Life lesson from the OT #2.

I have been working my way though Pastor Craig Groeschel’s new book: Hope in the Dark. Excellent Read. I cant recommend it enough. Do yourself a favour and head-on over to Amazon and pick up this book.

While I am not here to review this book in it’s entirety— this is above my pay-grade— I did get a few sermon ideas, and I am currently working on one now— you can pray that I will be asked to share this at a church near you… especially if you’re reading this from Ghana or Florida.. but I digress. 

The character that Pastor Craig directs out attention to is the Old Testament Prophet by the name of Habakkuk. Not much is known about this old book; however this small book packs an enormous punch. 

God’s chosen people had been worshipping idols and rebelling against Him for years and refusing to listen to each prophet that God had sent their way to remind them to turn from their wicked ways and turn back to God… but the people would not listen. 

Habakkuk was upset that the chosen people were  running around sining; so he talked to God about it, and then he found out that the evil empire, AKA the Babylonians were on their way to bring ruin to the chosen people of God. (This kinda gives us a date of this book… the fall of Judah occurred in 586, but that’s neither here nor there.)

When Hab. learns of the impending destruction at the hands of the evil empire, he goes ballistic… He begins to question God and ask Him if He knew what the Babylonians were truly like…

God reminded Hab. that though the evil empire would destroy Judah, they would eventually get what’s coming to them. they themselves— the evil empire— would get it. 

The interesting part of all the exchange that Hab. had with God was how God interacted with him. To me, it reinforced how we have a God who is Completely Sovereign, but yet at the same time very personal and approachable. God wants to be involved in our lives. He wants to be consulted, He wants to be involved in our every day lives. 

another thing that stood out to me was Habakkuk’s response to the whole event that was going to transpire— here is chapter 3:16-18

I trembled inside when I heard this;

    my lips quivered with fear.

My legs gave way beneath me,

    and I shook in terror.

I will wait quietly for the coming day

    when disaster will strike the people who invade us.

17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

    and there are no grapes on the vines;

even though the olive crop fails,

    and the fields lie empty and barren;

even though the flocks die in the fields,

    and the cattle barns are empty,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

    I will be joyful in the God of my salvation.

Basically he is choosing to believe that God is God and He can be trusted. Though His current situation didn’t make any sense to Habakkuk still trusted in God. 

I think there is a lesson in this for us. 

Sometimes things can happen to us that leave us scratching our heads. We hear of wildfires completely destroying parts of the world, and his being shot, and chaos seems to be the rule of the day. 

Its here that we need to join in what Habakkuk is saying: “Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Savior.” (NIV2011)

God can be trusted. All. the. time.

Life Lessons from the Old Testament #1

So, I have been doing some thinking and some reading and some meditating and I have been thinking about some good blog entires and well, here is something to think about. 

as I may have mentioned before, I have been working my way though the Old Testament with help from the good folks over at thebibleproject.com and my reading earlier on in the week took me to Deuteronomy chapter 10. 

In this chapter, Moses is reminding the Children of Isreal of their not-so-distant past, basically a reminder of all the things he’s been teaching them over the last 40 years or so. Chapter 10 kind of jumped off the page for me— see if you can pick up what I’m lying down:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.

14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God. 15 Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, change your hearts and stop being stubborn.

17 “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. 18 He ensures that orphans and widows receive justice. He shows love to the foreigners living among you and gives them food and clothing. 19 So you, too, must show love to foreigners, for you yourselves were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. 20 You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. Your oaths must be in his name alone. 21 He alone is your God, the only one who is worthy of your praise, the one who has done these mighty miracles that you have seen with your own eyes. 22 When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!” (10:12-22, NLt2)

Just a few take-a-ways from this passage:

1. God is looking for obedience.Even and especially in the OT where the sacrificial system was everywhere and everything, God was really interested in His people’s obedience to Him. this is still all God is looking for, from us today. He wants obedience. while I don’t have time today to explain the complete context, read John 21:22— “You must follow me”- JESUS!

2. I also see the Love of God at play in this passage. (Vs. 15) God did not chose the biggest baddest nation on the planet to rescue and redeem, He chose the smallest nation and made them into HIs own special possession. Don’t doubt God’s Love for you. (See John 15:16

3. There is no one like our God! (17, 20-21) In a world where everyone wants to be king, this passage reminds us that there is only One King of kings and One Lord of lords. One. 

While He was here on earth, several times Jesus also claimed to be the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. (see each time Jesus used the Name that was reserved for God alone, I AM. At my count, it’s 8x in the Book of John. Also, See John 1:14.) There is only One God. His Name is Jesus and He has come to help you. He has gone to incredible lengths to come and look for you to bring you home where you belong. 

So, have you surrendered your heart and life over to the King of kings and Lord of Lords? What God is looking for from all of us is obedience. Will you surrender your way over to His Perfect way?