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?. Continue reading →