Monthly Archives: November 2010

Waiting on God

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Habakkuk is a book of Scripture that we don’t talk about all that much. It’s one of those Old Testament Minor Prophets, one of those small books in the back before you get to the New Testament.

Easy to ignore, easy to not think about.

Plus it’s got a hard to pronounce and spell title.

(Please, those of you that know me, please refrain from making any jokes about my ability to spell.  Or use basic grammar.)

In this book, Habakkuk makes his complaint before God. And it’s a complaint we all understand.

Why, God?  Why are things wrong?  Why is their evil? Why do the evil triumph?  Why are the good harmed?

Why?

And he waits for God’s response.  And it finally comes in this passage from today:

20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him!

The Lord is Lord.  Yes, there are a lot of things I don’t understand. There are a lot of things that don’t make sense to me.

Yes, there is evil.  Yes, there is pain. Yes, there are things that my finite mind just can’t work out and work through.

Yes, there are things that I don’t know how to deal with.

But, God is God.

And He is in His Holy Temple.

And while I don’t understand all, and know all, and fathom all, God does.

And while I don’t know everything, I know this.

I can trust God.  He is able.  He is worthy.

He can be trusted.

He is in His Holy Temple today.  He remains on the throne.  You can trust.

No matter what you’re going through today, you can trust.

Habakkuk waited on God. And that was the response he received: Wait. He is God.

He is God.  He can handle it.  He is God.

Trust, today.

All Joy

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There are lots of things that we can be happy about.

I tell folks I’m about a lot things.

Time with family.

A good song.

A good jog.

Getting stuff checked of my to do list.

An Ole  Miss victory (ok, I’ve been sad a lot recently 🙂 )

We all have things in life that make us happy, that bring joy to our lives, that are things that just make our life better. Things we look forward to. Things we treasure.

James writes today in his letter (one of my favorite books of the bible, by the way) these words about what should bring joy:

2 My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; 4and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.

Of all things that bring me joy, I don’t tend to think of them as trials. Well, other than the 2010 Ole Miss football team.  But the things that bring me joy of those moments of life

My children. . . . my family. . . . . my church. . . . the good things. . . .

But James reminds us to be thankful in trials, because these time of trials produce endurance. These moments of trials and troubles bring forth maturity.

It’s old, it’s corny, but it’s true. That which doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

It’s hard to praise God in a storm. It’s hard to rejoice in a trial. It’s hard to laugh in the midst of tears. It’s hard to find that silver lining in the dark cloud.

But, it’s there. God is there. His strength is there.

He will never leave or forsake His children. He loves you. Today.  He will not leave you. Today.

No matter what you’re going through. No matter how dark the valley.  No matter what is happening.

You.  Will.  Survive.

God is with you. He will strengthen you.

Whatever trial you are going through right now, God will bring you through it.

He will.

He promised.

Count it all joy today. God will bring you through the fire today.  He is true to His word.

Another Chance

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One of the readings that I’ve been going through the past few days has been Joel.

Joel is one of the Old Testament prophets.  They would bring a message of repentance to the people.  The would come forth and say, you have not been living as the Lord wants.

You have forgotten His way.

You have broken His law.

And because of your sin – judgement is coming.

When we read through the prophets, we can become keenly aware of our sin and the consequences  of our sin for ourselves, and for those that we love.

But in Joel, and every prophet, we see a moment like this in the text.  The Lord has condemned the people and condemned their sin.

And today, we read this:

12 Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

Yes, our sin has consequences.  Yes, it brings great harm to us, and to others.  Yes it separates us from God.

And yes, today, God is willing to forgive.

God is willing to give us another chance.

If we will return to God, He will give us forgiveness.  If we will return to God, He will give us a fresh start.

With God, today, we find that this is a new day.

Each new day, God wants us to have another chance.

Each new day, God gives us the chance to start over.

Even today. Today is a new day.  May we return to God.  May we find that God gives us another chance. And may we find the life He offers.

Craving

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I am defenseless against peanuts.

Do I know that I should not eat the entire container of nuts in one sitting?

Yes, yes I do.

Do I do it anyway?

Yes, yes I do.

Because I really, really, love peanuts. They are a great. I just can’t help myself when I’m around them.

I have a craving for them.

I was thinking about craving and desiring things when I read this passage from Psalm 78 this morning:

29 So they ate and were well filled, *
for he gave them what they craved.
30 But they did not stop their craving, *
though the food was still in their mouths.

God gave the people everything they craved.

He gave them everything they wanted. But, they still wanted more.

The wanted more and more and more and more.

Because what they were craving was not filling.  Now, it might have filled the body.

But it didn’t fill the soul.

It didn’t meet their true craving.

Today, do you crave God?  Do you desire to spend time with Him. Do you long to know Him on a deeper and deeper level?

Can you not wait to spend time in His word?  With His people?  With Him in prayer?

What do you crave this morning?

What is it that you desire this morning?

If it is anything other than God, you will be disappointed.  If it’s anything other than knowing Him deeper, you will find it lacking.

God gave them what they craved. And it wasn’t enough.

Only Him.  Only knowing Him deeper. Only time with Him.

That’s the only thing that will fill our craving.

God is at Work

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Preparation is important.

I’m a guy that believes in preparation and planning.

I’m a guy that will leave early for a meeting and drive around just so that I know where I’m going so I won’t be late.

I’m a guy that likes to know what is going to happen before it happens.

I’m a planner, someone who prepares, and, by my nature, someone who worries.

And that’s a problem.  When you’re wired like that, you think it’s all up to you.

You’ve got to dot every “i” and cross every “t.”

And if you make a mistake, boom, it’s over.

Today, listen to what the Psalmist says to God in Psalm 80:

9 You prepared the ground for it; *
it took root and filled the land.

God prepared the land for the root. God did the work. God made things ready.

Not the Psalmist.  Not Israel.  Not the prophet.  Not the King.

God made it ready.

God did the work.

So is it for you today. There’s not a situation you are going to encounter that God wasn’t already at work at.

God is preparing things for you today. God is making things ready.

God is at work.

He is making a way, making a plan.

He’s at work.

It’s not all up to you. Trust.  Listen.  Follow.

God is at work.

You can trust Him.

The Stuff of Earth or Heaven

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One of my favorite Psalms in the Bible is Psalm 73.  I think passage the Psalmist goes through what happens to the wicked.

And it’s not what you’d think.

He says, you know, they got it pretty good. Things seem to go well for them.

They get what they want. Things works out. It seems like the way to go.

He looks at his life and sees that things aren’t perfect, that things can be hard, that life is tough.

And then he looks at the wicked and thinks, man, that’s just not fair.

I’m trying to do right, and they aren’t! Why do they get the good stuff?

But, as he thinks, he considers God, considers God’s plan, considers God’s way.

And He realizes this:

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
I desire you more than anything on earth.
26 My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
but God remains the strength of my heart;
he is mine forever.

What else matters but God?

The stuff of this earth, it will fail. The stuff of the world it will fail

God will not.  The things of God will not.

The Psalmist look the wicked and realized that instead of things working out for them, they are in trouble.

For, while they have the things of this world, they don’t have God.

And what else could you want?

What else could you need?

Today, remember, trust not in the things of the world.

Trust in God.

And you will never, ever be disappointed.

Don’t Miss It

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One of the things we see in Gospels, during Jesus ministry, is that so many people missed what He was doing.

They didn’t see.

Maybe they didn’t want to see it.

Maybe they would have done things different from Jesus.

Maybe they disagreed with how He did things.

But, for whatever reason, so many of the religious leaders missed what Jesus was doing.

Take the text in Luke 13 this morning:

14But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, ‘There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day.’ 15But the Lord answered him and said, ‘You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? 16And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?’

Because it wasn’t the way that would have done it, the teacher got mad.

He said, you shouldn’t heal on the Sabbath. But, he missed the most important point – someone was healed!

And He missed it!  He missed what Jesus was doing!  He missed the miracle that Jesus performed!  He missed that hope that Jesus gave.

Because He was focusing on what didn’t really matter.

Do we, in our lives, miss what God is trying to do, because we focus on what doesn’t matter?  Do we miss what God may be trying to accomplish in our lives, or in the lives others because it’s not the way that we’d do it.

Do we miss the things that we should be praising God for instead of complaining about?

Don’t miss what God is trying to do. Be on the lookout for what His spirit is doing!

God is at work, all around you today.

Don’t miss it!