Haggai 2:5-6

‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.^[1]

The word that the Lord is with us is not a new word, nor is it a new promise. God has been with the Israelites all along their journey, even from the time of their exodus from Egypt. God is with us even as He has been with the Jews of old. He has been abiding with us, watching over us so that there is no need for us to be filled with anxiety. Jesus picked up this promise when He declared that He would be with us to the end of the age Matthew 28:20), and the writer of Hebrews when he wrote that God would never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5).

This is a consistent promise from God. We never have to worry whether God is with us or will be with us because we have this promise that gets repeated over and over again in scripture. God does not want us to be in fear. He does not want us to be anxious about his presence. We can be confident of His promises because “God is not a man that He should lie or the son of man that He should go back on His word” (Numbers 23:19).

This promise is magnified in its importance because of the immensity of the task that lies before them. How would they accomplish such a seemingly impossible feat as the rebuilding of the temple? Yet God reassured them that He is there with them abiding among them.

They wondered from where the resources would come, but God even has this under control. He says that He is “going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land” (v. 6), meaning He is going to so work for them among the nations around them that they will supply the needed resources. Of course, it is all predicated on their obedience to what He commands. Jesus teaches, “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom” (Luke 6:38 – KJV). We don’t have to worry about the resources when we know that God is with us. Everything belongs to Him and He will “shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land” if necessary to ensure that what He commissions is fulfilled, therefore we can rest confident in His promises today, walk in that to which he has called us and leave the rest to Him.

Lord, we confess how difficult it is to trust you for the impossible things in life. We receive Your promises readily, but wonder how they will be fulfilled. We are limited by our finitude. We see things only according to what we ourselves can manifest and consider impossible what we cannot. Help us today to do more than just receive what You have promised. Help us to walk by faith claiming what we cannot see and has not manifested as though it were already done. We ask this by faith in Jesus’ name. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Hag 2:5–6.