EVEN THOUGH

Living in the information age can be so beneficial. It can make life so convenient in the daily that I have come to understand my ‘I don’t know’ is usually going to be advised by those around me to “Google it.” Recently I learned the black bear population of the state of Tennessee and how to freeze buttermilk for baking right at my fingertips. Though these random facts aren’t essential for my daily life, I found one fact to satisfy my curiosity and the other helpful to both a friend and myself in the kitchen. Google has made my enquiring mind want to know more. After all it’s so easy, so accessible. A never-ending source of information. The speed to which I can receive an answer is amazing. No trip or walk to the library, No digging through the Encyclopedia Britannica and blowing the dust off the gold leaf pages that are stuck together as they have been since they left the printing presses many moons ago. I can just ask and for the most part, receive an answer or at least a reference regarding my search for information. If only lifes’ more serious questions could be answered so readily. I am not sure that Google hasn’t influenced my prayer life more than I realize. Certainly waiting for God to answer me has always been challenging. Especially when it comes to my number one question before God…Why?

I take comfort that this is not a new dilemma. The searing question of why things happen or why the world is in the state it is in, is not just a result of the tumultuous year 2020. One of my favorite books of the bible is Habakkuk (pronounced Ha Back Kuk). It’s a small book toward the end of the old testament, and written by a guy who wants God to answer his question of why life is the way it is. Normally, a prophet speaks on behalf of God, but Habakkuk speaks on behalf of all of the people of Israel. He (Habakkuk) speaks for folks like me who struggle with God’s way of doing things and His timeline for when He does it. 

Reading from the translation “The Message”, Habakkuk’s words could be in the news or on the internet today starting in chapter 1: 

“God, How long do I to before you ? How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police! before you come to the rescue? Why do you force me to look at evil, stare at trouble day after day? Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place, Law and order fall to pieces, justice is a joke. The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head…”

Sound familiar? He just about sums up how I am feeling about life in these United States facing a historic election in the middle of a pandemic Not to mention I have lesser whys than these, that are more personal and at times can even be petty. But underneath Habakkuk’s corporate question about his culture is his personal struggle with the quality of his daily life. Its a predicament I can identify with. He has put his trust in God and is having trouble understanding why God is in the delay mode when Habakkuk is feeling God should be at warp speed to resolve the calamity. 

But Habakkuk doesn’t stop there, He remains in dialogue with God. He voices his complaints about God’s methodology and even makes the accusation to God that God doesn’t know what He is doing and that God doesn’t make sense. Despite that this book in the old testament is only 3 chapters long, the message it contains is life changing and can bring hope in despairing times. The message of hope it contains is so personal to my walk of faith. Some of its words are written over the arch of my main living space in my house. The words “Even Though” over my doorway are taken from the 3rd chapter where Habakkuk has come to a place of acceptance and a full surrender to the sovereignty of God. In order for Habakkuk to look forward, he reviews all the times God has been faithful and the amazing deliverance God has brought in times past. Though God has planned to discipline Israel for their unfaithfulness to Him and their unrighteous godless living by using their sworn enemy, the Babylonians, Habakkuk comes to understand that his own culture will not change unless God intervenes and disciplines the people to bring change. Left to their own devices, the Israelite people demonstrated no motivation to repent and turn from their immoral ways and riotous rebellion. God had ceased to be an integral part of life for these people. This sounds familiar as well? However, Habakkuk reveals the hope one waiting soul can obtain from the goodness of God even though his circumstances say otherwise. Habakkuk reminds me I walk by faith, not by sight.

Habakkuk 3:17 says this:

“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, YET, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in the God of My Salvation!

My “Even though,”circumstances look different than Habakkuks, but the underlying questions and struggle are the same. Mine might look like this on any given day.

Even though I question the why and when of a vaccine that will aid in a return to a somewhat normal life, do I believe God and make the most of the days he has blessed me with?

Even though the party I want in leadership might not be elected in the coming days, am I dwelling on the fact that I am a citizen of heaven first and foremost and that God has myself and my family sheltered under His wing and that God alone has the heart of the king in His hand?

Even though I question how the economy will recover, am I filling my heart and mind like Habakkuk with all the past and present evidence of how God has met my needs day in and day out?

Even though I question why, why? Will I wait or impatiently complain? Will I encourage others that God is trustworthy and share my testimony of His faithfulness or will I join the bandwagon of a self-pitying naysayer that looks toward heaven and rubs their hands with hopeless worry? 

Even though others are humming the funeral dirge that God has turned His back on His people and the nation. Will I lift my voice and rejoice that God alone is our Salvation and that we ever before His face and on His heart and mind?

None of this will be resolved as quickly as I would like, but my daily challenge is what will I do in the meantime? I want Christ to say I used every drop of opportunity I had, every circumstance I faced, good or bad for Him. 

Join me in the vineyard next time where I will continue with the “Even Though” series where I share about grief.