While I was following the movement of the typhoon Yolanda on TV, I happened to watch the Senators asking Janet Napoles a lot of questions about her role in the pork barrel scandal. Watching all these, some questions came to my mind. “Is there an end to this?” And with anxiety of typhoon Yolanda, “Why is there so much suffering? Where is God in all these?” And as I watched people flocking to evacuation centers, especially in Bohol, I felt it is unfair; they had just experienced an earthquake.
Questions such as these might have been on the lips and in the hearts of ancient Jews around 520 B.C. Many, if not most, of those Jews in Judah at that time had been exiles in Babylon during the Babylonian Captivity. Some 18 to 20 years before the ministry of Haggai, they had been permitted to return to their homeland after Cyrus the King of Persia had conquered the Babylonians. Zerubbabel, the heir to the throne of David, and Joshua, the high priest, were the leaders of the people who had returned to Judea with the people.
When they returned, there was great joy among the Jews. For nearly 40 years, they had been aliens in a foreign land. They had seen the power of their beloved nation wane. The great Temple of Solomon, the dwelling-place of their God was destroyed. And when they were allowed to go home, they must have felt that God’s Kingdom, the new era of the Messiah foretold, had been realized.
But 20 years later, during the period of Haggai’s ministry, their hopes and dreams had been dashed.
We are told that the returned Jews were living in impoverished conditions. The harvests had been poor due to droughts (Haggai 1:5-6, 9-11). The Jerusalem Temple had not been rebuilt (Haggai 1:4). The people must have heard the opulence and grandeur of the temple of Solomon. And then they looked at what they started and must have gotten terribly discouraged. What they were building wasn’t anything like Solomon’s temple. They didn’t have the resources that Solomon had. Some must have wondered and asked the question: “What is the point?”
The words of the prophet Haggai then, were words meant for a depressed and discouraged people who had given up.
Haggai came to set them straight. And by the grace of God, Haggai’s insights can also empower us as we face challenges in our time.
First, God told the people in Chapter 2 verse 4: ”Take courage.” Anyone who has any life experience will readily agree that attitude makes all the difference in the world.
The Jews in the days of Haggai had lived through some difficult times. They had spent 70 years in captivity. They came home to find their native country a wasteland, as described in chapter one. Economic conditions had lowered their morale.
They have all the reasons to be discouraged. If anyone had a right to feel sorry for themselves, it was this group of people. But here comes Haggai with the Word of the Lord telling them to be strong, to take courage.
Attitude, as many people have discovered, is a choice we make. It’s not something determined by the weather, our health, or the day of the week. Attitude is something we control.
The optimist looks at a glass of water and sees it as half full; the pessimist sees it as half empty. It’s a choice. Expect to perform well, and you will. Expect people to treat you well, and mostly, they will. Expect to enjoy life, and you will.
Haggai then continued that it is important we do something for others. God told the people to be strong, but also to continue working on the temple. In other words, do not be so focused on your own needs, problems, and feelings. Doing something for someone else has a way of changing our depressed feeling.
There have been times in my life as a pastor when I get discouraged. It would seem that the things that I am doing do not really matter. But then, after visiting someone in the hospital or a shut-in, my mood changed. Just knowing that I have been helpful to someone else lifts my spirits. In fact, I have felt many times that instead of me ministering to them, it was I being ministered to.
We live in a time when someone is always telling us to do something for ourselves. Watch the advertisement on TV and it will tell you, “Take that vacation,” “Buy that car,” “Eat dinner at this restaurant.” They all talk about satisfying our egos and our desires. They may give us temporary fulfillment, but often, these feelings do not last. In the long run, they may even increase our sadness.
On the other hand, it is those people who are involved in volunteer service who find the deepest pleasure in life.
It is true that we have to take care of ourselves. But we take care of ourselves so that we be able to reach out to others.
We ask God to fill our lives so that like a cup filled with all of God’s goodness and love; it overflows to others.
Two women were sitting in church. One said to the other, “I’ve always wished that God would touch me, but I suppose that’s too much to ask.” The other woman replied, “Have you prayed about it?” “Well, no, of course not.” “Why not? There’s certainly nothing wrong with a prayer like that. You should pray about it.” “All right. Maybe I will sometime.” “Not sometime. Now.”
Thus persuaded, the woman reluctantly folded her hands, bowed her head, and closed her eyes in prayer, asking that God would touch her. About 10 seconds later, the other woman gently laid her hand on the folded hands of the friend at prayer. The first woman responded, as most of us would do; she jumped and said, “He did it! He touched me!”
After a moment’s thought, she said, “But that felt an awful lot like your hand.” “It was my hand,” her friend replied. Disappointment was on the face of the first woman. “And I thought God had touched me.” “He did touch you. How do you think God touches people? When God touches people, he takes the nearest hand, and uses that,” her friend replied.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? And it’s almost right. Almost. Because she left out one word. “When God touches people, he takes the nearest willing hand, and uses that.”
If you have some anxieties or challenges that get you down, get up, and do something for someone else. God can surely use you.
Thirdly, God assures the people in verse 13, “I am with you; I will bless you.” The Jews during the time of Haggai must have thought that God had deserted them. God had allowed their temple to be destroyed. God had allowed them to be taken away to Babylon as prisoners of war. God had allowed other people to come and live in the land that had been promised to them. There must have been many who believed that God had forgotten or abandoned them.
So the Lord had Haggai give them an important promise: “Take courage, for I am with you…My Spirit abides among you.”
Like the Jewish people, we need to learn that disappointments and heartaches in life do not mean that God has abandoned us. Misfortune does not mean that God does not love us. Pain and suffering do not mean that God has forgotten us. The typhoons, earthquakes, the flooding that many of us have experienced do not mean that God has forgotten us. The personal problems we encounter do not mean that God has abandoned us.
There is no place we can go that puts us beyond the reach of God’s loving arms. There is nothing we can do or experience that drives God out of our lives. The Prophet proclaimed that the people should focus on the promise of the presence of God with them.
When we live and work trusting that God is with us, it changes everything: It gives us hope, and makes us face difficult challenges. It gives us the courage to go to unknown places. It gives us the faith to trust that life’s darkness will be overcome by the light; that for every sunset, there is a sunrise; for every valley, there is always a mountain; after the rain, we have the sunshine; after the storm, there is the calm.
My friends, I do not know where you are now in your faith journey. In times when you will find yourself as downhearted as the people in the days of Haggai because of personal problems, when you feel afraid as you face natural and human-made calamities; when you feel like questioning whether God has abandoned you, roll up your sleeves, and do something for others, believing in God’s promise, “I will be with you. My spirit abides among you.”
Once we believe in the promise of the presence of God as pure gift, then we can work for God in the present with courage and joy without fear. Therefore, take courage. Work and pray, knowing that God holds the future.
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Author’s email: [email protected]
