Nothing to Our Eyes: Human Striving, God’s Presence and God’s Promises

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“Oh, how precious is time, and how it pains me to see it slide away, while I do so little to any good purpose.”

~David Brainerd (1718-1747), American Missionary to the Delaware Indians

“There was a castle called Doubting Castle, the owner whereof was Giant Despair.”

~From Pilgrim’s Progress, written by John Bunyan (1628-1688), Puritan minister

“Give me your presence or give me death
One is, without the other anyway
From your lips may I feel the Spirits breath
Let this be the dawning of a different day”

~Apollus, contemporary Scottish poet

“In the house of God there is never ending festival; the angel choir makes eternal holiday; the presence of God’s face gives joy that never fails.”

~Augustine (354-430), theologian and Bishop in Algeria

“The real test of being in the presence of God is, that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object.”

~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), Author and Professor of English

SERMON PASSAGE

Haggai 2:1-9, Ezra 3:11b-13 (ESV)

Haggai 2
1 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: 2 “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, 3 ‘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? 4 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, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 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. 7 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. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. 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, declares the LORD of hosts.’”

Ezra 3
11 …And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.