My mistakes lay piled in disarray all over my overwhelmed soul. How did I let my life become such a mess? How could I find hope for the future?
Even though I was a new believer, the enemy had invaded my thought life. Soon the voice of the accuser had drowned out the voice of my Creator. Sin had crept in unnoticed.
I surveyed the destruction in my life, much in the same way that the Israelites surveyed the destruction in Jerusalem upon their return from captivity. Rebuilding seemed hopeless. There was too much damage.
As God used the voice of the prophets to call His people to repentance, God was doing the same to me through His Word. He showed me that hope for restoration and rebuilding could only come after that first step of repentance.
“Yet I call this to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s faithful love we do not perish, for his mercies never end. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness…Let us search out and examine our ways, and let us turn back to the Lord (Lamentations 3:21-23,40).”
I did have hope for my future because God is compassionate and full of mercy. He is faithful when I am faithless. He allowed me the pain of captivity just as He had with the Israelites, in order to bring me into greater freedom through repentance.
And as God gave instructions to the Israelites on how to rebuild, God was showing me how to rebuild the rubble of my own life.
In Ezekiel chapter 48, God named the new city “Yahweh Shammah,” which means “The Lord is there.” God was telling His people that they had hope during the rebuilding process because the Lord was there.
In the same way, God was rebuilding me and teaching me that He would be there, not just at church, not just at certain times, but in every part of my life.
I Corinthians 3:16 tells us that God sent His Spirit to dwell in us, “Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” What a priceless gift to have the Spirit of the Living God living in us!
Jesus was limited by the constraints of His humanity. He couldn’t be everywhere at once, but the Spirit indwells every believer and fills us with His continual presence. He assures us, “I will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5).”
The Lord is there. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Lord is there as we rebuild the broken down places in our lives. He promises us His presence just as He promised the Israelites, “I am with you,” in Haggai 1:13.
The Spirit enables us to live a faithful, fruitful life as a Christian. That gives me great hope! There are numerous ways God uses the Holy Spirit in our lives, but here are 10 of my favorites.
10 Ways the Holy Spirit Helps Believers:
- The Spirit intercedes for us in prayer. (Romans 8:26,27)
- The Spirit comforts us. (2 Corinthians 1:3,4)
- The Spirit produces fruit in our lives. (Galatians 5:22, 23)
- Spirit equips us to overcome sin. (Galatians 5:16)
- The Spirit leads us into truth. (John 16:13)
- The Spirit gives us the right words to say. (Luke 12:12)
- The Spirit gives us power and strength. (Acts 1:8)
- The Spirit convicts of sin. (John 16:8)
- The Spirit enlightens us to deep truths about God. (I Corinthians 2:10)
- The Spirit gives us assurance of our salvation. (I John 5:13)
The Holy Spirit would help me in the journey of rebuilding my life with God at the center of it.
God also gave an incredible promise to the Israelites when they were rebuilding. As they were comparing their simple temple built from meager resources to the former lavish temple of Solomon, they felt that the new temple could not compare. God reminded them that the beauty of the temple is not in the structure, but in the glory that it brings to God.
Haggai 2:9 promises, “The final glory of this house will be greater than the first.” How could this paltry temple be more glorious than Solomon’s? God’s people did not understand that the temple’s glory of which Haggai was speaking was not one that came from the splendor of its construction.
Over 500 years later, Luke chapter 2 reveals the glory of which Haggai was speaking when a young couple named Mary and Joseph brought their young son to be presented at the temple for consecration to the Lord.
Glory was present in that modest temple because God was there. He was there in the personhood of that young child—Jesus. God was revealing His plan of redemption. Redemption for mankind always brings God glory.
Just as it took over 500 years for the glory of that temple to be fully revealed, the glory of our present temple is but a shadow of what is to come, for we will receive our glorified bodies in heaven.
Christ is in us now bringing glory, but Colossians 1:27 points us to the future with “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” There is hope for yet greater glory ahead.
As you rebuild the areas of rubble in your own life:
- Remember that God is there.
- Return to Him with a repentant heart.
- Reject the chains of captivity in your life.
- Repair the areas of damage as God reveals them.
- Reconcile your heart to an obedient state.
- Realize there is hope for glory ahead.
- Rejoice that He is there to bring glory to Himself through the temple of your life.
God, our Yahweh Shammah. THE LORD IS THERE. Even in the rubble.