Friday, December 26, 2008

Habakkuk

For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh
as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14

I'm looking up
Holding out
Pressing forward
Without a doubt
Longing for the things unseen
Longing for the things I believe
My true country

We hope and wait
For the glorious day
All tears will vanish
Wiped away
On the saints this day
already shines
On the saints this day
already shines
It already shines

(chorus)
We'll be singing hallelujah
We'll be singing hallelujah
At the top of our
lungs halle-le-lujah
To Your glory, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

We'll be singing hallelujah
We'll be singing hallelujah
With all of our breath
halle-le-lujah
To Your glory, hallelujah
Hallelujah, hallelujah

And I know that it's coming
But I can't see it now
And I've touched it in moments
But I can't hold it yet

And it glows in the darkness
And it calls us away
To our true destination
To that glorious day...
[Hallelujah, Newsboys]

Longing for the day when the knowledge of Your glory WILL thus fill the earth.

When there will be nothing to be homesick for.

Habakkuk 3 is a beautiful proclamation of the fierce love of God for His people.

"You marched across the land in anger and trampled the nations in your fury.  You went out to rescue your chosen people, to save your anointed ones.  You crushed the heads of the wicked and stripped their bones from head to toe." (v 12-13)

This kind of love, which pulverizes all in its way, leads to first a quiet confidence in His people -- "I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us."  A confidence which may look ridiculous to those who don't know the Lord, because it is present when the trees don't blossom, the vines bear nothing, the crops fail, the fields are barren, the flocks die, and the barns are empty.  (Not good news in an agricultural culture.  Think the banks all shut, the stock-market crashes, Wal*Mart folds, and DC gets taken out.)  Everything says PANIC.  But the prophet says, wait quietly.

But the prophet doesn't end there -- oh no!  In spite of all this happening -- his whole livelihood disappearing -- he says, "Yet I will rejoice in Yahweh! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!"

God WILL provide salvation.  But no matter what we still need salvation from, we can wholeheartedly rejoice NOW, because God has already provided the salvation that we need most.

[12.18.08]

1 comment:

  1. Yeah. Sometimes i really wish all the banks would shut, the stock-market would crash, Wal*Mart would fold, and DC would get taken out. Disaster clears the vision of God's people. It's harder to rejoice in God's salvation -- wholly and exclusively -- when all is well.

    I'm going to apologize to you, stop being lazy, and actually read all of these, because this is very good.

    ReplyDelete