If only we had known back then…what we know today…

Where does one even begin to pick up those pieces when all that is behind you is a valley of ‘missed opportunities’ and regrets…and what lies before you is a mountain of doubt and discouragement that screams at you… saying it will never be as good as it could have been?

But God…

That is what had to be going through the minds of many in that remnant of people who Haggai had come to encourage with a word from God, as we have looked at these past few days. (Haggai 2:1-9).

Let’s face it…for some of us, it just takes longer than others to begin to ‘figure things out’. And such is the kingdom of God when we discover that ‘His ways are not our ways, nor are His thoughts like ours’ (Isa. 55:8-9). Whether we are eavesdropping in on those doubts expressed by those disciples who had nothing but a few loaves and fishes, and knew there was no way they could feed the multitudes of people with what they had, as Jesus instructed them to do… or following along to the house of Jairus where his daughter had just passed away and the people who had gathered… laughed at Jesus when He said she was just ‘sleeping’... God has a way of doing the impossible when we least expect it. (Matt. 14:16; Mark 5:39-40).

Why do you think so many people today…tragically take or end their own lives? Is it not because the darkness around them simply convinced them there was no longer any hope for a future worth living for? That is where the path of darkness will take you, that place we know as the ‘shadow of death’. And yet, as we once again enter in to another Christmas season, we are reminded that even in the midst of despair…that ‘the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light…and the light has dawned’ (Matt. 4:16). The “Dayspring from on high has visited us to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death…to guide our feet into the way of peace.” (Luke 1:78-79)

This was the message that Haggai brought to those who were once again, picking up their tools and inspired by the presence and the word of God to get back to the business of rebuilding of His 'house''. No doubt, many in that company could only think back on how the former temple had looked like in all its glory, and they knew what they were working on now in the twilight season of their lives…would ever compare to what ‘had been’. But that is where they underestimated God; and He made that known to them. As we read there in Hag. 2:6-9, God informs them that a ‘shaking of heaven and earth, sea and dry land’ will occur first. That oftentimes... has to happen first for a lot of us before we can see the glory of God revealed in our lives.

Before fruit can manifest, something has to die first (John 12:24). Resurrection Sunday took place after… that dark Friday when Jesus was nailed to a cross and died. And when we begin to align our ‘timetables’ with God’s timeline, it is then that the scales begin to fall off and the darkness is no more, as we find His 'peace' (Hag. 2:9)

God promised those people there that He was going to ‘fill this temple with glory’ (7) and then that incredible promise of hope: “And the glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace…says the Lord…” (9). Essentially …what God was speaking to them and is speaking to us today is this: Regardless of how great you think things could have been…I’m telling you that I always save the best for last…if you will just come to Me and trust Me with all your heart.” But you have to come to Him.

This is the message we seem to be slow to get. This was the message we find in Deut. 30 (please read it). This was the promise God made through Jeremiah in 29:10-14; and this is the same message we glean from Joel 2, if you will take the time to read through those passages. God saves His best for last …if we just come to that place of total surrender. And we see that same message relayed in the life of Sampson; remember him? He was that long-haired muscle man whom God had used to take out many of those pesky Philistines we read about in Judges 15-16.

But along the way he grew lax…and compromised and eventually ‘lost out with God’ when his hair was cut and he lost his strength. And get this: “He didn’t even know that the Lord had departed from him.” (16:20). How scary is that? Now read vs. 21 because this is where that path of ‘drifting’ (Heb. 2:1) led him: “Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.” (Psalm 107:10-14, anyone?)

Sampson had ‘lost his vision’; and we know ‘where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Prov. 29:18). His life had been reduced to pushing a huge millstone to grind grain, which if you are not familiar with, most likely involved using all his strength, going around and around in circles and ending up in the same place he started. (Ever heard that phrase muttered on Monday mornings- ‘back to the grindstone’?) This kind of sounds like where the people were in our opening chapter of Haggai…living in their ‘paneled houses’ while never seeming to get ahead (Hag. 1:3-11).

We know that in Sampson’s case, his strength was found in his unshaven hair, which had been cut by Delilah and led to his downfall. And now, for one of the most encouraging verses in the Bible, IMHO…”However, the hair of his head began to grown again after it had been shaven.” (Judges 16:22).

You can read the rest of the story/chapter on your own (23-31) as you will learn that in the final hours and moments… of Samson’s life…he accomplished more than all his previous years of existence. But it cost him his…’life’. May I tell you the price tag on seeing God’s finest works of glory in any of our lives has not changed. The only way we can see Him increase is when we are willing to ‘decrease’ (John 3:30) and ‘lay down our lives for His sake’ (John 13:38; 12:24).

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think…(Eph. 3:20)