God is beautiful. Truly.

I was feeling far from God a few weeks ago. Every time I went to pray, it seemed there was an elephant in the room but I honestly didn’t know what species it was: pride, resentment, doubt?  Doubt. That was it.  He recently had called me to take a small step out in faith. I feel I was obedient.  Surely, my outward actions didn’t reveal doubt…but what about my heart? God was staring into my heart, and my heart finally flinched. God expose my unbelief!

I felt led to open my bible.  I offered up a, show me what to read, prayer.  I opened up to Haggai…Haggai?! Really Lord? Yes. Really.

The Lord was stirring up the spirit of Zerubbabel to begin rebuilding the Temple. The Jewish people had grown discouraged in their obedience and had stopped working on it. Haggai was sent to encourage them to take action; but they would always be building in the shadow of Solomon’s Great Temple and its entire splendor. Chapter 2:3 says:

‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing? But now be strong, Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. ‘

‘Does it not seem to you like nothing?  I read this line over and over. Compared to Solomon’s temple, this temple looked like nothing. I also felt like my small step in obedience seemed like nothing in the great scheme of God’s Kingdom. God had uprooted the seed of my doubt.

 Do little steps in obedience to God really matter? Do they really impact His Kingdom?.

His word is alive and was breathing much needed truth into my heart. I read on about Zerubbabel and the Jewish people choosing obedience. They start building the temple again. The Lord speaks through Haggai 4 verses later regarding the temple they are building:

‘…I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord Almighty.’

It is beautiful. Their obedience opened up a new place for God to meet them. We take a step to where God calls us, and He will fill that place with His glory!

That matters.

Small steps in obedience don’t seem so small, when the God of the universe promises to meet you on the other side.

I love the end of this book.   God tells Zerubbabel,

‘…I will make you like my signet ring, for I have chosen you,’

A signet ring is a seal that functions as a signature. God was choosing to use Zerubbabel’s life of obedience as a signature of himself. God clearly spoke to my heart:

‘You ask me if your small steps of obedience matter. I ask you, do you want me to use your life as my signature?’

Oh my Savior, YES! If people look at my life and see just ONE letter of your name on it,

That matters.

God makes our obedience matter.