Habakkuk 3
Take the High Road!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Tuesday, October 1.
The final chapter of Habakkuk is a haunting song; it’s a petition for God’s deliverance from difficult circumstances, and it triumphantly concludes in Habakkuk 3:17-19:
Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.
This closing song begs the question: Is success your god, or is God your strength? I know the right answer, but my practicing reality is often the former, to my own instability and exhaustion. I have a suspicion that I’m not alone. It is human to do so because we are affected adversely by our circumstances when they are not going our way, as we hear from the prophet in verse 16, “I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.” Can we agree that it’s hard work to wait quietly and trust God when things are not going well? The off-ramp to faith is to take matters into our own hands and do something about it. But that will only make matters worse! We are invited to wait quietly and trust in God’s strength, even when that feels passive, inconsequential, and unproductive. Even when our feelings betray us, we are to wait quietly upon the Lord, who is our strength and our stability.
Seize the moment and take the high road – Believe God (1 John 5:4-5)!
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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