A reflection on the Book of Haggai
We had planned for months,
our hearts already at the destination,
our minds filled with anticipation.
But when we arrived,
the days slipped through our fingers,
our attention drawn to a hundred delights,
until we ran out of time.
Perhaps that is how we live.
We begin with longing,
our hearts set on something worth pursuing.
But life happens.
Distractions multiply,
difficulties arise,
and what once mattered most
quietly slips from view.
They had waited years in exile,
longing for home,
for the Temple,
for the dwelling place of God.
They laid the foundation
with hearts full of hope.
Then opposition came,
and hardship,
and the demands of ordinary life.
Sixteen years passed.
Not another stone was laid.
Their own houses flourished
while God’s house lay in ruins.
They planted much
but harvested little.
They ate without satisfaction,
drank without refreshment,
earned wages that vanished
through pockets full of holes.
God had whispered in their pleasures,
spoken through their conscience,
but now, as C. S. Lewis would say,
he shouted through their pain,
a megaphone to awaken
hearts grown deaf to his voice.
Consider your ways,
said the Lord.
For there are two ways to live.
The driven life,
propelled by fear and ambition,
forever striving,
forever restless,
chasing what slips beyond our grasp.
Or the anchored life,
rooted in something deeper,
held by a purpose
that outlasts our circumstances.
We are not tourists,
chasing the next experience,
but pilgrims,
walking a long road
towards the One who calls us.
And when they returned to the work,
God spoke four simple words:
I am with you.
Their Temple was smaller than Solomon’s,
its glory seemingly diminished.
But God did not ask them
to recreate the past.
Take courage.
Do not fear.
Work, for I am with you.
For a greater glory was coming,
not contained in walls of stone,
but revealed in flesh and blood.
The One who would become
both Temple and sacrifice,
torn down
and raised again in three days.
And now we are being built together,
living stones,
a dwelling place for his Spirit.
So let us live anchored lives,
not driven by fear,
or restless ambition,
or the anxious pursuit
of things that never satisfy.
Let his Word nourish us,
his presence steady us,
his purposes shape our days.
When we wander,
he calls us home.
When we stumble,
he lifts us up.
When our courage fails,
he whispers again,
I am with you.
For the anchor of our lives
is not the strength of our grip on him,
but the faithfulness
of his hold on us.
And so we keep walking,
until the day
we see him face to face.
Original message by Sean Tan
The Bridge Church Macquarie Park NSW
8 November 2026
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