If there’s one thing we can be sure of in life, it is this: whatever pain and sorrow we experience, God will be there alongside us. Whenever we feel swamped by whatever darkness lies ahead, He will be the one to lead us through.
‘Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.’
[Habakkuk 1:5]
Thought:
Suffering and struggle are part of life, and there are times when it’s tempting to look around and wonder whether we’ve got it worse than previous generations. Discord and disunity seem to have sunk their claws deep into us. So much of what we read and hear is brutally toxic. The earth groans beneath our weight.
When faced with this stuff it can be tempting to ask God just to wave a magic wand over it to make it all disappear, or at least to give a shot of heavenly anaesthetic to stop it from hurting quite so much. We can read verses like this one in Habakkuk, get out our highlighters and say ‘Yes!’ and ‘Amen!’ as we mark them up, urging God to hurry up and bring on the Disney ending where all our troubles are wiped away in an instant.
Habakkuk needed an instant fix more than most. He was writing at a time when God’s people were struggling – taken into slavery and exile. Life hurt, and the pain was overwhelming and appeared to have no end in sight.
God was as good as His word. He did do something unbelievable, something so monumentally significant that we’re still talking about it today. But it took time – five centuries – for God’s promise to come to fruition.
That’s when He sent His Son.
Invitation:
When we sign up for a life spent following Jesus, we’re saying yes and amen to the best life ever – a life of love, truth and purpose. But it’s not free from trouble or sorrow, and it’s not free from questions and confusions. When we get up and follow Him, we’re walking into an adventure that will test our faith and our trust, the sort that will shake us and shape us in ways we could not imagine.
But remember that whatever comes – whether it feels like a mountain high or a valley low – we will never be alone.
Can you say Yes and Amen to that?
Prayer:
Father God, I say Yes to you… to following wherever you lead, to learning to rely on you more deeply, to showing your love and mercy wherever you would send me. Guide my steps as I follow you today. Amen