Some quick nuggets from chapter 2 of The Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.  The chapter is entitled, “The Blessedness of Possessing Nothing."

• In Eden, “things” were made for man’s use, but they were always to be external to the man and subservient to him.  In the deep heart of man was a shrine where none but God was worthy to come.  Within him was God; without, a thousand gifts which God had showered upon him.
• There is within the human heart a tough, fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess….The pronouns my and mine look innocent enough in print, but their constant and universal use is significant.  They express the real nature of the old Adamic man better than a thousand volumes of theology could do. They are the verbal symptoms of our deep disease….Things have become necessary to us, a development never originally intended. God’s gifts now take the place of God, and the whole course of nature is upset by the monstrous substitution.
• The chief characteristic of the self-life is its possessiveness; the words gain andprofit suggest this. To allow the enemy to live is, in the end, to lose everything. To repudiate it and gift up all for Christ’s sake is to lose nothing at last, but to preserve everything unto life eternal. (Matthew 16:25-26)
• The way to deeper knowledge of God is through the lonely valleys of soul poverty and abnegation of all things. The blessed ones who possess the kingdom are they who have repudiated every external thing and have rooted from their hearts all sense of possessing (Matt. 5:3).
• [Tozer uses Abraham as an illustration of letting go of all things, including Isaac, to possess God alone; he then states,] For Abraham, he had everything, but he possessed nothing….Things had been cast out forever. They had now become external to the man.
• There can be no doubt that this possessive clinging to things is one of the most harmful habits in life.
• Our gifts and talents should also be turned over to Him. They should be recognized for what they are–God’s loan to us.
• Whoever defends himself will have himself for his defense, and he will have no other. But let him come defenseless before the Lord and he will have for his defender no less than God Himself.
• Let him insist that God accept his all, that He take things out of his heart and Himself reign there in power….If he will become drastic enough, he can shorted the time of his travail from years to minutes and enter the good land long before his slower brethren who coddle their feelings and insist upon caution in their dealing with God.
• Father, please root from my heart all those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival.

We considered this theme from Haggai in our Sunday morning Bible Study this past week.  If you missed it, I've pasted the notes below.

INTRODUCTION
What are your life priorities?  We could figure that out by asking…
• What do you think about most?
• What do you talk about most?
• What do you sacrifice for most?

Is God one of your life-priorities?

Are you a priority to Him?  YES!
• He thinks about us all the time (Psalm 139:17-18—“How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God!  How vast is their sum total!  If I tried to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.” NET).
• He talks about us throughout Scripture (both negatively, focusing on our sin, and positively, focusing on solution/relationship).
• He sacrificed His life for us (John 15:13).

Is God a priority to you?
• Do you think about Him often?
• Do you talk about Him frequently?
• Do you sacrifice for Him?

Throughout her history as God’s chosen people, Israel regularly struggled with the issue of spiritual priorities, manifesting itself regularly in blatant idolatry.  It was this sin, primarily, that God repeatedly warned against and would eventually punish with captivity.  When they were released from captivity 70 years later, Israel had learned her lesson and was once again a fiercely monotheistic people to this day.  Nonetheless, they would continue to struggle with the issue of spiritual priorities.

V. 1 – Audience: God addresses the leadership of those who had returned to Israel after the captivity.
• Zerubbabel = political leader who led the first remnant in their return to Palestine in 538 B.C., 18 years earlier.
• Joshua = spiritual leader who was the high priest

V. 2-4, 9 – Message (Indictment): The people had determined that it was not time yet to rebuild God’s house.  They had constructed lavish homes for themselves (e.g., paneled = probably walls overlaid with cedar), but were indifferent to the status of God’s house, which was still desolate.  They “ran” to the attention of their own homes, while completely ignoring God’s (v. 9).  God not only didn’t have first place; He didn’t have any place!  God was not pleased (“This people,” NOT “My people”—v. 2).  External idolatry had been replaced with idols of the heart!

INTERROGATIVE: What Does God Do When We Misplace Him in our List of Priorities? (VV. 5-15)

1. He Chastens Us (vv. 5-7, 9-11). – Grace

Rebuke (vv. 5, 7)
God explains that their decision was wrong.  They should “consider [set your heart on/think carefully about] your ways” (v. 5, 7; 2:15, 18).  They were challenged to stop and think about what they were doing, to stop and listen to themselves.  It would be obvious that such rationale was completely off!

Punishment (vv. 6, 9-11)
V. 6 – Thus, even though they had been working hard, they didn’t get very much.  (Illustration:  2 steps forward, 3 back).  Vv. 10-11 – God had even called for a drought on all that Israel came into contact with so that those things would not produce properly.  V. 9 – Any profit they did make didn’t seem to last very long, for God was “blowing away” what they got.

Application: God is purposeful in His chastening.  He “resists” the proud, so that in their humiliation, they may be put into a situation in which they may know His exaltation.  Those “2 steps forward, 3 steps back” times in life may be from the hand of God, who’s seeking to get your heart.  Those profitless seasons of life may not be due to a bad economy, but may be the chastening work of God, whose knocking at your heart, commanding His rightful place on the throne of your heart.  Resistance in life may not be persecution or trial; it may be your heavenly Lover, removing your other lovers, so that you are returned to your senses and returned to your God (cf. Hosea 2).

2. He Gives Second Chances (v. 8). – Grace

Command: God tells them clearly what they should do…they should go to the mountains to get wood and rebuild the temple.

Promise: This would cause God to be pleased and glorified, which was of course their purpose.

Principle: The burden of success was not laid upon them; only the responsibility of obedience.

Application: Because the consequences of our failures and sins have been judged in Christ, God has no judgment left for us.  Rather, as the “God of all grace,” God extends fresh opportunities of obedience and promises to delight in that obedience.  We don’t have to wonder whether or not He will be pleased; we just need to obey out of a heart that treasures God as highest priority.  Daily are these opportunities given, for “His mercies are new every morning” (Lamentations 3).  Let us not abuse, but use His grace, for His gory!

3. He Enables Us To Obey (vv. 12-15). – Grace

Our Need to Obey -- They practiced repentant obedience (v. 12) which invited and enabled the work of God in their midst.

God’s Provision of Enablement
(a.) He reminds them of covenant realities:
• God’s presence and promise: “I am with you” (v. 13; 2:4-5).
• God’s program: “I will fill this house with glory...and in this place I will give peace” (vv. 2:6-9).  While some would look at this rebuilt temple and quietly mourn that it didn’t compare with the former glory of God’s house (vv. 2:1-3), God reminds them of His culminative, future work for Israel in the Millennium.

(b.) He internally motivates them to obey Him:  ”The Lord stirred up the spirit” (v. 12).  God got within them to energize and enable them to prioritize Him in active obedience as they rebuilt His house.

Application: God wants your loyalty and love: simply your heart throughout your day; some specific ministry He’s burdening you for; some relationship that He wasn’t secondary; some decision that He wants primacy in; some command He wants submission to.  Will you invite His enabling grace and covenant faithfulness thought a heart of repentant obedience?

CONCLUSION
You are a priority to God.  Is He a priority to you?  Hosea teaches us that because God is patient with our misplaced priorities, we must put Him first. → This is contrary to typical thinking.

Put God first in everything.  If you don’t through self-centered, heart-idolatry…
• He will rebuke.
• He will punish.

If you do, through repentant obedience…
• He will instruct.
• He will surround you with His faithful presence.
• He will enable you to obey Him.
• He will bless when you do.

Give God the obedience and reverence that He deserves; “in all things [may] He have the preeminence.”