Cutting Through the Fog of Suffering

One reality we can sometimes face in suffering or traumatic situations is called “brain fog.” Here’s a description of what I’m talking about: “"The fog of trauma" refers to a mental state where a person experiences difficulty concentrating, making decisions, or processing information clearly due to the lingering effects of a traumatic event, often described as feeling like their mind is clouded or "foggy," making it hard to see things clearly or access thoughts with ease; essentially, a mental haze caused by the trauma that impacts their daily functioning. You may think your suffering isn’t affecting you, but experience this. You may be overcoming this through some state of resilience, where God has provided resources for you to navigate this difficulty. Still, I think you’d readily admit that suffering or trauma affects our ability to live life normally.

As we jump into a short study of the book of Haggai, we will jump into the story of a people who have just experienced trauma. The southern kingdom of Judah was carried into the Babylonian exile after consistently going after false gods at the expense of God Himself. He allowed them to be handed over to their enemies. Specifically, this book was written following the Babylonian exile that began in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem. You can imagine the effect this had on the people of Israel. Think of living through this Exile, marked by the destruction of the First Temple, the exile of the Jewish people, and the loss of power. Jerusalem, the center of all that you held dear, was destroyed, creating a political and spiritual crisis. Then, you are forced to exile to a foreign country as a prisoner. Living through this political instability would have been daunting. The holy places, tied to your worship of God Himself, were not only destroyed but defiled. You can imagine how much desire for revenge, wondering what repentance looked like, and being restored to your home country might mean. 

Up pops Haggai, an A-MINOR prophet. After the Persian king Cyrus defeated Babylon, he allowed the exiled Jews to return and rebuild their temple. However, construction halted for sixteen years due to opposition from local Samaritans and a sense of apathy among the Jewish people. In 520 BC, God directed Haggai to encourage the leaders and people to resume the temple's construction. His messages emphasized the importance of glorifying God, overcoming discouragement, maintaining holiness, and recognizing their potential to serve God. Haggai's call to action was significant, as it represented a commitment to God and a restoration of their covenant relationship.

I wonder if you can somehow take an experience of suffering or trauma and put yourself in their shoes. One commentator suggests that our text shows two common reactions to adversity: questioning God's goodness or attempting to manipulate circumstances for personal gain. Haggai's message is clear: true fulfillment comes from prioritizing a relationship with God, who desires to dwell among His people. As we seek to move forward, something has to give for them and us, and we’ll get some clues for that in today’s passage. 

Of course, we’re not Old Testament Jews, and this isn’t about putting forth our efforts to some mundane task. As my favorite study Bible puts it: We need to pour our energies into pursuing God’s purposes, while remembering that the visible symbol of his presence in the midst of his people is… Jesus Christ himself (John 2:19). As Immanuel, Jesus physically represented God’s presence among his people. When he cleansed the temple (John 2), Jesus showed true zeal for God’s purposes, and at the cross, he took upon himself the punishment we deserve for our self-centered focus on ourselves. Now that Jesus has ascended back to heaven, God’s presence in the world is represented by his people. As the body of Christ, the church is a living temple being put together for God’s purposes. Today, then, we’re being invited out from our trauma and experiences of suffering into God’s heart. Join me, then, as we consider 3 actions God takes to draw us out of the fog of our sufferings…

Read Haggai 1:1-15 (This is God’s Word; thanks be to God)

3 actions God takes to draw us out of the fog of our sufferings…

First, to draw us out of the fog of our sufferings, I. God wakes us up. (1-6) 1 In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: 2 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the LORD.” 3 Then the word of the LORD came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, 4 “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies in ruins? 5 Now, therefore, thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. 6 You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.

We finally enter this book and are quickly given a lot of characters and a time stamp. And God is speaking through His prophet to the governor and priest. The God of Armies isn’t sitting idly by. He’s been seeing what people are saying, that the time hasn’t come to rebuild the house of the Lord. Rebuilding the temple is what’s at play in this passage. The question of v.4 is telling: “Is it time for you to dwell in paneled houses, while the temple lies in ruins?” God, ever gracious, invites them to consider their ways. Their lives seem to end in futility, whether planting, eating, drinking, or clothing. Even wages are like a drop in a bucket. “Consider your ways” means more literally, “Set your heart upon your ways.” This is a Hebrew way of referring to thoughts (the mind), feelings (the emotions), and behavior (the will). 

So, right out of the gate, God wants to get our attention. And these excuses are the same ones you and I lift. It’s not the right time, or I have things that I need to focus on for myself right now, which are almost universal when we are dealing with the fog of suffering. God’s not being mean or a tyrant here. He’s simply inviting us to put our attention and focus on things that really matter. 

In the late 300’s, and early church father named Jerome put it this way: “Now, however, the Lord commands you to put love in order within yourselves and set your hearts on your ways so that you do nothing without judgment and consideration, but may the lamp of the law always go before your feet, and may you say: “Your law is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” Or surely it means this: Because you say it is not the time to build the house of the Lord, and you yourselves dwell in dwellings that are submerged in the depths, but my house lies desolate, consider what you have done, as I the Lord command, recall to your memory what you have allowed.” 

How might God be waking you up this morning to consider your ways? Not only does God take action to wake us up, continuing with this opening rebuke, but God also draws us out of the fog of our sufferings as II. He speaks to alert us. (7-11) 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: Consider your ways. 8 Go up to the hills and bring wood and build the house, that I may take pleasure in it and that I may be glorified, says the LORD. 9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house. 10 Therefore the heavens above you have withheld the dew, and the earth has withheld its produce. 11 And I have called for a drought on the land and the hills, on the grain, the new wine, the oil, on what the ground brings forth, on man and beast, and on all their labors.”

After reiterating how futile their efforts seem these days in v.6, God again says, “Consider your ways.” Remember that definition again: “Set your heart (mind, emotions, will) upon your ways.” The positive action is going to the hills, getting wood, and building. And, we’re not drawn to this merely for obedience’s sake. We’re drawn up. Why in v.8? So that God would delight in them and be glorified. Spurgeon puts it so well: “That is the great objective we should aim at in all we do—that God may be glorified, that God may take pleasure in it. It does not matter whom we please if God is not pleased, or who gets honor from what we give, if God is not glorified as a result.” 

That’s not all God says, though. In vv.9-11, much like that opening issue in v.6, God draws them to see their reality from His perspective. Imagine the stakes. God had brought them back from Exile into the Promised Land, but everything they put their hand to do yielded nothing. That land is stuck, and their daily sustenance is lacking. It sounds eerily similar to the curse promised in Deuteronomy 28:38-40, “detailing the kind of chastisement inflicted upon covenant breakers. Not having God and kingdom-work as the main priority in life is serious. Putting God first equates to obeying the greatest of all the commandments to love God totally (Deuteronomy 6:5). Not putting him first equates to the greatest sin” (Barrett). In the fog of suffering, God is inviting us back to dead center: loving Him with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. He speaks to alert us to this reality. 

In 400 AD, here’s how one writer, Theoderat of Cyrus, understood what God was saying: [T]he God of all made these threats on account of the neglect of the divine house, though not for any need of it: the Maker of all things has no need even of heaven, creating everything out of lovingkindness alone. Rather, it was in his care for them all and his interest in their salvation that he ordered the rebuilding of the temple so that they might observe the law in it and reap the benefit, wanting as he did worship according to the law to be performed until the coming of the heir, according to the divine apostle. After the incarnation of our Savior, you see, when the new covenant was revealed, the old came to an end, and the law, which as a tutor had given us a glimpse of the teacher of great wisdom, yielded pride of place, since those tutored by it had no further need of the basic elements.” My hunch, for people in this room, is you find God’s word less than compelling. But, in reality, what God is after is a heart drawn to Him and adoring His Son, Jesus. We must always be alerted to this reality when we are prone to stray. As we sit in paneled houses making excuses, God says, “Are you sure this brings me glory? Are you sure I take pleasure in this? Consider your ways so that your heart can be set on me.” 

Third and finally, as God wakes us up and speaks to us, He draws us out of the fog of suffering as III. God remains with us. (12-15) 12 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the LORD their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the LORD their God had sent him. And the people feared the LORD. 13Then Haggai, the messenger of the LORD, spoke to the people with the LORD’s message, “I am with you, declares the LORD.” 14 And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. And they came and worked on the house of the LORD of hosts, their God, 15 on the twenty-fourth day of the month, in the sixth month, in the second year of Darius the king.

The effect of this is profound. The governor, priest, and remnant of people obeyed God, spoken through the prophet, and they feared the Lord. They are back at the center. God is the One they are bent on worshipping. They reverence Him. So, in v.13, God speaks words of reassurance from God. I am with you declares the covenant-keeping God of His people. And God backed up His promise to be with them with a work among them. Look at v.14: “He stirred up the spirit...” He awakened them to the reality of who He is, and then the people went to work to rebuild the temple. God never invites us to action without giving His presence and provision. What assurance! What grace! He remains with us! When He could easily (and rightfully!) spurn or cast us aside, He moves in and changes us so that we live differently. 

In the late 300s, Theodore of Mopsuestia said, “God for his part did not simply promise his care: he strengthened the resolve of the leaders and all the people at the same time so that they set everything else aside and occupied themselves with the building of the Temple in order that the work might be brought to a conclusion by them.” God remains with His people, and this changes everything. 

In conclusion, today we’ve seen 3 actions God takes to draw us out of the fog of our sufferings… I. God wakes us up. (1-6)

II. God speaks to alert us. (7-11)

III. God remains with us. (12-15)

Today, God is working, much like He did in this passage, to draw some of you to Himself. He’s waking you up to the reality of your sin. You’ve built a life on your choices and are separated from Him, living life for your whims and pursuits at His expense. He speaks a word to find your true life in Him. To seek Him. He’s speaking to alert you of what your life amounts to and offers you life as He has come to be with us. God with us came in Jesus Christ, our Lord. He’s the Messiah and the Chosen One. All of God’s promises find their “Yes” in Him. Jesus is the way that you can have life and have it to full. Today, will you turn from your sin and embrace Jesus? Run away from the fog of suffering your sinful choices have resulted in and run to Jesus as your First Love. Seek Him and know His remaining presence ever and always. 

And, I can’t wrap this up by not pointing us to Jesus. God’s not given this passage to give us a neat historical lesson, so we obey Him more. He’s certainly not given this, so we have a passage for church building projects. Now, because of Jesus, we are called to a mission of making disciples – knowing Jesus and making Him known. 

Michael Stead connects all this: “Haggai’s first chapter called on its original audience to devote themselves to rebuilding the temple. We trivialize this passage by applying it to our own church building projects—the temple had a special significance in the old covenant as the place where the Lord “takes pleasure in” sacrifices and where his “glory” dwells among his people (cf. v. 8). Under the new covenant, the place of sacrifice and God’s glory is now located in a person. Jesus’ once-for-all sacrifice on the cross is the only sacrifice for sin that God takes pleasure in. Likewise, Jesus himself is the ultimate dwelling place of God’s glory (John 1:14). Therefore, for us to “build the house of the Lord” does not require going to the hills for wood. Instead, it involves building a “spiritual house” by bringing people to Christ, who incorporates them as “living stones” into a new temple built on his cornerstone. This is our “spiritual sacrifice[s] acceptable to God” (1 Pet. 2:4–6). While Haggai, in chapter 1, told his original audience to “Build God’s house,” to us he says, “Build God’s kingdom.” 

Don’t languish in your suffering and forget the kingdom's call upon your life. In the church, God’s glory is seen, as we saw in the Fall in Ephesians 2, in us, His people. Let’s be about the priority of building one another up in our faith. Let’s go all in with knowing Jesus and making Him known as an expression of our fear of the Lord, and as we do, we will glorify and enjoy Him forever.