“Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.“
— Haggai 1:5
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.“
— Lamentations 3:40
When God spoke through Haggai to His people, they had just returned from exile. They were finally home—but distracted. Their own homes were being built while God’s house remained in ruins. The Lord’s gentle but firm rebuke came in a powerful phrase: “Consider your ways.”
It wasn’t just a reprimand. It was a wake-up call.
The same heart cry is echoed in Lamentations 3:40, written in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s destruction: “Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.” Different era, same God, same message.
What Does “Consider Your Ways” Really Mean?
To consider means more than to glance. It means to stop, think, weigh, examine. In the Hebrew, it implies setting your heart upon something. God wasn’t telling His people to merely feel bad. He wanted them to take inventory—to realize how far they had drifted from placing Him first.
Their crops failed. Their income vanished. Their efforts seemed fruitless. Why? Because they were busy building lives without God at the center.
Haggai 1:6 describes it vividly:
“Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink…“
The solution wasn’t to work harder—but to return to God.
Lamentations: A Mirror to the Soul
Jeremiah, in Lamentations, witnessed the ruin of a people who had ignored God’s warnings for generations. In chapter 3, he calls for the same action Haggai urged:
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.“
Notice the two steps:
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Search and try – That’s honest self-examination.
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Turn again to the Lord – That’s repentance and realignment.
You can’t have one without the other. To truly consider your ways is to look at your life through the lens of God’s Word and ask, “Am I building with Him or without Him?”
Do These Verses Still Speak Today?
Absolutely. Many of us work hard, plan well, build careers, families, and ministries—but sometimes find ourselves empty. The joy is missing. The peace has vanished. Could it be that, like the people in Haggai’s day, we’ve put God’s priorities second?
The voice of God still echoes through these scriptures:
“Consider your ways.”
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”
A Personal Reflection
When was the last time you paused to ask:
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What am I chasing?
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Where is my time going?
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Is Christ truly at the center of what I’m doing?
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Have I been ignoring that quiet nudge from the Lord?
The beauty of God’s message is this: He doesn’t call us to consider our ways to condemn us. He does it to restore us. The moment the people obeyed in Haggai’s time, God said, “I am with you.” (Haggai 1:13)
And the same is true today.
A Quiet Challenge
Take a moment—no screens, no noise, no rush. Sit with these two verses. Write down what the Holy Spirit reveals. Then, whatever He shows you, do it. Obedience always leads to restoration.
“Consider your ways.”
“Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to the Lord.”
May we not just hear—but respond.