Trust - no matter what!

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1-3; Psalm 133

TO CHEW ON: "Though the fig tree may not blossom

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail

And the fields yield no food

And there be no herd in the stalls —

Yet will I rejoice in the Lord

I will joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk 3:17-18

What has brought Habakkuk from despair to faith? We see, at the beginning of the book, how he was obsessed with the negatives around him. He saw only lack of justice (Habakkuk 1:2-4), evil flourishing (Habakkuk 1:12-13), and the surrounding heathen nations ravishing their neighbours (including Israel) and getting away with it (Habakkuk 1:14-17). How did he get to this declaration of trust in God?

By focusing on the right things.

If we look at what precedes his flag-plant of faith we see that it's a song / prayer of praise which looks at God's strength and lists the ways He has come to Israel's rescue in the past (Habakkuk 3:1-16).

It reminds us of other great prayers of faith. For example, compare Habakkuk 3:3-4 with Moses' blessing in Deuteronomy 33:2.

Habakkuk alludes to God's judgment of Egypt and the Israelites (in the desert) with sickness in Habakkuk 3:5.

When he says, "The overflowing of the water passed by" (Habakkuk 3:10), we are reminded of the way the Israelites passed through the Red Sea between walls of water as described in Exodus 14:22.

All this remembering, this seeing God in the big brush strokes of history buoys Habakkuk's faith till finally he can say with confidence, No matter what it looks like today and tomorrow, this season or next, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

My Bible's commentary on this verse sums it up well:

"Habakkuk asked genuine questions, waited for God's answers, and accepted them. He put his hope in God and experienced His presence. In faith, he looked beyond his present circumstances to God, placing his hope in God's saving grace and absolute faithfulness. He set his heart and his eyes on God"

We can do that too. We can:

• Understand that it is acceptable to acknowledge the difficulty of our situation.

• Focus our attention on God rather than circumstances.

• Remember our circumstances will change but God remains the same.

• Put hope in God's ability to save us; He is present with us in even the most difficult of times.

• Choose to rejoice in the Lord regardless of the way we feel

• Trust that He will enable us to overcome.

(Leslyn Musch, "Truth In Action Through Habakkuk," New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1230.)

PRAYER: Dear God, Habakkuk moved from doubt and fear to faith and confidence in You, even though his circumstances didn't change. Help me to have that reaction to the puzzling things in my life, as I choose to trust You no matter how things look. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 133

The Bible Project VIDEO: Habakkuk (Read Scripture Series)






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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

In the meantime, revival

Habakkuk by Donatello (1423-6)

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 3:1-19

TO CHEW ON: "O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy." Habakkuk 3:2


God told Habakkuk earlier that waiting would be involved in the resolution of Judah's situation—that "the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak … Though it tarries, wait for it." In the meantime he needed to live by faith (Habakkuk 2:2-4).

But that knowledge didn't dampen Habakkuk's hope for the meantime. Here he prayed that God would revive His people even during the time of waiting: "in the midst of the years!"

Isn't that the cry of our hearts too? Wherever we are on the continuum of time between Jesus' ascension and return to earth, we long for God to again make His presence felt, to send conviction of sin like only He can, to break down resistance to wanderers returning to Him, and to cause a new spiritual sensitivity and fruitfulness in our land. And so we join Habakkuk along with David, Asaph, the Sons of Korah, and Isaiah in praying for revival:

"Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
And sinners shall be converted to You" - David in Psalm 51:13.

"Restore us, O God of hosts;
Cause Your face to shine,
And we shall be saved!" - Asaph in Psalm 80:7.

"Will You not revive us again,
That Your people may rejoice in You?" - Sons of Korah in Psalm 85:6.

"Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field is counted as a forest" - Isaiah 32:15.

 

PRAYER: Dear God, stories of revivals from years ago seem like fanciful tales—impossible to repeat. Would you send revival again? Please? Amen.

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Journey focus

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 2:5-20

TO CHEW ON: "But the Lord is in His holy temple,
Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Habakkuk 2:20

"The book of Habakkuk gives the account of a spiritual journey, telling of one man's pilgrimage from doubt to worship" - Sam Middlebrook, Introduction to Habakkuk, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1222.

Habakkuk sees his situation realistically. Not only have his countrymen fallen away from God, but the Babylonians are a constant threat. My Bible's commentary suggests that Habakkuk 2:6, 9, 12, 15, and 19 are a series of woes Habakkuk, pronounces on the Babylonian invaders.

Whether they were directed at foreign invaders or his countrymen, they show that the land of Judah had loads of problems:

• People were taking what wasn't rightfully theirs and keeping the needy in subjection with high interest rates ("loads himself with many pledges" - Habakkuk 2:6).

• People were running roughshod over others to enhance their own security - Habakkuk 2:9.

• People were establishing towns through force and violence - Habakkuk 2:12.

• People were influencing their neighbours to get drunk so they could take advantage of them - Habakkuk 2:15.

• People were worshiping wood and stone images and looking to them for insight and direction (Habakkuk 2:19).

That's enough to make anyone glum. But Habakkuk doesn't give in to despair. Instead, he reminds himself of his hope in the God of power and action he worships:

"For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord …" (Habakkuk 2:14).

"But the Lord is in His holy temple
Let all the earth keep silence before Him"  (Habakkuk 2:20) (emphases added).

We too can easily become discouraged as we look at society around us and the seemingly hopeless tangle of world affairs. At such times of potential discouragement on our journey, let's follow Habakkuk's example and shift our focus from our problems to our God. And as we lift our eyes let's give voice to that shift by offering faith-filled praise. God is in His holy temple. Someday the earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory!

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your faithfulness in the past that gives me confidence that I can trust You for now and the future. On my journey through life, help me to keep my focus on You. Amen.

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New King James Version (NKJV) Used with permission. The Holy Bible, New King James Version Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.

A real vs. religious relationship with God

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

TO CHEW ON: "O Lord how long shall I cry,
And you will not hear?
Even cry out to You, 'Violence!'
And You will not save." Habakkuk 1:1

The times felt God-forsaken to Habakkuk. Judah had backslidden from Josiah's reforms. Violence towards citizens and oppression of the poor were rampant. Babylonia was gaining strength and threatened to invade from the north while Egypt and Assyria eyed other borders. It was in this setting that the prophet Habakkuk—a Levite—cried out to God.

His part of the conversation in Habakkuk 1 is refreshingly honest.
- He pours out his frustrations with God who seems deaf and disinterested -  Habakkuk 1:1.

- He confronts God with what appear to be contradictions—if God is holy why doesn't He deal with evil - Habakkuk 1:13?

- He appeals to the order of creation, showing God how man, in his anarchy, is no better than the creatures - Habakkuk 1:14-17.

God's reply (Habakkuk 1:5-11) is delivered with the same feistiness as Habakkuk's questions:

"Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe though it were told you" (Habakkuk 1:5).

Habakkuk is a good example of a man who has a genuine relationship with God. In her Truth-In-Action Through Habakkuk commentary, Leslyn Musch says:

"Habakkuk's transparent interchange with God models for us a real relationship rather than a religious one."

Musch makes these points about how to make ours similar:

• Ask God the honest questions of your heart.

• Understand that He can handle them.

• Draw close to Him through prayer.

• Ask to gain God's perspective on injustice.

• Ask the Holy Spirit to show you the deep things of God - 1 Corinthians 2:10-11.

Of God's reply she says:

• Expect the Lord to answer you.

• Approach God with an open heart.

• Lay down any preconceived ideas of how He will respond.

• Be ready to hear anything He desires to tell you.

- Leslyn Musch, Truth-In-Action-Through Habakkuk, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1229.

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for being big enough for any question. Help me to trust You when I don't understand and Your silence and inaction look like a contradiction of who You are. I want to be open to Your answers, however You send them. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Live by FAITH

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 2:1-20

TO CHEW ON: "Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4

Yesterday we left Habakkuk voicing his frustration with God's apparent inaction. He tries to goad God to act by pointing out things He shouldn't be tolerating: sin, the rise to power of evil leaders. Today we have God's reply. I wonder if Habakkuk wasn't just a little disappointed in it. For God didn't give a direct answer to a single concern Habakkuk raised. Instead He said, in effect, trust. Live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).

Of course we know it isn't faith that is the real answer. We can have faith in all kinds of things that aren't faith-worthy. The godless Babylonians of Habakkuk's days had faith too — in their methods of warfare and in their idols.

The faith that Habakkuk was to live by was faith in God, which encompassed believing that He was who He said He was, and could and would ultimately align things on earth with His character.

Two additional verses in this chapter help to flesh out what faith in God was and is all about:

"For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea" - Habakkuk 2:14

This verse tells us that someday God's presence, invading every crack and cranny of Earth will crowd out injustice, sickness, disaster of every kind. For light and darkness can't coexist. When the earth is filled with the knowledge of God's glory, the source of all Habakkuk's and our why questions will be overcome by God's light.

And:

"But the Lord is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth keep silence before Him" - Habakkuk 2:20

This verse comes after Habakkuk's description of someone worshiping man-made gods; idols. It tells us that God will outlast any and every other thing which we worship and in which we trust.

So, instead of dwelling on the why questions we asked yesterday, let's take the answer Habakkuk got and apply it to our own lives. Let's live by faith, but faith in not just anything, but in the God of the Bible who outlasts all other gods and has promised to someday illuminate every why with the light of His presence.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this deep, rich answer to my dilemmas. It puts the ball back in my court: will I trust You even when I can't see? Help me to do that today. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Why?

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4


TO CHEW ON: "Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble?

....Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?

Why do you make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them?" Habakkuk 1:3, 13, 14

The prophet Habakkuk lived during a critical period in Judah's history. Josiah's reforms had eroded so that Judah's citizens were now vulnerable to violence and oppression with little hope of help from a just legal system.The nation was also threatened from outside as Egypt and rising Babylon lusted after her. (Scholars date Habakkuk at about 600 B.C., the interval between the fall of Nineveh in 612 and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C.)

As Habakkuk (who may have been a Levite or temple worker) views the state of his country and the world, all he has is questions. Why, God? Why this violence (to which God's reply, 'You haven't seen anything yet!' seems hardly satisfactory: Habakkuk 1:5-11)? Why, if You're so pure and just, do You allow the treachery I see all around me? Why do you allow the wicked person to triumph over the righteous one? Why do you allow men who act as brutish as animals, flourish in their mistreatment of others?

Who of us hasn't asked questions about the things we see around us?
- Why does God allow nation-crippling natural disasters?
- Why do some people seem to get all the bad breaks?
- Why do babies and children have to suffer with birth malformations and sickness?
- Why am I sick?
- Why can't my husband find a job?

And on and on...

My Bible's introduction to Habakkuk makes this observation about the book and how it relates to us:

"Habakkuk reminds us that the question "Why?" can, should and must be asked. His circumstances demanded that he ask God about the apparent reign of unrighteousness around him. Because he believed in God, he believed that God had an answer to his problem. His questions demonstrated the presence of faith, not the lack of it. For an atheist the question, "Why?" has no meaning; for a believer the question "Why?" finds its ultimate answer in God." - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1223.

So, as Habakkuk did, let's bring our hard questions to God.


PRAYER: Dear God, help me to be honest with you, acknowledging when I am confused and frustrated. Thank You for inviting my questions. Help me to hear and understand Your answers. Amen.


MORE: Sing your questions and answers

A genre of music — Negro Spirituals — came out of the questions and dark times of the African slaves brought to America to work for white masters on plantations or in town. An article about the history of this music says:

"The lyrics of negro spirituals were tightly linked with the lives of their authors: slaves. While work songs dealt only with their daily life, spirituals were inspired by the message of Jesus Christ and his Good News (Gospel) of the Bible, “You can be saved”. They are different from hymns and psalms, because they were a way of sharing the hard condition of being a slave." (Read entire...)

Find out more about Negro Spirituals.

Negro Spirituals - what the music meant to the people who sang the songs.



Acapella Spirituals - "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen"

A seven-word antidote for life

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

TO CHEW ON: "Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him.

But the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4

The prophet Habakkuk lived during desperate times. Josiah's reforms had run their course in Judah. The nation had again fallen into chaotic disarray with violence, oppression of the poor and the collapse of the legal system. Add to that the rise of Babylonia (the Chaldeans) who had conquered Assyria and Egypt and was eyeing Judah's northern border, and you have a grim scenario.

Habakkuk's innate sense of justice was deeply troubled by all this. And so he dared to question God. Subheadings in my Bible make it easy to follow their conversation:

Habakkuk: God, why don't You do something? (Habakkuk 1:1-4 - my paraphrase)

God: I will use the Chaldeans. (Habakkuk 1:5-11)

Habakkuk: Why do you use wicked people? (Habakkuk 1:12-17)

(To himself: I'm all ears to hear the answer to this!) (Habakkuk 2:1).

God: Write what I tell you so that you can easily spread this message when the time is right: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH. (Habakkuk 2:2-4)

The introductory notes to Habbakkuk in my Bible explain what these words probably meant to the prophet at the time:

"For the prophet, the promise is for physical protection in time of great upheaval and war. When the predicted invasion by foreign armies becomes a reality, that righteous remnant whose God is the Lord, whose trust and dependence is in Him will be delivered and they will live." "The Book of Habakkuk" New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1223.

Of course the words "The just shall live by their faith" have echoed through history. For Paul and the writer of Hebrews they were the anchor of salvation (Hebrews 10:38).  For Martin Luther they were the catalyst for the Reformation.

The seven words God spoke to Habakkuk way back in 600 B.C. also apply to us today. Everyday living demands faith. Handling sickness, catastrophe, and financial instability demands faith. Believing that we are really right with God demands faith (Philippians 3:8,9). Doing what we hear God telling us to do demands faith (Galatians 3:5,6).

For what do you need faith today?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to follow my vague anxieties to their sources of fear and unbelief. Help solidify my faith in Your goodness and ability to bring into my life things that are good for me. Amen.

MORE: Questioning God

I love the way Habakkuk speaks plainly to God about the things that trouble him. And God answers back. A sidebar article in my Bible suggests five keys to hearing God's voice, gleaned from Habakkuk 2:1-3.

1. Meet with God regularly in a special place of prayer: "I will stand my watch."
2. Look for God to speak to you in dreams and visions: I will "watch to see."
3. Listen for the word of the Lord: "He will say to me."
4. Keep a journal of things that God says: "Write the vision."
5. Wait for God to bring it to pass: "It will surely come."
— "Five Keys to Hearing God's Voice" by James W. Ryle, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1225.

(From the archives)

A seven-word antidote for life

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Habakkuk 1:1-2:4

TO CHEW ON: "Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him.

But the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:4

The prophet Habakkuk lived during desperate times. Josiah's reforms had run their course in Judah. The nation had again fallen into chaotic disarray with violence, oppression of the poor and the collapse of the legal system. Add to that the rise of Babylonia (the Chaldeans) who had conquered Assyria and Egypt and was eyeing Judah's northern border, and you have a grim scenario.

Habakkuk's innate sense of justice was deeply troubled by all this. And so he dared to question God. Subheadings in my Bible make it easy to follow their conversation:

Habakkuk: God, why don't You do something? (1:1-4 - my paraphrase)

God: I will use the Chaldeans. (1:5-11)

Habakkuk: Why do you use wicked people? (1:12-17)

(To himself: I'm all ears to hear the answer to this!) (2:1).

God: Write what I tell you so that you can easily spread this message when the time is right: THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY HIS FAITH. (2:2-4)

The introductory notes to Habbakkuk in my Bible explain what these words probably meant to the prophet at the time:

"For the prophet, the promise is for physical protection in time of great upheaval and war. When the predicted invasion by foreign armies becomes a reality, that righteous remnant whose God is the Lord, whose trust and dependence is in Him will be delivered and they will live." "The Book of Habakkuk" New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1223.

Of course the words "The just shall live by their faith" have echoed through history. For Paul and the writer of Hebrews they were the anchor of salvation. For Martin Luther they were the catalyst for the Reformation.

The seven words God spoke to Habakkuk way back in 600 B.C. also apply to us today. Everyday living demands faith. Handling sickness, catastrophe, and financial instability demands faith. Believing that we are really right with God demands faith. Doing what we hear God telling us to do demands faith.

For what do you need faith today?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to follow my vague anxieties to their sources of fear and unbelief. Help solidify my faith in Your goodness and ability to bring into my life things that are good for me. Amen.

MORE: Questioning God

I love the way Habakkuk speaks plainly to God about the things that trouble him. And God answers back. A sidebar article in my Bible suggests five keys to hearing God's voice, gleaned from Habakkuk 2:1-3.

1. Meet with God regularly in a special place of prayer: "I will stand my watch."
2. Look for God to speak to you in dreams and visions: I will "watch to see."
3. Listen for the word of the Lord: "He will say to me."
4. Keep a journal of things that God says: "Write the vision."
5. Wait for God to bring it to pass: "It will surely come."
— "Five Keys to Hearing God's Voice" by James W. Ryle, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1225.

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