Can we just be real for a hot minute...
Life is hard.
Harder lately.
Can I get an 'AMEN'?
Over these last two weeks, I have succumbed to the frustration, the anger, the sadness, the resentment, the... fill in the blank.
I have given into a mindset of negativity.
I have made poor choices.
You want to know something about choices... you always have one.
Even when you make wrong choices, you have the chance to turn right around and make a better one.
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As I sit here typing this (Sat., May 30th), I just finishing reading the book of Habakkuk.
I know, right... Habakkuk... of all the books of the Bible, that is the last place I thought I would find myself.
At the beginning of each book in my Bible, there is a little backstory. Allow me to share some parts of this with you.
"When the book of Habakkuk was written, Judah had fallen into severe moral and social decay, with violence, oppression of the poor, and corruption running rampant.
Habakkuk was troubled by the prosperity and rise to power of the wicked both inside and outside of Judah, especially at the expense of the poor and righteous. Where was God and why hadn't He done anything about this injustice?
Habakkuk's rhetorical writing style records his questions to God, and... though the Lord's answers to Habakkuk may not have been what he expected, he did realize that God was at work on behalf of His people. Habakkuk made the decision to believe and trust in the faithfulness of God, and to put aside his anxious and temporal thoughts (Phil. 4:6). He set his sights on things above, fixing his hope on the justice and salvation of the Lord. As a consequence, he moved from complaining to confidence, from doubt to trust, from man to God, and from fear to faith."
Did that give you chills? It did me.
You would think that was just written yesterday.
Yet it was written about 600 B.C. and just what I needed TODAY.
Yet it was written about 600 B.C. and just what I needed TODAY.
What made this even more powerful for me was what was ALREADY written in my Bible when I turned the page...
I have no idea the last time I read Habakkuk, or what was happening in the season of my life when I wrote that caption and made all those underlines... but one thing I do know... God knew when I was doing it way back then, that at this exact moment it would be just what I needed. Friend, He is so faithful like that, don't overlook those little 'God winks' or miss His whispers.
What stuck out to me today was verse 18... I will joy... I will joy in the God of my salvation.
What an interesting way to write that? The line above says I will rejoice, which totally makes more sense.
But... I will joy.
Choice.
Action.
Joy is not just a feeling.
Joy is a choice.
You have a choice to be joyful in the face of victory.
You have a choice to be joyful in the face of defeat.
Your joy should never be dependent on your circumstances.
But how often do you find that it is? Me too, friend...
Today, was just another reminder that...
"Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;
though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food;
though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls -
YET I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation."
The thing about choices... you always have one.
What will you choose today?
Until next time... Blessings!
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