is true! But we are His creation and He wants to have a close relationship with us. When we walk away and lose our focus, distance grows between us and God. This happened over and over again to the children of Israel. Numerous times He had to call them back because of their arrogance, disobedience and rebellion. Israel’s priorities were all wrong. The children of Israel had lost their priority of putting God first. Everyone was consumed with their own interests. They paid no regard to the fact that the house of God was torn down, while they were all living in relative comfort. They had neglected the priority of God in their lives and were only concerned with themselves.
In our lives today, life is going so fast that it’s easy to take our eyes off God. Everything seems to demand our attention. When Peter stepped out of the boat to go to Jesus, as long as his eyes were on the Lord, everything was good. But when he started looking at his surroundings, or the “the boisterous wind”, he immediately started to sink. He lost his focus.
Haggai the prophet spoke these words to the governor, Zerubbabel, and his high priest, and God touched their hearts. They obeyed the voice of the Lord and led all the people to repent. The people feared the presence of the LORD (vs. 12).
Immediately, Haggai goes to the people and proclaims to them, “I am with you, says the LORD.”
When we don’t put God as the center of our life, with Him being the most important, our lives will feel like “spinning tires but going nowhere”. It distances us from God. In the Old Testament, the temple represented God’s physical presence on earth. When the temple was in ruin and was not rebuilt, it meant that the people had let God slip out of first place in their lives. But this is interesting, because in 2:4 it says, “be strong, all you people of the land, and work; for I AM WITH YOU.”
Keep your priorities straight. God must be first. Read the word, spend time in prayer. Practice holiness. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. When God is the priority, it’s like oil that is poured out on your head and oozes down onto the rest of you. I’ll leave you with this, a very familiar and powerful verse: Matthew 6:33 - “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.”
If you feel like your tires are spinning but you are getting nowhere, stop right now and ask God what priorities need to change in your life. He longs to be close to us!