Encouraged to Build: The Foundation Is Laid—So Why Did We Stop?

Launching a new series in Haggai, we begin by tracing the laying of the temple’s foundation in Ezra and the long discouragement that followed— internal grief, external opposition, fear dressed up as wisdom, and exhausting delay. Though the foundation was solid, the work stopped for sixteen years, not because God said “stop,” but because discouragement settled in.  The call is simple: founded on Christ, God’s people must consider their ways and keep building, even when the work is discouraging, feels heavy, and is much unfinished.