"Just" as I Am...God's Answer to Habakkuk

Over last weekend, I began prepping for a few Christmas crafts I've been wanting to focus on before the holiday rush hits.

This has become one of those pre-Christmas, intentional, non-Jesus-dropping go-to's over the years.

(A few years ago, I put together a few random thoughts for an Advent Devotional, titled "I Dropped Baby Jesus." That link for a .pdf through dropbox is here. Feel free to duplicate and download.)

I like finding a key theme for the season that helps me keep Jesus in the season...

So, as I set out supplies on Saturday, I was humming a few little Christmas carols to myself (I simply CAN NOT bring myself to turn on Christmas music, or decorate, until Thanksgiving is over...gotta keep my mind fully engaged in one thing at a time). 

A favorite, Joy to the World, popped into the next-to-hum-line-up:

I love this line.

Our Lord has come...

And with Him came the opportunity for salvation for all men...

The right to be called children of God for all who receive Him...

The door to heaven flung wide open on Christmas Day, when Jesus came as a babe, lived flawlessly, died selflessly, and bridged the great divide for me to be His own...

Joy to the World offers an invitation in the next sentence:

"Let earth receive her King..."

Oh, that we would!

In this soon-to-be-upon us celebration, oh, that the world's eyes would be opened to the truth that there is but One King...

...and He purchased the right to be on the throne of our hearts.

But, there isn't room for Him, or me, or.....?,  to be on that throne. 

There's only room for one.

May it be Him!

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That one line got me thinking way, way, way back.

Fifty years ago this coming Tuesday, November 24th, 1970. 

That night, somewhere around 9:00 PM, earth stood still and the angels held their breath, as one, young, bold high school girl shared with her very "lost" friend (me) the gospel story.

That night it all made sense.

The story was personal to me.

Jesus became personal to me. 

And that night (I can't believe it was 50 years ago!!!), I did exactly what the writer of Joy to the World invited us to do (one earth-person-at-a-time).... I received Christ as my King!

What did that look like?

To receive: Greek word, lambano...

**to take to oneself in order to be carried away

**to welcome another, giving that one access to oneself

**to claim, procure, or associate with oneself as a companion

**used of that which, when taken, is NOT LET GO

Next to each one of those potential definitions, I can place a ✔!

I became His and He became mine that night...and, I have never once, not ever, thought of letting go...

Not only is He my King, He's my most intimate friend.

That night, fifty years ago, the angels erupted the quiet of the moment with shouts, trumpets, and a huge party was held in heaven....

I had come into the Kingdom for such a time as was coming ahead...

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So, how does this tie in with my study of Habakkuk?

Once again, I found myself focusing on the blessed night of my salvation as I read God's answer to Habakkuk in Chapter 2.

God begins to answer Habakkuk, who is still standing on his watchtower, waiting for the Lord's response (remember, he's at attention, watching, ready to receive whatever the Lord says...).

God has a lot to say to Habakkuk...but verse 4 holds what could be six of the most important words in all of Scripture (it was so important it took 3 New Testament Books to explain it...Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews):

"The just

shall live

by faith..."

Fifty years ago, I was made righteous (just) as I stepped by faith into the grace of Jesus' arms through faith.

I could do nothing to earn my way...

Jesus had done all the work for me!

Now, how do I live out that life?

What is my role for as long as my feet are planted on this earth?

In these last days (if they are the last days and even if they aren't), how do I walk out my life as a follower of Jesus?

I simply live the same way I came into the heavenly Kingdom of my new King...

By grace alone...

Through faith alone...

In Christ alone...

And don't forget...

As He once came...

He IS COMING AGAIN.

Make sure you have truly received Christ (in the full sense of "lambano") by grace alone, through faith alone, in Him alone...

I Hate Giving Bad News, but.... (Lessons from Habakkuk)

This week I stopped in the middle of Habakkuk chapter 2, verses 2 and 3.  

I had just applauded Habakkuk's openness to listen, really listen, to the Lord.

He was ready with

*the right posture.

*the right heart.

*the right response ("I WILL listen and obey"). 

Then God answered....

....and, immediately, I felt deeply sorry for Habakkuk.

Before the Lord gives the prophet His full response, here's what The Lord Almighty said to Habakkuk (Peg's paraphrase of verses 2 and 3 above):

Write down what I'm telling you.

Make it plain, make it public, make it permanent (to write it down meant it would have to be on stone common of Babylonian writings for all to read).

This revelation I'm giving you may seem slow in coming, but IT WILL COME at the appointed time.

Here's why the pity:

NO ONE!

Not doctors, not law enforcement, not an assigned military notifier, not a teacher, and DEFINITELY not a dorm parent.

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However, that job fell on us more times than I ever would have imagined during the years we served as dorm parents at Rift Valley Academy.

As I thought about the bad news Habakkuk had to deliver, my mind went back to a mid-October-Monday-evening, right before mid-term break for our students at RVA. 

We all just had to make it through one week of mid-term exams and then a breath-releasing-long-weekend off-campus for us all.

The boys from our dorm (15-16 years of age) were milling around in our apartment, when our phone rang.

One of the boys answered and called for "Forro" (that's what the boys had taken to calling Bay as a "term of endearment" - well, that and "Chubs," which is what they were teaching the African gray we were bird-sitting to call him). 

I could tell immediately the news was bad.

When he got off the phone, he informed me, and we determined he was the best of the two of us to break the news to the sweet, quiet Ugandan boy, who was a part of the current chaos in our living room.

While he performed that horrid task, I would inform our dorm boys.

Bay called Tim outside where he had the grim duty of letting him know that the Ugandan Airline flight his father (a Ugandan pastor) was on from London Heathrow to Entebbe had crashed as it made a typical brief stop in Rome. Of the 52 on board, there were 33 casualties. His dad was one of them.

As I quieted the boys in our living room, from outside we could already hear the wailing begin. 

It started softly and grew louder and louder for what seemed to take forever, until all that was left was quiet sobs. 

All Bay could do was hold our dorm son and weep with him.

During times like this, there are no words.

You just hang on...and be a presence...

...a tangible touch of Jesus in the middle of hard. 

As we processed through the grief with Tim over time, the one thing that made the hard bearable....that makes ANY HARD BEARABLE...is HOPE. 

And, as a follower of Jesus, we have HOPE in abundance.

This is the GOOD NEWS OF THE GOSPEL!

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This is what the Lord was asking of Habakkuk...to be the bearer of bad news....

...but, fortunately, the bad news was laced with HOPE!

It was this HOPE that helped Habakkuk transition to worship. 

Habakkuk, however, was the messenger.

First the bad news:  Judgment is coming! The Lord will use evil to wake up His sleeping children bringing them back to a renewed faith. Judah will fall into the hands of the Babylonians (modern day Iraq), many will die, and multitudes will be carted off into captivity for 70 years. 

How would you like to give that message? 

Then down at the bottom of the chiseled-stone-tablet came the hope...

...there it is in fine print interspersed amongst the bad...

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea (2:14)...

The Lord is in his holy temple (2:20)...

And, the God who worked wonders for the Israelites from ages past will swoop down again riding on the clouds in His chariot holding out salvation for His anointed people (3:8, 13)

In all of the bad news, Habakkuk's contemporary, Jeremiah, also declared, a future and a hope for God's people (Jeremiah 29:11)....

That future and hope comes as they would seek Him with all their hearts (Jeremiah 29:12-14)...

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Obviously, the message Habakkuk wrote passed down through the generations.

Those who read it RAN WITH IT!

The bad news came some 54 years later...just as the Lord declared through men like Habakkuk and Jeremiah. 

The message echoes still.

There's bad news coming.

A judgment we all deserve.

We've wandered so far from the truths of Scripture. 

We hold it in our hands in various forms - but we don't know it. 

Worse yet, we don't live it.

BUT THERE'S GOOD NEWS.

BETTER-YET NEWS.

JESUS.

Jesus will come again!

He may seem slow in coming.

But wait for Him.

The writer of Hebrews repeats Habakkuk's words, but he changes the "it" to come with "he" will come.

Jesus is sure to come riding in style on a cloud to receive His own.  

Salvation is ours in Him. 

In the midst of the bad news, let's hang tightly to the good news! 

And whether we want to share it or not, we must.

We must warn....

BUT, we must be hope-dispensers.

The world needs us!

Find Yourself Wrestling With God Over Circumstances and Events? Lessons in Habakkuk on Listening.

When I used to teach elementary school (first grade), I seated the students on the floor before me, and always, always I'd ask for two things: look me in the eye and put on your listening ears.

Watching and listening are essential to hearing and responding.

Listening is a great art...

Learning to listen is a lost art...

The verb listen, according to Merriam-Webster is to "hear something with thoughtful attention and consideration."

In the Scriptures, the word translated listen means "to hear with understanding and to give heed to and consent to what is heard." Involved in this is an unspoken, but fully understood, idea of responding to and obeying, when obedience is called upon by the hearer.

With that said, one can hear, but not listen. 

The problem may be as simple as having never been taught how...

Over the years, I've really, really tried to learn the art of listening.

I'm not great at it.

It doesn't come easily.

Some people seem expertly gifted in listening.

Others....not so much.

That's the category in which my name lands.

But, I've had occasion to realize just how important this gift is on so many levels.

As well, I've learned a secret to good listening...

So, listen and I'll share the secret I've learned from some of the BEST LISTENERS...

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Over the years, as we've been gifted the ability to travel, speak, and share Jesus-stories (this was pre-2020, pre-COVID 19, of course), what a privilege it has been to meet new people.

Some we've served with at events (event organizers and volunteers).

Some we've stayed with as they've opened their homes in hospitality.

Some we meet over meal tables, in discussion groups, in activities, and in general conversations.

Recently I've looked at my "collection of friends" that's reflected over social media.

I'm blessed beyond measure.  I consider myself wealthy in true friends, even though I rarely see them.

Indeed, one of the benefits of travel is that there are folks I cherish all over the world - of all nationalities. 

The one distinguishable trait among the closest of these is that they each have a unique gift of listening...

How do I know?

Because they've all shared one commonality - they know how to ask good questions. 

Our conversations are two-sided.

They ask, I respond.

I ask, they respond.

Back and forth it goes as we learn from and about one-another.

The more I listen, the more questions are raised and asked.

The end result is that amidst the questions asked, the answers given, and the responses we make to what we have truly heard, a sense of value is created.

When people ask questions, we know they are listening.

Listening means we value one another as individuals... AND...

Value offered leads to deeper relationship.

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The opposite has also been true - we've met folks from time to time, had them in our home for meals, only to sit and listen as they've gone on and on about themselves, their lives, and their families, but never once asked any questions of us in return...

This has hampered deeper relationships.

We've, sadly, seen ourselves in these folks, too...and, over time, we've attempted to make course corrections....to not be those people anymore!

The secret to good listening is asking good questions.

A sub-secret is being totally present in the conversation in order to ask those questions without trying to figure out what my next words will be...

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Habakkuk is a good listener.

He questions God appropriately, without argument, without doubt...

 He asks. He waits. He listens for what God will say....

Then he repeats the sequence.

And, this. This is the very thing that bridges the gap between the wrestling of Chapter 1 of Habakkuk and the worship of Chapter 3.

That first verse of the second chapter is so IMPORTANT!

When we are wrestling with the Lord, wondering what He is doing in the world about us, and questioning/lamenting the "why" of God's seeming indifference and inconsistence, we need THIS VERSE!

Habakkuk goes to the ONE PLACE where He can wait, watch, and LISTEN best (for Him it's an ancient watch tower). 

He goes high in order to look out over his field of complaints...

Habakkuk's actions speak to his heart! 

He has taken a listening stance.  

His posture says that:

1. He intends to be stubborn in his waiting (there is even a sense in the Hebrew wording that Habakkuk's arms are crossed and there is within him a limitless determination - "I'm here as long as it takes, Lord!")...

2. His heart is prepared for whatever he might hear... He simply wants to listen to what God will tell him. Another picture from the Hebrew language is that not only are Habakkuk's arms crossed in stubborn determination, but he is leaning forward...His body language is inviting the Lord to speak back. "I am ready!"

4. He's not trying to figure out his next steps, his plan of action, or, even his reply to the Lord.  He's just paying attention so he doesn't miss that still small voice of God... "I am paying attention."

5. Once he hears, Habakkuk will plan his way forward. "I will obey."

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This stubborn determination of Habakkuk...

His desire to LISTEN (in the full sense of the word)...

His heart and his intention...

THIS must make God's heart SOAR!

Over 190 times in the Scriptures, the Lord begs His people to be good listeners...

This is generally followed up with these heart-breaking words:

"But they did not listen..."

The Lord is still crying out to us to listen to His voice...

Are we so busy talking, talking, talking...issuing up complaint after complaint, that we aren't paying attention to His still small voice? 

Are we making our questions all about us, or are we seeking to learn from Him, as well?

Have we put on our listening ears? 

The kind of listening ears Habakkuk modeled for us?

The kind of listening that says, "I value our relationship, Lord...and I want it to go deeper..."?

This kind of listening will do for us what it did for Habakkuk.

We will smoothly transition from worrying and wrestling to worshipping and fully embracing the ways of the Lord.

There is a "Wee Corker" Inside Us All....Lessons from Habakkuk

You could attach a lot of terms of endearment to this one...

Here are a few, I often choose:

Snuggle bunny.

Sweet cheeks.

Little peach.

Sugar bug.

Missy.

Sassafras.

Cutie pie.

Spicy pepper.

But, the one that fits her best (my all-around go-to word, for this extroverted, people-loving, active, smiley, joy-filled little two-year-old grand-treasure), I have borrowed from the shores of Ireland.

She is truly a "wee corker."

I should probably submit her photo (I've plenty to choose from) for Ireland's next updated picture-dictionary.

Let me give you a back-drop for the story to come.

All our family made it home over the last week (well, all but one, who had to work and had a previous commitment he couldn't change in a university competition).

It was a joyful time together, as always is. 

I love just listening to them interact...especially the laughter!

And, together, we celebrated in our oldest daughter's happiness as she was joined in marriage to a fun new addition that will undoubtedly make this group joke and laugh even more than normal. 

Welcome, Todd!

All that to say, we have been on the go. 

So, naps for our "wee corker" were....well, non-existent.

Her schedule "fell off the map" due to time change, as well as, the craziness that abounded in this house when you have a wedding for all, hunting for some, and virtual schooling for many. 

On the very same day, I kind-of "hit the tired-out-wall," so did she.

All she wanted was to come join the fun in the big house (she was staying with her parents in Gramma's little house).

Mama wanted to make the bed first.

So....she did what any two-year-old might to show her frustration............................she bit the bed. 

Mama saw a heart of defiance and let her know that was unacceptable.

So, the wee corker looked mama in the eye, and bent down and bit the bed a second time.

She promptly went into time out.

When the timer went off signaling the end, all she had to do was acknowledge her sin and say, "I'm sorry, mommy, for biting the bed."

Nope.

No way was she about to do it.

She'd say, "I'm sorry, mommy."

But, not on your life, would she say for what she was sorry.

No sir!

So, she entered in the fight of her life to finally get to a place of submission.

Needless to say, the battle lasted a while.

Mom won. 

But, you'd have thought she had, for when she came back over to join the rest of the family, she was as happy and joyful as could be. 

When asked why she wouldn't just add "for biting the bed" to her "I'm sorry," the wee corker said, "Because I don't want to...."

And, there it is. 

Our want-to is often what drives our behavior. 

And, sadly, our want-to is often in contradiction to the Lord's will.

What "feels" best, the thing we "desire," the stubbornness of our hearts, the defiance and independence of our human nature, it's all part of what puts us in a world of hurt. 

Following our own path often leads to "destruction (Prov. 14:12)."

And, often demanding our own way has a definite repercussion on others, as well.

In this case, our little sassafras' attitude affected the whole bunch of us. 

It definitely affected her mommy and daddy who had to deal with her. 

All they wanted was for their sweet cheeks to line her attitude and behavior up with what was right and good...

They wanted a revival, a renewal, of her spirit that began with humility and ended up bending the knee to their parenting...so that one day, she wouldn't be a rebellious adult, demanding her own way in a world full of other demanders. 

Whenever someone joins in the howling, making demands for their own want-to, the world about us ends up with chaos. 

We are all touched by it (and not in a good way).

It is this same kind of chaos Habakkuk saw in the people of Judah.

Everyone wanted to do what was "right in their own eyes."

It had been their problem for centuries. 

All Habakkuk wanted was a revival, a renewal of spirit that begins with humility and would end in bending the knee to Almighty God and His righteous ways.

God, however, had other plans...just like our spicy little pepper's parents.

Instead of an immediate revival (which as we've already seen is not lasting, but temporary), there were consequences to face.

Those consequences would not be pleasant.

They would affect everyone. 

But, the Lord had a plan to eliminate the chaos, to stop the crazy cycle of everyone "doing what was right in their own eyes."

They wouldn't like their time-out either.

It would last for years (70 to be exact).

But, they would eventually "return" in humbleness and submission to the Lord.

This is a very simplistic view of Habakkuk's plea and how the Lord would lead His people back to what was right and good...

There is another day coming, when the Lord will bring judgment, for what we have done with His truth, His plan for redemption, and how our lives line up with His will and His way.

What we should desire is not our own "want-to," but His. 

What we should long for is His righteousness in our lives.

For the "way of the Lord is perfect and righteous altogether (Psalm 18:30)..."

We find LIFE ABUNDANT in Jesus, following after Him (John 10:10)...

...and, if we're going to "adult well" as Jesus-followers, we start with bending the knee of our hearts in humility and surrender.