Have you ever had a shattering experience and had to face the prospect of rebuilding your life from the rubble? If so, you can empathize with the Jewish people who returned from exile to face the overwhelming task of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem, most of which was in ruins.

Eighteen years had passed since the Persian king, Cyrus, issued the decree, freeing the Jews to return home.

Procrastination had set in like concrete. The people were about as enthusiastic about rebuilding as a flea trying to bite an armadillo, so how were the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to motivate these discouraged people to rebuild after their shattering experience?

We don't know for sure how these prophets went about planning their strategy. We can only guess that one way might have been to dissect the people's attitude of despondency and disillusionment.

Cutting open the festered sore of "despondency," they saw the feeling of loneliness being overwhelmed by the false belief that rebuilding was "all up to me." Therefore, the prophets preached the words of encouragement that included God's strong words: "I am coming to live among you."

The surgery on "disillusionment" revealed more negative feelings that produced depression, grief, guilt, fear and futility. The prophets lifted the people's drooping spirits by helping them realize that by completing the rebuilding they would discover God is alive and well and not just the God of the past who brought their ancestors out of Egyptian bondage.

Worship in the temple would include celebrating what God was doing right then, the present moment of victory and redemption over the terrors and turmoils of their lives.

The prophets proclaimed that God wanted to free the people from all the bondages that held them in captivity. God wanted to help them pick up the pieces of their lives that had been shattered by the exile and thus fulfill his promise to help them take the rubble of their lives and rebuild.

So, what about all the rubble lying around our feet due to a natural disaster or death in the family or divorce or job loss or whatever else has happened to make us feel broken in spirit?

God wants to help us to pick up the pieces and rebuild.

Dr. Gene Norris is a local Presbyterian pastor.