Hope from Haggai

Haggai is one of those books in the Old Testament that is not only hard to find, but seems irrelevant since it is so small and you almost never hear about it. But this little book of 38 verses is packed with hope, especially for those who seem to have lost theirs. The time is shortly after God's people returned from captivity. They start to build a new Temple but some old guys who remembered the first one came by to observe and basically told them what they were doing had no comparison with the first Temple. So they quit building, got discouraged and focused on making comfortable lives for themselves. But God in His mercy intervenes. In chapter one He tells them to build. They were finding themselves frustrated with life and their goals they were pursuing. God explains He was behind all this in order to get their attention.
But God tells them they are not building this work for themselves. It is for Him. It is all about Him. 1 Corinthians 3:16 points out that believers in Christ are His house. We have been created for Him and His glory. When something else becomes the goal, the result is frustration and discontentment.
They respond. They obeyed His word as they had been doing things their own way, and they feared Him. They truly understood their lives were lived before His face all day long and knew He really was present with them. His promise in Psalm 46:1 is that He is present and that He is a help in His presence. The result was their relationship with God became personal and living.
God rebuked them, they listened and obeyed, and God assured them of His presence and help for them to go forward in His work, rather than their own. They moved forward with purpose and hope.