"Then came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying, (4) Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? (5) Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. (6) Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. (7) Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways. (8) Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the LORD. (9) Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? saith the LORD of hosts. Because of mine house that is waste, and ye run every man unto his own house. (10) Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit. (11) And I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labour of the hands."
Haggai is instructed to rouse the attention of the people to the solemn consideration, how truly awful it was, that the people should he so much alive to build ceiled houses for themselves, while the Lord's house lay waste. And the Lord declares by his servant Haggai, that he had been punishing them for this in withholding the general influences of heaven; so that nothing did the earth bring forth to them that was profitable, neither did they feel delight in the enjoyment. Reader! It will be no unprofitable improvement, from what is said in this scripture, if you, and I, at any time find vexations, where we had expected comfort; and disappointment in our best schemes, to enquire into the cause. The Lord sometimes damps our enjoyments, and tingeth them with sorrow, to bring our hearts home to the recollection of some neglect, some inattention or misimprovement of the blessings given us, that we may be brought to a sense of our undeservings, and the Lord's glory.