Sometimes discerning the plan of God is beyond difficult! It is near impossible. The ancient prophet, Habakkuk, saw the sins of the people of Judah. Despite the preaching and pleading of the prophets God sent their way, they continued to rebel. When he prayed and asked God to intervene, the Lord told him that He was sending the idol-worshipping Babylonians to bring corrective punishment on Jerusalem, the city of God. Habakkuk was incredulous! " God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work? Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline? But you can’t be serious! You can’t condone evil! So why don’t you do something about this? Why are you silent now? This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and you stand around and watch! " (Habakkuk 1:12-13, The Message)
God's answer to his rant is a word for us, too. The Lord says that in times when we cannot discern His purposes, when to all appearances He's forgotten us, we have two choices: "...self-importance— full of himself but soul-empty. (or) ... right standing before God through loyal and steady believing is fully alive, really alive." (Habakkuk 2:4, The Message) Perhaps you're more familiar with the text like this: "...the just shall live by his faith."
Faith allows us to keep on trusting God when the faithless curse Him! Faith helps us to climb over the why's that clamor for our attention to focus on the Who that is our Solid Rock. If we begin to believe the lie, an old as Eden, that we are the masters of our universe, that we can control our world, we will surely become soul empty in our self-importance. I've been in that place in my life so many times. With angry threats, bluff and bluster, and strategies hatched in the sleepless hours of the early morning, I try to impose my will on my world. For a time, I think it's working, but then my powerlessness becomes clear, even to me. Despair deepens until... I look to the Lord. With repentance and, in humility, I lay down my need to own my world, and let Him lead. Amazingly (how many times must I learn the same lesson?) there in His Presence, I find peace. So did Habakkuk! "...the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." (Habakkuk 2:20, NKJV) "Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength. I run like a deer. I feel like I’m king of the mountain!" (Habakkuk 3:19, The Message) The Babylonians were still coming, but the prophet was secure in faith.
Today - choose faith. Don't fall for the false faith that is just made of words. That kind of 'faith' leads us to pray prayers we don't really mean, to live a double life where we say the right words, but still hang onto our own ways with desperate insistence that God will do what we want Him to do if He really loves us. True faith abandons the need to control the world and God, and lets Him lead. That is underlined by the declaration that "... we walk by faith, not by sight." (2 Corinthians 5:7, NKJV) Believe the word of God and find rest.
Perhaps you're in a great time in your life - everything is going the way you want, the blessings bountiful, your heart full of joy! Hallelujah! That is still a time for faith. Don't be duped by the Deceiver into thinking that it was your own charm or wisdom that brought you to your place of success. Celebrate God's goodness. Praise Him for the blessings and continue to walk by faith for 'without faith it is impossible to please God.' That is just as true when life is full of sunshine as it is in the deep darkness of a terrible storm.
Here's a prayer to take with you today.
"I realized that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. Those who desert him will perish, for you destroy those who abandon you.
But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do." (Psalm 73:21-28, NLT)
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