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Cause and Cure for Discouragement
On September 5th, 1886, Charles Spurgeon began a message on our text with these razor-sharp words:
"Satan is always doing his utmost to stay the work of God. He hindered these Jews from building the temple. And today he endeavors to hinder the people of God from spreading the gospel. A spiritual temple is to be builded for the most high. And if by any means the evil one can delay its uprising, he will stick at nothing. If he can take us off from working with faith and courage for the glory of God, he will be sure to do it. He is very cunning and knows how to change his argument and yet keep to his design. Little cares he how he works so long as he can hurt the cause of God."
Satan's only design is to hurt the cause of God.
To do his infernal work, he has many weapons in his arsenal. He may at one time use greed, at another time anger, or malice, or false accusation, or lust, or evil desires, or temptation, or revenge. But of all his weapons, none is sharper than the one called discouragement. If only he can get the saints of God to despair over their efforts, his battle is already won.
The story goes that the devil was going to put all of his tools up for sale. On the date of the sale, the tools were placed for public inspection, each marked with a price. Hatred, envy, jealousy, doubt, lying, pride — all of it laid out on the table. But laid apart from the rest was one harmless-looking tool, priced far higher than anything else. Someone asked its name.
"Discouragement," said the devil. "It is more useful to me than the others. I can pry open and get inside a person's heart with that one. When I cannot get near a person with any other tool — once I get inside, I can make them do what I choose. It is a badly worn tool because I use it on almost everyone, since few people know it belongs to me."
The price was so high, he never sold it. He still hasn't. It is still a major tool, and he still uses it on God's people today.
The Text — Haggai 2:1–9
Haggai is one of the minor prophets toward the back of the Old Testament. Major and minor isn't about the weight of what they said — it simply refers to the volume of words that were written down and canonized in scripture. These are the shorter books. But what Haggai says here carries full weight.
Before reading, it helps to know who Zerubbabel is. Zerubbabel is in the line of David. He is in the line of Jesus. He is a very important character who also shows up in Zechariah and in Ezra. When God calls out in this passage, he is speaking to the leaders of the country and to the people themselves.
"In the seventh month, on the twenty-first day of the month, the word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet. Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to all the remnant of the people, and say, Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts." — Haggai 2:1–9
What Was Going On
In 586 BC, the Babylonians invaded Israel. They took the people away to Babylon as captives, and they destroyed Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. After fifty years, some of those people were allowed to return to Israel. When they arrived, they began the process of rebuilding their temple.
The work stopped after a short time because of opposition from the Samaritans. For sixteen years, the temple remained unfinished. Then God raised up the prophet Haggai to call the people back to their task.
They responded to the voice of God's prophet. They began to build again.
But after only one month, they became discouraged and wanted to quit. They were disappointed by the temple they were building and disappointed by the work they were doing. Haggai challenges them and encourages them to carry on.
Disappointment and discouragement is the theme of this passage — and it is the theme for a lot of people today.
Do you ever get discouraged? Do you ever find yourself disappointed in the work for the Lord — in sharing your faith, walking out your faith? We all do. There are times when disappointment looms over us like an impossibly high, impassable mountain. And if we are not careful, our disappointments can derail our lives and cause us to lose faith and to lose focus. If we're not careful, our disappointments can even cause us to quit on the Lord.
The lessons Haggai shared with Israel during their time of discouragement can help us when we feel overwhelmed by disappointment and we want to quit. There are two things to look at: the causes of discouragement, and the cure.
Part One: The Causes of Discouragement
The reasons for Israel's disappointment are many, and most of them revolve around one thing — a bad memory.
Memory can be a blessing or a curse. These Jews were guilty of focusing on the negative and forgetting all about the positive. Their memory was a heavy burden, and it hindered their progress.
The Problem with Living in the Past
In verse 3, Haggai asks the question:
"Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory?"
That's the ticket right there. That's the issue.
Haggai prophesied in 520 BC. The temple was destroyed in 586 BC. It had been sixty-six years since Solomon's temple was torn down. But certainly there were some people among the Jews who had seen the first temple. This was one of the most glorious structures in human history. Gold covered its walls — an immense volume of gold. Its size and its beauty were breathtaking. They recalled the glory days when the glory of God filled the temple and the house of God reverberated with his praises.
Now they looked at the temple they were building. Quite frankly, it seemed like an embarrassment to them — so small and shabby compared to that wonderful temple Nebuchadnezzar destroyed. This scene is also described in Ezra 3.
These people looked back and remembered the past. Remembering the past is not always a bad thing — but they chose to live in the past, and that is never a good thing. All they could consider was how things used to be. They had no interest in how things were now.
Memory is a good thing if you remember the right things. For these Jews, memory was a curse — because they didn't just remember the past. They chose to live there. And when we hold so tenaciously to the past that we refuse to serve God in the present, we are remembering the wrong things.
What They Forgot
In verses 4 and 5, God reminds them that he was with them in the past. He was there when they crossed the Red Sea. He was the author of all the great miracles of Israel's history. He had been with them all along — there during the glory days of Solomon's temple. He still remembered the promises and covenants he made with them nine hundred years earlier, and he was standing by every one of them.
The problem was that the stories from their past had become just that — stories. They had ceased to hold any real meaning for the Jews. They were sure the glory days had passed, and the God who blessed them then was kind of gone.
Then God says: "My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not."
He is saying: I am still here.
Abraham is gone. Moses is gone. David is gone. Solomon is gone. The first temple is gone — but I'm still here, just like I always have been.
What they could not see was that God did not see a difference between the two buildings. He was not concerned with the external glory of the house. He was far more concerned that it was actually going to be his house — that he was going to dwell there, meet with his people there, and bless there. No different than the first temple had been.
It was never about what they used to have. It was — and always had been — about the God who dwelt in the temple.
Forget about the past. Forget about who isn't here. Forget about the things you no longer have. Those things are gone, and they're gone forever. In spite of all of that, God is here. He has never left. His power is still the same. Therefore — keep working. Don't look to the past. Don't worry about what isn't here. Focus on what is. Don't be intimidated by daunting circumstances.
"Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.' So we can confidently say, 'The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?'" — Hebrews 13:5–6
Far too often, we get caught up in the same trap. We look at how things used to be and forget that the God of yesterday is still here and still able to bless. Our duty is to forget the past and reach into the future.
"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." — Philippians 3:13
This work — making his name great, sharing the gospel, living with joy and peace — is his work. He stands just as ready to bless us today as he ever did. He will not leave us and he will not forsake us. He will meet with us, dwell among us, and bless us for his glory. Our primary concern is that we remember what life is really about. It's about him. It's about his glory. As long as we keep our eyes fixed in his direction, we will be fine.
The Comparison Game
In the second half of verse 3, God asks the people a simple question:
"How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes?"
The old people wept when they saw the new temple and remembered the old one. In their eyes, the new temple was less than nothing — not worth their time or their energy.
And if we are not careful, we too will get caught up in the comparison game. It can be easy to get disappointed when we compare our husbands or wives or children — the way things were with the way things are. We compare what we have now with what we used to have. We compare the church with how we remember it being back in the good old days.
What we're really doing is romanticizing the past. We remember the past as being better than it actually was — so the present seems worse than it really is. Let that sink in. If we're not keeping a proper grip on our memory, we remember the past as better than it was so that the present seems worse than it really is.
It even affects animals.
One of the most famous racehorses in America in the 1930s was a horse named Seabiscuit. Incredibly fast. Not a tall horse — but on the right kind of track, he was uncatchable. His trainers had to be very careful about which horses they paired with him in training, and only for short periods of time, because of what had happened: Seabiscuit would toy with the other horses, letting them come neck-and-neck — and then just unleash that speed and leave them in the dust. Over and over again. Training partners who knew they were going to lose — who lost to such a dominant horse so consistently — some of those thoroughbreds became discouraged and quit. Actual animals, when demoralized and discouraged, refused to run. Seabiscuit ruined some thoroughbreds that never raced again after training with him.
The same thing can happen to us.
Comparisons are always foolish, but they can be especially harmful when we are constantly disappointed by the outcome — and we always will be. It is foolish to play the comparison game because only God is qualified to make proper comparisons.
Remember the story in John 21? Three times Jesus asked Peter, "Do you love me?" Three times Peter responded in the affirmative. Jesus told him to feed his sheep and even told Peter something about how he was going to die. And what did Peter do? He looked at John and said, "What about him?"
The Lord's response was clear: what happens with John is none of Peter's business (John 21:20–22).
God is not obligated to treat us like he treats others. He is not required to bless us, use us, or do for us today what he might have even done for us in the past. He has the right to do as he pleases with us. And comparisons lead to one place and one place only — disappointment.
When we live in the past and downgrade the present, we will miss God's promises and plans for today and for tomorrow. We'll be so trapped in what we feel and believe that we'll forget that God has some big things planned ahead — not necessarily big in the human eye, but big in the heavenly eye. The greatest days of our faith walk might be the days in front of us right now. Not the days behind us.
And if we're not careful, we can become a source of discouragement for others. We can be so against everything that is new and different that we end up discouraging others in their walk with God — killing their enthusiasm for the work of the Lord by being negative about anything that isn't like it was fifty years ago.
Part Two: The Cure for Discouragement
When we find ourselves looking at the high mountain of discouragement and disappointment — how do we get over it?
This passage gives four practical steps. Four things we can do to conquer disappointment in our lives. We must let go, we must look up, we must look ahead, and we must get to work.
Step 1: Let Go
The Jews had to let go of their memories of the first temple. This temple would never be as grand as the first — and they had to accept that. The past had to be relegated to the past if they were going to accomplish anything in the present.
In the spiritual sense, this is a truth we all need to hear.
It may be that you need to let go of some discouraging memory from the past. Maybe you need to forgive someone — even though they'll never admit they did anything wrong. Maybe you need to let go of some dream that keeps pulling you in the wrong direction. Maybe there's a moment you look back on and think, "If I'd only been wiser for ten more seconds, fill-in-the-blank wouldn't have happened" — and you've been carrying it around ever since.
Whatever it is, if it is holding you back, you need to let it go.
Today is all you have got. And as hard as it may be, we have to find a way to let go of the past — because until we do, moving into the future will be more difficult. We need to be free from whatever that fill-in-the-blank is so that God can use us for today.
Step 2: Look Up
In verse 4, the people are called to turn their eyes away from their pain, their problems, and their disappointments — and toward the God who is greater than anything they face.
Six times in these verses, God is called the Lord of hosts. That word hosts translates the Hebrew Sabaoth. It speaks of the armies of earth and heaven. It literally means the Lord Almighty. That is a military name for our God. This name reminds us that God is greater than all the combined forces of heaven and earth. No one can stand against him. No one can defeat his purposes. No one can hinder him in the least.
As God declares repeatedly in Isaiah 45: "I am the Lord, and there is no other."
The same God who stood with David when he faced mighty Goliath is the same God who stands with us in our battles. When your God is big, your battles will be small. David's God was so big that even Goliath seemed small. To the Jews in Haggai's day, God seemed small — so their task appeared overwhelming.
In the same way, your view of God radically affects how you approach life. Take a look at the God you worship. Is he big enough to handle the challenges you face? If he isn't, you need to look up and get a new view of God. He is the Lord of hosts. He is the Lord God Almighty.
Step 3: Look Ahead
God only sends his people in one direction — forward. He never sends them back to the past.
The Jews in Haggai's day had romanticized the past and completely forgotten the future. In verses 6 and 7, God tells them what that future holds:
"Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in." — Haggai 2:6–7
This passage is quoted in Hebrews 12:26–27 and linked there to the coming of the Messiah. One day this world — with all of its false religions, its dead works, and its ever-increasing iniquity — will be shaken to pieces and will fall at the feet of our King, the great Messiah. Every king, every earthly power, will be toppled. What will be left after the great shaking? The things that cannot be shaken.
"Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." — Hebrews 12:28–29
His kingdom will stand. The things of the Spirit will stand. The truth of the Word of God will stand.
Other translations of verse 7 read "the desire of all nations will come" — a reference to the Lord Jesus himself. This is a reminder to beleaguered, discouraged, dispirited people that Jesus is returning, that he will take us to be with him in glory, and that he will set all things right in this world. That is a future worth looking forward to.
And then verse 9:
"The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace."
How could that possibly be true? How could anyone look at this puny, pathetic little building and believe it would ever possess the great glory of Solomon's temple?
God knew what those discouraged workers did not know. He knew that five hundred years later, his Son — the Lord Jesus Christ, the glory of heaven itself — would walk the very grounds upon which they were working. They didn't know it, but they were building on the temple grounds that would one day greet Jesus. This is a reminder that we never fully know what we are doing or how God will use our efforts for his glory. We don't know what is going to happen down the road. We just have to keep our head in the game and keep going for the Lord.
Consider Hattie May Wyatt.
In the 1800s in Philadelphia, a little girl named Hattie May Wyatt was turned away from a church's children's ministry because of overcrowding. That day, Hattie May started saving her pennies to help the church make more room for children. Two years later, she tragically died. In her pocketbook next to her bed, her parents found 57 cents and a note saying the money was to help the church build a bigger children's ministry.
Her mother gave those 57 pennies and the note to Pastor Russell Conwell. That Sunday, Pastor Conwell shared Hattie May's story with his congregation. A realtor gave the church a piece of land to expand the children's ministry, asking only 57 cents as a down payment. The local newspaper carried the story, and soon news about Hattie May Wyatt's 57 cents spread across the country. The pennies grew far beyond her initial offering. The church built not only a new children's ministry wing but a new ministry center seating over 3,000 people. Out of that movement, out of the generosity of Hattie May's example, they built a university in Philadelphia still there today — Temple University. They built the Good Samaritan Hospital. You can visit Temple University today and find a picture of Hattie May Wyatt on the wall — a little girl whose 57 pennies were used by God far beyond the limit of her life.
Consider David Brainerd.
In the 1700s, a young missionary named David Brainerd felt called to bring the message of Christ to Native Americans. It is hard to imagine a more discouraging call from God. He faced constant disappointment. Those he tried to reach had seen so much American greed and abuse that believing his message of grace seemed nearly impossible. Brainerd wrote in his journal:
"My heart sunk. It seemed to me that I'd never have any success among the Indians. My soul was weary of my life. I longed for death."
For two years, nothing happened. He constantly battled one discouragement after another. Then, three and a half years into his work, around 150 Native Americans came to faith in Christ. A year later, Brainerd was dead at the age of 29. It seemed to stop completely.
But that is not where the story ends.
Someone published the journals Brainerd had kept during those years of discouragement. Those journals fell into the hands of a man named William Carey — widely known as the father of modern missions — whose efforts ignited a missionary movement that continues to this day and has brought millions of people to faith in Christ. When someone asked William Carey what inspired him to devote his life to missions, he pointed to the journals of David Brainerd.
God used David Brainerd beyond every limit of his life. We never know what our efforts will produce. We just have to keep going.
Step 4: Get to Work
In verse 4, God tells the people plainly: be strong and work.
We like to sit around and stew when we get discouraged and disappointed. There is always a tendency to want to quit on God. But God says get up and get to work. Don't let anyone sidetrack you, derail you, or stop you.
We all find ourselves discouraged and disappointed from time to time — but we should never allow that to distract us from the work God has given us to do. If God has given you work to do, just do it to the best of your ability and don't let anything or anybody get in your way.
Our marching orders are found in Romans 13:11–12:
"Besides this, you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."
The results of the work are not ours to own. Our job is to be faithful with what we've been given and what we've been called to do. We don't have to keep score. We plant, we do the work, and what God does with our efforts is between God and whoever he chooses to reach — sometimes long after we're gone.
There Is a Mountain in Front of You
There is a mountain of disappointment and discouragement in front of a lot of people. And there is a solution.
Do you find yourself looking back more than you look ahead? Do you find yourself making fruitless and foolish comparisons? Do you ever find yourself asking, "What's the use?"
The path through it is clear: let go of what is holding you back. Look up and get a right view of who God actually is. Look ahead at what he has promised — a kingdom that cannot be shaken, a King who is returning, a future where the latter glory is greater than the former. And get to work.
Someone once said this: "Disappointment to a noble soul is what cold water is to burning metal — it strengthens, tempers, intensifies, but never destroys it."
What will you do with your disappointments? Will you allow them to stop you — or will you allow God to use them to strengthen, temper, and intensify your life?
The people who surrender their lives to Christ, who walk without comparing themselves to each other, who let go, look up, look forward, and get to work — they live in a space that is far better than anything this world can offer.