Disappointment is the gap between our expectations and our reality. Disappointment is an inevitable reality in a broken world. Through Haggai God speaks a message of encouragement to a disappointed people. First, and most importantly he promises that He is with them. Second, He promises that despite how things may appear, He will use the temple they have reconstructed to make his glory known to the whole world. Third, God promises that He will provide the resources to complete the task to which he has called them. And finally he promises them a better future where reality won’t just meet their expectations it will exceed them.
Haggai was a post-exilic prophet sent by God to exhort the small community of Jewish people who had resettled in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity and exile. The community that had returned, returned to a city in ruins and a temple that had been destroyed. Their initial excitement and joy at returning quickly turned into a struggle just to get by. In the grind of trying to rebuild their lives and eke out a living the worship of God and the rebuilding of his temple quickly fell off the radar. Yet, the harder they worked the harder things seemed to get. In the midst of this God speaks to the people through Haggai to tell them that their dissatisfied lives were a direct result of disordered priorities and that in order to experience the lives of flourishing they had hoped for they needed to start by putting God first. The message God’s people then is the same as his message to his people today. Disordered priorities inevitably lead to dissatisfied lives but a satisfied heart starts with centering ourselves on God.
Haggai was a post-exilic prophet sent by God to exhort the small community of Jewish people who had resettled in Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity and exile. The community that had returned, returned to a city in ruins and a temple that had been destroyed. Their initial excitement and joy at returning quickly turned into a struggle just to get by. In the grind of trying to rebuild their lives and eke out a living the worship of God and the rebuilding of his temple quickly fell off the radar. Yet, the harder they worked the harder things seemed to get. In the midst of this God speaks to the people through Haggai to tell them that their dissatisfied lives were a direct result of disordered priorities and that in order to experience the lives of flourishing they had hoped for they needed to start by putting God first. The message God’s people then is the same as his message to his people today. Disordered priorities inevitably lead to dissatisfied lives but a satisfied heart starts with centering ourselves on God.