In the book of Haggai, the people are struggling with something we can probably all relate to in one way or another. To understand their struggle, you must consider their story.
God had destroyed Israel in 722 BC and then Judah in 586 BC. Both parts of the nation had seen the destruction of their land and the enslavement and deportment of their people. Nearly 70 years later, God raised up King Cyrus of Persia (modern-day Iran) to send them back to the Promised Land.
When the people arrived back in the Promised Land, they had a daunting task. Their temple, walls and city had been destroyed in their conquering, so they had to rebuild them. As they were working on rebuilding the temple, many of the people that remembered what Solomon’s temple looked like began to complain that the new temple would be nothing in comparison. It would be smaller, less ornate, made with fewer precious metals and would accommodate fewer people.
They became so upset over the matter that it began to affect those that were building, and the building stopped.
God sent Haggai to these people with a message that had three points. (He must have been a preacher because we are always supposed to have three points, a poem, and a story.) The first point God gave Haggai to tell the people is not to worry about what the temple would look like, but to do the work He had given the people to do; namely, build the temple. Finish it. They did not need to spend their time focused on the outcome, but only on the work to be done.
Next, God told Haggai to tell these people not to worry about how ornate the work was to be, nor to focus on what they did not have, but to do the work He had given them to do with what He had given them to do it. They did not need to worry about what they didn’t have, but to be faithful with what they did have.
Lastly, He told them that, if they were faithful, the glory of this temple would outshine any work they had ever put their hands to. They did not need to worry about God judging the outside of the structure as worthy or unworthy of His presence, but their faithfulness was the quality that would make the place inhabitable by God’s glory. If they would be faithful, God would indeed be with them.
You and I are in the same place they found themselves, at times. We may think that we don’t have much to offer God. We may think that we don’t compare to Billy Graham or some other famous Christian, but we don’t need to. We simply need to do the work God has given us to do with what God has given us to do it. If we will be faithful in what God has given us to do, we will encounter not only His presence, but His good pleasure for it is God Who works in us to even want to do anything for Him (Philippians 2:13). You and I need to listen to our Lord, step up, step out and pursue Him and His work with passion. When we do that, God will be honored, no matter what it may look like on the outside. If we don’t, it won’t matter what it looks like on the outside, either.