First Priorities

Date: Monday, July 20, 2026

Readings: Haggai 1-2 | Psalm 18:26-50

Take a look at this overview video of Haggai from the Bible Project for context as we move through the final stages of the Old Testament.

Haggai confronts the returned exiles. They're distracted. They’re back in the land, but the temple sits half-finished while they busy themselves remodeling their own houses. God’s reaction is blunt: “Consider your ways” (Haggai 1:5, 7). Their priorities are wrong. Sound familiar? We’re all prone to build around our own comfort and security first, while the sacred work waits.

Despite this criticism, Haggai’s prophecy doesn’t end in rebuke. God promises something awesome: “The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former” (2:9), and “I will give peace.” A patched-together, half-completed temple becomes the eventual site of a greater glory, because Jesus Himself would one day soon walk in its courts. God has a way of taking our unfinished projects and filling them with a presence better than we imagined.

Devotional Prompts:

• What “own house” projects might be competing for the priority God deserves in your life right now?
• Where do you see God as your rock and strength, like David does in Psalm 18, even amid rebuilding?

Prayer: Lord, forgive me for the ways I’ve paneled my own house while Your work waited. Reorder my priorities, and let me trust that whatever You’re rebuilding in me carries a glory greater than what came before. Amen.