When the Ruins Are Still Staring at You

God meets us in the ruins—not after they’re rebuilt.

(Haggai 1:1–11)

Have you ever stood in the middle of your life and thought—this is not how I imagined it would look? The ruins of broken dreams, fractured health, or shattered relationships can leave us paralyzed. Trauma has a way of halting progress. It whispers, “Don’t even try—you’ll fail again.”

That’s where we meet God’s people in the book of Haggai.

The Backdrop of Haggai

The year is 520 B.C. The Jewish exiles have returned to Jerusalem after seventy years of captivity. They had started to rebuild the temple, but fear and opposition stopped them in their tracks. Slowly, survival became the focus—building houses, securing food, tending fields. Meanwhile, God’s house lay in ruins.

Into that weary scene steps the prophet Haggai with a word from the Lord:

“These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” (Haggai 1:2)

Can you hear it? “It’s not the right time.” “We’ll get to it later.” That same survival response many of us know after trauma. We protect, patch up, and push forward in the small ways we can. But often, the deepest rebuilding never begins.

Trauma’s Delay and God’s Invitation

Trauma convinces us to delay healing. “Later, when I’m stronger.” “Later, when life slows down.” Just like the people in Haggai’s day, we get stuck living in survival mode—paneling our own houses—while the true dwelling place of God in us remains neglected.

But in His mercy, God interrupts. Through Haggai, He says:

“Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little… You eat, but you never have enough… And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.” (Haggai 1:5–6)

What piercing words. God isn’t scolding; He’s revealing. He’s naming the cycle we get trapped in: striving, surviving, but never satisfied.

Healing Begins with Returning

For women carrying trauma, Haggai 1:1–11 isn’t just about an ancient temple—it’s about the inner sanctuary of our own souls. God is not waiting for us to rebuild perfectly before He shows up. He’s inviting us to return to Him in the ruins.

Notice what He asks for: not polish, not perfection—just obedience to begin. Pick up the stone. Lay the foundation. Trust Him to dwell among the rubble.

✨ The Lie and the Truth

• Lie: “I’ll rebuild my life later, when I’m less broken.”

• Truth: God meets us in the ruins and calls us to start today, even with trembling hands.

A Next Step

Take ten minutes today and ask God: “What one ruin in my life do You want to rebuild with me?” Write it down. Pray over it. That single acknowledgment is a stone laid.

Prayer

Lord, You see the ruins I’ve been avoiding. I confess the ways I’ve hidden from the pain and delayed rebuilding. Today, I offer You the rubble. Come dwell with me here. Give me courage to lay the first stone and strength to believe that what You rebuild will hold greater glory than what was lost. Amen.

1. When you hear God say, “Consider your ways” (Hag. 1:5), what emotions rise up in you? Conviction, fear, resistance, hope? Why do you think that is?

2. The people of Haggai’s day delayed rebuilding because of opposition and discouragement. What kinds of “ruins” in your life have you delayed addressing—and what has held you back?

3. Trauma often pushes us into survival mode. In what areas of your life do you feel like you’re “sowing much but harvesting little” (v. 6)?

4. God wasn’t asking the people to finish the temple overnight—He was asking them to begin. What would “laying the first stone” look like for you this week?

5. How does it change your perspective to know that God’s presence meets you in the ruins—not after everything is neat and rebuilt?