Keep Calm and Keep Moving
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“Doc, I’ve been having horrible dreams at night.”
“What are they about?”
“Well, last night I dreamed I was in a pasture eating grass with a herd of cows.”
“That’s odd, but not really problematic. Why does it bother you?”
“When I got up this morning, my house plants were missing.”
► Israel had been ruled by kings for approximately 439 years.
► Out of the 42 kings (and 1 queen), only 5 were considered godly, with a few more who were godly some of the time.
► Because of the idolatry and rebellion, God disciplined the nation of Israel by using foreign nations to overthrow them.
► In 722 B.C., the northern Kingdom of Israel was overthrown, and the people were forcefully deported by the Assyrians. At the same time the Assyrians colonized the land with foreigners. These people of foreign nationalities intermarried with the few poor remaining Israelites, and the mixed offspring became known as the Samaritans (1 Chronicles 5:26;.2 Kings 15:29, 17:3-6, 24, 18:9-12).
► Approximately 135 years after the Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians, the southern Kingdom of Judah was overthrown by the Babylonians (587 B.C.).
► As the Assyrians deported most of the inhabitants of the northern Kingdom of Israel, the Babylonians did the same, and most of the people who were living in Jerusalem were force-marched to Babylon to be slaves (leaving behind the poorest of the people to farm the land).
► The prophet Jeremiah prophesied of this destruction and exile to Babylon. He also prophesied that the duration of their captivity in Babylon would be 70 years (Jeremiah 25:11).
MAP of Exile Path
► The prophet Isaiah foretold of a foreign king that would eventually arise, authorizing the return of the exiled Jews in Babylon to Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-13). This is Cyrus.
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They were told to rebuild the temple.
6 So the angel explained that it was the following message of the Lord to Zerubbabel: I am the Lord All-Powerful. So don’t depend on your own power or strength, but on my Spirit.
7 Zerubbabel, that mountain in front of you will be leveled to the ground. Then you will bring out the temple’s most important stone and shout, “God has been very kind.”
Why are we talking about the history of these people who were given this task of rebuilding the temple?
This was a massive task.
Have you ever felt like the task in front of you is like a mountain?
Is there a mountain of disappointment looming in front of you?
Do you find yourself looking back more often than you find yourself looking ahead?
Do you ever find yourself making fruitless and foolish comparisons?
In our study today we are going to talk about another prophet who God raised up to encourage people to keep on working.
Haggai
Let’s read what this prophet had to say and try to find ways to apply to our lives today.
1 On the twenty-first day of the next month, the Lord told Haggai the prophet to speak this message to Governor Zerubbabel, High Priest Joshua, and everyone else:
3 Does anyone remember how glorious this temple used to be? Now it looks like nothing.
4 But cheer up! Because I, the Lord All-Powerful, will be here to help you with the work,
5 just as I promised your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. Don’t worry. My Spirit is right here with you.
6 Soon I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
7 I will shake the nations, and their treasures will be brought here. Then the brightness of my glory will fill this temple.
8 All silver and gold belong to me,
9 and I promise that this new temple will be more glorious than the first one. I will also bless this city with peace.
It was advertised that the devil was going to put his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale the tools were placed for public inspection, each being marked with its sale price. There were so many horrible tools available. Hatred, Envy, Jealousy, Doubt, Lying, Pride, and so on. There was one tool separated from the others it was a harmless-looking tool, well-worn and priced very high.
“ What is the name of that tool?” asked one of the purchasers.
The devil answered “ Oh, that’s Discouragement.”
“ Why have you priced it so high?”
“ Because it’s more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person’s heart with that one, when I cannot get near him with other tools. Now once I get inside, I can make him do what I choose. Its worn more than others because I use it on almost everyone since few people know it belongs to me.”
The devil’s price for Discouragement was so high, he never sold it. It’s still his major tool, and he still uses it on God’s people today
Disappointment is the theme of this passage. The people in Israel during the ministry of the prophet Haggai are disappointed and discouraged. Many years earlier, in 586 BC, the Babylonians had invaded Israel. They had taken the people away to Babylon as captives. The Babylonians had destroyed Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.
After 50 years, some of the people were allowed to return to Israel. When they arrived, they began the process of rebuilding their Temple. The work stopped after just a short time because of opposition from the Samaritans. For 16 years the Temple remained unfinished. Then, God raised up the prophet Haggai to call the people back to their task of rebuilding the Temple.
The people responded to the voice of God’s man, and they began to build again. But after only a month, they became discouraged and again they wanted to quit. They were disappointed by the Temple they were building and they were discouraged in the work they were doing.
Haggai writes to them to challenge them and to encourage them to carry on. That is a message I think we could all use today.
If we are not careful, our disappointments can derail our lives and cause us to lose faith and focus. If we are not careful, our disappointments can even cause us to quit on the Lord.
What causes our disappointment?
What causes our disappointment?
We focus too much on the past.
3 Does anyone remember how glorious this temple used to be? Now it looks like nothing.
There were some people among the Jews who had seen the first Temple, the one built by Solomon. They remembered its glory, it’s gold covered walls, said to have contained over $20,000,000.00 worth of gold, its splendor, its size, and its breathtaking beauty. They recalled the glory days, when the Shekinah glory of God filled the temple and the house of God reverberated with his praises. It was an amazing time.
They wanted to go back to that time of blessing.
The same people looked at the Temple they were building now, and it seemed to be an embarrassment to them. It seemed so small and so shabby compared to the wonderful Temple that was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. This scene is described in Ezra 3:9–13. These people looked back, and they remembered the past.
Remembering the past is not always a bad thing, but they chose to live in the past, and that is never good! All they could consider with how things used to be, and they had no interest in how things were now.
What else causes disappointment?
The things we forget.
4 But cheer up! Because I, the Lord All-Powerful, will be here to help you with the work,
5 just as I promised your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt. Don’t worry. My Spirit is right here with you.
God is with us! Why do we forget that fact?
God reminds them that He was with them in the past. He was there when they crossed the Red Sea. He was the Author of all the great miracles of Israel’s past. He had always been with them. He was there during the glory days of Solomon’s Temple.
He had always been there. And, He still remembered the promises and covenants He had made with them 900 years earlier! He was standing by every promise He had ever made to His people.
They had heard the stories about God. The problem was, the stories from their past had become just that, stories. They had ceased to hold any real meaning for the Jews. They were sure that the glory days of the past, and the God Who blessed them then, were gone!
God tells them that His Spirit is still with them. Think about what the Lord is telling them. He is saying, “Abraham is gone. Moses is gone. David is gone. Solomon is gone. The first Temple is gone. But, I am still here!”
Hebrews 13:5 (CEV)
5 ...The Lord has promised that he will not leave us or desert us.
What else causes disappointment?
The Comparison game.
3 Does anyone remember how glorious this temple used to be? Now it looks like nothing.
They compared what they were doing to what others had done. God wanted them to focus on the task before THEM!
Remember the story of Jesus and Peter from John 21? Three times Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love Me?” Three times Peter says “yes”. Then Jesus tells Peter to feed His sheep, and he even tells Peter something about how he will die.
Then what did Peter do after this interaction with Jesus?
20 Peter turned and saw Jesus’ favorite disciple following them. He was the same one who had sat next to Jesus at the meal and had asked, “Lord, who is going to betray you?”
21 When Peter saw that disciple, he asked Jesus, “Lord, what about him?”
Then Peter looks at John and says, “What about him?” I love how Jesus responds:
22 Jesus answered, “What is it to you, if I want him to live until I return? You must follow me.”
Basically, Jesus said, “It’s none of your business!”.
This just reminds us that God is not obligated to treat us like He treats others. He is not required to bless us, use us or anything else. He is certainly not obligated to do for us today what He did on the past. He has the right to do as He pleases with us, and we are foolish to make any comparisons. If we do, it will only lead to disappointment!
We can be disappointed when we focus on the past, forget who God is, and compare our situation with other people.
Let’s spend the rest of our time talking about how to avoid falling into these traps.
Let it go! - Say it with me - Let it go!
In the spiritual sense, this is a truth we need to hear. It may be that you need to let go of some painful memory from the past. It may mean that you need to forgive someone even thought they won’t admit they have done anything wrong. It may be that you need to let go of some dream that is always pulling you in the wrong direction. Regardless of what it is, if it is holding you back, you need to let it go! Let it go!
As hard as it may be for you, you must let go of the past. Until you do, you will never be able to move into the future!
Look up to God - Say it with me - Look up to God!
4 But cheer up! Because I, the Lord All-Powerful, will be here to help you with the work,
The word used for Lord is translated from the word “sabaoth” literally means “the Lord Almighty” with is the military name for God.
This name reminds us that God is greater than all the combined forces of Heaven and earth. No one can stand against Him. No one can defeat His purposes. No one can hinder Him in the least. As God says several times in Isaiah 45, “I am the LORD and there is none else!”
The same God Who stood with David in the Valley of Elah when he faced mighty Goliath is the same God Who stands with you in all your battles.
When your God is big, your battles will be small! David’s God was so big that even Goliath seemed small. To the Jews in Haggai’s day God seemed small so their task appeared to be overwhelming. In the same way, your view of God radically affects how you approach life. Take a good look at the God you worship. Is He big enough to handle the challenges you face? If He isn’t, you need to look up and get a new view of God. He is the LORD of Host! He is the LORD Almighty!
Look Ahead - Say it with me - Look Ahead!
God will only send you in one direction: FORWARD. He didn’t send those Jews back to the past and He won’t do that to you. The Jews in Haggai’s day had romanticized the past and completely forgotten the future. What was that future?
6 Soon I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land.
7 I will shake the nations, and their treasures will be brought here. Then the brightness of my glory will fill this temple.
This passage is quoted in Heb. 12:26–27 and there it is linked to the coming of the Messiah. Taken together it tells us that God shook the earth when He gave His Law and He would shake it again when the Messiah came. One day, this world with its false religions, it dead works and it ever increasing iniquity will be shaken to pieces and it will fall at the feet of the Messiah!
Right now, the world is in turmoil. This has been the way of the world for thousands of years. The Persians toppled the Babylonians. The Greeks defeated the Persians. The Romans conquered the Greeks, and so on. The nations are in a constant state of agitation. The day will come when the Lord will shake this world system to its foundation! He will topple every king and earthly power and He will rule this world world that mocks and rejects Him today!
What will be left in that day? The things that cannot be shaken! Heb. 12:28
28 We should be grateful that we were given a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And in this kingdom we please God by worshiping him and by showing him great honor and respect.
His Kingdom will stand. The things of the Spirit will stand. The truth of the Word of God will stand. Your soul will stand! That is a future worth looking to!
Get to Work - Say it with me - Get to Work!
4 But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
The worst thing we can do is quit. We’ve got a job to do for the Lord.
You might feel weak and tired. How do you fix that problem?
You workout, change what you eat, and get some rest. The same is true of our spiritual condition!
Why is all this important?
11 You know what sort of times we live in, and so you should live properly. It is time to wake up. You know that the day when we will be saved is nearer now than when we first put our faith in the Lord.
12 Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light.
13 So behave properly, as people do in the day. Don’t go to wild parties or get drunk or be vulgar or indecent. Don’t quarrel or be jealous.
14 Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won’t try to satisfy your selfish desires.