Truth Told

God’s work is always going forward, His work and His ways are higher and grander than we realize.

Sometimes I can wonder if I am accomplishing anything. Let’s take a look at the short book of Haggai and the historical message it conveys. It’s important to remember that Haggai was sent by God with God’s message to motivate the Israelites to rebuild God’s temple and to encourage a spiritual renewal of the people of Jerusalem.

Haggai preached four messages, the second of these four was to let the community know that God had not forgotten the promises of blessing and restoration made by earlier prophets.

The people of Jerusalem had gotten tired of waiting for God and tired of doing the work of restoring the temple. I wonder how often we get tired ourselves and wonder, am I having any impact or making any difference?

The people of Jerusalem were remembering the temple which had been destroyed and compared what they were rebuilding and considered their own work simply not adequate. We can be very apt to discount what we are doing in the kingdom of God as meaningless and lacking in any value. We think of times in the past when the Spirit of God has moved powerfully either in our own lives or in the lives of the church and think it has passed me by, it is over, finished.

God was working on a much larger plan than the people of Jerusalem knew. They were looking back at the splendor of the past temple and not understanding God was doing a new thing. The temple they were working on was only a small piece of what God was doing, Jesus Christ was on the way. They were looking at value based on what they had known before by comparing their own work as meaningless when compared with the temple of old. God was looking and working forward, they were only to do their small piece directly in front of them and wait and see how God would use it.

Will I work tirelessly no matter that I don’t understand how God will use my small piece of work in His noble and great plans. This reminds me of many years ago calling on a marine electronics dealer in North Carolina, George Ensley. Mr. Ensley had a large sign on the front of his desk which read, IF GOD IS YOUR PARTNER MAKE BIG PLANS.

9 The future glory of this Temple will be greater than its past glory, says the LORD

New Living Translation (Hag 2:9). Tyndale House Publishers.

Larry Anderson