Finding Hope in the Midst of Distraction
Have you ever found yourself in church, listening to a sermon, and your thoughts drift away? I am sure we have all been there — writing notes to stay focused, fidgeting to calm nerves, or perhaps struggling to stay awake due to a lack of sleep. That is where I found myself on this Sunday, and adding to my distraction were thoughts of a recent discussion with my physician. I have Rheumatoid Arthritis so am no stranger to difficult medical conversations, but discussing the future need for a knee replacement at age 47 had been a shock and was weighing on my mind.
As the pastor began to share the background and context for our passage, Haggai 2, I reached for my favorite doodling pen. (P.S. its a 0.38mm Black Smooth Gel Ink Ballpoint Cap Pen from Muji)
My Cliffs Notes version goes like this. The Jewish captives were being allowed to return to Jerusalem after 70 years of exile in Babylon. God spoke through Haggai to those who were returning. They faced a warworn reality and daunting task of rebuilding the temple. They started to rebuild the temple, abandoned the project, then started once more. However, they compared the first temple to the new temple and were discouraged by the belief that it would not be as glorious as the first. The doodles began as I tried to stay focused on the pastor, reading Haggai 2.
‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord. ‘Be strong, Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt. And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’
“This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘The silver is mine and the gold is mine,’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘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.” Haggai 2:3–9
Photo by Michelle Le — Doodles on Haggai
Listening, doodling, distracted — my thoughts kept heading over to 1st Corinthians 3, when Paul is addressing the church in Corinth. These passages are rich and full of instruction about the collective church. In verse 16, Paul asks — Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s spirit dwells in you? And in verse 17 — God’s temple is holy and YOU are that temple. Then later in 6:19, he has shifted to talk about individuals — do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you whom you have from God? You are not your own for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. Even though the topic is sexual immorality, he is also speaking to each of us specifically as God’s Holy Temple. The dwelling place of the Spirit bought with an unthinkable price.
In the midst of my distraction, awareness began to creep in. The parallels between the Jews’ fear that the new temple could not rival the old, and my own discouragement, I realized that the real distraction was my own doubt, believing the lie that only disappointment was ahead, despising the new prognosis, and the disease that this so-called “HOLY TEMPLE” wakes up to each morning.
Reading about God’s promises that had been fulfilled, reminded me of other promises that I had been doubting in the midst of my disappointment. What God has done before, He will do again. Using the message that Haggai shared with the returning Jews and Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians, the parallels go something like this — “Michelle, do you remember your body, my temple, and its former glory? Remember when you could get out of bed in the morning pain-free, walk with strength and power? Me too. And now? Is it as nothing to you? Is it weak, broken, painful, sorrowful? Oh, Michelle, declares the Lord, be strong, for I am with you, according to the promise I gave you when I brought you from darkness, hopelessness, shame, and regret into My grace, My hope, My family, My loving arms, when you first believed and accepted Christ as your savior, who sacrificed ALL so you could be free. Free from doubt, free from shame, free from hopelessness, FREE. My Spirit remains in you. Fear not. The latter glory of this house, shall be greater than the former. And in this place I will give PEACE.”
Praise God for HIS promises. May He be glorified during the waiting and in the working so that others see His great strength and power. My hope is in Him.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4
