Corona Devo 3175
It's an uphill battle, for sure: this life lived for the Lord.
Some days (most days?) we can feel alone in our pursuit of God's holiness. Everyone around us is in pursuit of themselves, it seems, and if this is a war that we are waging with the world, many days it feels as if we are losing.
Self-focus/Self-pleasure/Self-truth: these breed and bring violence (when people do not get their way). Evil deeds rise and run rampant. People without God and without His purposes are miserable and they produce misery for others.
Do we feel like we are an army of one (for the Lord) today?
Habakkuk did too.
Haba-who?
Habakkuk. He was a prophet of the Lord, and he begins his book of the Bible lamenting the brokenness of the world, but not just that people are broken, but that these (Godless) people are mean, evil, destructive, argumentative, and wicked to us.
Ever feel the same?--As if we are alone in our pursuit of God's holiness? I do not ask this in pride (of serving God and feeling lonely), I ask in weariness, exhaustion, and (at times)...in a voice of almost-surrender.
People are mean to God's people sometimes. And often we cannot even pinpoint a reason except that darkness hates the light.
And so we are mocked. Ridiculed. Isolated. Left out. Uninvited. Harassed. Beaten-down. And tested.
Tested?
Will we stand for the Lord, still...even when the blows are heavy?
Yes, Believer--continue to stand.
Habakkuk was worn way down by the world, but he cried out to the Lord, and then he waited on the Lord, and then God showed him there would be consequence for the sins of God's people, but then there would also be deliverance.
~~~
Are we worn-down by the world today? Habakkuk was worn way down by the world, but he cried out to the Lord...
This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. (2)How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. (3) Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. (4) The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. ~Habakkuk 1:1-4
~~~
Hang-in here today--it's possible and probably that the world is not done wearing us down yet. God showed Habakkuk and us that there would be consequence for the sins of God's people...
The Lord previewed to Habakkuk that the Babylonians were going to come and rule over the people of Israel, as a consequence of the sins of Israel.
(5) The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.
(6) I am raising up the Babylonians,a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. (7) They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like... (11) They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.” ~Habakkuk 1:5-7, 11
Habakkuk acknowledges that he and we (God's people) are guilty before the Lord (we are), but Habakkuk reminds God of His fierce love for His children (us!) and of His holiness.
(12) O Lord my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal—surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins.
(13) But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil. Will you wink at their treachery? Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? (14) Are we only fish to be caught and killed? Are we only sea creatures that have no leader?
(15) Must we be strung up on their hooks and caught in their nets while they rejoice and celebrate?
(16) Then they will worship their nets and burn incense in front of them. "These nets are the gods who have made us rich!” they will claim.
(17) Will you let them get away with this forever? Will they succeed forever in their heartless conquests? ~Habakkuk 1:12-17
I love to read these verses. They are somehow comforting because of what we face sometimes as followers-of-Christ. People can be very mean, and I can't limit this statement to kids in the sandbox, teen girls, or adults who should know better.
As followers-of-Christ, we will have tough days.
Lay it all down before God today, Friend.
Let's climb up to our watchtower and wait to see what the Lord says.
I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. ~Habakkuk 2:1
(2) Then the Lord said to me...
(4) “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
(5) Wealth is treacherous, and the arrogant are never at rest. They open their mouths as wide as the grave, and like death, they are never satisfied. In their greed they have gathered up many nations and swallowed many peoples.
(6) “But soon their captives will taunt them...
(8) Because you have plundered many nations, now all the survivors will plunder you...
(12) “What sorrow awaits you who build cities with money gained through murder and corruption! (13) Has not the Lord of Heaven’s Armies promised that the wealth of nations will turn to ashes? They work so hard, but all in vain!
(14) For as the waters fill the sea, the earth will be filled with an awareness of the glory of the Lord.
(20) But the Lord is in his holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before him.” ~Habakkuk 2:2, 4-6, 8, 12-14, 20
~~~
Habakkuk was worn way down by the world, but he cried out to the Lord, and then he waited on the Lord, and then God showed him there will be consequence for the sins of God's people, but then there would also be deliverance for us.
And the enemies of God (and those who serve Him) will have consequences too.
When the world is harassing us, and our strength has been sapped...keep living by your faithfulness to God.
~~~
Like us, Habakkuk knew what it was to be scorned for his faith and judged for his joy in the Lord. But Habakkuk kept his faith and joy in the Lord. Even in persecution, Habakkuk did not wane in his worship of the Lord.
Let Habakkuk encourage us in-the-hard today.
This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk: (2) I have heard all about you, Lord. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by. And in your anger, remember your mercy.
(3) I see God moving across the deserts... His brilliant splendor fills the heavens, and the earth is filled with his praise.
(4) His coming is as brilliant as the sunrise. Rays of light flash from his hands, where his awesome power is hidden.
(12) You marched across the land in anger and trampled the nations in your fury. (13) You went out to rescue your chosen people, to save your anointed ones. You crushed the heads of the wicked and stripped their bones from head to toe.
(16) ...I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us. ~Habakkuk 3:1-4, 12-13, 16
Some days, some times, some people...are ugly, and mean, and negative, and emptying to us.
Rejoice in the Lord anyway today. (...yet I will rejoice in the Lord! ~Habakkuk 3:18)
(17) 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! (19) The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights. ~Habakkuk 3:1-4, 12-13, 16-19
~~~
And so our faith is tested on some days.
Tested?
Yes, Believer--continue to stand, even when the blows are heavy.
Habakkuk was worn way down by the world, but he cried out to the Lord, and then he waited on the Lord, and then God showed him there would be consequence for the sins of God's people, but then there would also be deliverance.
Even in the hard...rejoice in the Lord anyway today.
Blessings,
sarah
https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com
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