Small Things with Great Love

 

“The future splendor of this temple will be greater than that of former times, “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has declared. “And in this place I will give peace,” decrees the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.  Haggai 2:9

 What can I do for God? I am so limited physically, mentally, spiritually. What do I have to offer? The things that He has called me to build, that I have tried to be faithful in, are so small and paltry in my eyes. They are so much smaller than that which has come before me.

 I’m reading through Haggai the first part of this week (there are only two chapters). It tells the tale of the Israelites who returned from exile in Babylon. They had been sent back to Jerusalem to build the temple, but when they got there, they got busy fixing up their own homes and kind of forgot to do what they were sent to. So, God sent the reminders. He sent a drought and closed up the skies to rain. The people were hungry, thirsty, they did not have what they needed, but they did not turn to the One who could provide for them. So, God sent the prophet Haggai to draw their attention to what they had been doing and how He had tried to reach them. Miraculously, they snapped in line and got to work on the temple. This shocks me because they don’t have a perfect history of obedience.

 In the second chapter of Haggai, we see the Israelites looking on the work of their hands, and listening to the stories of the elders about the temple’s former glory. Things just aren’t measuring up. There’s no way it is going to come out looking anything like the old one! That’s got to be pretty discouraging, kind of a why even try situation. But God meets them in their disappointment and shares a word of hope. He tells the people in verses 6 and 7 (NET):

Moreover, the LORD who rules over all says: 'In just a little while I will once again shake the sky and the earth, the sea and the dry ground. I will also shake up all the nations, and they will offer their treasures; then I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD who rules over all.

 When the Israelites came out of slavery in Egypt, they pillaged the Egyptians by going house to house and asking for articles of silver and gold and clothing (Exodus 12:35-36). Likewise, God encourages the Israelites that though the temple is not the building that it was, it does not contain the fanciness that it once had, He is in control of that. He tells the people, “The silver is mine and the gold is mine” in Haggai 2:8. As a taste of this, once the temple is completed, Ezra the priest came back to Jerusalem along with a large group of priests and Levites and their families. He brought with him freewill offerings for the temple from the king, his advisers, his officials and all of Israel (Ezra 8:15). There was about 25 tons of silver, tons of silver. There were also silver articles weighing 3.75 tons, 3.75 tons of gold and about 19 pounds of gold bowls along with polished articles of bronze as precious as gold (Ezra 8:26-27). That sounds an awful lot like God fulfilling His promise to the people in Haggai 2:6-7.

 But, as we’ve learned, prophecies have a near and far fulfillment. I think where Haggai’s prophecy continues in 2:9, it’s referring to a much greater glory that will fill the temple, the glory of God Himself:

'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty."

 Jesus came to the temple, blessing it with the presence of God Himself, but in the New Jerusalem, Jesus will be the temple:

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. [Revelation 21:22-23 NIV]

Here’s the Thing: God called the people to rebuild His temple. When the foundations were laid the people who had worked on them were excited, but those who had seen the old temple were devastated (Ezra 3:11-13). God didn’t tell the people to make a temple as good as the old one, or even a better one. He knew what they were capable of and He called them to do that. The rest of it was up to God. That’s what He calls us to – obedience. We are called to do what He tells us to. We aren’t called to do it as good or better than someone else. We are called to do our best. And God will bless it!

Note: The quote, "Small things with great love" used as the title of this post is attributed to Mother Teresa.