Habak-what?

I will climb up to my watchtower

and stand at my guardpost.

There I will wait to see what the Lord says ...

Today's the first day all week that I really feel like I've been able to stop and think and process anything.  So, be warned, there's probably some rambling to come!  It's been one of those week's your Mama told you about and I've been going NONSTOP.  For an introvert who loves from down time to read or think or just be, those are looonnnggg weeks!! 

These are some of the verses I read this morning and I've been thinking on them today ... As I get to the end of my study on hearing God, I am reminded that we don't get to "make" God speak ... we don't determine when ... or what He says ... or even how He says it.  But we CAN help give ourselves an opportunity for Him to speak by putting our lives in a place where we are open to hear, receptive to act, quiet and still, focused on Him, serving, open, aware ... and I was quite encouraged to be reminded that God is persistent.  He wasn't put out that Samuel mistook Him for Eli and He didn't give up ... He kept on speaking until Samuel was able to recognize HIS voice and respond to Him.  And little Samuel was persistent as well ... He knew someone was speaking and he didn't ignore the call.  I keep thinking about the widow in Luke 18 who got what she wanted from the judge because she just never gave up asking.  And when I read these verses this morning, I WANT to be at my guardpost, poised to hear, waiting ... actively asking ... and waiting ... until He speaks.

This vision is for a future time.

It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.

If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,

for it will surely take place.

It will not be delayed.

Habakkuk 2:1, 3

Habakkuk 2:3 was pretty popular when I was in high school ... weird how it seems that certain verses kind of get more "air play" at certain times in our lives!  It's kind of like songs.  I think I could make a timeline of my life simply with country music ... but I digress ... these verses were popular in the dating seminars and sessions we had in high school because they were applied to waiting for God's plan for your life and future to unfold.  Now that I've learned a few more hermaneutical principles, I've discovered that Habakkuk is really a dialogue between God and Habakkuk (who, by the way, we know very little about).  Habakkuk is wrestling with the age old questions about why evil seems to go unpunished and why God wouldn't answer prayers for it to stop.  In chapter 2, these verses are really speaking of the end of the oppression of the Babylonians and the fulfillment of God's redemption that is to come ... but still ... it can be applied to our lives as well as we remember that ALL of God's promises will stand fulfilled.  Not one single one will be left hanging.  So, whatever it is what we are waiting on, asking for, persisting in ... the fulfillment will come ... and although it may linger, we are reminded to wait on it.  And yes, 20+ years after those verses went in a journal of mine, praying for God to help me wait for the husband and family He has for me ... well, I am still waiting ...  but I do think that #1 - He IS always faithful to His word ... and #2 - We are to keep expectantly waiting for the fulfillment of His promises. 

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!

Habakkuk 3:17-18

I LOVE these verses because they are so ripe with promise and hope.  And they remind me of Matt Redman's song, "Never Let Go" which says:

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You


Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,

and in his word I put my hope.

Ps 130:5