Prayer: Father, I love Your Word Lord! I am eager to hear You today through Habakkuk. You have a contemporary word for me today. Your servant, Your slave, is listening. Amen.
Bible Project: Book of Habakkuk Summary | Watch an Overview Video (bibleproject.com)
Reading: Habakkuk 1 key: vs. 2-4 “How long, Adonai, have I cried for help, yet You do not hear? I cry out to You—‘Violence!’ yet You do not deliver. Why do You show me wickedness, and why must I behold mischief? Yes, devastation and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore, Torah has no effect, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked encircle the righteous Therefore justice comes out perverted. TLV
Attention: How long have some of us labored in prayer for a loved one, a spouse, or a child who has gone astray? Habakkuk’s opening statement addresses Adonai with the cry of his heart for “deliverance.” How can Adonai use someone or a nation who is less holy than the person or nation being besieged? Holiness or less or more evil is not at issue. Both nations are guilty and both nations are answerable to the God (Adonai) who is Supreme.
Habakkuk’s plea sounds very contemporary. I have asked God the same question, “How long?”, regarding suffering of various forms from various sources. We wonder why there is no answer from God. We agonize over the disregard for God, His Word (scripture) which contains the Law and reference to the Torah throughout the New Testament, by the culture of our land. And, like Habakkuk’s experience, justice in our land “comes out perverted.” Man is not capable of justice when justice is based on our individual truth. Truth can only be based on the One who is True.
Like Adonai’s answer to Habakkuk, we must believe that “a work is being done in (our) your days (1:5b).” God is at work, working out His plan with, in, and among the nations. He is doing the same in each individual life. He was doing it in Habakkuk’s day, and He is doing it in our day.
Action: I choose to embrace the activity of Adonai in me, my nation, and in all the nations.
Yield: I choose to submit to the Sovereignty of Adonai in my life, my nation, and all nations.
Engage: I choose to engage with God’s activity in my life, my nation, and all nations.
Relationship: I choose to live in intimate relationship with Adonai.
Prayer: Father, may I not be guilty of limiting Your activity in my life, the life of our nation, and the activity among the nations. I desire to war with You against all forms of evil, the evil one and his minions. I am Yours Lord! Amen.
Memory Verse: Philippians 2:13 “For the One working in you is God—both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” TLV
Music Video: Steve Green—He who began a good work in you https://youtu.be/eNjZlHARnEk?si=CY2rUX5AFqSoA5lK
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”