Wednesday, December 18th: Habakkuk 1:1-3:19 Revelation 9:1-21 Psalm 137:1-9 Proverbs 30:10 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is  Habakkuk 1:1-3:19, Revelation 9:1-21, Psalm 137:1-9, Proverbs 30:10

Habakkuk 3:17-18
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
    and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
    and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
    and the cattle barns are empty,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!

I love this statement of faith - one of my favourite passages!

Sunday, December 24th: Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15 ~ Emma

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Habakkuk 1-3; Revelation 15

“This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” - Habakkuk‬ ‭2:3‬

It’s hard sometimes to hope for Jesus’ return when the world seems so sinful. It can be hard to trust that one day this will all be gone and we will be with Him forever. But like this verse says, we need to wait patiently for the Lord, because His timing is perfect. He has had this planned forever, and He has promised it will be true. So even when the world seems too imperfect, we need to trust in the One who is perfect. He has never failed us, and He never will. He is coming back for us, and we need to trust that His promises will come true.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Zephaniah 1-3; Revelation 16

Wednesday, August 10th: Habakkuk 1-3 ~ Nathan

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Habakkuk 1-3

Habakkuk was a prophet, and lived somewhere around 600 years before Jesus. In the book of Habakkuk, he starts off by asking some tough questions to God, and God answers him.

At the beginning of our reading, Habakkuk starts off by asking God for help but feels he isn't being answered,

Habakkuk 1:2-3
How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.

Do we feel like the world around us is getting worse and worse? How often don't we think back and think things were better years ago? (This type of questioning makes me feel old!)

He goes on in chapter 1 verse 13 B:
... Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Habakkuk asks some tough questions, but God answers him and puts into perspective how simple man's ways are, compared to God's...

Habakkuk 2:18-19,
18 “Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. [19] Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.”

Habakkuk responds with a prayer that shows respect and honour to God....

Habakkuk 3:2
Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy

Israel wasn't doing good at this time - they had sinned for a long time against God, who had done so much for the nation of Israel. It is tough to stand up and do what God wants, and live how He wants. This was true then and is also true now. Habakkuk ends off with a verse of thankfulness and encouragement,

Habakkuk 3:18
yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage: Zephaniah 1-3

Thursday, November 5th: Habakkuk 1-3, Colossians 3 ~ Tammy

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Habakkuk 1-3; Colossians 3

Habakkuk 3:17-18
17 Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

This is our hope.  Not that we will never struggle.  Not that life will be perfect.  Not that we will be always be wealthy.  Not that we will never get sick.  God has not promised us any of that.  But He has promised us His presence in affliction during this temporary life, and He has promised us joy unending and perfection forever in eternity with Him, the magnificence of which will far outweigh our earthly trouble and pain.

Colossians 3:7-8a
In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. 8 But now you must put them all away
This completely ties in to what our Pastor has been preaching about in church recently.  Before God saved us and sanctified us, we lived as slaves to sin.  But after our salvation we have become slaves to righteousness through the power of the Holy Spirit. However, that doesn't mean that we can just sit back and do nothing and expect to be transformed.  God has given us His Word and expects us to obey.  Yes, we are to rely on His strength not our own, but we still need to be obedient.  We must actively pursue holiness.  If we do nothing intentionally, our default is to drift away from God.  We cannot become lax in our sanctification!



Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Zephaniah 1-3; Colossians 4

Tuesday, April 16th - Sandy

Today's scripture focus is: Habakkuk 3:3-19
Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is: Joshua 23,24; Psalm 76; John 8

David Legge's sermon

God came from Teman,
    and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
    and the earth was full of his praise.
⁴ His brightness was like the light;
    rays flashed from his hand;
    and there he veiled his power.
⁵ Before him went pestilence,
    and plague followed at his heels.
⁶ He stood and measured the earth;
    he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
    the everlasting hills sank low.
    His were the everlasting ways.
⁷ I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
    the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
⁸ Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?
    Was your anger against the rivers,
    or your indignation against the sea,
when you rode on your horses,
    on your chariot of salvation?
⁹ You stripped the sheath from your bow,
    calling for many arrows. Selah
    You split the earth with rivers.
¹⁰ The mountains saw you and writhed;
    the raging waters swept on;
the deep gave forth its voice;
    it lifted its hands on high.
¹¹ The sun and moon stood still in their place
    at the light of your arrows as they sped,
    at the flash of your glittering spear.
¹² You marched through the earth in fury;
    you threshed the nations in anger.
¹³ You went out for the salvation of your people,
    for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
    laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
¹⁴ You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
    who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
    rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
¹⁵ You trampled the sea with your horses,
    the surging of mighty waters.

¹⁶ I hear, and my body trembles;
    my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
    my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
    to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the Lord

¹⁷ Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
¹⁹ God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

Ah!  What a change from the beginning of the book, no?  We've gone from complaints of, "What's going on?  Where are you?  Why aren't you...?" to songs of praise and delight in the works of God.  

I was looking at Matthew Henry's commentary on this and the bit under "chapter contents" amused me greatly:

The prophet beseeches God for his people. (1,2) He calls to mind former deliverances. (3-15) His firm trust in the Divine mercy. (16-19)

Obviously, that's not the complete commentary :D...but the succinct summary of what the chapter contains speaks volumes even on it's own.  
It's really the same summary for most of the books, isn't it? We ask God for mercy, we remind him of his promises, we stand firm in the faith.  At least, that's how it should be.  It's doesn't always work that way.  

For example: 
There is a wife who is bitter.  She is struggling in her faith, and unsure of who she is in Christ. She battles anger, bitterness, and confusion about who God is daily.  There are a lot of complaints.  It's easy to forget his past deliverance when one is so entrenched in the bitterness. 
The tides have been turning for awhile, and it seems that the darkest of times is past.  The future is brighter.  But a hiccup trips the husband and wife in a common way, money.  A whole week to payday and no money in sight.  The husband stands fast and reminds the wife of God's past provision, but she really doesn't care to see it.  She sees only the same thing in front of them.  "When will God deliver us?", she thinks.  
Naturally, he already has.  Before the bitter words escape her lips completely, his provision arrives in the form of two small, yet wholly unexpected forms.  

The point is: Complaint.  Beseeching.  Reminders.  Steadfast faith.  We can complain as much as we choose really.  We can harrumph and be sorry about our poor state of affairs, of which some seem so trivial in the light of the endless suffering of this world.  But, don't forget the faith.  DO NOT FORGET.  Steadfast faith.  Remind God of his promises if you wish, it for ourselves that we do it.  He has not, nor will he ever, forget.  

Monday, April 15 - Habakkuk 3:1-2

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Joshua 21,22; Psalm 75; John 7

Today's scripture focus is Habakkuk 3:1-2

 

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth.

² Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy.

 

I don't know about you, but I've prayed this prayer.  In my life, it has been a prayer of resignation.  "Ok, God, I get it.  This has to happen, and I'm not excited about it, but I know you.  I know your works and I stand in awe of them.  Do it again!  Remember your mercy and show your awesomeness in my life."

 

Matthew Henry states in his commentary that this prayer is an act of devotion.  I agree.  Sometimes prayer, when its the last thing you want to do, must be the first thing you do.  Be devoted to God, keep praying.  And call upon His mercy, which is far greater than anything we can do.

Tomorrow's scripture focus: Joshua 23,24; Psalm 76; John 8

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Habakkuk 3:3-19

Friday, April 12 ~ tammi

Today's Bible In a Year reading: Joshua 15-16; Psalm 74; John 6
Today's scripture focus passage: Habakkuk 2:5-20
Accompanying Legge sermon: The Welcome Woes

So now we come to the part of God's response to Habakkuk that COULD just be seen as judgment on Babylon.  And truthfully, that's how I generally read it.  I mean, that's who He's specifically talking about here, right?

But then I listened to David Legge and his WONDERFUL Irish brogue present a very different perspective and an eye-opening message.  These five woes aren't just promises of judgment for Babylon after God uses them to punish Israel.  They aren't just warnings for the Israelites either.

They're for us.  Reminding us how seriously God views sin.  Legge points out that every single prophetic book in the Old Testament opens with the promise of judgment for sin.  Every. single. one.  And he shifts our attention from gleefully thinking Babylon has it coming to asking ourselves a pointed question: where is MY anger towards sin?

"If there's anything wrong with Gospel preaching today - and there's plenty wrong with it, but if there's one thing wrong with it, it's this: that the anger of God is no longer preached. The anger of God, the wrath of God, and that is depicted in the law of God. Whenever the law is not preached - and let me say: when the Gospel is preached, we are not saved through the law, but the law is the schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. If we do not preach the law, death will not be realized by the person we are preaching to. If they don't hear that they have broken every law of God, that they have fallen short of God, that they have angered God, that the condemnation and the wrath of God is upon them, they have no hope of being saved!"  (emphasis added)

He goes into detail in describing the heart of the matter with each of the five woes and describes how each represents an idol in our lives, something just a little more important than God and His will is to us.  And before we're too quick to say, "'Of course I don't have idols in my life, David, what do you think I am? A pagan?' - let me ask you this question: has Christ got all of you? For that's the same question.

Do you have [idols]? Do you know what the word of God says, and I want us to think about this for one minute. It says this - you've been listening to five woes - do you know what the word of God says? Judgment begins in the house of God, with you. Do you want a revival? Do you? I would love a revival, but it will never happen if we don't deal with our sin - won't happen! ... Charles Finney said: 'Take a pen and a paper, and write on one side of a page sins of omission - the things that you don't do - and sins of commission - the sins that you do do. Write them down before your eyes, think about them, try to recollect them, and look on them, and weep upon them, and confess them before God' - that's breaking up the fallow ground, mourn and confess your sin!"   (emphasis added)

I used to feel a twinge of smugness, some superiority, at the judgment God promises in this passage to Babylon, the representative of all who turn their backs on God.

But not so much now.

Now I find myself simply marveling once again at the amazing grace of God, knowing that the ONLY reason He sees me as holy and perfect is because my life has been bought and paid for, redeemed by His Son's ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

And asking Him to make me more angry at the things that anger Him, to be more grieved by the things that grieve Him:

The sin in the world around us...

The sins tolerated within the Church...

MY sin.





Tomorrow's Bible In a Year reading: Joshua 17-18
Monday's scripture focus passage: Habakkuk 3:1-2

Thursday, April 11 ~ Miriam

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Joshua 13-14; Psalm 73; John 5.

Today's scripture focus is Habakkuk 2:2-4

2 Then the Lord answered me and said,
“Record the vision
And inscribe it on tablets,
That the one who reads it may run.
3 “For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will certainly come, it will not delay.


4 “Behold, as for the proud one,
His soul is not right within him;
But the righteous will live by his faith.

So, the last couple of days' verses talked about how God sometimes uses means beyond our understanding to bring about His purposes.  In this case, that the Chaldeans are going to come, it's going to be a terrible thing, but rest assured it's going to happen.  Habakkuk doesn't understand.  He's confused and upset and he just can't believe that this is the method a just God would use to turn Judah away from idolatry and back to Himself.

We've talked before, often, about how we don't see the big picture but so often we feel we know better than God what the problem is and what the best solution to that problem might be.  The trouble with that is - #1 we see only a very limited perspective and can't possibly predict all the far-reaching ramifications of our solutions; and #2 it's pretty arrogant of us to think we know better than the God of the entire universe.  Can you imagine what would have happened if human beings had been in charge of creation?  I shudder to think.

From Matt Chandler's sermon, Discipline or Wrath?

If God is infinite, sovereign, all-powerful, all knowing and can do whatever He pleases, then what do we do with pain, suffering, loss and hurt? What do we do with those things since God is good and He is sovereign and those things exist? Well, the last time I was with you, we unpacked the first part of that, and that’s that the Bible says we’ll have one of two reactions to that kind of thing. The first way is we will be proud. We will believe if it was just done our way, if that just wouldn’t have happened, if we would have done this instead of this, then things would have worked out right. And the Bible says that’s a heart of pride that believes it knows better than God. The second way we respond according to Habakkuk 2 is that the righteous will live by faith. That means that we don’t always have an answer for the “why” but we trust that, even in the darkest of days, God is good, He is loving and He is at work to redeem and reconcile all things unto Himself. So the righteous live by faith in the face of tragedy. We live by faith in the face of loss. We live by faith in the face of devastation and disrepute. We live by faith.  (emphasis mine)
I know this seems like a pat answer.  When we are in the middle of tragedy, it can make us angry to hear those platitudes.  I really can't predict how I would handle some of the things that happen in the world that are terrible beyond imagining, were something like that to happen to me or my family.

I think, though, that if we live our lives having a relationship with God and striving to walk with Him, that if terrible tragedy does come we will be better able to experience the comfort that God is in control and does have a plan, even if we are incapable of understanding it.  Sometimes, perhaps, it is more difficult to have that faith if we only seek God in times of trouble and ignore Him when things seem to be going well.

Have a great Thursday!  Wishing you warm sun, melting snow (if applicable), and as Spring FINALLY begins to arrive, let us remember that just as Spring always follows Winter (slowly as may be), God always keeps His promises.


Tomorrow's scripture focus:  Habakkuk 2:5-20.

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage:  Joshua 15-16; Psalm 74; John 6.

Wednesday, April 10th

Today's passage from the Bible In a Year Reading Plan is Joshua 11-12, Psalm 72, John 4

Today's scripture focus is Habakkuk 1:12-2:1

¹² Are you not from everlasting,
    O Lord my God, my Holy One?
    We shall not die.
O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
¹³ You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
    and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
¹⁴ You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
¹⁵ He brings all of them up with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
¹⁶ Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,
    and his food is rich.
¹⁷ Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    and mercilessly killing nations forever?

2 I will take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

David Legge's sermon: Watching and Waiting

So far we've seen that Habakkuk was absolutely distressed about the sin and violence that had taken over his people, and he was absolutely burdened by it, and he was desperately begging God to do something about it.

And God says, yes, I have seen it and I am doing something about it.  But then God gives Habakkuk the answer he did not want to hear.  God said that He was bringing the Chaldeans (the Babylonians) to destroy the Israelites.

And our passage today is Habakkuk's response.

He is shocked.  This is not the answer he expected at all.  He was wanting God to tell him that a revival was about to sweep the land, or that he would raise up a new king like Josiah had been, who would bring the people back to worshiping God.  He was not expecting judgment via Babylon.

And Habakkuk questions God.

God, You are eternal.   You exist outside of time, and You can see all of time right now, and so You know what will happen if the evil Babylonians come and attack us.

God, You are a holy God and they are even more sinful than we are, so why are You using them?

God, You cannot look upon sin with approval and yet You're going to watch them come annihilate us? What's going on?

God, our Rock, You are our stable rock of refuge, the cleft in the rock.  How could You destroy us?

Habakkuk knew the Babylonians would be judged.  He knew that.

Habakkuk knew that he and the rest of the Israelites were God's chosen people, as he calls God, "my God", "my Holy One".  And deep down he knew that God would draw His rebellious people back to Himself.

But he didn't see this coming.  He was unable to look at it from God's perspective.  And from Habakkuk's perspective it looked like abuse.  But from God's perspective it was discipline.

He felt like God was leaving His people to fend for themselves (v14) and that when the Babylonians came and swept them away (v15) they would praise themselves for the victory (v16) not knowing that they were actually pawns in the hand of God.

Habakkuk couldn't see past the rod of discipline to the love that was behind it.

But Habakkuk brought all those doubts, all those questions to God.  And then he said he was going to watch and wait until God answered him.

The truth is, we cannot understand God and His ways.  If we could, what a puny god that would be!  But we try to bring God down to our level.  We try to fit Him in a box and say this is the way it's supposed to be.  We need it to make sense.

The truth is, it doesn't matter who sins more, the Israelites or the Chaldeans, me or you.  We all sin.  The issue is, who repents?  The issue is, who turns to God to save them?

The truth is, sometimes we will feel forsaken.  That doesn't mean we don't know God.

Jesus knew God the father.  Jesus knew the plan of redemption.  Jesus knew that He would be born to die a horrible death on the cross. Jesus knew that the full wrath of the Father would fall on Him, in order to pay the punishment for our sin.  And yet, knowing ALL of that, when He actually experienced it He cried out - My God, My God, why have You forsaken me?!

Jesus felt forsaken by His Father.  He WAS forsaken by His Father.

We will feel forsaken too.

But then what will we do?

What were Jesus' next words?  Into Your hands, I commit my spirit.

Will we commit ourselves to God? Will we trust Him with our souls?  Will we lean on Him through the trials there are no answer to?  Will we trust Him?  Will we watch and wait?


Tomorrow's scripture focus: Habakkuk 2:2-4

Tomorrow's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Joshua 13-14, Psalm 73, John 5

Tuesday April 9 2013 - Sandy

Today's scripture focus: Habakkuk 1:5-11

Today's Bible In a Year Passage passage: Joshua 9-10, Psalm 71, John 3

The Lord's Answer

 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
 They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
 They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

 Here are we are seeing God's response to Habakkuk's complaint from yesterday.  Habakkuk complains that there is nothing but evil around him and yet he (and we) wait for God's justice.  A valid complaint no?  Looking at the state of affairs when this was written and today, evil seems rampant and in control.

But God's response is pretty interesting.  He has a plan.  A plan Habakkuk would not believe if told.  A plan to punish evil by using and evil people.  Seems odd?  It shows that God uses all for his purpose.  God here is telling Habakkuk about using and evil people to smite an evil people.

Can we accept that?  Can we accept that God's plan is many times, simply too much for us to grasp?  Can we accept God's purpose in evil?  That's a pretty heavy thing to consider.  A quote from a very wise man (mine): "If we assert that evil is not from God, then not only do we make God less-than, but we also make evil meaningless and so we are right to feel hopeless in our trials with said evil."

But where does that leave us in our complaints like Habakkuk?  Our valid lamenting against the evils of this world, and overwhelming sadness at seeing them committed?

We have faith in:  The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The God whom has made numerous promises of our salvation and numerous promises to see justice done against those who are not for Him.    The same God who became flesh to die on the cross for our sins.  Our faith isn't blind, but is faith that is  grounded in the promises of the Word, and the works He's done for us and in us.

We certainly aren't to accept or ignore the evil around us.  We are to be salt and light, spreading the Gospel and sharing the hope within us to all those who are trapped in the dark of evil.  But we also have to accept, that in the end, God is God, and His will is His will.  We must do our best to be servants and ambassadors of that will, all while accepting that His plan may be something we don't expect.

Monday, October 17 - Jody

Today's reading from the Chronological OT/NT Reading Plan is: 2 Chronicles 35, Habakkuk 1-3, Acts 25

Happy Monday Everyone!

Habukkuk's prayer stood out for me in today's reading. I love the progression of proclaiming God's goodness and strength. Starting in a personal way, extending to God's power throughout His creation, then ending in a personal way again. John MacArthur says:

This chapter is a great prayer. It is a classic example of prayer. Habakkuk's attitude in his prayer is simply this: God I don't understand everything, I don't understand why You let Israel go, I don't understand why You're bringing the Chaldeans to judge them, I don't understand why You're going to wait to judge the Chaldeans after that, I don't understand any of the things, but I know one thing God, You're the God that is righteous, You're the God that's eternal, You're the God that never makes a mistake, You're the God that hates sin, You're the God that never does anything wrong and I'll stand on that and praise You anyhow.

Oh how hard that must have been! And how hard is this for us still today! God I don't understand this hurt in my life, or God - I don't understand why you allow this to happen in my life... it could be countless things we don't understand about God, but Habakkuk shows us here that we can praise God anyhow!

John MacArthur tells us in the same sermon that: His prayer embodies four parts that really are the parts of every prayer. They are petition, remembrance, and natural consequence to remembrance, which is praise, confession and adoration. Petition, remembrance, confession and adoration: the four parts of his prayer that are really the four parts of any prayer that is a prayer. 

Later on in the same sermon MacArthur continues on:

Now we see the key how to praise the Lord anyhow. It's just simple. We just look back and we just start remembering God's continued constant never ending, never hesitating, never stopping faithfulness. And we take it from there. And we can stand face to face with the problem and we can back off of that problem and say now wait a minute, not only is my God good and right and never does anything wrong, and not only does He love me and care for me, and not only is He the kind of a God who is absolutely eternally righteous, but something else about Him, He's also absolutely and eternally faithful. And He has promised to keep that which I have, what, committed unto to Him. That's a New Testament promise for us. And Jesus said, "I will never, what, leave you or forsake you."
And God has proven Himself faithful throughout all the years. God has never proven Himself unfaithful at any time at any place in history at any juncture in human life. God is always faithful and we can stand today and step back from the most gross problem from the most unbelievable perplexity, from the most confusing dilemma and we can say, "I don't understand the problem, but I understand God and God is faithful."

How very true. God really IS absolutely and eternally faithful. Even when we don't understand, He is faithful.

Tomorrow's passage: Jeremiah 1-2, Acts 26

August 2nd

Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Book of Habakkuk, Zephaniah 1-2:7

Commentaries on the Book of Habakkuk
Blue Letter Bible Commentary by Ray Stedman
The Just Shall Live by Faith by John Piper
When God Doesn't Make Sense by Mike Leake

A few verses that jumped out at me...

Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. Habakkuk 1:5

Habakkuk had asked God why and how long evil would prevail, and God starts His answer by saying Habakkuk was not going to understand it. God works in ways that are beyond our comprehension. So many times we are actually watching God's answer unveil before our very eyes and we don't recognize it because it's not what we asked for, it's not what we expected, it's not what we would've done.

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Habakkuk 2:1

God's answer was that He was going to destroy the Assyrians (Ninevites) by raising up the Babylonians. Yep, God was right - Habakkuk didn't understand this. How was replacing the Assyrians with the Babylonians going to solve the problem - it just didn't make sense! But Habakkuk showed his faith in God, he was going to wait for him. He knew that God was good. He knew that God was all-powerful. He knew that God was and is and always will be. And he would wait for God.

So often that is what we need to do. We aren't going to necessarily get an answer to our questions. God is not always going to reveal His reasons to us. And when He does, we are not always going to understand them. And so we need to rely on the God that has been revealed to us in the scriptures and by His Holy Spirit and we need to trust in Him, and wait on Him.

The righteous will live by faith. Habakkuk 2:4b

These words are quoted in the New Testament in Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. This is the word that lit a fire in the heart of Martin Luther, "The righteous shall live by faith." Not by circumstances or by observations or by reasoning, but by faith in what God has said will happen.

In these words the prophet is shown that there are only two possible outlooks on life. There are only two attitudes by which we can face life. Either we face it in faith depending upon God, or we face it in unbelief depending upon our own ability to reason out everything. These are the two fundamental attitudes, and they are the only two. You can only have one or the other. If you look around you will see that every human being on the face of the earth can be put into one of these two categories. Either they are trusting in the wisdom of the human mind to study events and arrange solutions, and they try to analyze the writings of clever men and come to conclusions about human events based on these sources, or they take what God has said and believe that when he has said a thing will happen, it will happen and that all of history converges into and hinges on that promise....

Habakkuk began this book by saying, "Lord, why don't you do something." Now he says, "Lord, be careful, don't do too much. In wrath remember mercy. I see you are working Lord, but remember in the midst of it that you are still a God of mercy." That is all he has to say. there is no more philosophy, no more theology, no more arguing with God.

[Habakkuk's prayer] is one of the most remarkably beautiful, poetic passages in all the Scriptures. Read it and see how the prophet is doing nothing more or less than going back and remembering what God has done in the past. That is what convinces Habakkuk that God can be trusted. He rests upon events that have already occurred, events which cannot be questioned or taken away or shaken in any way; the great fact that God has already moved in human history. And this is where faith must rest. We do not live by blind faith. We live with a God who has acted in time and space, who has done something, who has indelibly recorded his will in the progress of human events. The prophet looks back to God's action in Egypt when Israel was in trouble and remembers here how God moved. (Ray Stedman from the Blue Letter Bible commentary above)

And then we have one of my favourite passages....
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. Habakkuk 3:17-18

Have you discovered that? That though the problem remains and the pressure is still there, there can be a strengthening of the inner man that makes the heart rejoice and be glad even in the midst of the difficulty. That is what Habakkuk discovered. "The Lord himself," he says, "is my strength." And that is New Testament truth. That is the great secret of a Christian. Not that God takes the problem away. The world is desperately trying to find a way to get rid of the problem. But God has ordained that the problems shall remain. "In the world you have tribulation," Jesus said, "but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (Jn. 16:33) 1 love the title of a book by Dr. Edman, former president of Wheaton College. It so gloriously sums up what a Christians' attitude should be in the midst of difficult times. Do you know what it is? "Not Somehow, But Triumphantly." Not just getting through it somehow, but triumphantly. (Ray Stedman, emphasis mine)

Tomorrow's passage: Zephaniah 2:8-3:20, 2 Chronicles 35:20-27, 2 Kings 23:29-30, Jeremiah 47-48