Overcoming Roadblocks and Finding Rest in God’s Purpose
A conversation on Haggai
Today we are continuing our conversation and processing through the letter of Haggai and its calling to give careful thought to our ways.
Here’s a quick and over-simplified background or context to this book. The Israelites had been taken into captivity, sent into exile, but it was not over for them. There was hope and purpose while in exile.
This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (Jeremiah 29:4-7)
And there was also hope and purpose after the exile—there was a promise of an after, 70 years later.
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:10-11)
Before we get to Haggai, the 70 years had come and gone, and the new king Cyrus opened the door for people to go back. We see this in Ezra:
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.’” (Ezra 1:2-3)
What a mind blowing moment. It had been 70 years, and it actually happened—they were allowed to return, they were supported, and what had been looted was returned. Amazing.
Last week we jumped forward to Haggai 1. The people had actually been back in Jerusalem for approaching 20 years, and Haggai the prophet came and called them out:
“These people say, ‘The time has not yet come to rebuild the Lord’s house.’ Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?” (Haggai 1:2, 4)
Then the prophet states the repetitive theme of the book: give careful thought.
Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways.” (Haggai 1:5)
The people were focused on rebuilding, refining, and polishing up their homes, while the Temple of the Lord was left in ruins. And the prophet said—God said—”Give careful thought to your ways.”
Last week we gave space for that powerful call. And this week there is something that stands out really quickly that we are going to be processing: the people took action.
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. (Haggai 1:12)
They were called to give careful thought to their ways—and then they went for it!
Let's pause for a moment. Look at this list and then give each item a “roadblock score” from 1-10, where 1 means it doesn’t really slow you down from doing things you want to do, and 10 means it’s an impenetrable obstacle to doing things you want to do. Here’s the list:
Fear of failure
Lack of confidence
Procrastination
Overwhelm
Unclear goals
Perfectionism
Anxiety
Negative self-talk
Lack of motivation
Feeling unprepared
Lack of support
Now let’s talk about this:
What do the things that score high for you have in common?
What do the things that score low for you have in common?
With these roadblocks in mind, let’s talk about things that fuel progress, that move us forward. This includes things like personal desires, beliefs, a sense of purpose, a desire to solve a problem, and wanting to help. It could also include things like guilt, shame, obligation, fear of punishment, and a desire to not disappoint. Thinking about these things:
Which one causes you to feel the biggest emotion?
Which one fuels the biggest action?
Okay, we’ve talked about obstacles to action and about the tension between emotion and action. Now talk about this:
What is essential for someone like you to make meaningful progress?
The prophet Haggai shared the Word of the Lord: Some of you are saying it is not time to rebuild the temple. You are giving focus to your homes while not giving focus to the temple. Give careful thought to your ways. And then:
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. (Haggai 1:12-15)
What a moment of 0 to 60!
Let me tell you right where we are going today. What if God has placed us well, and what if He has been “at it” for a long time? What if we give our actions careful thought—and we are reminded to refocus? What if God has set us up for remarkable leaping forward—not out of nowhere, but out of what He has been working in us for a long time?
Let’s circle back to some background. In 538 BC, King Cyrus of Persia issued a decree allowing the Jewish exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: “This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’” (Ezra 1:1-4)
The first group of exiles returned under Zerubbabel's leadership, and they began rebuilding the temple.
When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem. Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his associates began to build the altar of the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in accordance with what is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices. Then in accordance with what is written, they celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the required number of burnt offerings prescribed for each day. After that, they presented the regular burnt offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals of the Lord, as well as those brought as freewill offerings to the Lord. On the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, though the foundation of the Lord’s temple had not yet been laid. (Ezra 3:1-6)
Progress! And while the people celebrated the progress, the people who remembered the old temple were heartbroken because they knew the new temple would not match the temple that had been torn down.
When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites (the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever.” And all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3:10-13)
Then the neighbors (Samaritans) offered to help. They said, We worship God as well, and sacrifice to Him. We want to help. But the response they got was, We don’t want or need your help. So then the Samaritans wanted to stop their progress instead. (This moment brings incredible depth and beauty to Jesus’ connection with the Samaritan woman and to His sharing or the parable of the Good Samaritan.)
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.” But Zerubbabel, Joshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.” Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem. (Ezra 4:1-6)
So they were forced to stop work on the temple.
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. Thus the work on the house of God in Jerusalem came to a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4:23-24)
Standstill. A pause for almost 20 years. Until—turn the page to Haggai:
In the second year of King Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest: (Haggai 1:1)
This wasn’t just a temporary work stoppage. It has been 18 years.
How does long-term inactivity impact passion and purpose?
So we come to Zerubbabel’s response.
Then Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the whole remnant of the people obeyed the voice of the Lord their God and the message of the prophet Haggai, because the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord. Then Haggai, the Lord’s messenger, gave this message of the Lord to the people: “I am with you,” declares the Lord. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the Lord Almighty, their God, on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month. (Haggai 1:12-15)
What had been started, what had been interrupted, what had been let go—and maybe what had been given up on or even forgotten—was back! What could possibly bring such an intense bounce?
I love Jesus’ words in Matthew 11 to the hurting, the simple, and the struggling:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)
How does impossibility impact action?
How does being helped impact action?
Now the story in Haggai is not over. Our story is not over either. But I love this moment—a moment of getting off the bench. A call, provision, and a leap into action. What if we paused for a moment and felt Jesus pulling us back up into action? Hearing and feeling Jesus’ words, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened…” Come to me. Let’s stop for a moment to listen, and to write:
What is Jesus calling you back to?
What is Jesus wanting to help you with?
Now let’s share one final conversation for today:
What surfaces as you give a moment to listen to Jesus’ calling you back to something or offering His help with something?
Take It Deeper Questions
Read Haggai 1:12-15, Matthew 11:28-30.
What can cause you to get stuck or stops progress?
What is helpful when you are stuck?
How does God help people when they are stuck?
How could God help you in this season of life?
How are you challenged, focused, encouraged, and/or confused by these texts?
Bible Reading Plan
Haggai 1
Haggai 2
Ezra 1
Ezra 2
Ezra 3
Ezra 4
Matthew 11