Trusting with Little
by GUY COHEN OCTOBER 6, 2019
Sometimes we find ourselves trying to protect the little we have, and becoming slaves to it. Yet the Lord can take the little we have and multiply it. He is the God of multiplication. We are commanded to build the Temple (God’s house) and, at the same time, we are each to be an integral part of that Temple. He wants to dwell in us as His temple. When He dwells in us we can see the change in the attitude of our heart. Then we will be capable of stewarding what we have while not being enslaved to it.
Standing at the Temple in Jerusalem, Yeshua saw how the people had turned God’s house into a market for “merchandise.” In His zeal for God’s house, Yeshua overturned the tables and drove out those selling sacrificial animals (John 2:15, Psalms 69:9)!
What exactly was it that caused Yeshua to respond so passionately? It was the people’s preoccupation with finances and financial security more than they were focusing on God. When Yeshua confronted the merchandising in the temple in John 2, He saw and was appalled by the rift: the house of the presence of God on one side and the people trusting in money on the other.
A parallel passage to Yeshua’s zeal for God’s house is found in the return of the exiles from Babylon (in the time of Haggai). They had come back to Jerusalem and were building themselves nice houses while the Temple still lay in ruins. Haggai called them out for their confused priorities when he said:
“Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this temple lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:4)
The heart of this message is not to place our hope and trust in the money we think we need. If financial security is our focus we will never think we have enough. True peace and security will only come when we look to the One who dwells inside us, and in His purposes for our lives and resources. Yeshua is our redeemer and our provider. He is the one who began a good work in us and will be faithful to complete it.
Look to Him who declares, “‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former…and in this place I will grant peace’” (Haggai 2:8).
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