The Lord is My Strength

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enable me to tread on the heights. For the director of music, On my stringed instruments.         (Habakkuk 3:18-19 NIV)

The book of Habakkuk is in the Old Testament, there is not much information of this prophet in the Old Testament. Habakkuk addressed his book to God, and not the people of Judah. In a dialogue with God, he discussed problems of suffering and justice. He could not understand how God could use Judah’s enemies to judge his chosen people. But the book ends with Habakkuk’s prayer of praise.

The prophet Habakkuk sounds a lot like us living  these days at this time. We all seem to question God with all of the whys. Why do people steal, why do someone kills another human being, why is there so much other violence in the world Lord, why is their earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and I know that our list goes on and on, why does some suffer with illness, poverty, so much death that seems all around them, and our pain is so very deep. Believe me when I tell you this, that God hears and I mean hears all of human’s complaints that we have, and even thro we do not understand the following, one that he has give all men and woman this thing called free will, and many times the suffering some go thru is at the hands of someone else, the other thing to realize is that even thro we don’t see our situation changing does not mean that God is ignoring any of his children, this is when we think that God is so far away from it all, is that he is closer than any of us can ever dream or imagine. Habakkuk’s prayer in chapter 3 says the following Lord, I have heard of your fame, I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord, Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known, in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran, His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plaque went before him pestilence followed his steps, He stood, and shook the earth, he looked, and made the nations tremble.

I can truly say that we all have gone thru valleys in our own lives for many reasons, however in spite of what we have all gone thru we have a Awesome God. A God who loves all of his children the same, and regardless of our many sins, his love never changes either. For it is when we are in the pit of despair we need to continue to Praise our Lord, and not only when things are going well for us, because it when we are in the bit of despair that we need the Lord the most.

Grace and Peace to you my Friends

 

 

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My soul longs for God

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you my God, My soul thirsts for God the living God, when can I go and meet with God. (Psalm 42:1-2)

Wonderful words from King David from the Old Testament, how my soul longs to understand life itself. As I sit and write these words I try to understand the trials I too face on a daily basis. I long for peace within my soul, the kind of peace that our world can not give us, because that peace doesn’t last for very long. We as humans seem to think if I only have more money, better job, a bigger house, fancy car, expensive vacation, I will be happier, and better yet what about when I win the lottery. Yet we need to realize that we are created by God in his image, and until we come to know God really know him we can never truly be happy. In the gospel of John chapter 14:27 the words of Jesus to his disciples is this, Peace I leave with you my peace I give to you, I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be trouble and do not be afraid. Some of you maybe saying to yourself, well that is easy for you to say, my answer not really. When I feel as thro the walls are crashing in on me, I reach out to a Christian brother or sister and ask for prayer. Spend time just talking, and for me when I feel this way I begin to search scriptures to give my soul some comfort. As I read these words from King David I cry out to God where are you my God, I don’t feel you close to me and I simply don’t understand why I don’t. Tell me why Lord I must walk this road, and yes Lord there are many times, too many times I feel as thro I walk alone. Then a scripture comes to my mind, my heart, from Hebrews 13: 5 Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you. This is why to me I need to read scriptures, meditate on the words I just read, and over time I come to realize that I memorize it.  Life for any of us is never easy, Jesus never promise it would be easy for any of us, he tells us once we accept him as our own personal Savior he will walk with us.

The words from King David in the book of Psalm reminds me each and everyday, how I long to go deeper, deeper with knowing the one true God. So as my day is coming to a close I just think of these words, and remind myself, God is even closer than I can ever image, closer then the air I breathe, and these thoughts gives my soul much comfort.