Rebuilding - Uganda Edition

You want to know what happens when you move ….you get a little lost. 

This applies to anyone who has ever moved. Moving across town, to another city, county, state,  another part of your country, or to a whole new continent. Somehow I have managed to live through all 6 of those types of moves in my life.
 
Everything is new and different. People look different, act different, talk different, the Wal- Mart is set up differently or there isn't a Wal-Mart at all! Somehow the rhythms and routines in which you lived your life no longer fit in this new place. All of a sudden you aren’t sure you’re the person you thought you were. That is, if you were lucky enough to know who you thought you were in the first place.

You lose part of yourself and find a new part of yourself. Every time you move, you rebuild. I posted about rebuilding way back in the year 2020. December to be exact. You can read it by clicking HERE. I wrote about how we went on a prayer retreat and what we learned about rebuilding from the book of Nehemiah. I wrote how we were hoping we could rebuild and invest our lives in our city in Alabama for a long time. A few months later, I learned first hand exactly what it meant to plan your course, but have the Lord determine your steps. (Proverbs 16:9) . 

how big is Africa?

So I tend to think of rebuilding as a one time event, where you reach a finishing point. Like building a house - at some point you get the keys and move in. One thing I am learning this time around is that rebuilding is not a one time event. We are rebuilding all the time. 

Now we are back in Africa and my study about rebuilding has moved to the book of Haggai. This was totally not on purpose. I just picked a new Bible study to bring with me and low and behold it's about rebuilding (and other things). What I learned from Nehemiah still applies though. In Nehemiah, the Israelites were supposed to be rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem. Haggai is where the Israelites are first released to go back to Jerusalem and are told to rebuild the temple. (this is before the wall is rebuilt) But being normal people, there were some problems and Haggai was sent to address them. 

The work of rebuilding the temple had come to a stop and this meant nothing was going right. Nothing seemed to be working out for them. They had forgotten to keep the main thing, the main thing and all these other problems kept popping up: first of all there were too many distractions - all these Israelites had to have some place to live. There were houses to build, so their hearts were divided. They were questioning if the timing was right or not. Because of their indecision and divided hearts (and straight up disobedience), that foundation sat around for around 15 years or so. FIFTEEN YEARS!  Finally Haggai comes and speaks the truth to them. That puts some wind in their sails for a few weeks and they get to work again. Then they wanted to quit because they start comparing this new temple to the old temple and they didn't think the new one was going to be good enough.  They were discouraged because people came against them and made it harder. They were afraid because lies and rumors were spread around about them. I feel like the list could just go on and on and on for these people! Anyone else?

Haggai kept encouraging the Israelites to be strong, keep rebuilding because God was with them....and something greater was coming! This temple may not look like Solomon's, but it will be greater.

What was the greater part?  Years later, Jesus - in the flesh, stands in that temple they built. And who knows how many times during His life on earth He was there!

I am not all the way thru the study yet, but as I am reading about the Israelites rebuilding the temple, I keep thinking how we are now the temple. (You probably beat me to that part, didn't you?) Instead of the Holy of Holies, God lives in us. God has made us new creations and given us Jesus as the Foundation. This Foundation, where we get to rebuild, is eternal and will never be destroyed. We can know and trust that our rebuilding will be also be apart of something greater. 

So what is being rebuilt in us? How are you rebuilding? How am I rebuilding? 

This study points out that we are going to be just like the Israelites in our rebuilding. It will be hard, take a long time and because of that we will get tired and whine. We will have divided hearts and get distracted. We will struggle with God's timing vs our timing. So we stop rebuilding for a time. We just let that foundation of Jesus sit around, sometimes for years, not taking any action. We will have frustrations. We will worry and compare our lives to others - most likely daily. People will come against us by saying and doing things that make us want to throw in the towel. The enemy will also sneak in, putting lies and twisting truth in our own minds to try to destroy the work that is being done. Anything the enemy can do to stop or discourage rebuilding, he will do it.  We will be straight up disobedient and not do what we know is right. Our list could go on and on too, right? 

The same is true for us as it was the Israelites, God is with us and on our side. He sends us our own Haggai, Nehemiah, or Ezra to tell us the truth and encourage us to keep rebuilding and to be obedient. Sometimes you get to be Haggai to someone else or even to your own mind - by preaching the truth to yourself and getting back to building on the Foundation. Build and rebuild because YOU are His Kingdom.  This is the greater work that keeps on until Jesus comes: build the kingdom. Build it where you are living.  (Matthew 28:18-20 and Acts 17:26-27) 

(Hopefully in the next month, I will be able to describe how the rebuilding process is going in our lives here with the #StoriesfromHere challenge on Instagram.)

We might feel divided, distracted, defeated, or like we have lost ourselves in this rebuilding process, but if we keep going back to our Foundation, our Cornerstone and focus on the things that are unseen, but are eternal, we will find our life. Greater things are coming.