Hello, Wednesday! Ready for Habakkuk? Drop to the comments and share what verse touched you this week. And next week, take a peek at Zephaniah. (Spoiler Alert: One of my very favorite Bible verses is in Zephanaiah!)
Habakkuk 3:17-18 (NIV)–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.
What’s truly important in life? As much as we need shelter and food and other physical things, they are simply not what matters. God is what matters. If anything else has taken priority in your life, it’s time to reevaluate.
Several of the “minor prophets” over the past few weeks have caused us to reflect on the state of our world today. It’s clearly a poor situation. It’s easy to get wrapped up in everything that is wrong and to forget that, no matter what happens, God is still God, and He is still the number one priority of our lives. When I read this verse, it makes me remember that nothing else matters but Him. It can be scary to realize how fragile our lives are and even how fragile our planet is, but these things are not our foundation. God is. And He will never, ever be moved or shaken. I love that He is always on the throne. Always. And nothing surprises Him, that even in the worst, most desperate times, we can still rejoice in our Lord!
-JB
Dawn Lucowitz says
This week I chose Habakkuk 1:13. It appears under the heading in my bible as Habakkuk’s second complaint. “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
I sympathize with Habakkuk in this book a lot. Sometimes I get mad at the people in the bible not understanding how they just didn’t get it. I mean, they see God and His miracles all the time, right? I get even more frustrated in the New Testament when people walked along side and watched Jesus miracles first hand and still didn’t understand. Then I take a second and think, how the heck don’t I get it sometimes, how does this world not get it? Do we not see God’s miracles every day? Do we not see evidence of Him in everything? How dumb are we sometimes?
Aren’t we so much like Habakkuk complaining all the time about how unfair and unjust the world is? Some of the biggest complaints are about how can bad things happen to such good people.
This week, one of my favorite bands released their new CD. Jason Roy, the lead singer for the Group Building 429 is our church’s worship leader. I loved what he spoke about when he shared this song with us. The lyrics speak to my thoughts so perfectly….
“Sometimes I feel like I’m watching from the outside. Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing. But am I alive? I won’t keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find. All I know is I’m not home yet, this is not where I belong. Take this world and give me Jesus, this is not where I belong. So when the walls come falling down on me, and when I’m lost in the current of a raging sea, I have this blessed assurance holding me. When the earth shakes I want to be found in you. When the lights fade I want to be found in you.”
I really love the chorus so much and plan to focus on it when things feel wrong and I just don’t understand… “All I know is I’m not home yet, this is not where I belong. Take this world and give me Jesus, this is not where I belong.”
Jodie says
WOW! That is so powerful. SEE? This is what I want… God to be my everything, so that if/when it all falls apart, it won’t matter because He is still there.
I have been exceptionally frustrated this week with us as God’s people. That makes me sound arrogant, I know, and I do not mean that in a judgmental way. It just seems like we want God without obeying Him. We want Him to be like Aladdin’s genie and just serve us without obeying Him. It makes my heart hurt.
Jessica R. Patch says
Are you kidding me? I love Building 429!! I have learned to stop whining when reading this book, however it gives me comfort to know even when I do whine, God still loves me, wants me to be honest with him, and has no problem correcting me!
I will stand my watch
And set myself on the rampart,
And watch to see what He will say to me,
And what I will answer when I am corrected.
The key is waiting to hear what he will say.
For the vision is yet for an appointed time;
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
Because it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
This verse has been a lifeline for me in writing. I know God has given me a vision, without a vision the people perish, and I know God doesn’t lie. I keep this on a notecard nearby.
Jodie says
NICE!!!! That is a great one for writing! I may “steal” that one to post by my computer on those days when I forget He’s right there and this is His will!
Jen says
Habakkuk 1:5- “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.”
How often do we sit around praying and asking God to reveal His will to us? If you’re like me, multiple times a day! And while He rarely clues me in ahead of time, the funny thing is that when something actually DOES happen to change my life, it’s usually so far out of left field that I really wouldn’t have believed it had He told me. And that is the great thing about God. He knows exactly what we need and is willing to give it to us at exactly the right moment. He isn’t swayed by our begging and pleading, nor does He clue us in too early. If He did, how many times would we run away scared, torn between not believing it can happen and believing that it WILL (which is usually the scarier of the two!)? Instead, He does things in His own time and lets us be “utterly amazed” when everything starts falling into place… usually from the places we least expect. 🙂
Jodie says
Sometimes I wish I knew what was coming, but to be honest, you’re right. It would probably scare the hair right off of our heads. He lets us know when we need to, doesn’t He? But boy am I glad to know He knows what’s coming, even when I don’t. There is a lot of comfort in that!