The key challenge from Haggai is to “consider your ways.” It appears six times in the book. In a way, it’s a call to reflect on life as a whole and my own life in particular. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I would argue that the wise man of scripture is the one who is always “considering” his ways or examining his life. Many Christians hold a little disdain for Philosophy. They shouldn’t! Philos means love, and Sophia means wisdom. Philosophy is the love or the pursuit of wisdom when rightly understood. The wisest man in the world, Solomon, shares his wisdom with the world in the book of Proverbs. He argues that the only true wisdom in the world has its origin in reverence and respect for the creator God. It is those who fear God who have the pulse on true wisdom. Proverbs 2:6 says, “For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”
Haggai says, “Consider your ways.” This is more than just an exhortation to evaluate one’s behavior. All actions come from some kind of presuppositions in life. I think Haggai wants us to reflect on them as well. Think about your life. “Where did I come from?” It is the first and most important reflection on life. If we see ourselves as coming through a random evolutionary process, we will view all life from this foundational premise. It says nothing plus infinite time plus chance equals everything that exists today. Even though I’ve argued in favor of this perspective in the past, it has never been completely convincing to me. Even though it’s the predominant view in our world, it is the most unsatisfactory view I can imagine. Thankfully, there is another option. I’m thankful that at 32 years of age, God opened my mind to His truth. It’s the only reasoning that really makes sense.
Tozer writes, “Everything has an origin. When you hear a bird sing, you know that once that bird was packed in a tiny little egg. It came from somewhere; it came from an egg. Where did the egg come from? It came from another little bird. And that bird came from another little egg, and that egg came from another bird, and so on, back, back, back to the heart of God.” Behind everything that exists is an intelligent Being who started it all. God’s Word, the Bible, begins with the answer to the most important question of philosophical reflection for all of life. It says, “In the beginning God…” He not only started the process but continues to guide it with some ultimate purpose in mind. When we think about that, we will adjust our “ways” accordingly. Ignoring or rejecting that leads only to every man doing that which is right in his own eyes.