Introducing the Text
Haggai may be the shortest book in the Old Testament, with only 38 verses in two chapters; yet it teaches truth and hope for the future. Haggai 2:4 encourages us to have courage despite adversity, as in the end all things will be restored to an even better glory (2:9).
Amanda Cunningham
Haggai may be the shortest book in the Old Testament, with only 38 verses in two chapters; yet it teaches truth and hope for the future. Haggai 2:4 encourages us to have courage despite adversity, as in the end all things will be restored to an even better glory (2:9).
Amanda Cunningham
Be Like the Bird
Be like the bird, who
Halting in his flight
On limb too slight
Feels it give way beneath him,
Yet sings
Knowing he hath wings.
Victor Hugo
Be like the bird, who
Halting in his flight
On limb too slight
Feels it give way beneath him,
Yet sings
Knowing he hath wings.
Victor Hugo
Imaging the Word An Arts and Lectionary Resource, Volume 2
Exploring the Text: Small beginnings
As Zerubbabel and the people begin rebuilding the temple, there are some among them who still remember the glory of the temple before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. As they see the diminished size and state of temple they are rebuilding, it seems pale and insignificant compared to what they had before (verse 3). They realize the temple will not be as big, as awe-inspiring, or as grand as the previous temple. Maybe they even began to wonder if it was worth it to re-build the temple at all. God saw things very differently, however. He didn’t care about the new temple not being as large, not having as much gold, or not having as much silver as the previous one. What he saw was his plans for the temple; and those plans were amazing.
Just as the Jews compared the glory of the first temple with the second temple, we tend to compare ourselves with others. We feel like we may be small and insignificant when compared to others. We feel like their gifts, their calling, their ministry is far more significant than ours. Sometimes we wonder if it is even worth it to try. Yet God doesn’t care about the same things we do. He sees things differently than we do. He sees the plans he has for our lives just like he saw the plans he had for the second temple. Like the Jews working on the temple, we need to place our trust in God and what he says and not in what we see. God can see far more and far differently than we can. We need to trust him to take the small beginnings that we see in front of us and do something amazing with them, something we could never image just by looking at these small beginnings.
David W. Dalton
As Zerubbabel and the people begin rebuilding the temple, there are some among them who still remember the glory of the temple before Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it. As they see the diminished size and state of temple they are rebuilding, it seems pale and insignificant compared to what they had before (verse 3). They realize the temple will not be as big, as awe-inspiring, or as grand as the previous temple. Maybe they even began to wonder if it was worth it to re-build the temple at all. God saw things very differently, however. He didn’t care about the new temple not being as large, not having as much gold, or not having as much silver as the previous one. What he saw was his plans for the temple; and those plans were amazing.
Just as the Jews compared the glory of the first temple with the second temple, we tend to compare ourselves with others. We feel like we may be small and insignificant when compared to others. We feel like their gifts, their calling, their ministry is far more significant than ours. Sometimes we wonder if it is even worth it to try. Yet God doesn’t care about the same things we do. He sees things differently than we do. He sees the plans he has for our lives just like he saw the plans he had for the second temple. Like the Jews working on the temple, we need to place our trust in God and what he says and not in what we see. God can see far more and far differently than we can. We need to trust him to take the small beginnings that we see in front of us and do something amazing with them, something we could never image just by looking at these small beginnings.
David W. Dalton