So, whatever happened to the American Dream? No, we’re not all marching in the streets, blaming our lack of success on racism or sexism, longing for some sort of government-organized solution to climate change or economic stagnation. On the other hand, we don’t all believe that limiting immigration or reducing taxes and regulations will solve our problems. But it does seem like the only thing Americans have in common anymore is frustration, dissatisfaction with the way things are.

And the people of God who had returned from exile felt much the same way. For seventy years, they had been longing to go back home, to live in the land God had promised to give their ancestors. So, when Cyrus of Persia allowed them to do just that, their expectations were sky-high. They were convinced that just moving back across the Jordan would somehow make everything alright, and that they would soon be back on top of the world.

And then reality set in: “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.” That’s how Haggai summed up their situation in verse 6 of chapter 1. It’s no wonder they were disappointed and frustrated.

But the reason Haggai gives in verse 9 for the futility of all their efforts is one we also need to consider: it was because they had made building their own houses their top priority while the Temple remained in ruins. It was because they were focused on their own prosperity instead of God’s glory. That’s the reason they failed to obtain the wealth and comfort and safety that they craved.

Could the same thing be true for us? Could it be that we Americans have been dreaming of the wrong things, striving for the wrong, self-centered goals? And if we were to shift our focus from ourselves to God, if we were to busy ourselves with glorifying Him while seeking to bless those who are made in His image, how would our culture and economy change? How many of our current problems, from abortion and drug use to racism and injustice, would just disappear?

When the people of Haggai’s time got their priorities in order, when they shifted their attention away from feathering their own nests and toward building the Temple of God, when the people obeyed God and showed reverence for Him, God said, “I am with you” (Haggai 1:12-13). If we Americans want God to bless us again, maybe we also need to start dreaming His dreams.

Haggai 1:3-13 (NASB)

3 Then the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying,
4 “Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses while this house lies desolate?”
5 Now therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
6 “You have sown much, but harvest little; you eat, but there is not enough to be satisfied; you drink, but there is not enough to become drunk; you put on clothing, but no one is warm enough; and he who earns, earns wages to put into a purse with holes.”
7 Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider your ways!
8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
9 “You look for much, but behold, it comes to little; when you bring it home, I blow it away. Why?” declares the LORD of hosts, “Because of My house which lies desolate, while each of you runs to his own house.
10 “Therefore, because of you the sky has withheld its dew, and the earth has withheld its produce.
11 “And I called for a drought on the land, on the mountains, on the grain, on the new wine, on the oil, on what the ground produces, on men, on cattle, and on all the labor of your hands.”
12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD.
13 Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke by the commission of the LORD to the people saying, “‘I am with you,’ declares the LORD.”