The One About Mikaela Shiffrin, the Prophet Haggai, and the Holy Spirit
Dear West Family
We love the Winter Olympics at the Lester house. Maybe it’s because we never grew up around much snow and ice, but the whole thing seems almost mystical to us. Our kids, who would never usually show any enthusiasm for any sort of sweeping related activities are suddenly experts on the competitive floor polishing routine that is curling, and Sue and I, who can’t skate (or dance) have become critical judges of even the most marginally sloppy quadruple axels, all while lying on the couch in our sweats. It’s wonderful to watch, but gosh it’s a lot of pressure for these athletes.
This pressure became very evident the other night when we watched the pre-event favorite, Mikaela Shiffrin, crash out of her run in the slalom. I don’t know if you saw it, but it was hard to watch. After realizing her mistake she just took off her skis and sat on the (artificial) snow with her head in her hands for what felt like a really long time. It was awkward and hard to watch someone in so much pain and who had so much fear of actually having to face up to a post-failure reality. I don’t know anything about Mikaela, but I felt for her in that moment. Eventually, a team-mate came and sat with her on the snow, and while I have no idea what they spoke about, it was suddenly a whole lot less painful to observe, as she wasn’t alone in her pain, and was receiving assurance of support and help from someone who clearly loved her.
It got me thinking about the book of Haggai. I mean, how could it not?
In Haggai 2, the people of God, who had been living without the manifest presence of God, were finally stirred up to begin the hard work of rebuilding the destroyed temple. They had suffered a lot and been through a lot, and their hope was that the temple would be able to return the former glory to a people who had pretty much given up. When they started to rebuild though, it didn't look brilliant, and was a far cry from the former glory of years gone by. The work looked like it might be too much and Zurabbabel and Joshua (son of Jehozadak, just in case you were wondering) were discouraged and close to defeated.
But then the Lord said something amazing to them. In the midst of the rubble. In the midst of their fear. In the midst of their discouragement, the Lord said …
“My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.” - Haggai 2:5b
Sometimes we just need a reminder of who is with us. When life beats us up, and when failure abounds, and when we are too scared and too ashamed to ski down the hill to face our own weak failures, then we too need to remember God’s Spirit has been promised to the church, and that He remains in our midst, which means we are never alone, and we never have truly justifiable reason for unbridled fear.
So church, when things don’t go your way, and even if at times it feels like we as the people of God are failing: Fear Not! His Spirit remains in our midst. And if we have His Spirit, then we have all the wisdom, all the power, all the strength, all the knowledge and all the possible endurance it will require to help us to make it to the end. Don’t just sit in the snow. Remember who is with us.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” - Romans 8:31
One last thing. I absolutely love the writings of Andrew Peterson. He has written wonderful works of both fiction and nonfiction, and he isn’t a bad songwriter either. I love this version of the song with the choir. I love that he chose to write this song as questions and answers. It is like a catechesis set to music.
Enjoy.
Is He Worthy (Live at Sing! 2019) - Andrew Peterson
See you Sunday,
Ross
