Devotion assignments can be daunting. Writing doesn’t come easy to me and the responsibility of the handling of God’s Word is weighty. Oftentimes I fumble when trying to clearly convey my thoughts from head to paper. I pray for a clear understanding and interpretation of the Word. It’s easy to read one verse and immediately want to use it to support my ideas and circumstances. I sometimes jump to interpret or apply it to mean whatever my selfish little heart desires. Today’s writing task is to share our favorite verse and our “why”. The ironic thing is that my favorite verse follows a big why. A bold why. A complaining whiny why.
“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
Doesn’t that just pump you up! Those words are spoken by God to the prophet Habakkuk, who asked God "why" about the presence of evil and injustice in the world. Specifically, he questioned why God seemed to tolerate or allow evil to flourish and prosper while the righteous suffered. He also questioned why God would use the Babylonians, a wicked nation, to punish Judah.
There are a few reasons that this is one of my favorite verses. I like how this prophetic book is different from the others whereas the prophet hears a word from the Lord and then he delivers it to God’s people, but in this book, it’s something totally different. It’s a dialogue, a convo between Habukkuk and God. Habakkuk refers to God as “O Lord” translated as “Yahweh” which is God’s personal name. This is so encouraging to me to know that whatever my complaints might be – even the dreaded & uncomfortable “why” questions, God welcomes them in prayer. God wants to engage with me. He wants my heart. He’s relational.
For a long time, I used this verse so flippantly without knowing the context. I didn’t quite understand the sovereignty of God and the fact that His ways are not our ways. I just wanted to make that verse all about me. And that’s why this sweet nugget of Truth is so meaningful to me. Context. I found that reading the verses before and after, reading the whole chapter, and reading God’s story in its entirety has caused me to know God more, and to fall more deeply in love with Him and His Ways and His Powerful Word.
Friend, if you are in a season of life where you are thinking “if only God would explain what He is trying to do then all of this would make sense and I’d be able to trust Him more”. The truth is that even if God explained everything to us, we wouldn’t be able to understand. God told Habakkuk to look among the nations and he’d see that God was already at work in solving this injustice problem. But here’s the thing – even if God told him exactly what He was going to do, even if God broke down all of the details to him, Habakkuk simply didn’t have it in him to be able to understand it. No matter how much of the Bible you might know, no matter how many theology degrees you have, it is still hard to wrap your mind around the fact that God would use unexpected means to accomplish His purpose. How awesome to know that God is sovereign and nothing will thwart His plans. Let’s praise together that the King of Kings has absolute power and control over all things.
“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
Doesn’t that just pump you up! Those words are spoken by God to the prophet Habakkuk, who asked God "why" about the presence of evil and injustice in the world. Specifically, he questioned why God seemed to tolerate or allow evil to flourish and prosper while the righteous suffered. He also questioned why God would use the Babylonians, a wicked nation, to punish Judah.
There are a few reasons that this is one of my favorite verses. I like how this prophetic book is different from the others whereas the prophet hears a word from the Lord and then he delivers it to God’s people, but in this book, it’s something totally different. It’s a dialogue, a convo between Habukkuk and God. Habakkuk refers to God as “O Lord” translated as “Yahweh” which is God’s personal name. This is so encouraging to me to know that whatever my complaints might be – even the dreaded & uncomfortable “why” questions, God welcomes them in prayer. God wants to engage with me. He wants my heart. He’s relational.
For a long time, I used this verse so flippantly without knowing the context. I didn’t quite understand the sovereignty of God and the fact that His ways are not our ways. I just wanted to make that verse all about me. And that’s why this sweet nugget of Truth is so meaningful to me. Context. I found that reading the verses before and after, reading the whole chapter, and reading God’s story in its entirety has caused me to know God more, and to fall more deeply in love with Him and His Ways and His Powerful Word.
Friend, if you are in a season of life where you are thinking “if only God would explain what He is trying to do then all of this would make sense and I’d be able to trust Him more”. The truth is that even if God explained everything to us, we wouldn’t be able to understand. God told Habakkuk to look among the nations and he’d see that God was already at work in solving this injustice problem. But here’s the thing – even if God told him exactly what He was going to do, even if God broke down all of the details to him, Habakkuk simply didn’t have it in him to be able to understand it. No matter how much of the Bible you might know, no matter how many theology degrees you have, it is still hard to wrap your mind around the fact that God would use unexpected means to accomplish His purpose. How awesome to know that God is sovereign and nothing will thwart His plans. Let’s praise together that the King of Kings has absolute power and control over all things.
Posted in Devotional