Under Construction Part 2

In June, our sanctuary will be under construction. Pews are being moved, carpet is being replaced, paint is being refreshed, and the room where we gather for worship will look very different for a little while. At different points, it may look unfinished. It may even feel strange to walk into a familiar space and see it in transition. Yet we understand what is happening. The sanctuary is not being torn apart for no reason. There is a plan in place, and the work being done now is preparing the room for the days ahead.

That gives us a helpful picture of the spiritual life. There are seasons when God is clearly building something in us, around us, or through us, but the process does not always look neat as it happens. Sometimes it looks like disruption before it looks like renewal. Sometimes it feels like loss before it feels like growth. Sometimes God’s work in our lives looks, for a season, like a construction project.

The Lord spoke through the prophet Jeremiah and said, “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Those words remind us that God has a blueprint. He has a purpose for our lives and for his church. We may only see the dust, the tools, the measurements, and the unfinished pieces, but God sees the whole design. What looks confusing to us is clear to him.

A blueprint is an interesting thing. To most of us, it may look like lines, numbers, symbols, and measurements. To the architect, it is the picture of what is coming. The blueprint tells the workers where things belong, what must be removed, what must be strengthened, and what the final result is supposed to become. In the same way, God sees what we cannot yet see. He knows what he is forming in us. He knows what needs to be repaired, restored, reshaped, and renewed.

That means we have to learn to trust him. What we had in mind may not be the blueprint. Our preferred timeline may not be the timeline God is using. Our picture of what should happen next may be smaller than the work God intends to do. Faith means trusting the wisdom of the One who sees the finished project before we do.

Of course, construction often begins with demolition. Before something new can be built, something old may need to be removed. Before a space can be renewed, parts of it may need to be taken up, stripped down, or cleared away. That part of the process is rarely beautiful, but it is often necessary.

God once sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house. There he watched the potter working with clay at the wheel. When the vessel was marred in the potter’s hands, the potter did not throw it away. He reshaped it into another vessel, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the Lord said, “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand.”

That is a powerful image of God’s work in us. God does not discard us when we are unfinished, marred, weary, stubborn, or broken. He keeps his hands on the clay. He reshapes. He reforms. He patiently works with us according to his wisdom and grace.

Still, we should be honest. Being reshaped can be painful. There are seasons in life when God’s work feels more like tearing down than building up. Some have called this a “dark night of the soul,” a season when prayer feels difficult, faith feels heavy, and God feels distant. Many faithful people have walked through such a season. It can happen in grief, transition, disappointment, failure, exhaustion, or deep spiritual struggle. It can happen when the life we imagined begins to come apart, and we do not yet see what God is building in its place.

The Bible is filled with people who lived through those in-between seasons. Abraham waited years for the promised son. Joseph was sold into slavery and spent time in prison before he ever saw how God was working. Moses fled into the wilderness before he encountered the burning bush. David was anointed king, but spent years being pursued by Saul before he ever sat on the throne. The disciples watched Jesus die on Friday and had to endure the silence of Saturday before they saw the resurrection on Sunday morning.

In many ways, that is the pattern of Scripture: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There is a Friday, when something dies or is torn down. There is a Saturday, when we wait in the dark and do not yet know what God is doing. Then there is Sunday, when resurrection breaks through, and God shows that he was working even when we could not see it.

This is why Paul’s words in Philippians are so important: “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” God completes what he begins. He does not abandon the project halfway through. He does not lose interest in his people. He does not begin a work of grace and then walk away from it.

That is true for us as individuals and as a church. God is still building. He is still shaping. He is still calling us forward. Our sanctuary renovation is about pews, carpet, paint, and the physical space where we worship, but it also offers an opportunity to remember that God is working among us. He is preparing us for a new season of ministry, worship, welcome, and witness.

Nehemiah understood this well. When he led the people to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, he did more than manage a construction project. He helped discouraged people rediscover their calling. He reminded them that they were not helpless victims of their circumstances. They were people who could rise up, work together, and participate in what God was doing. After the wall was rebuilt, the work continued as people repopulated and strengthened the city. Nehemiah 11 tells us that some volunteered to live in Jerusalem, and the people commended those who stepped forward.

That is an important word for us. Renewal is something we share. A church is strengthened when people pray, serve, give, encourage, invite, welcome, and volunteer. The sanctuary may be under construction for a month, but God is always building the life of the church through faithful people who are willing to say yes.

So what do we do while the work is happening?

We trust the blueprint. We remember that God sees more than we see. We remain patient in the process. We give thanks for the generosity, sacrifice, and faithfulness that have made this project possible. We pray that our renewed sanctuary will be more than a beautiful room. We pray it will be a place where people encounter the living God, where the gospel is proclaimed, where families are strengthened, where children are formed in faith, where the hurting find grace, and where the church is sent out to love and serve the world.

And if you are in your own construction season, please know that you are not alone. Some of you may feel like you are in the "dark night" right now. Some may be walking through grief, uncertainty, loneliness, spiritual struggle, or a season where it feels like life has been torn up around you. My heart is with you. I would love to talk with you, pray with you, and walk with you through that season.

Our sanctuary is under construction, but so are we. God has a blueprint. God is still shaping the clay. God will complete the work he has begun. And by his grace, what he is building will be good.