Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a video of Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing their song, All Is Well, … declaring the reality and truth that no matter what God allows or brings, … He is in control.
Highlight Passage: Habakkuk 1: 3 [NKJV] …
3 Why do You (God) show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; … there is strife; … and contention arises.
… It’s so easy, as it was for Habakkuk, to think God doesn’t care when so much evil seems to prevail in the world.
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Highlight Context – Habakkuk 1: 1-11 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… Life can be very confusing at times, even for a Prophet of God.
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Reference Passage #1 - Proverbs 3: 5-6 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… When we can’t find our way, Whom do we trust to lead us forward?
Reference Passage #2 - Isaiah 55: 8-9 [NKJV] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s ways are just a mystery at times … requiring that we trust that He is in control.
Reference Passage #3 - Romans 8: 28 [NKJV] …
28 All things work together for the good of those who love God and are the called according to His purposes.
… Yeah, … it’s true … but do we believe it … do we live it?
Reference Passage #4 - 1st Peter 5: 7 [NKJV] …
7 … cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you.
… Peter declares what we all should remember - and do - when things get rough.
My Journal for Today: Today’s Our Daily Bread author, Poh Fang Chia, took me back to one of my favorite characters in the Old Testament, … the confused Prophet, Habakkuk, who prophesied to God’s people in Judah after Assyria had taken over the northern tribes of Israel. And in this OT book, Habakkuk’s journal of faith (or lack thereof), is a word from God about which I can totally identify.
There are times in life - at least for me - when one wants to cry out… “WHY, GOD?!!” … Ever felt that way? … Certainly in these 21st century times, we see things going on where our faith is challenged and we want to question God as did Habakkuk in his day [see the highlight passages linked above].
Habakkuk just couldn’t understand why God was not acting to correct the sin and corruption Habakkuk saw being perpetrated in his day; so he cried out, in his confusion, to His God, … just as we should if we have faith challenges today. Because, if we go back to Habakkuk, we’ll see that God set him straight and told the Prophet to go to a high place and see that things were going to get worse before they got better; … and they did.
God is no less in control now than He was in Habakkuk’s time; and we need to come to the realization of faith, which Habakkuk finally did, … that God is sovereign and sometimes we just don’t know what His plan is all about (see Isaiah 55: 8-9). But we also need to grasp the truth espoused by Solomon (see Prov. 3: 5-6) and by Peter (in 1st Peter 5: 7 and simply cast our cares on God, trusting that He has a plan which Paul declared [see Romans 8: 28] would always be for the good of those who love God and pursue His purposes.
If we believe that, … let’s go live it!!
My Prayer Today: Oh, my Lord, … I trust You … even when I don’t get what You’re all about. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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