Haggai 2:20-23<\/p>\n
Every Life is a Story. Every Story is Composed of Chapters.<\/p>\n
Each life tells a story, unfolding in chapters that reflect unique moments in our journey. These chapters, whether marked by triumph or challenge, help shape who we are today. We often want to forget painful parts, yet it\u2019s often those very chapters of shame and heartbreak that lead us to profound transformation.<\/p>\n
When we\u2019ve healed the broken parts of our story and integrated them with the rest of our lives, they become opportunities to connect with other people in their difficult chapters.<\/p>\n
Chapters provide numerous functions: they break a story into digestible components, they provide transitions between moments in time, locations, or points of view, and they provide a story with structure. Some chapters are short; others are long. Some chapters end in cliffhangers, while others wrap up neatly.<\/p>\n
While every story has a final chapter, the chapter you\u2019re in today is not the final chapter. We are always moving from something and into something else. When we look back on the good chapters that intertwined with the challenging chapters of the past, we can be assured that there will be good chapters in our future.<\/p>\n
As we navigate our story, tension drives our growth, while redemption gives us hope. Just like a narrative arc that moves from introduction to resolution, God uses tension to move us toward His purpose.<\/p>\n
In the book of Haggai, Israel\u2019s call to rebuild the temple (Haggai 1:1) shows how tension can inspire action, with faith prompting obedience even amid fears (Haggai 1:12-14). When we obey in faith rather than reacting in fear, God meets us and increases our faith. When we show up, God shows up.<\/p>\n
Remember, it\u2019s called taking a \u201cstep of faith\u201d, not taking a \u201cstep of certainty\u201d.<\/p>\n
God remains with us, even in moments of fear or disobedience. Through Haggai, God reassures his people with promises of his presence, strength, and peace (Haggai 2:4, 2:9).<\/p>\n
God tells his people that the temple they are building will be greater than the one in the past (Haggai 2:9). Sometimes, when we look at the past, we tend to gloss over the bad parts and magnify and long for the good parts. But while we are called to remember the past, we can\u2019t go back.<\/p>\n
Similarly, we sometimes dream about the greatness of the future, and we make plans, but we fail to put those plans into action.<\/p>\n
God wants to call us forward. He calls us to be people of action and faith in the present.<\/p>\n
Restoring the temple was not just about rebuilding a structure but renewing a relationship with God and restoring the place where the presence of God dwells. And where God\u2019s presence is, there\u2019s peace.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re often tempted to compare our stories with the highlights of others without knowing their full journey and backstory. Zerubbabel, a descendant of David, Josiah, and Zedekiah, was used by God in Haggai\u2019s time to demonstrate how God redeems our heritage for his purposes (Haggai 2:20-23). Peter echoes this in 1 Peter 2:9, calling us a chosen people meant to declare God\u2019s praises because he called us out of darkness.<\/p>\n
A relationship is the intersection of stories. And from the intersection of our stories comes a new story and a new chapter. The hard parts of our stories are like scars that remind us of brokenness and difficult times. But they also remind us of healing and hope.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur scars have the potential to tell a good story. No, I\u2019m not fond of having been violated, but my scars have opened the door not only for me to understand more of what Jesus suffered on that Friday of humiliation, but also it\u2019s given me a connection and engagement with something of the lives of others.\u201d \u2013 Dr. Dan Allender<\/p>\n
People respect our successes, but they don\u2019t connect to us through our successes. It\u2019s our honest stories of pain and hardship that connect us to other people.<\/p>\n