A Restored Presence – Haggai 1-2

Procrastination is an experience all humans know well. We can put off eating better, a financial goal, a work deadline, or a house project. But we can also procrastinate our discipleship to Jesus, we can put prayer, study, or community on the back burner, waiting to start when we are “less busy.” The challenge of Haggai to an Israelite people who have put off rebuilding the temple is to get started! Get to work and experience the blessing of God.

Timeline:

• Haggai is one of the three minor prophets which prophesied post-exile, the other two are Zechariah and Malachi

• The book was written in 520 B.C. which was 70 years after being exiled.

• And because the Babylonian empire recently collapsed, the Persians were ruling and they allowed the return of a small group of Israelites to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, temple, and their lives.

• The return back to Jerusalem was led by the High Priest Joshua the Son of Jozadak and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel the governor.

• The returning people experienced extreme opposition and hardship building the temple which caused them to delay the rebuilding of God’s temple for nearly 20 years.

• Haggai delivers a message of hope to the Israelite people and tells them their work will be blessed, God will rebuild a new Jerusalem, and His spirit will be in their midst.

4 Main Sections of the Book of Haggai:

1. Misplaced Priorities

2. Missed Expectations

3. A Call to Covenant Faithfulness

4. Future Kingdom

Together, we will journey through how God’s presence is revealed in each of these sections as well as in our own stories as God’s covenant people. In the book of Haggai, God is addressing two groups of people: the Distracted and the Discouraged.

1. Misplaced Priorities – Haggai 1:2-10

Haggai asks God’s people to consider what direction their lives were heading and if they really wanted it to continue that way. The Israelites were constructing their entire lives around the throne of Self instead of God’s Kingdom thus allowing their distractions to paralyze their obedience.

2. Missed Expectations – Haggai 2:1-9

The temple was destroyed nearly 70 years earlier and the Israelites knew this new temple was not going to compare in any shape or form to Solomon’s temple. This knowledge brought extreme sadness, and comparison, and ultimately paralyzed them from obeying.

However, God pursues the discouraged and the distracted through Haggai reminding them God's presence will be in their midst to complete the work, to help them return their presence back to the neglected areas of their hearts, and to trust His plan.

3. A Call to Covenant Faithfulness – Haggai 2:10-19

God is giving an analogy of ritual holiness and uncleanness to force the priests to think about the spiritual status of the people. God is telling the people he not only cares about HOW they rebuild the temple but He also really cares about the priorities of their hearts.

4. A Future Kingdom – Haggai 2:20-22

God is preparing the people of God to live in His kingdom. As His people, we are asked to stop building our own castles, repent, and to be co-laborers in God’s kingdom reality. Our presence to God in our own realities plays a huge part as He works to restore the earth. God is too real to be met anywhere other than reality.

Spiritual Practices:

1. Take time this week and reflect on your priorities - have they brought you closer to God or farther away?

2. Take some space to honestly ask yourself if you trust God with your attention. Process this with a trusted friend or pastor.

3. Practice bringing your attention to God and seek what He is wanting to rebuild in your life.

4. Where do you need to be reminded of God’s presence?