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Jun 16, 2013

Gaining God's Perspective (part 2)

Passage: Haggai 2:1-9

Preacher: Tim Badal

Series:Consider Your Ways

Detail:

Gaining God’s Perspective

As we look at how we ought to be considering God’s ways—especially when it comes to our perspectives in life—let’s see what the Scriptures say in Haggai 2:1-9:

In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?  How do you see it now?  Is it not as nothing in your eyes?  4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord.  Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest.  Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord.  Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt.  My Spirit remains in your midst.  Fear not.  6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.  7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts.  8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts.  9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts.  And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’”

 

Father God, we thank You for the wonderful example of our young people who desire to bring You glory and honor.  Lord, let us live up to the example they’ve shown us.  Let us be true to Your Word; let us be active in sharing of our faith; let us be hungry for a discipleship relationship with You.  O Lord, we pray that You would work in the lives of our young people that they would have deep and wonderful walks with You; that they would be an active part of this church and fellowship.  Keep us from seeing them as just an addendum to the more important things we do.  I pray for all our children and young people that they would be blessed by the teaching of the Word, by the fellowship of Your people and by their involvement in this place.

Now Lord, as we come to Your Word, I pray that You would speak to us.  We need our perspectives changed.  Our perspectives are skewed and built on the shifting sands of this world.  They’re focused in on self.  We need our perspectives changed so we can live for You and bring glory to You.  We need to be obedient to You but in order for that to happen, we must see the world with Your eyes and heart.  We must see the work that we’ve done through Your perspective and not our own.  Teach us through the example of the people in Haggai’s day, that we may know how to get beyond discouragement and the trials and tribulations that come our way.  Teach us to be obedient and always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58).  We look forward to how You’re going to teach us this, Lord.  Fill us with Your Spirit now we pray.  Amen.

Today as we pick up with the second chapter of the book of Haggai, we’re asking God to fix our perspectives.  Perspectives are an important thing.  In some ways perspectives must come before priorities.  Even though we preached last week on the importance of priorities, perspectives must be first.  For us to have the right priorities we have to have the right perspective.  We have to see the world in a certain way and our priorities will be set by the perspective—or worldview—we have. 

The perspectives of the people in Haggai’s day needed to be changed.  Our perspectives need to be changed today as well.  Can we trust that God has a better plan than we do?  Can we trust that God’s ways are truly higher than our ways, that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:9)?  Do we realize that even though the world advertises that we can get the good life and all that it involves, that way truly just leads to destruction?  In our text today we’re going to be pushed to our limits with regards to how we view not only our lives, but our ministry for the Kingdom.  You see, perspectives are of great importance.

Every once in a while I watch “TED Talks” Which provides an opportunity for people to share on different subjects.  On one of the TED Talks I was watching, a man was speaking on the issue of perspectives.  He defined perspective this way:  “Perspectives are what we have in our mind and hold in conviction.”  The idea here is that what we are thinking about—how we funnel or filter our lives and the things we do—is part of our perspective.  It’s not just what we funnel it through but what we hold in conviction. 

Now, the Bible doesn’t have a Greek word for perspectives.  How do we know what our godly perspective should be like?  Well, while the word isn’t in the Greek language, nor is it found in the Scriptures, we see words that are like perspective.  You see, we are called to have a godly, biblical perspective.  Every time you see in the New Testament that we are to have the “mind of Christ,” that means we are to have the perspective of God.  Our perspective—our worldview, the way we look at life—should be funneled through God’s Word and we should have convictions the same as Jesus Christ. 

The Apostle Paul speaks about this in the book of Philippians.  In Philippians 3:13-14, the Apostle Paul says, “I have a perspective.”  Listen to what he says in verse 13:

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own.  But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul’s perspective was that life wasn’t found in the here and now but it was in the journey toward eternity.  Everything that he did, all that he was part of, was funneled through that perspective.  Whatever honored God, whatever allowed him to grow deeper in his relationship with Jesus Christ, was going to be funneled through that perspective.  So the things he had done before his conversion were put behind him and he’s going to strain forward with that perspective towards the crown of righteousness that’s going to come in eternity. 

Notice what he says.  This isn’t his perspective alone.  “Let those of us who are mature think this way” (Philippians 3:15) or have this perspective.  We all have a worldview through which we funnel life.  We have a choice to make.  When it comes to our perspective—as we look at life and try to understand the things that are happening in our lives—will we choose our ways or God’s ways?  Will we look through our eyes or through the eyes of God?

You see, the people in Haggai’s day had come to realize that obedience was the right way.  God had spoken through His prophet Haggai saying, “For 16 years My temple has laid in ruins.  You said you were going to build the house of God.  You came with that purpose in mind and now for 16 years the house of God has remained unfinished.”  Haggai comes and says, “Let’s get rid of your priorities and let’s start doing it God’s way.  Let’s get on with God’s business.”

Notice for just a moment in Haggai that you have some date-markers: 

  • In Haggai 1:1 it tells us “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the Lord came...”  

  • Then at the end of the chapter, Haggai 1:15, “on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.”  

  • Then Haggai 2:1, “In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet.”

Here’s how great the Scriptures are.  They say exactly, with pin-point accuracy, when the messages came and when the people of God moved.  To help you understand what that is in our day and age, the first message takes place on August 29th.  The next message at the start of chapter two would come on October 17th.  So the people of God hear on August 29th that they need to obey and rebuild the temple and they start the process of building the temple.  They start doing it God’s way. 

But by October 17th where does God find the people?  He finds them discouraged.  He finds them wanting to give up.  In a matter of six weeks they go from being obedient to being discouraged.  What would cause that kind of discouragement?  They’re building the house of God—they should be excited. 

If you want to understand a little bit more of what’s going on in Haggai, go to the book of Ezra.  Ezra 3:10-13 describes what the response of the people was.  They’re building the temple, there should be great excitement, and it says, beginning in verse ten:

When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel.  And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel."  And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 

Now let’s stop there for a moment.  The people are excited and fired up.  They’re obeying God and the house of God is being built.  But notice what transpires in verse 12:

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers' houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. 

So here the people are excited about what God is doing.  But within this celebration, there’s this dichotomy—a difference of perspective.  The younger people are fired up about what God is doing but the older people are crying.  Think of that for a moment.  Some people are cheering and others are crying out of sadness.  What is causing this?

The older people were discouraged because they had seen the glory of the first temple.  We’re going to talk about that more in a moment but as we see their discouragement, I want you to think about what is discouraging you.  For these older people, it was their comparison between the first and second temples.  But what is causing your discouragement?  Whatever it is, I want you to write it down and think about it as we see how God corrects their discouragement by changing their perspective.

To do that, we need to see a couple things.

1.  See the causes of discouragement.

Why in the world were the old people discouraged?  Because they had seen how great Solomon’s temple was and how not so great the new temple was becoming.  They had seen the grandeur of Solomon’s temple—all the gold and silver and finery—but now they see more of a utilitarian type of building.  Now it could have been nostalgia run amok. 

Not too long ago I was shopping with my children and they wanted to buy a video game.  I said, “Okay, you’ve worked hard enough, you guys can have a video game.”  Not too long into the process I saw a game that looked very familiar to me.  It had the words “Video Game Classics” on it.  I got fired up because I saw several video games I remembered spending hours playing in my youth. 

I told the boys, “Hey! Dad’s going to buy a video game.  This is the stuff Dad used to play.”

They kind of looked at me funny saying, “We don’t want to play this.”

“Aw, yeah man.  When we get home, we’re going to do it like we used to.  We played these games for hours.  They are so much better than the games you have now.  They’re so much more fun.”

So I remember telling the check-out lady, “Man, this is exciting!”  I tell the boys on the way home, “Hey, no playing your game first; we’re going to play my game.”  I’m fired up.  I’m excited.  I’m telling Amanda, “We need to cancel appointments; we’re going to play my games.”

I remember it took about five minutes to see how stupid my games really were.  The graphics were terrible.  The sound was abysmal, and I’m thinking, “What in the world was I looking forward to?  Why did I waste $20 to buy this game?”  Understand this—when you can buy 25 video games for less than $20, you know you’re not getting much.  Here’s the thing: I had built up in my mind how good and great things used to be.  But that wasn’t the case. 

So is misdirected nostalgia what the old people were experiencing when they remembered Solomon’s temple?  God seems to say Solomon’s temple was pretty cool.  Notice in Haggai 2:3 that God asks them a question.  “Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?  How do you see it now?  Is it not as nothing in your eyes?”

So are they thinking, “The way things used to be was awesome,” when it really wasn’t?  God seems to say, “You know Solomon’s temple?  It was amazing.  It was pretty awesome.  And now you look at this building and you’re not impressed.  I understand.”  God knows when His people are discouraged. 

Just as He did in Haggai’s day, God knows when you’re discouraged.  He comes to you and says, “I know what you’re feeling.”  This is why He said in 1 Peter 5:7 that you’re to “cast your anxieties on Him—because He cares for you.”  So what do we see taking place?  We see discouragement and that God doesn’t gloss over this discouragement.  He knows exactly how you’re feeling and He wants to address it.

But we need to recognize some of the things that cause us discouragement by observing the people of Haggai’s example.

Discouragement has external causes.

The people struggled with external discouragements—things that were outside of themselves.  As they were building the temple of God, they became discouraged (scholars say) because of the constant fear of attack.  They had come back to restore their kingdom and their way of life but neighboring armies were trying to attack them. 

We see this in the life of Nehemiah who led the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 4).  He tells the men who are working, “In one hand I want you to have a trowel (the trowel was to lay the grout for the bricks in the wall) and in the other hand you’re going to have a sword.  At any moment there may be an attack and you need to be ready to defend your wall from outside invaders.”  Knowing that someone could come at any time and hurt you and bring destruction to the place you’re building would no doubt bring discouragement.

Well, we too are in constant fear of attack.  We don’t have to go very far to remember our study of 1 Peter that says we’ve got an enemy, and the enemy is the devil.  He’s roaming around seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).  At any moment, at any point, we need to be building our lives with the trowel of God's Word and we also need to hold the sword of God’s Word (Ephesians 6:17).  We need to be ready for that attack to come at any time, from any direction. 

Notice the second thing they were externally discouraged about.  They knew the project they were working on wasn’t going to be as nice as the original.  As they were repairing the foundation, they could probably see the ruins of Solomon’s temple.  They knew, “Whatever we’re building here will never be as big as the original.  It will never be as nice, with all the finery and all the   precious stones.  We’re building with the cedars of Lebanon but they were building with gold and silver.  The house we’re building is nothing in comparison to the other one.”

The next external discouragement was people around them constantly reminding them that their work was no good.  It would never live up to the past. 

The older I get, the more I become like the people I never wanted to be.  You know, those people who talk about the past always being better than today.  “Well, I remember the good old days...  I remember how we used to this...  It was so awesome when we did that.”  No matter what happens today, it will never be as good as it used to be.    Many of us are pessimistic and critical of those around us.  Parents, we do this more than we would ever want to admit. 

I was taught this last week by my ten-year-old son.  I was trying to teach my son about baseball.  He had done something in a baseball game that he shouldn’t have done—something any good ball player should know to avoid.  Instead of telling him, “Good game…great job…I’m proud of you,” I went right into being critical.  I started right off with, “You didn’t do that.  When I was a kid I knew to do this, I knew to do that.”  My son responded, “Well, Dad, I’m just not as perfect as you are.”

I was reminded that many times as older people we can be critical of what our young people are doing.  We can be critical and say, “Well, I never did that as a kid.”  You know, the great thing about being older is that nobody who’s younger than you can go back and see when you were being a moron.  Right?  They don’t have the rewind capability.  I wish when I was a young person I could have pressed rewind on some of the people who were constantly harping on me about how I needed to do this and that.  I thought, “It sure is convenient—you can see all of my mess-ups as a teenager but I can’t see yours.”

We need to understand that discouragement comes when we are critical of the present generation or present circumstances.    This is what was happening in Haggai’s day.  Whether they knew it or not, the older generation was bringing great discouragement to all the people.

Discouragement has internal causes.

Last week I really let you have it, so this week I’m going to take some of the blows.  I’m going to tell you that when I serve the Lord, there is a lot of internal discouragement even though I’m usually a very optimistic person.  What will inevitably happen is I will go all out in serving the Lord and I will be spent.  My greatest times of discouragement are on Sunday nights when I lay down on the couch after a long day of ministry and I begin thinking over the day.  Look at the life of Elijah the prophet.  When he became most discouraged was when he was hungry and tired (1 Kings 19).  That’s when I hear the devil whispering, “What are you doing, man?  It wasn’t that important.  You’re not changing anybody’s life.  You’re going, going, going—you could have done this for yourself or you could have done that with the family.  What you’re doing is nothing.”  So I become discouraged.  How?  I grow pessimistic about my work, thinking, “Nobody really notices.”

Now I’m going to be real with you and tell you exactly what happened last Sunday.  I was on Facebook and it must have been “Appreciate Your Pastor Day” or something.  The problem was, you guys didn’t get the memo (now don’t go do this today because then I’ll really feel weird).  I was sitting there and seeing friends who attend other churches going, “Wow.  Pastor So-and-so brought it.  I love it when he brings the Word.  I am so blessed to have a wonderful preacher at my church, Pastor So-and-so.”

I’m wondering what’s on my Facebook page so I look there.  Nobody said anything about me.  Then Amanda says, “Well, come on buddy.  You railed on them.  They’re not going to say anything nice today.  It wasn’t that kind of sermon.  I mean, you laid into them.”  

So here’s the thing I want you to know.  Pessimism can come to the most optimistic of people.  We need to be careful and we need to be ready for that.  Where does it come from?  My friends, it comes when we start comparing ourselves with others. 

The people in Haggai’s day were comparing themselves to what God had done in the lives of their forefathers.  “Look at how great Solomon’s temple was.  Look how wonderful it was.”  One of the biggest temptations for a pastor is to compare my church with the church down the street.  “Look at the size of that church.  Look at all the activities that are going on there.”   I tell you, it’s gets real hard now that every church has a website and you can see all that’s going on in other ministries.  We need to be careful about making comparisons.

Pastors are not the only ones that deal with comparisons.  Some of you are comparing your spouse to someone at work or comparing your children to the family next door.  Their kids are all great and getting straight A’s.  Their kids seem to have no problems at all.  We compare our jobs with others and we become discouraged.  “Look at so-and-so.  They seem to have everything all put together.”  When we compare, we fall into a trap.  Our perspectives and comparisons are always skewed. 

Here’s what happens.  When I compare myself with—others, I have an elevated view them and a devalued view of myself.  Does that make sense?  We look at them and say, “Wow, they’ve got everything going for them.” We look at all the good things that are happening in so-and-so’s life, and we don’t see all the fault lines and cracks.  They’re real people with real problems and real issues.  Yeah, their kid may be on the honor roll, but they may not be walking with the Lord like your son or daughter is.  So don’t be comparing with other kids because it’s not a true assessment. 

These people in Haggai were looking at the size and grandeur of Solomon’s temple and were then viewing themselves as failures.  As a result, they were getting a faulty view, a faulty perspective, of what God wanted them to live out. 

Notice a couple more internal discouragements.  They had the view that externals were more important than the internals—the heart that God was really concerned about.  They thought the size and beauty of the temple was more important than what went on inside the temple.  We can do that as well.  We look at churches and say, “Wow, look at these great big buildings.  Look at the campus they have.  They must be doing something great.”  And little do we know that the church may be a mile wide but an inch deep.  Externals are not always the thing. 

Finally, when we serve God and we do what He has called us to do our reward is not always instant.  Sometimes when we serve no one thanks us for it.  We go about our work and we’re doing and doing and nobody cares—sometimes God says the reward isn’t today. 

This past week was discouraging for me.  But I was so encouraged by a card that came out of nowhere from a family in Florida.  They wrote, “We’ve been listening to your sermons.  We got one of your CD’s from someone—we don’t even remember who—and we’ve been listening to your sermons on-line.  Our family has come to know Christ through your preaching.”

I said, “Holy cow!  Nobody says anything nice to me on Facebook but at least some people in Florida love me!”  I wanted to find out what sermons they were.  I’m thinking, “I really brought it last week, they must have gotten saved last week.”  No.  It was from years ago when we were going through the book of Titus.  I don’t even remember what we preached from the book of Titus but God is still using that work to save people.  I’m so encouraged by that!

God wants us to know that it’s not always what we see in the here and now.  We need to understand that what God does isn’t always instantaneous.  You say, “Tim, where in the world do you get all this?”  I want you to notice a couple things.  He says, “Hey, the glory isn’t as great as it used to be.  But here’s the thing I want you to know.  In a little while I’m going to shake the nations.  In a little while you’re going to see that the glory of this temple is greater than the glory of the former temple.  In this house I’m going to bring peace.  In this house I’m going to bring My presence” (Haggai 2:6-9).  God says you don’t need to be discouraged.  He has a plan.  But we need to do two things…

2.  Seize the courage God demands.

This point is very simple and straightforward.  There are two things we need to do:  be strong and work.  That means we have to have the right attitude and the right action. 

Notice, three times in Haggai 2:4 we see, “Be strong.  Be strong.  Be strong.”  You don’t need to be a Bible scholar to know that when God says things more than once, He wants us to listen.  God wants you to know—as He wanted the people of Haggai’s day to know—that in your most discouraged moments, you are to be strong.  There are a couple things you need to know about being strong. 

Number one, being strong means being equal to the task before you.  God had said “Be strong” numerous times before.  That should have been an encouragement to the people in Haggai’s day.  He told Moses to be strong before he went to Pharaoh and said, “Let My people go.”  God went to Joshua, and told him numerous times. “Be strong and courageous.”  David went to his son, led by God, when Solomon was about to build his temple, and he told Solomon to be strong. 

Why would He say, “Be strong”?  Because when God is with us, we can be equal to the task.  So whatever is discouraging you—whatever you find yourself failing in—God says, “I want you to be strong, knowing that you are equal to the task.” 

To be able to do that, you’ve got to do the right action—and that is work.  Notice He says you need to work.  The temple wasn’t going to be built by them walking around and saying, “We’re strong.”  That wasn’t good enough.  They had to get down on their hands and knees and get to work and start building the house of God.  They needed to be obedient not just in word, but in action.  And when they did that, they would be able to live out the life to which God was calling them. 

Here’s the thing I know about the strength God gives.  When God says for us to do something, it can always be done.  For example, God never says, “I want you to jump 30 feet into the air.”  God knows we can’t do it.  He’s limited our ability to jump that high so He doesn’t ask us to do that.

But when God says, “Be strong,” He also says, “I’m going to empower you to be strong.”  So whatever is discoursing you, whatever the devil’s whispering in your ear, , whoever is being critical and keeping you from doing what you have been called to do—God says, “When you trust Me, when you obey Me and you get to work, you’ll accomplish the task I have for you.”

Isn’t it a great solace that God’s work can be done?  This is why the Apostle Paul said we are to abound in the work of God (1 Corinthians 15:58).  God doesn’t call ministry a hobby.  He doesn’t call it fun and games.  He calls it work because it’s more than inspiration—it’s perspiration.  We’ve got to roll up our sleeves.  We’ve got to work hard.  I like what the Apostle Paul says to the people at Corinth, especially to the men, “You need to act like men and abound in the work of the Lord.  Get to work, roll up your sleeves and get the job done because with the strength God gives, you can do it.”

How do we do it?  Notice the final thing we need to see.

3.  Secure the comfort God delivers.

Our perspective hasn’t changed at this point.  All we know is that things are tough and what we may be doing may not have the impact that previous generations did.  God’s trying to encourage His people, so here’s where He lays it out.  He says, “Do you want to stop being discouraged?  Then take on My comfort.”  How does God deliver this comfort?  Notice He says three things.

Comfort comes with God’s presence.

God says, “I want you to be aware of My presence.  I am with you” (Haggai 2:4).  “As you serve Me, as you honor Me, I’m going to be here with you.”  Some of you are discouraged right now because you feel like you’re walking alone; you feel like you’re trying to do it all by yourself.  But if you call yourself a child of God, He is with you just as He was in Haggai’s day.  God wants to give you a “booster shot” of His presence. 

He doesn’t just say, “I am with you” but He says “the Lord of Hosts” is with you.  Notice the repetition in this text:

  • For thus says the Lord of hosts (2:6)
  • says the Lord of hosts (2:7)
  • declares the Lord of hosts (2:8)
  • says the Lord of hosts (2:9)

What in the world does “the Lord of hosts” mean?

The Lord of the hosts is the military name of God.  He is the God of armies—angel armies.  God is saying, “Not only am I with you but let Me tell you a little bit about My resumé.  I’m the God Who destroys invading armies.  I am the God Who can have a little boy stand before a giant and slay him with a smooth stone (1 Samuel 17).  I am the God of teenagers who stand before a nation, little guys named Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego who were thrown in the fire and did not get burned (Daniel 3:8-30).  I am the God Who always wins.”  As discouraged as you may be today, remember the God Who is always with you always wins.  He never loses. 

When I was a freshman in high school, I had an enemy.  He was a junior—a bully—and the meanest guy I can remember in school.  I remember in the first couple days I had gotten on his bad side and that was not a good thing!  I just wanted to do everything in my power to stay away from this guy.  One day I was running late for class so ran through the hallways to get to class.  As I was running, I turned a corner where two long hallways intersected all I remember was a bang and then I was on the ground.  Then he grabbed me, picked me up, and said, “All right.  I’ve had enough with you, freshman.  Now I’m going to show you what being in high school is all about.”  At that point I just closed my eyes and waited for the beating.  But the punch never came.  Then I heard, “Leave him alone.  He’s with me.”  I opened one eye, kind of squinting, still anticipating the punch.  And there’s my bigger, badder senior brother standing behind him.

The bully turns around and says, “What do you mean, he’s with you?”  “He’s my brother; don’t mess with him.  If you mess with my brother, you’re going to mess with me.”  If anybody remembers my older brother, he was a tough cookie.

Here’s the thing I want you to remember.  The devil, cynical people and circumstances are standing there ready to beat you up.  But greater than an older brother, we’ve got God with us Who will say, “He’s with Me.  She’s with Me.  You can’t mess with them.” 

Do some of you feel beat up by the devil right now?  I want you to know something.  The devil has to go and ask permission to mess with you.  He has to go to God and say, “I want to mess with Your servant Tim, or Your servant So-and-so.” God says, “Yeah.  You can do it but...”  Just think of the story of Job.  Every time he did anything to Job he had to go to God first.  Here’s the thing you need to remember: the devil is just a dog on the leash of God.  He can only do what God allows. 

The presence of God brings comfort to our lives.

Comfort comes with God’s promise.

God says, “Hey.  If you wonder if I am with you now, let Me just tell you about Who I’ve been with before.  Just as in My covenant that I made when you came out of Egypt, I am with you just as I was with Moses, just as I was with Joshua, just as I was with David and so many others.  I was true to My covenant then and will be true to you today.” 

Today, you may feel like nobody knows you and nobody cares, but there is One Who does.  God loves you.  He cares for you and He has a wonderful plan for you.  Here’s the thing.  The Bible says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?  If God is for us, what can man do to me?” (Romans 8:31-39; Hebrews 13:6).

Comfort comes with God’s prophecy.

If that’s not enough, God moves us to the future and gives a prophecy.  The text says, “I’m going to shake some things up.  This temple you’re building—you don’t think it’s that great?  Hey, in a little while...”  Sometimes it’s hard to understand God’s “little whiles” because a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day to God (2 Peter 3:8).  But God says, “In a little while, the house you’re building is going to surpass the old one.  All of its adornments and finery will be nothing.”  Why?  He says, “My glory in this house is going to surpass that of the former house” (Haggai 2:9). How so, God? 

Five hundred years from now, Jesus Christ—the Messiah—is going to enter this house in amazing ways:

  • In this temple, a couple peasant people named Mary and Joseph are going to bring a Baby for dedication (Luke 2:22-24).
  • In this temple, Simeon is going to hold up that Baby and he’s going to say, “Now the servant of God can depart in peace.  I have seen the coming of the Messiah” (Luke 2:25-35).
  • In thus same temple, Jesus is going to come at twelve years of age and is going to astound the rabbis and teachers of the law.  He’s going to tell them about His Father’s house (Luke 2:41-52). 
  • It’s in this house that Jesus is going to open the scroll of Isaiah, declaring, “In your hearing this Scripture has been fulfilled” (Luke 4:16-30). 
  • At thirty-some years of age, Jesus is going to walk into this house, knocking over the money-changers’ tables and He’s going to say, “This house will be a place of prayer” (Mark 11:15-19).

The people who built this temple thought it was nothing but it was going to become the house that Jesus would fill with His presence. 

Some of you are discouraged right now.  You find yourself feeling like you’re not accomplishing anything.  God says, “In My time and in My ways, I’m going to build something beautiful that will come at the right time and place.”

So don’t be discouraged.  Don’t be down.  Get God’s perspective.  God is at work and He’s building something that you and I can’t comprehend today.  The Scripture reminds us, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, what God has prepared for His people” (1 Corinthians 2:9).  He’s got a plan for you.  He’s got a plan for me.  Our job is to be strong, to work and to leave the results to God.

Let’s pray.

Father, we thank You for Your Word.  We pray that You would take our discouragements and throw them by the wayside, and that You would give us Your perspective on our lives.  In this world we’re going to have troubles, disappointments and fears.  We are told not to fear but to be strong and to be busy doing what You called us to do.  So Lord I pray we would do just that.  I pray we would move beyond the discouragements by having Your perspective.  Even though it seems like what we’re doing is small and that it won’t accomplish much, may we know that our feeble attempts at serving You can change the world when accomplished through Your mighty hands.

Lord, I think of how You have changed the world through Your chosen people—both young and old.  You took two spies in Israel and gave them Your perspective—even though some said, “We’re just grasshoppers in their sight”—these two said, “We can take them” and your people then entered the Promised Land with Your strength.

Father, I pray You would enable us to have eyes of faith, that we would dream big dreams knowing that You are able to accomplish the very things that concern us today.  Give us faith to live out the obedient lives You’ve called us to.  Give us a perspective that the discouragements of this world are the things that make us stronger.  Make us hungrier to obey You and send us out to be lights in this world—the world that brings so many struggles and so much criticism and cynicism.  May we be able to live out the calling You have for us today in light of Haggai’s example.  May You to receive all the glory and honor through the lives we live.  In Christ’s name we pray.  Amen.