Often, I discount the words of leaders whose job is to stoke morale. I'm sceptical of the coach who says she still believes in her team after their dismal game. She's probably just trying to make them feel better. And I shrug when the provost says his faculty is the best. He probably said the same thing at his previous school, and he'll likely say the same thing at his next one.

Our God is not like that. He means every word, so we must take all His words seriously. In today's passage, God speaks to Judah ″on the twenty-first day of the seventh month″ (Haggai 2:1), which means the rejuvenated Jews have been rebuilding the temple for nearly a month. God evaluates their progress, and He doesn't sugar-coat His words. Nearly 70 years have passed since the first temple was destroyed. Few people remain who remember its greatness. Yet God doesn't use Judah's lack of first-hand knowledge to excuse them. He asks, ″Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?″ (v. 3).

God might fail our business leadership courses, but His brutal honesty builds trust. Here is someone you can believe. God tells the unvarnished truth. He means what He says.

We can believe Him when He says ″Be strong″. He says it three times in Haggai 2:4 because He knows that it's hard to be motivated when your predicament is so bleak. But we can ″be strong . . . and work″ because the Lord Almighty says, ″I am with you″ (v. 4).

It wasn't obvious to Judah that God was with them. God's glory cloud had filled the temple that Solomon built (1 Kings 8:10-12), but it departed when the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and destroyed the temple (Ezekiel 10). We're not sure the glory cloud ever came back, even after Judah rebuilt the temple. When the Jews looked around, they couldn't always see the Lord was with them. But they could trust His word. God means what He says.

You may not feel that God is with you in your mess. You might think He isn't, because if He is, wouldn't you have seen improvements by now? Do not trust your eyes or your feelings. Believe the one who loves you too much to lie or tell you half-truths. He promises ″my Spirit remains among you″ (Haggai 2:5). He also says, ″Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you″ (Hebrews 13:5).

God may not immediately change our situation, but He promises to be with us. We do not bear our burden alone. God's presence must not make us complacent–we still need to ask God for progress–but His presence will make us content. God is with you. That's enough. So be strong, and get to work.