No Time for God

The Lord of Hosts says this: “These people say: ‘The time has not come for the house of the Lord to be rebuilt.’” The word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet: "Is it a time for you yourselves to live in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins?" – Haggai 1:2-4 HCSB

In a little town called Cawker City in the state of Kansas lies a monstrous ball of twine that would make any kitten die in paroxysms of pleasure. It weighs 17,980 pounds. That’s almost 9 tons! It has a 40 foot circumference, and is composed of over 7,827,737 feet of twine. That’s 1,444 miles of string wrapped up in one huge ball. A fellow by the name of Frank Stoeber began this project in 1953. Before he died in 1961, he donated this behemoth to his city and they have had a yearly city-wide picnic and “twine-athon” each year since. Every year at this festival they add more string so the ball is still growing.

It’s interesting to see on what kinds of things people will spend time and money. They will spend thousands of dollars to hit a little white ball around an oversized yard, trying desperately to get it to fall into little cups. They will collect stamps, coins, shells or rubber bands; stand up in front of complete strangers and sing bad karaoke songs; paint their bellies brilliant colors and wear huge wedges of cheese on their heads. They will spend small fortunes on dogs, and huge fortunes on boats.

But for God there is precious little time and even less money. God’s house often stands neglected as people take advantage of their “only day to sleep in.” God’s house stands in disarray as we build huge mansions to house more and more stuff.

Elohim has taken millennia for us. Thousands of years ago, he created us and placed us in a beautiful garden. When we messed that up, He killed an animal and put some clothes on us to cover our shame. One by one, He introduced Himself to godly men and women throughout the ages. He took our spiritual ancestor, Abraham, and turned him into the world’s first Hebrew. El De’ot patiently taught Abraham about himself and about the advantages of righteous living. Over three generations, God turned Abraham into a great nation. Through Moses, He gave us the Law to teach us the meaning of justice and the complete futility of trying to make it without Him.

We kept messing up and He kept sending us prophets to teach us. Finally, some two thousand years ago, He sent His only begotten Son to die, paying the penalty of our sins. As if that weren’t enough, He took around 400 years of His time to guide us through the process of formulating the canon. Surely, we can grant Him a little time one day a week.