Gtcotr/ws030922
Habakkuk 3 NKJV
17 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 -
18 Yet I will rejoice in the
LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.
Nothing need be added to the hymn of this great prophet who, in seeing an unavoidable trial ahead for the people of God, spoke to them by the Holy Spirit to have courage and confidence during troubled times, even in the midst of disappointing expectations.
Today, with all the turmoil going on in the world, it is not unimaginable that a person might ask “Where is God?”
In the times of Israel’s greatest trials, as well as in times of their greatest triumphs, God was always in a very predictable place. Where is God? - The better question might be, “Where are you?”
God is always exactly where He should be. God is ever standing at the finish line with His hand outstretched to us, encouraging us to meet Him there in victory. Our courage and our confidence in troubled times are the direct results of the trust we place in Him as the God of our salvation.
The Targum countenances this
version: —
veana bemeimra dayai abua,
Habakkuk 3:18 … "But in the WORD of the
Lord will I
rejoice," i.e., the personal, substantial Word of Jehovah.
God has sent His Holy Spirit to be with us in every step we take. He will never leave us or forsake us. Though the world around us may crumble and fall, and although our labor may not seem to produce the harvest we hoped, yet God will continue to be our strength and He will make our steps secure. God offers to lead us above the circumstance that surrounds us.
There is an account in the book of Genesis of Abraham facing a very difficult, almost unimaginable, trial in his life. In consideration of the whole account we find God using Abraham to teach us one of the greatest lessons of we could ever learn. It’s a lesson of faith.
When Abraham was 100 years old, his wife Sarah delivered her firstborn son named Isaac. Isaac was the son God promised to Abraham. Isaac was chosen by God to continue the covenant God had given to Abraham. Over 30 years later, God visited Abraham and instructed Abraham to take his promised son Isaac and go to the place God would show him in the mountains of Moriah and sacrifice his son there.
Abraham, our father of faith, did not argue with God but rather he gathered the things needed to accomplish God’s request and promptly left with his son the next morning. We pick up the account in:
Genesis 22
3 So Abraham rose early in
the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and
Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went
to the place of which God had told him.
4 Then on the third day
Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off.
5 And Abraham said to his
young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and
worship, and we will come back to you.”
6 So Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in
his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together.
7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham
his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he
said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt
offering?”
8 And Abraham said, “My son,
God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them
went together.
9 Then they came to the place
of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood
in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out
his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the LORD
called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I
am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay
your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his
eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by
its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt
offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, (Jehovah Jireh), The-LORD-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided.”
Jehovah Jireh – In the Mount of The LORD it shall be provided!
What
shall be provided in the Mountain of The LORD?
·
Salvation!!!
·
And
everything that goes with it!
· Provision is in the Mount of the LORD!
When Abraham arrived where God wanted him to be, everything he needed was already there waiting on him. It always is. The journey may at times be hidden or difficult, even unimaginable, but God is waiting on us.
Where is God? - Where are you?
God says, “I am right where you are supposed to be … I am right where I wanted you to be … “I am always right where I told you to be …”
Where
does God want you in the turmoil of today’s world?
1. God wants you to trust in Him. He has not lost control
of the outcome. God holds both the journey and the destiny secure.
2. God wants you to rejoice in Him. He is the God of
your salvation.
3. God wants you to encourage others to trust Him, just like Abraham told Isaac … God will provide. We do our part, and He will do His.
Where
are you? Are you where God told you to be and doing what God told you to do in
situations like this? You can be … You’re only one
decision away from being in the perfect will of God.
