Context No. 3817 of 4322 · Haggai

Haggai 2:1-9: in context

1In the seventh month, in the twenty-first day of the month, the LORD’s word came by Haggai the prophet, saying, 2“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people, saying, 3‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Isn’t it in your eyes as nothing? 4Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ says the LORD. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ says the LORD, ‘and work, for I am with you,’ says the LORD of Armies. 5This is the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and my Spirit lived among you. ‘Don’t be afraid.’ 6For this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Yet once more, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the dry land; 7and I will shake all nations. The treasure of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of Armies. 8The silver is mine, and the gold is mine,’ says the LORD of Armies. 9‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of Armies; ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ says the LORD of Armies.”

The returned exiles are rebuilding the temple, but the older ones who remember Solomon's glorious temple look at this modest structure and are discouraged; in their eyes it is as nothing. Into that discouragement God speaks through Haggai: be strong, and work, for I am with you; my Spirit remains among you; do not fear.

The remedy for their discouragement is not a bigger building but God's presence and a fresh promise. And what a promise: I will fill this house with glory, and the latter glory of this house will be greater than the former; in this place I will give peace. God does not measure the worth of their work by its outward grandeur, which seemed so small, but promises to fill it with a glory greater than the old, a glory that would come when the Lord himself entered this second temple. There is encouragement here for anyone whose work for God feels small and unimpressive next to what was, or next to what others do. God's presence, not outward grandeur, is what gives the work its worth, and he can fill even humble labor with a glory of his own.

When my work for God feels small and unimpressive, do I take heart from his promise, be strong and work, for I am with you, trusting that his presence, not outward grandeur, is what fills the work with worth?

Sources

Haggai 2:4: "Yet now be strong, Zerubbabel... and work, for I am with you, says the LORD of Armies."
Haggai 2:9: "The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former, says the LORD of Armies; and in this place I will give peace."
Haggai 2:3: "Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?... Isn't it in your eyes as nothing?"