It's estimated that in the annual cycling spectacle known as the Tour de France, riders will encounter as many as 3500 obstacles over the course of the three weeks of racing. Today we see God's people encountering obstacles.
Hag 1.1-6 - What is happening here? Let's set the stage...
In [Isaiah 44.24-45.7], the year is 700BC. God someday is going to raise up a king named Cyrus and through him Jerusalem will be rebuilt, and work to rebuild the temple will also commence. Almost 100 years after God foretells this, Babylon finally does come to power. And the prophet Jeremiah writes these words:
Jeremiah 25:11-12 ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation.’
Jeremiah 29:10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.’”
So, you tell me, to what does it sound like Jeremiah is referring? Is the 70 years for Israel?
Set the stage. Babylon came to the fore when they conquered the Assyrians in 609. Nebby K came and attacked Jerusalem first in 605, taking away some captives. He returned and destroyed the temple in 587. Do you know when Babylon fell to a king of Persia named Cyrus? 539. Again, it is remarkable that an ancient empire so powerful and dominant would endure for only 70 years.
Then in Ezra (c. 458 BC), we see the edict to rebuild the temple [1.1-4], [3.1-3] - the altar erected for divine protection, [3.10-13] - the foundation laid. Some 50000 people go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God. There is ample provision for the work. They identify the rightful heirs to the priesthood of Levi and throne of David. And they begin the work. They lay the foundation. It's heady stuff, this grand Jewish homecoming! Shouting, and weeping, and trumpets. And then something happens. The comeback experiences a setback. An obstacle. Opposition.
[Ezra 4.1, 4]
God's people stop building. The euphoria evaporates. And why? Intimidation. Timidity in…
[the world is full of famous unfinished buildings - Google]
Opposition. Obstacles. Life is full of them. God’s work is fraught with them. Sometimes we get knocked back, knocked over, knocked down. Life - and God’s work - is often about overcoming obstacles. So much of life. Things which try to stop us - or slow us down. In this world you will have tribulation, Jesus said. But take courage - I have overcome the world.
[Remember the story of Eric Liddell, when he got knocked down in a race - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4e5Xfmc8zQ]
People! You stopped building…! What happened?
Sometimes we get spooked. We’re afraid. Timidity rears its ugly head. I can’t do that. We shouldn’t do that. We feel inadequate. Sometimes we simply get distracted. Sidetracked. We get our honey-do list and our heavenly-do list all confuddled. It’s not time to work on God’s house - I need to get some paneling up in my house. Yeah, that's the ticket. And maybe we simply get caught up in our paneling. Man, check out my paneling. I love me some paneling. Paneling is good. Paneling is right. Paneling lulls me into thinking that life is good, and it’s all good. No worries. No hurries. No need to go out of my way or get all worked up about the cascading needs all around. The souls of my neighbors. The unfinished task. The Great Commission.
Because of these obstacles, because of the simple fact that vision leaks, we need to remember the why. Revisit. Refocus. Retain. Why had God raised up Cyrus, stirred him up to send the Jew back to Jerusalem? What was the reason given for this long-awaited comeback?
Haggai 1:8 “Go up to the mountains, bring wood and rebuild the temple, that I may be pleased with it and be glorified,” says the LORD.
God, our God, the Creator, the God of heaven, the King of the universe, is worthy to be worshipped - by all the nations which He has made under heaven. By every man, woman, and child on this planet. Those who live their lives apart from Him [or in opposition to Him] not only are missing out on the deepest most satisfying joys of life, but they are also robbing Him of the worship He so truly deserves.
Jacob, you are looking at all the reasons why you shouldn’t do this thing, and I’m telling you, you need to refocus. You need to remember Who I am, and what is most important. One thing is needful. The glory of God. You need to rebuild My house, which is to be a house of prayer for all peoples. Not yet am I making My home in human hearts. Zerubbabel, Joshua, you need to build this house. You need to concern yourselves with My glory more than with that which concerns you. And for Zerubbabel, and for each one of us, it starts in the heart. My heart.
My heart. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. White-hot worship. Enjoying Him, His breathtaking goodness. Above and before all else. That’s the goal of missions - worship. The goal of the Great Commission is worship, all the nations, people of every tribe and tongue, learning to not just believe in Jesus but worshiping Him. Find their highest joy and satisfaction in Him. That was the ultimate goal which God was pursuing in gathering a people to Himself and building a house where His Name would dwell. All the nations would be blessed, would come to know and celebrate His breathtaking goodness.
But it’s Jonah’s shade bush all over again. Even we as God’s people are prone to set our hearts on something other than Him and what He cares about. We can sometimes care more about bushes and paneling than we do about the fame and honor of His name.
[Classic line from The Untouchables: "what are you prepared to do?" (i.e. to bring down the gangster, Al Capone) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ALcqt6GMhM]
As His people, what are you and I prepared to do in order to increase worship of the most high God, Who alone is worthy of all our devotion - and that of everyone around us? And then what are we prepared to do? The point that Malone is making to Elliot Ness there in that pew is that lofty goals require you and I to go above and beyond the normal and expected. If we are gonna take down Al Capone, or rather, if we are going to see God take down strongholds and break through unbelief and bind up the broken hearted, if we are to see His Name made famous to the ends of the earth, we have got to go beyond the normal and the expected. We have got to reach into our bag and bring out our A++ game. We have got to keep our eyes on the ball. We have got to double down and do whatever it takes - and then some. Particularly when we encounter the inevitable obstacles. There is work to do! Wherever worship of the one true God is lacking, there’s work to be done. Wherever there’s brokenness, there’s work to be done. And there is lots of work to be done. What are you and I prepared to do?
Zerubbabel, Joshua, people - you need to stop gazing at your paneling, you need to stop caring more about what your opponents think, and get off your donkeys - saddle up your donkeys, in fact - and go get whatever you need in order to finish building My house. Go around (or thru) whatever obstacles you’re facing. Because My glory is at stake.
Colossians 1.28-29
We proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me.
But why did they stop, really? That which ultimately stops us - is our heart. The Lord finds our desires too weak. We are too easily distracted. We are too easily disheartened. We are too easily knocked back and off kilter and off course. The work begins at the altar of my heart.
Consider your ways! [1.5] Consider your ways! [7] Set your heart [2.15, 18 - twice!). Give careful thought and consideration to what you are doing. Your plans. The outcomes. And your heart in the middle of it all.
God’s people are surviving. They have places to live. Paneled houses. But they’ve become seduced by their paneling. They’re taking inordinate comfort in their paneling. They’ve become complacent.
[And does anyone else find it interesting that paneling was “in”, even in the 6th century BC? Things come back around don’t they? Is paneling going to come back around?]
But hey, they’re living in the Promised Land, right? That’s a good thing, right? But things aren’t right. And there are signs everywhere. There never seems to be enough. Too much month at the end of the paycheck. Very little fruit. That alone should tell them something. But the phrase we don’t want to miss - back in verse 6. A purse with holes. A purse with holes. A broken cistern (Jer 2.13). And Israel, maybe you are tempted to think it’s all about money. And fruit. Grapes and figs. But that’s not it at all. It’s not really that there’s not enough money - it’s the purse, or the wallet, of my heart - and that is an infinite abyss which no amount of money, no amount of food or stuff or success or anything on this earth will ever be able to fill. A purse with holes - that is a metaphor for our heart, and the only thing which can fill it is the One Who made it. Only the Lord can truly satisfy the longings and desires of my heart. No amount of paneling will suffice. "You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You." -St Augustine
It’s the cycle of glory. We learn to enjoy the Lord - and that’s precisely what glorifies Him.
Haggai 1:12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people showed reverence for the LORD.
Obedience is a symptom of a reverent heart. Fear. Awe. Reverence. He is not a safe lion! He’s not some tottering old grandfather Who we can disregard and disrespect at a whim. He is not just some flawed finite parent to Whom we give lip service and go thru the motions all the while we just dismiss what He says and what He wants.
I wonder if we know - or forget - Who we’re dealing with. It’s not that our heart is not strong enough or that our pockets aren’t deep enough or that our days are not long enough - it’s that our God is not big enough. And it’s not a size problem - it’s a vision problem. To whom will you liken Me?, says the Lord.
[Isaiah 40.15-18, 21-26, 28-31]
Lift up your eyes! Get your eyes off the obstacles, and that paneling, and fix your gaze on the glory, the incomparable greatness and goodness of almighty God. Fix your eyes on Jesus.
The good news is that it doesn’t depend on us. God gives strength to the weary, to those who stumble, to the timid. Maybe with all our asking for health and for paneling, we need to ask Him for fresh vision of how incomparably great and awesome He is.
Let’s not miss this point. Look at the last part of Haggai chapter 1. Who would you say is responsible for the response (cf Ezra 1.1)? It’s a both-and. God stirred up Cyrus. He stirred up Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people. AND they obeyed. It’s a both-and. God is at work in you, to work AND to will for His good pleasure. He Who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.
But we need to glimpse and gaze on God’s incomparable glory and double down, do whatever it takes to increase the knowledge and celebration of His goodness - in our hearts and lives, in our city, and to the ends of the earth.
You know, one of the best ways to help our vision is actually with our ears. That’s right - if we want to get a bigger glimpse of Who God is, we need to slow down, and take the time to listen. Be still, and know that I am God.
He is the God Who speaks! He has spoken. God is speaking. Always speaking. Some 25 times in these short 32 verses, we see that He is speaking. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of heaven’s armies. He spoke the universe into being. He spoke our own souls into existence. He has spoken thru the prophets and the apostles and thru His Son. He is the great I AM, He is, He is there, and He is not silent!
Thus says the Lord. Declares the Lord. The Word of the Lord. Over and over, God is speaking. And He still speaks! His Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, dwelling in our hearts. His Word, His inspired, inerrant Word, the Word of Christ, dwelling… well, dwelling on a shelf or a table somewhere. There it is - God is speaking, waiting to speak to you, and to me, every day, throughout the day. There it is. Just sitting there. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly, Paul says! Are we listening? Are we taking the time to listen? Speak, Lord - your servant is listening! What is Your bidding, my Master? Remember Martha? While Martha was all hot and bothered and distracted by her preparations, what was Mary doing? What does it say she was doing? Seated at the feet of Jesus - listening to His Word. May we each find a similar grace to do that, every day… And get our eyes off our paneling, and onto the One Who alone is deserving of all our devotion…
Outline of Haggai
- Word I - The Priority of God’s house [1.1-15]
- The leaders rebuked [1]
- A desolate house [2-3]
- Consider your ways [5-11]
- The response [12-15]
- Word II - From glory to glory [2.1-9]
- Take courage [1-5]
- A house of glory [6-9]
- Word III - From smiting to blessing [2.10-19]
- The law of uncleanness [10-14]
- A promise of blessing [15-19]
- Word IV - Chosen by the Lord [2.20-23]
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