Haggai’s message does more than reassure; it also calls for a response. In Haggai 2:4–5, the Lord’s promises call for faith. The people are meant to take God at his word. He tells them what is true: he is with them, his covenant still stands, and his Spirit remains among them. Faith lays hold of God’s view. Faith chooses to treat God’s evaluation of the situation as more reliable than their own discouragement. Where they see only a disappointing present and a glorious but unreachable past, God points them to his active presence and unfailing commitment. Faith rehearses God’s promises instead of rehearsing personal despair and hopelessness. And faith also works; it heeds the call to be strong and work. God’s presence is not meant to make his people passive but to energize them. His Spirit does not replace their labour; it empowers it. Because he is acting, they are to act. Zechariah expresses the same truth: the work is accomplished by my Spirit
(Zechariah 4:6), yet that very reality ensures that Zerubbabel’s hands will finish what they began (Zechariah 4:9).
Discouragement says, I can’t, therefore I won’t
; obedience of faith says, I can’t, but he can, so I will.
1 God promises to bring to completion that construction project he has begun in each of his saints, on the day of Jesus Christ. And that promise is the basis for us to tackle those besetting sins once again. So the apostle can write, Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure
(Philippians 2:12–13).
5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.