Build me up

“Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house…” (Haggai 1:8)

We are spending the next few weeks looking at the Old Testament book of Haggai in our Sunday services. As we start to reopen our church services, it is a helpful book to guide our reopening, because it is all about building.

We build in lots of different ways in our lives. Perhaps you are a builder – professional or amateur – who is actually involved in building a structure like a house. I am very envious of the skill and perservence involved in doing a job like this. I can imagine it is a great pleasure to see the work of your hands when the construction is completed and the building stands before you.

Not everyone will be able to build like that. But we are all involved in building in other ways. We talk about building friendships and building careers. We build our confidence, build our homes and build our families. We build every day and in every way.

Through Haggai, God calls us to build: “build the house” says the Lord Almighty. For Haggai and his friends, that building was the temple, the place where God dwelt with his people. For us, we don’t build a physical temple but we are involved in building the church, building up God’s people, building God’s kingdom.

This kind of building involves every single one of us. In the book of Nehemiah we read about God’s call to build the walls of Jerusalem. Every person is drawn into that effort, with each citizen of Jerusalem building the section of wall in front of their home.

God calls us to build his kingdom, and calls us to build where he has placed us. Where is God giving you the opportunity to build today? What part of his kingdom can you play a part in where he has placed you? What is the piece of the wall you can put in place using the unique gifts and skills God has given you? Let’s get moving and build the house!

Dan Wells

Photo by Scott Blake on Unsplash