In Haggai 2, our passage for today, the prophet is speaking to a group who has spent much of their lives in exile in Babylon only to return to a Jerusalem that is in tatters. Their houses are torn down. The temple is a heap of rubble. And they must begin the rebuilding process. One can only imagine the difficulty of such an endeavor. Surely it is a mixture of joy and anguish. Joy at their return, and anguish at the loss of what once was. What must be going through their minds? What will it take to pick up the pieces of an old life and create something new. In the midst of this God says, “Fear not”, for he has all the world’s resources at his disposal. Peace will reign again, but first we must rebuild.