Yes, this is the correct method for reading voltages. You do need to make sure your multimeter is set to DC mode and not AC mode. If it is on DC mode then you are not supply the chip enough voltage.
What are you powering it from? Either your voltage source is low (like if it is a battery) and should be replaced, or if you are using a current limited supply you could be hitting a current limit that is causing the voltage to drop.
An old question, but it's a cool topic for beginners to wrap their minds around, so I'll answer it. To answer the last question first, remember that voltage appears across a load, while current is measured through the load.
It may be easier to visualize the phase lag concept if you think of a capacitor rather than an inductor. You're probably familiar with the fact that when you charge a large capacitor, it looks like a short circuit at first. At the instant of connection, current is flowing through the cap, but no voltage appears across it because, hey, it's a short circuit, right? As the cap charges up, the voltage across it rises and the current through it falls. This is all that's meant when people say that "the current leads the voltage" in a capacitor.
With an inductor, we say the voltage leads the current because at the instant of connection the inductor looks like an open circuit. A perfect inductor connected to a voltage source at time=0 will have the whole supply voltage across it, with no current flowing through it. During the 'charging' process the inductor stores energy in its surrounding magnetic field, which cannot happen instantaneously any more than a capacitor can be charged instantaneously. So the voltage "leads" the current in this case.
What's interesting about an inductor is what happens when the source is disconnected. A capacitor will just sit there at the same voltage, slowly losing its charge over a long period of time if there is no load across it. But with an inductor, the magnetic field collapses as soon as the power supply is removed, and this happens quickly. A recently-disconnected inductor will try to maintain the flow of current through the circuit rather than the voltage across itself.... but wait, there is no circuit anymore, because we just opened it.
A perfect inductor would generate an infinite voltage in an attempt to keep the current flowing. Even an imperfect one can turn a few volts into several hundred for a short period of time after disconnection. This is why a zero-crossing switch is not the same thing as a snubber. The snubber's job is to give the inductor a load it can drive when the source is removed altogether -- usually a capacitive one since you don't want it drawing current the rest of the time. It keeps the voltage from rising to levels that could hose semiconductors, burn relay contacts with arcing, or otherwise cause trouble.
Best Answer
It means that you have very little idea of what you are doing :-).
BUT keep asking questions! :-) - it's a good way to learn.
Using a "water analogy" is a good way to get a feel for electrical terms.
As George Box said " All models are wrong, but some models are useful". ie no analogy is perfect but even an imperfect analogy can help understanding.
Voltage is similar to the pressure in a water flow situation.
Pressure can be caused by "head" such as height of a dam = a battery, or by a pump = an alternator or generator.
Water current flow is about the same as electrical current flow.
Resistance to water flow such as from a thin pipe, is similar to electrical resistance.
Some things get harder and the models may be even less exact but:
A Capacitor is like having a water tank with in and out pipes at the bottom on opposite sides and a flexible rubber dividing wall separating the two halves. The size of the tank and the flexibility of the rubber are related to capacitor size.
An inductor is like having a length of tubing made of flexible rubber so that it will expand as water flows through it under pressure.
SO
Your 2.1V and 0.04 mA are like looking at system and seeing some water pressure (voltage) and water-current flow (current in mA). The size of the voltage and the size of the current will depend on the "circuit" (pipe connections, lengths, sizes etc.). Until you explain quite a lot better how you measured these things and what your circuit is like we cannot explain why they are as they are.
Note that voltage and current ALWAYS match up.
Nature is never wrong :-).
Any time we think it is wrong it means that we do not properly understand it (yet).