Thursday, February 9, 2012

Before "Yet" - Dinner #48

     In our adult Sunday School class, we were going through a series of lessons, this past month, on the book of Habakkuk.  Due to sickness in our household, and being out of town, we unfortunately missed several of the lessons, so I recently sat down, to read through the book of Habakkuk on my own.  My favorite verse in those three short chapters was Habakkuk 3:18 - “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”  Even if this happens, or this, or this . . .YET I will rejoice! I had to ask myself the question, what can I put before “yet”?  In my own personal life, I must resolve in my heart that . . . Even if we move further away from my parents – yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  . . .  Even if we cannot afford to pay this bill or that – yet I will rejoice in the Lord! . . . Even if we are not blessed with more babies for a while – yet I will rejoice in the Lord!  . . . No matter what circumstances come my way, I must determine to REJOICE IN THE LORD MY GOD!   I can worry night and day about what “might happen” or what “could happen”, or I can choose to rejoice in Christ my Savior NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS!  Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”
     We can put our trust in God to take care of ANYTHING and EVERYTHING we place before that “yet” in our lives! In Habakkuk 1:5, the Lord tells His prophet, “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” God has plans for us that we wouldn’t even believe! Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” We may not be able to see why certain things are happening in our lives, or why certain things are the way they are, but God is ever working in our lives! Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil . . .” Whatever you are going through, whatever you THINK you MIGHT have to go through, God is with you!  He is a God Who faithfully keeps His promises, and He has promised us in His Word, “ . . . I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Hebrews 13:5)
     In the New Testament, a group of women came to the tomb of the Lord Jesus, wishing to anoint His body with spices.  Mark 16:3 tells us, “And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?”  The women knew that up ahead, a problem awaited them.  How could they possibly move that large stone covering the face of the tomb?  The very next verse declares, “And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away . . . “ When the ladies arrived, they found that they had really had nothing to worry about, all along! The stone was ALREADY rolled away! In fact, we know from the rest of the story, that the Lord Jesus had actually risen from the dead! God already knows our futures, and the outcomes of all our problems.  That stone we fear, may not even BE THERE, once we arrive! We must place our worries in the Lord’s loving hands and leave them there! Psalm 94:19 says, “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.”
     Will this or that happen? Will it not happen at all? Habakkuk 3:18 “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” The future may be frightful and the way uncertain, but one thing we know for sure – we can REJOICE in God because He holds tomorrow in His hands! Psalm 61:2 “From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the rock that his higher than I.” What a loving God we serve! 

No comments:

Post a Comment