1 on the twenty-first day of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai: – Haggai 2:1 (NIV)
This second message of the Lord through the prophet Haggai finds the people in an extremely busy time of life – agriculturally and religiously. It was harvesting season and the fruits and nuts have been collected but the olive crops still remained and would need to be gathered soon.
There were also 3 major festivals taking place this month. The first day of the month was like a New Year’s celebration (later to become Rosh Hashanah), the tenth day of the month was the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) – a day of fasting and repentance of the people for the sins of the whole community, and the fifteenth of the month began the 8-day Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot).
And during all of this was the rebuilding of the Temple project that had just begun a few weeks prior. You know, the Temple that’s in ruins. Which means a lot of the initial work taking place is the heavy, back-breaking work of clearing rubble and cleaning up the debris.
Whew! Is anybody else worn out just by reading all of that!?
Isn’t it funny that when you commit to getting right with the Lord, when you surrender and agree to participate in and accomplish His call on your life, it’s never convenient? Ever notice how life doesn’t stop just because you’ve decided to follow Jesus and move forward with Him?
It’s real easy to get discouraged and frustrated with it all. The temptation to quit and return to the old, familiar, “easier” life is real. And when it comes to our religious activities we can quickly become apathetic and go through the motions; just following the traditions rather than having a genuine encounter with the One they’re all about.
Maybe this is why God invited us to check, and ultimately, change our priorities in Chapter 1. Maybe this is why the Lord reminded us last week that choosing the Kingdom means sacrificing our comfort. Maybe this is why His words and reminder that He is with us – that His very presence will be with us, go before us, and walk beside us – are absolutely vital and encouraging because it’s the only way we’ll make it through.
Do not despair. Do not give up. Do not fear. Trust in the Lord and know that your labors are not in vain. If He called you to it, He will give you the strength to get through it. He has promised – the best is still to come!