FROM THE AUTHOR: This certainly unimpressive little book of mine is about a time in ancient Israel’s history when God spoke to many that saw their day as a “day of small things.” Zechariah 4:10.
“So, you don’t think much of the little church building we’ve just completed?” That’s what the prophet Haggai said to some very old men who’d seen Solomon’s temple in all its glory (2:3; Ezra 3:11-13). They were weeping out loud. And why wouldn’t they for what was this little stone building compared with the “wise one’s” majestic temple?
The little stone building matched the size and mood of the tiny band of harassed returnees from Babylon. “Disappointment, Disappointment! All is Disappointment!” would well have matched the era.
They looked around at God-denying circumstances and seeing no glory that left them breathless they longed for former days – days they were sure were better than the current ones. Poor souls that we humans are, we long for glory, obvious triumph and the bits and pieces we see can hardly be called glorious or triumphant. There are too many bad things – stubborn, seemingly indestructible – and the rest are “small things.” It was hard for them to look at the tiny building and connect it with Isaiah 44:24-28 and chapter 45 where the God who is the Lord of history and empires said he would get the king of the world to build His house and city.
And that was the best He could do – the creator of the universe (45:12, 18) builds this…this…? And the glory spoken of in 45:15 turns out to be this pathetic community ghettoed in this pint-sized corner of the “promised” land? Zechariah didn’t deny that his day was a day of “small things”; he just warned against despising such a day.
Jim McGuiggan has written a number of books. If you are interested, you can check them out in our store by clicking on Jim McGuiggan under the Authors tab at the top of this webpage, or at www.jimmcguiggan.com.
