PRAY IT! Not the God I thought: The Good Company of Habakkuk

 

One word.  Though.  A rather boring conjunction easily overlooked while skimming.  Yet, this one word sums up how we should "pray it" with regards to our Habakkuk passage this week, and how we should continue to pray it long after (leaning in is a life-long process; it doesn't stop just because the series is concluding!)  It is powerful and it stops me in my tracks every time I read it.  It's my favorite part.

 

 

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

 

What powerful praise and trust. 

Though... the Babylonians...

Despite... destruction...

I choose joy.  I choose to honor God.  I choose trust.

 

Whattdya know... We can get what we don't want... or not get what we do want... and STILL lean in.  Still trust God.  And still have joy.  Whoa! 

 

This week's challenge:  Journal your prayer.  Write your own Habakkuk 3.  Follow Habakkuk's model and listen to God.  Take your eyes and ears off everything else and lean into God with all you've got.  Create your list of "though's" and then write an action statement of what you will do (ie Habakkuk "will take joy in the God of my salvation").

 

Dear God,

Though I don't always get what I want, when I want it, or understand it, I will find my peace and confidence in You, my Rock.

Amen

 

PoC|Coverage is tonight at 6pm.  Let's pray - together!  "When we aren't praying, we start dumbing down our belief of what God will do."  -Pastor Corey Jones

 

Pastor Celia