When Your Best Isn't What It Used To Be

Haggai 2:1-9

A reality for us is that things are not always better the second time around. There could be a variety of reasons for this. One reason is age; we get older and are not capable of doing what we once did. Then there is impatience. Sometimes, because we think we know what we are doing, we rush and make mistakes. Other times we might do a good job on a task the first time out of sheer dumb luck, but the second time around reality sets in.

I recently built a barn door. It was the first barn door I have ever built and it was a learning process. I have only used stain one other time in my life and it was on a small project. I stained the first side and it looked great. I came back later to do the second side and made a mistake which was irreparable. I tried. It just doesn't look as good as the first side. I talked to some people an learned from my mistake.

In our text today, the Jews that returned from captivity to rebuild the Temple had completed their task. There was a problem though. It didn't look as good and Solomon's Temple that some of the old timers could remember. Their heart sank. This was not the Temple they had dreamed of. The second was not better than, or even equal to the first.

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In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying, 2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying, 3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; And be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; And be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: For I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts: 5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, So my spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. 6 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, And I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: And I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts: And in this place will I give peace, saith the LORD of hosts.

Haggai 2:1-9

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It probably did not help their feelings when God said, "You know what guys, you're right. It is not as good as the first one" (Paraphrase of verse 3). That had to have stung. There are times in life when we really don't want someone to tell us we are right. This was one of those times for Zerubbabel and Joshua.

This would be a very lousy text if God ended speaking at verse 3, but He didn't. He goes on to tell them to "be strong". Not just Joshua and Zerubbabel, but all the "people of the land". He tells them to pick their chins up. This is not a time to be down. Why? He says, "For I am with you". What a comfort that should have been.

He tells them that he is going to "Shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land". God is literally about to move Heaven and earth. What is the purpose of this shaking? He is going to "fill this house with glory". The people we discouraged about a superficial problem. The Temple did not look as good to them as it once did. However, the glory of the Temple was not the building, but the God who was in the building. He goes on to tell them that "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former".

No matter how beautiful Solomon's Temple was, it meant nothing if they were serving pagan gods. From the time of Solomon on, pagan worship plagued the land of Judah. There were a few revivals, but there always seemed to be a remnant of pagans that were left behind and as soon as the Godly leader died, pagan worship returned in full force.

On the other hand, God said that the people were going to worship and serve Him this time. This turned out to be true. They became very religious towards God, but they eventually made it based on their desires rather than God's word. However, God did bless the nation in some mighty ways during the time of the second Temple.

The same is true for us. Sometimes we worry so much about having our service perfect and we leave God out of it. Sure, on the outside everything looks wonderful. We maintain our buildings, we maintain the yards and landscaping, we practice and plan out our services, and everything becomes very mechanical. Sometimes even preachers fall into this trap and their sermons, though well delivered, are mechanical rather than spirit filled.

Other times, we feel like we fall flat on our faces. Perhaps we don't sing the special like we practiced, or even the message is not delivered as we had hoped. We find ourselves praying in the middle of our song or message "GOD HELP!". When this happens, there are often two things that happen. First, God humbles us because this is certainly not the best we have ever done. Just like the second Temple was not as good as the first, we look at what we did and hang our heads in shame. God humbles us. The second thing is God will often use our failed performance to get more glory. We might see people saved or someone comes to the back door and tells us how much they needed the message of the song or the sermon. In that moment we say "That was all God".

When our best is not as good as we had hoped, God can often get more glory than if we had performed the best we ever have. He gets glory because we get out of the way. We realize we are falling on our faces and cry out for help. If we had only began that way, we may have been spared the pain of our perceived failure. If we had given God the glory to begin with, we might not have had to learn that lesson.

Father, thank you for being able to take our failures and reveal your glory through them. I pray that you help me to remember that it is not about what I can build, but about your name being glorified. When you are glorified, souls will be saved and lives will be changed. May your name be glorified!