Trust Him. ( Habakkuk 3 v 16- 19)

Let us turn and look at those words  from Habakkuk ,'but the just shall live by faith'(  2 v 4),here was this awful event going to take place the invasion by Babylon.Consider what it would mean,thousands and thousands of people would be slaughtered,plus many other things,can you imagine oneself in that situation.It is Theo Laetsch points out that it was not God's plan to utterly  destroy His people but to correct them.The prophet may have had problems with what God  was going to do,but God is not accountable to the prophet or to any of us,God's way is perfect even in judgement.But God's answer was as Theo Laetch puts it,'Remain faithful,Trust Me,and you shall live'. In God's perfect will ,he will preserve his saints, think of how God preserved his people.I often  quote a verse of a hymn by John Ryland ,'Plagues  and death around me fly;Till He bids,I cannot die; Not a shaft can hit,Till the God of love sees fit'.Whatever situation we may find ourselves in, no matter how difficult it is,we are to trust our mighty God and be faithful to Him.

We all have an option ( Psalm 9 v17 av) 1

 Let us consider the word of the Lord in Habakkuk chap 2 v 4,'But the just shall live by faith',Haabkkuk lived in very difficult times. Many of the people in Judah were acting very wickedly,CP his opening words,wickedness appeared to be abounding everywhere.He was man of God and what are one of the things that godly  men do? they pray.Habakkuk did that ,but it seemed to him that God was not listening.Sometimes we may feel like that ,God does not appear to be listening to what we are asking. Habakkuk was going to get an answer to his prayers and it would not be what he was asking for .God was going to punish Judah for their sins,by sending the powerful war machine of Babylon against them,and Judah would be overthown and would be taken to Babylon.What lay ahead was going to be dreadful nothing can stop it happening Judah was not for turning ,and forsaken their wicked ways,so God who loved them had no other option,but to judge them,and this is what he revealed to His servant Habakkuk. We all have an option ,if we our His people we need to repent of our sins and seek forgivness  ,if not  you leave God no other option but for him to judge  His people.

Christ divine ( Philippians 2 v5-11)

Philippians 2 v 5-11 was an early hymn,I want to quote from William Barclay's writings he wrote many lovely things as regards this passage of scripture,we are told clearly that our Saviour  ,before He came into this world was equal to God,but he made Himself of no reputation,took upon himself the form of a servant. WB wrote . ' Paul  with meticulous care  shows two things-the reality of the manhood and the reality of the Godhead of  Jesus Christ.Commenting on v6 he says ,'Who being in the form of God,thought it not robbery to be equal of God. Paul  describes the of essence of Christ which never changes,and that was essentially,unalterably,and unchngeable God.'WB points out that the word 'form'in the Greek has two meanings,morphe and schema.Morphe is that which never changes, whereas schema is outward form will continually change.WB writes ,'Jesus being in the form of God is morphe His essence,His unchangeable being is divine.However outwardly schema might altar,but He remained in essence and in being divine'.So here we have some of what WB taught and its great, because it is true. But the sad thing is ,this man  in his  autobiography(P49)  clearly becomes very confused when he declares'It is not that Jesus is God' that God was in Jesus,but He was not God.WB changed in many things,but truth does not change,always be discerning,don't be blinded by personalties.

Pray ( Romans 11 v 28- 32)

 While I was out recently I noticed a family of Jews,I knew that they were Jews,as to their dress and their. wringlets.There are not  many of these Jews where I live,in Northern Ireland there are even fewer, although my Pastor in NI arranged for  a group of  us to visit a synagogue.Well there they  were this family of Jews so I felt led to go and speak to them,no I did not witness to them,just a short conversation,and left it at that.It got me thinking how me a gentile is saved and they are not,I believe the true  Israelites are those who have put faith in the Messiah (Romans 4 v3/16 Galatians 3 v29)That family are Old Covenant Israelites,the Church of Christ is the New Covenant Israelites. When Paul declares that all Israel shall be saved Romans 11 v 26 ,it means very simple that all the elect from the Gentiles and from the Jews will be saved as one people  (Romans 11 v25-26)

                                                       'Pray for the Jews,to be saved'

Our strength (Isaiah 40 v29)

 A quote from the Bible Speaks Today,' True contentment depends on something more than material possessions'. The apostle Paul wrote 'I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.whither well fed or hungry,whither living in plenty or in want' and then he adds. 'I can do all this through him who gives me strength'.(Philippians 4 v 12-13)Consider ,he was writing from a Roman dungeon,cp 2 Corinthians 11 v 23 - 28) Think about what Pauls experience was,to say the least it was grim,yet he speaks of being content.Here is what his secret was?,'I can do all this through him who give me strength'  Can you say what Paul says?,can I ? I would love to think I could,I'm sure if God brings us into situations that are awful,he will if we trust Him grant us the grace we need at that time.

                                                                          'Psalm 18 v1'

                                                             'I  love you,Lord, my strength'

What a terrible mess.( Luke 19 v10 )

I still get great pleasure watching  the old movies starring Laurel and Hardy,such innocent humour, always getting themselves into trouble,and what Oliver used to say to Stanley,'another fine mess you've got us into'. Like Oliver it is easy to blame others,Stanley was not alway to blame,and its easy to blame others for the mess we get ourselves into.Lets go back to the beginning of time to a garden,where two human beings did something awful,they diobeyed God they sinned against God,by their action sin entered into the world by one man,and death through sin,and in this way death came to all people,because all have sinned (Romans5 v12) When God confronted  Adam ,he blamed Eve.and she blamed the serpent (Gen 3 v11-14),they would not take the blame for what they had done,think of the consequences of their actions.As I read history what a mess we have created,and as I look at the world to day,the mess is getting worse and worse,what an awful mess we have made of this world,we can't blame it on God though many try to.No we are the guilty ones,God could have wiped humanity out,but He didn't,instead we read that He so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him,will not perish but have everlasting life (John 3 v16)

Birthdays ( John 3 v 1ff)

 One  of the tasks allotted is to me send birthday cards off to our Children and grandchildren,we have a lot of grandchildren and great grandchilren.Every Christian has two birthdays,a natural birthday and a spiritual birthday. Our dear Saviour said that we must be born again if we are to become citizens of God's kingdom.When we are born naturally we are spititually dead, everyone of us,when sin entered the world the spiritual umbilical cord binding us to God was cut,which means we are no longer connected to God. We cannot have a relationship with Him, it is not that He does not love us,it means that we do not love Him,we cannot commune with him.This means we are in great danger,we can so  easily be drawn into all sorts of wrong things ,wrong reilgions, and become slaves to sin,and there is only one place we are heading for ,that awful place called hell,for all eternity,there is no escape from that, a place of isolation,of utter lonliness and sorrow.But it need not be that way,God is merciful,loving and forgiving. Here is the way you can change all that ,by receiving Jesus as your Saviour (John 1 v 12),acknowledging you are a sinner,and when you do that ,you will be reconnected to God,and all the blessings that will bring.