How God responds when we feel overwhelmed (Hag 2:1-9)
Hag 2:1-9
When my husband and I moved to New Zealand, I had a hard time adjusting to life here. I reminisced about the years we had in the UK, the beautiful historic buildings we could visit, how close everything was when travelling around the country and in Europe. The place acquired a golden glow even though I knew rationally that it was not the perfect spot that my homesickness made it out to be. Time and distance alter our memories and it is easy to fall into the trap of ‘the good old days’, whether we think of our everyday life or our spiritual experiences of yesteryear. Sometimes, of course, remembering the past can give the impetus for change in the present, but more often than not, it is a deadly comparison that drags us down.
Overwhelmed and struggling with ‘the good old days’
As the exiles receive a booster of encouragement to start up the temple building again (in 520 BC; see my post How change happens and the difference God makes, Hag 1:12-15), they quickly become overwhelmed by the task. When Haggai addresses them again, they would have been working for about a month (Hag 1:15; 2:1), probably clearing away rubble and one can imagine how the enormity of the job got to them. This is when old timers who recalled the first temple would probably have added their perspective of ‘the good old days’ (Hag 2:3). Given that the destruction happened 67 years before (587 BC), those still alive would have been small children or, at best, teenagers. They may have seen the glorious building but how aware were they of the spiritual reality with people worshipping idols and finding their security in God’s house rather than in God? Nevertheless, their comparison poisoned the vision of the builders. In addition, the exiles were just completing the weeklong celebration of Tabernacles (Hag 2:1; Lev 23:34), which would have made the contrast all the more poignant, since it was around this time that the first temple was dedicated (1 Kings 8:2).
‘God is with you’
God’s response, however, was not condemnation. He understood their despair and how insignificant the project looked compared to the glories of the past. Yet, He gently corrects their perspective by reminding them again of His presence and His Spirit abiding with them (Hag 2:4-5). When Israel came out of Egypt, the Lord promised to go with them as they faced the enormous obstacle of Egypt’s mighty power, the journey through a desert wasteland and the locals in the Promised Land. That, as much as the present, must have looked an impossible task. Moreover, just before the first tabernacle was built, Israel sinned with the golden calf, which jeopardised the promise of God’s presence with them. Yet God was merciful and renewed His covenant with them (Exod 32:1-4; 34:8-10). Thus, the Lord reminds the people of His grace and presence.
The implications of God’s presence
Two implications flow from the fact that God is with the exiles. First, if they really take on board the truth of this, then it should affect their attitude to be strong or courageous and not to be afraid (vv.4-5). Out of this transformed attitude then will flow action so they keep going and working, no matter the odds. Secondly, God’s presence ensures their success. In fact, the emphasis is on what God will do (Hag 2:6-9). If the exiles were discouraged that they lacked the resources in their work, God affirms that He is the mover and shaker of people and goods, the provider of material supplies and the one who gives peace and wellbeing in every sense of the word.
When we feel overwhelmed whether in outright ministry or in doing God’s will in our everyday life, individually or as a church, God reminds us that we have the most important element needed: His presence. In fact, as Christians, we have more than that, we have God’s indwelling Spirit who works even more closely with us than the exiles could have known. We must take this in trust and by faith so that we do not lose heart but keep going in His will. He can and does ensure that we have what we need to bring our task to completion.
For interest – ‘The latter glory of this house’ (Hag 2:7)
What does Haggai’s prophecy refer to when it talks about the ‘the latter glory of this house’ (Hag 2:7)? In a more immediate sense, the second temple that was being built in Haggai’s day continued to have additions and refinements made to it, so that by the first century, it looked so impressive that the disciples drew Jesus’ attention to its magnificence (Mk 13:1).
Christians tend to be suspicious of the temple in Jesus’ time because on several occasions Jesus Himself sounds critical of it and because His re-interpretation of the temple as His body has made the physical building seem superfluous. However, a closer look reveals that the issue is not the building as such but the attitude of many Jews, who took God’s presence for granted and lived hypocritical lives pretending to be godly when they were not. This is what Jesus criticises when He says that instead of a house of prayer, a place to encounter God, it has become a robbers’ den, a haven for unrepentant sinners (Matt 21:13 cf. Jer 7:10-11). Nevertheless, for those who sought God, it was a place to meet Him. Jesus Himself taught there (Luke 19:47) and early Christians continued to gather and pray there (e.g. Acts 2:46; 3:1).
Jesus’ re-interpretation of the temple as His body (John 19:21) was also not meant as a criticism of a physical structure per se; it was simply the extension of the basic definition of the temple as God’s dwelling place. Since Jesus was God incarnate in the body, the temple imagery made sense. Once the Holy Spirit was given to indwell believers, Jesus’ idea could be extended to Christians collectively and individually being the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16; 6:19). However, we must remember that the temple building in Jerusalem was ordained by God in a period when His Spirit was not available to all and so it was a means whereby people could encounter God. Thus, a temple building should not be belittled, as if it were irrelevant in its time.
Jesus’ new approach to temple thinking, however, raises an additional possibility for reading Haggai’s prophecy and understanding the greater glory of the latter temple not as a building but people indwelt by God in a more intimate relationship than a building could ever provide. As we see in many prophecies, there is then both a more direct fulfilment of the prophecy, as well as an extended sense that comes later.
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