Photo by Jordy Meow on Unsplash

I’m tired of mincing words. Here’s my truth: I don’t even recognize my own country anymore.

I read the headlines and feel like I’m looking at the ruins of what once was. Apparently, I’m not alone. The New York Times recently published an article entitled “Estranged in America: Both Sides Feel Lost and Left Out.” According to that piece, Democrats and Republicans feel this sentiment equally: “The results [of polling] suggest a rare political moment when Americans on all sides worry that they don’t recognize what the country is becoming.”

So that’s my truth.

But let me share another truth, this one from the book of Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new under the sun.”

What we are experiencing in 21st century America and across our modern world has happened throughout human history, and the best place to see the truth of that is in ancient Scripture.

What we are experiencing in 21st century America and across our modern world has happened throughout human history, and the best place to see the truth of that is in ancient Scripture.

Consider the book of Haggai, written by a prophet who lived after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem into the end of the Israelite exile, when Israelites returned home.

But returned home to what?

Their homes were destroyed, their places of business were demolished, and Solomon’s temple had been razed to the ground. The Israelites stood staring at the ruin of what once was, thinking, “How can we possibly rebuild? How can we have hope?”

Sound familiar?

As always, ancient Scriptures describe not only their time but also ours. This is true in many different ways. For example, in addition to the general sense of ruin in our own country, consider the millions of our military veterans returning to the rubble of destroyed lives and families, trying desperately to rebuild.

Consider the many people facing the destruction of a relationship or marriage or those facing the leveling of their bank accounts or end of a job. They too are trying to rebuild.

Consider those whose bodies have been devastated by illness and disease. They too are trying to rebuild.

And then there are the people of Sulawesi, whose homes, places of businesses, and temples are gone thanks to the tsunami this past September. Like the Israelites, they’re wondering how they can possibly rebuild.

With all the destruction in the world, building expertise is sorely needed. It’s relevant to fast-forward to a 21st-century parallel to the ancient rebuilding that happened in Haggai: the PBS show “This Old House,” an Emmy-winning series about restoring beautiful old homes that have fallen far from their former glory. The show’s hosts help the owners rebuild their home while remembering and honoring what once was. 

If we combine Haggai and “This Old House,” we can learn three powerful lessons about rebuilding from ruin.

Lesson #1: Start from where you are. The hosts of “This Old House” start by walking the owners through their broken-down home to take stock of the bad wiring, the rotten floorboards and the leaky roof. In the same way, the book of Haggai begins with God speaking to the Israelites in the midst of the rubble and the destruction—not where they wish they were, but where they actually stand.

“Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?” (Haggai 2:3 NIV).

You know that hands raised and tears welled up when the Israelites heard these words and remembered their beautiful city. It’s easy to be in denial over loss, so God made the Israelites take stock of the reality of where they were in order to move forward. We must do the same.

Lesson #2: Do something—anything. The hosts of “This Old House” always start by acknowledging how easy it is to get overwhelmed when beginning a big project. Then they encourage people to take just one step, like fix the roof.

Similarly, in Haggai 2:4 (NIV), God says, “Be strong, all you people of the land . . . and work. For I am with you.” God even offers an example of one small step the Israelites can take: “Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house” (Haggai 1:8 NIV). That’s it, just go get some wood. That one little step begins the rebuilding of a great city and a holy temple.

We all know what it feels like to stare at a project and not know where to start. But Haggai tells us that when you are rebuilding, you should just do something—anything, like go to the hills and gather some wood. As Theodore Roosevelt said, “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing . . . the worst thing is nothing.”

Lesson #3 is probably the most important: Remember that what once was can be rebuilt into something greater.

In the book of Haggai, the Israelites are staring at the rubble of the temple, and the Lord tells them to look past the destruction and visualize what is possible: “‘I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty . . . ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house . . . And in this place I will grant peace’” (Haggai 2:7-9 NIV).

These lessons parallel that of the recent powerful memoir “The Last Girl” by Nadia Murad. Islamic State militants massacred the people of Kocho, Nadia’s village in Northern Iraq, on August 15, 2014. Six of Nadia’s brothers and her mother are among those who are killed and whose bodies are swept into mass graves. Nadia is taken to Mosul. There she, along with thousands of other Yazidi girls, is forced into the IS slave trade.

Talk about looking upon the ruins of a life. How many times during that horrible period must Nadia have thought about what once was?

“Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory?” (Haggai 2:3 NIV).

But in that place of destruction, she keeps hope. She fights back and rebuilds. The book is about her struggle, her escape, and her battle to ensure that atrocities like the slave trade and genocide never happen again. In fact, that’s why she entitled the book “The Last Girl,” writing in the autobiography, “I want to be the last girl in the world with a story like mine.”

On October 5, at age 25, Nadia won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Even in the worst of the ruins, we can rebuild.

Brothers and sisters, what in your life needs rebuilding? What destruction are you standing in that you want to reclaim?

God can transform any house—any life—that has seen better times. But it isn’t a solo job. You have to help. Start from where you are. Take one step, any first step. And most importantly, believe that what has been can be rebuilt into something greater.

“‘I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD Almighty . . . ‘The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house . . . And in this place I will grant peace’” (Haggai 2:7-9 NIV).

The Rev. Susan Sparks is pastor of the historic Madison Avenue Baptist Church, New York City.