Monday Morning Devotion (Delight in the Lord)

Posted on November 12, 2007 by Jody Neufeld

Note: This morning’s devotion is cross-posted from Jody’s new blog, Jody Along the Path. Also, while the quotes are from the NIV, the links are to an online RSV.

Delight yourself in the LORD… Psalm 37:4 (NIV)

God desires to have a relationship with me that is THE BEST, UNIQUE to ME and HIM, BEYOND VERBAL DESCRIPTION, and “THE RIDE OF A LIFETIME”, as my friend, Angie, said today. I have finally, finally ‘got it’ – when all I have is Jesus – Jesus is all that I need. I have always been a person who likes control and likes to know the plan for the day, the next week, the year, and my life. For over 40 years, I worked to achieve a good plan that would put me where I wanted to be when I reached that oh so important ‘retirement’. Has my way been working for me? Did it achieve the ‘happiness’ I wanted? Did the word ‘delight’ describe my days? No. But God’s way is working for me!

Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”

“Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?” Joshua 5:13-14 (NIV)

I am no one special to hear God speak. God speaks to all His children. The question is whether we all listen. Do I give God my undivided attention? I remember my mother having to step in front of the TV so that I would actually hear what she was saying to me! Do I shut my mouth and the busy-ness of my mind so that God can fill me with HIS voice? Do I spend time in studying His Word, the Bible, so that when I hear God’s voice inside me that I recognize His voice by His characteristics? What word does God have for me? He has them!

When I am troubled, wrestling with a question, am I willing to go to that quiet place, shut the door, and go to my knees, even lay with my face to the ground in reverence? I am not saying that God demands this. I am saying that Joshua responded with an act of reverence that was a manifestation of what he felt in his heart about his Lord loving him so much that He would COME and speak directly to him.

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.”…Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, …” Matthew 26:36, 38-39 (NIV)

Jesus shows me how to pray. Jesus shows me how to call out to my Father, tell Him how I feel, and receive God’s message for me. Jesus even shows me how to keep going when the Father’s will isn’t the same as mine and yet it IS the best, the most perfect answer. The Father takes away the weight and gives me what I need to move in His direction.

Take time today and read Psalm 63. Read it in an attitude of reverence and humble thanksgiving. God is listening. THEN – be quiet and listen to what God has to say.

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Friday Morning Devotion (Looking Back)

Posted on November 9, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

17Look! I’m creating a new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will no longer be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
18Rejoice! Be delighted forever
At what I’m creating–
Jerusalem a delight,
It’s people as a joy. — Isaiah 65:17-18

Consider the timing of this passage. There is debate about precisely when this passage was written, but there is no debate about who is being addressed. This is for the exiles and those who returned early to Jerusalem and were trying to rebuild. There is also a future element. God’s creative act in bringing the exiles home is to be reflected in the coming Messianic kingdom.

What I’m looking at today applies just as well to either audience, as well as to present audiences everywhere. God is a God of redemption and recreation, and that is constant. We are often very narrow and want to tie things to just one point in time, when God instead is unfolding his story through many individual stories. Think of God’s story as a series, not a single production. It’s all tied together, but you if you missed episode 12, for example, episode 13 won’t make nearly as much sense. In episode 12, the producer (God) is setting up things that will happen next.

There’s a universal spiritual lesson here, I think. The most dangerous thing we can do as Christians is to look back. God is moving us forward. At the same time, the most dangerous thing we can do as Christians is to forget the past. We need to keep in mind how God has led us. You know, it’s also pretty dangerous to get stuck just looking at our present!

So where can we look? Well, we can look at our past, present, and future. Our verse today tells us that we won’t remember the past. But I could refer you to Deuteronomy 32:7 or the whole of Psalm 78 where you’ll be told to remember the past.

So what should you do? It’s a matter of viewpoint. God uses small things to illustrate great things, so let’s just look back at our week. How many mistakes did you make? (Don’t stop there!) What did you accomplish? Given another week, what will you be able to accomplish?

A God’s eye view speaks hope, redemption, and recreation. When we look back on the week, we see our mistakes, but we see them as stepping stones to better things. We see our accomplishments, and we praise God for them. We look at our future, and we realize that God is planning something new (Isaiah 43:19).

The human view feels guilt for the mistakes, no hope for redemption and fear for the future. That’s why it is both dangerous and helpful, horrifying and wonderful to look at the past. It can drag us down, or it can move us forward.

The difference? God in your life.

When you look back on your week, or any other part of your life, make sure to take your life story with a generous dose of Jesus. Even before you knew him, he was working to redeem you.

He can do remakes—even of the past!

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Thursday Morning Devotion (The Difference between God and People)

Posted on November 8, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

1And you will say in that day:
“I will praise you YHWH.
Though you were angry with me
Your anger turned and you consoled me.
2God is my savior;
I will trust, and not be afraid.
Because YHWH is my power and defence,
And he will be my deliverer.”
3You will draw water with joy,
from the wells of salvation.
4And you will say in that day:
“Praise YHWH!
Call on his name!
Let the people know about his deeds.
Proclaim that his name is exalted!
5Sing psalms to YHWH
For he has brought triumph.
Let this be known throughout the world.
6Cry out and shout for joy, you who dwell in Zion,
For the Holy One of Israel is great among you. — Isaiah 12

How is God different from human beings? I hope you get a laugh out of this question. How is God not different from human beings? He’s more powerful, more knowledgeable, larger, eternal rather than temporary. We have long words for all these things, but let’s settle for saying he’s so vastly different that we can’t really comprehend it.

But I want to focus on a very simple difference, one that we sometimes ignore. God is a redeeming God. God likes to take things that have failed, and make them a success. He likes to take people who have given up, been destroyed, or have been bent out of all recognition, and make them new.

I’ve quoted Isaiah 12, because it was part of my reading today. It’s one of those many, many texts that talk about how much God likes to save, and how we can count on him, in spite of our times of failure, to be a redeeming God.

Sometimes we see this “redeeming God” only in the New Testament, in Jesus. But that is far from the truth. From the time in Genesis 3 when God went to look for his rebellious children in the garden, God has been in the business of redeeming people. It’s a constant throughout scripture. Sometimes we read all the texts about judgment and get the idea that God spends all of his time in the Old Testament angry. But if you read carefully, even the angry parts are given with the intention of redeeming people.

One reason it’s hard for us to get this message of “redemption, redemption, redemption” into our heads is that we just don’t think that way. “Three strikes and you’re out” doesn’t just happen in baseball. For many of us it’s a theme of the way we deal with people. Redemption is just not a “natural” thing. Face it. If we had to deal with Judah at the time of the exile, we’d probably all wash our hands of the whole thing. “They’re off to Babylon now. Let’s go find someone who can do it right!” But God knows that his people are limited, and he doesn’t give up on good material. He calls them back from exile and goes right back to work on them.

Notice verse 3—you will draw water with joy from the wells of salvation. That tells us God’s plan for us. But I’d like to take it in another sense as well. Can we learn to be more and more like God on this point? Can we drink from the wells of salvation until salvation—redemptive grace—pours from us to others? Can we become just a little bit more like God on this?

And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. 1 Corinthians 3:18 (NRSV)

By his grace we can!

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Wednesday Morning Devotion (Looking for a Heart Change)

Posted on November 7, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

31Look! Days are coming–a declaration of YHWH–when I will enact a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. 32It will not be like the covenant I enacted with their ancestors on the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I was their lawful lord–a declaration of YHWH. 33This is the covenant that I will enact with the house of Israel after these days–a declaration of YHWH. I will put my instruction inside them, and on their heart I will inscribe it. I will be their God and they will be my people. 34They will not longer teach one neighbors or relatives saying, “Know YHWH, because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest–a declaration of YHWH. I will forgive their guilt, and their sins I will remember no longer. — Jeremiah 31:31-34

One of the hardest things to do is to change your usual or normal behavior. I know this in my life, because even when I determine to change something, it will often take weeks for me to establish a new habit. Establishing new habits is pretty useful. Often we get to doing things one way and then circumstances change, or some other person gets involved, and the old way of doing things just won’t do any more.

What drives such changes? Sometimes it’s ambition, sometimes love, sometimes sheer stubbornness. But there always has to be something inside you that makes you want to change your behavior in some way.

It’s Wednesday, “hump day.” We’re working to get through the week. Those co-workers and even friends and relatives have had plenty of opportunity to get on our nerves. We’re eagerly awaiting the end of Friday so we can get away from them. If we can just make it through the day, we’ll be more than halfway through, and that will feel good!

But is that who we are supposed to be toward others? Am I supposed to avoid the folks I really don’t want to talk to today? Am I supposed to simply endure their existence? Sometimes that’s what happens to us.

Here are three suggestions for changing your heart toward other people, and thus your behavior. Yes, I know, God promises to write on our hearts, but he likes to work with us.

  1. Make criticism a tool rather than a way of life. In seminary, I got so critical of sermons I could hardly listen to them any more. I tested them all against my exegetical knowledge and generally found them wanting. Now hat’s a fairly arrogant attitude for a student, but let’s think about all those things we may experience from people who may be less expert than we are. What about the music at church? What about that speech at a meeting at work? Criticism is useful—it is simply testing and choosing the best. That’s a good thing that can become bad when you make it a way of life. If you’re critical all the time, you won’t get to enjoy yourself at all.
  2. Think salvation. It’s hard to be angry with someone when you hope to share the gospel with them. God is in the business of redemption, shouldn’t you be too?
  3. Look at yourself first. Ask yourself why you are doing a particular thing, and try to be honest. Often you’ll find solutions if you just realize why. My mother used to tell me that I couldn’t fix other people. I could only fix my part. Focus on fixing your part.

The Lord is writing on your heart. Sometimes when you look inside, if you’re not too critical of yourself, you’ll find that you’re really than the person you’re showing to the world. That’s Jesus in there, trying to get out.

Let him!

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Tuesday Morning Devotion (A Psalm for Every Day)

Posted on November 6, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

1A praise song, for David.
I will exalt you, my God and King,
I will bless your name forever and ever.
2I will bless you every day,
I will praise your name, forever and ever.
3YHWH is great and fully deserves praise.
No one can fully comprehend his greatness.
4One generation praises your works to the next,
They tell of your heroic deeds.
5Of splendor, honor, and majesty,
Of your marvelous deeds I will sing! — Psalm 145:1-5

The Psalms are a wonderful book, not only for the many things we can learn from them, but because they provide us with something to read or to pray for almost any mood and any occasion. When we’re down there are laments (Psalm 28). When we’re up, there are short, lively praise Psalms (Psalm 150). In trouble, we find prayers for safety and rescue (Psalm 140). Ready to meditate? Look for Psalms of wisdom (Psalm 104), telling you of God’s power (Psalm 29), his law (Psalm 19, Psalm 119), and his covenant (Psalm 89). Angry? You can even find some Psalms with a tone of vengeance (Psalm 137). Overcome by temptation? There are Psalms of penitence (Psalm 51, Psalm 32). (The Psalms in parentheses are just examples.)

There is a time and place for all of these things, and there are ways for us to bring our joys and our sorrows to God on all those occasions and more. God can handle the way you’re feeling and can help to lift you up from wherever you are to place your feet on a rock.

But there is something that we find easy to leave out of our life, and that’s praise. I know some of you will wonder just what I mean. After all, you praise the Lord in church on Sunday. Perhaps you play praise music in your home during the week. I know some people who leave songs of praise on the CD player 24/7. That’s not a bad thing.

But have you ever come to a time of prayer when you have a hard time finding something for which you can thank God? Maybe you are having one of those days in one of those months in one of those years, or at least it feels like it. The idea of expressing praise to God seems hypocritical in some way. You’re not feeling thankful, why should you speak thanks? If you’ve never been in such a place, I envy you. If you understand what I’m talking about, read on.

Even when you don’t feel thankful, there are things to be thankful for. I recall sitting down to eat one night recently after a day in which almost everything went wrong. I did not feel like praising God or thanking anyone. I started my prayer by saying, “Lord, you know I’m not feeling thankful right now, but I’m going to thank you anyhow.” Once I had said that, I started to remember things for which I really was thankful. There were blessings the day before, and I knew there would be blessings the day after, and at a minimum, I could thank God that I had a roof over my head and a meal to sustain me while I yelled at him!

There are Psalms for your bad moods. Take advantage of them. Realize that you can be honest with God. But remember the Psalms for all the time. “I will bless you every day!” Yes, even on the bad ones. Even on the day of your death. “Of splendor, honor, and majesty . . . I will sing.” God’s splendor, honor, and majesty don’t diminish when I have a bad day.

There may be a duty here, a duty to praise, but that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m talking about the benefit of praise. If I deny myself the opportunity to praise God when I’m down, I’m going to stay down. Things are going to get worse, not better. I need to praise, because I need to get out of the pit and get on with life. Psalm 145:1-5 gives me that opportunity. These things are not things that change with the moment. They are there all the time. You can honestly praise God, no matter what.

“I will bless you every day!” Call that a plan!

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Monday Morning Devotion (The Latter Glory will be Greater)

Posted on November 5, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

1In the seventh month, on the 21st day of the month, YHWH’s word came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, saying, 2“Speak now to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah and to Joshua son of Jehozadak the High Priest and to the remnant of the people, saying, 3‘Who is there among you who remain who saw this house in its first glory? What does it look like to you now? Is this not like nothing compared to that in your view? 4And now be strong Zerubbabel–a declaration of YHWH–and be strong Joshua son of Jehozadak the High Priest, and be strong all you people of the land–a declaration of YHWH–and work, for I am with you–a declaration of YHWH of Armies. 5According to the agreement I made with you when I brought you out of Egypt my spirit stands among you. Don’t be afraid!’ 6For this is what YHWH of armies says, ‘Once again, in a little will, I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the dry land. 7And I will shake all the nations and the desire of all nations will come. I will fill this house with glory,’ says YHWH of armies. 8‘Mine is the silver and mine the gold!’–a declaration of YHWH of Armies. 9The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says YHWH of Armies. ‘And in this place I will establish peace.’–a declaration of YHWH of armies.” — Haggai 2:1-9

(Note on the Bible translation–I use my own working translation of the text, due to copyright constraints and the huge amount of scripture we quote on this blog. The links go to a site that licenses the RSV, so you can read in that version if you wish.)

Have you ever been in a group of people who have been around for awhile and heard them talk about the past? I don’t necessarily mean old people. These folks could be the senior class in high school. Inevitably most of them remember the past as a much better time. Frequently we forget just how bad things were in the past, while we remember the good times and the good things. That’s how we get stories of a “golden age.”

Right now we remember our problems and our complaints. But more often than not in a few years we’ll remember today as better than it actually was. Uncertainty about our future often makes us see our present as worse than it actually is, and our future as more doubtful.

This isn’t a new attitude. Picture the Judean exiles who have returned from Babylon and started to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Those few who remembered what things were like before must have felt pretty hopeless. The glorious temple had been destroyed and here were a few rocks in the ground and a ditch or two. Human eyes looked and saw nothing. How can the former glories be restored? Here we are, few in number with barely enough to live on. The population is tiny. Where are the resources going to come from? We’ll never make it as good as it was in the old days!

That’s the human eye view of it. But the God’s eye view is quite different. You don’t have the money? Mine is the silver and the gold–not just some of it, but all of it! You’re insecure? I am YHWH, lord of armies. There are more with us than there are with them (2 Kings 6:16) no matter who they are! You feel powerless? My Spirit is among you and I’m the guy who can shake not just nations, but all the land and all the sea, and even the heavens and the whole world.

A God’s eye view sees the future and declares that future glory is not only going to be as good as, but it’s going to be greater than the former. God himself would put his presence in this house, and no glory could be greater than that.

Our human eye view tends toward discouragement. Things are never quite good enough. We remember the past with nostalgia because at least it is certain.

But we need to get a God’s eye view, and see what God is going to do.

The latter glory will be greater than the former. There may be detours, trials, and tribulations, but whatever comes, count on it!

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Friday Morning Devotion (Trouble, Anxiety, and Understanding)

Posted on November 2, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

137You are righteous, YHWH,
and your judgments are just.
138The laws you give are right,
They are very faithful.
139I’m speechless with anger,
because my enemies have forgotten your words.
140Your promise has been thoroughly tested,
Your servant loves it!
141I’m of little account and despised,
yet I have not forgotten your precepts.
142Your justice is everlasting,
and your instruction is the truth.
143Trouble and anxiety have overcome me;
your commands are my delight.
144Your laws are righteous forever.
Give me understanding that I may live. — Psalm 119:137-144

You’ve probably noticed that these devotionals are coming out late this week. The week has been busy and my schedule has changed repeatedly. I don’t work well with constantly changing things like that. Then yesterday I made a mistake with my account. I thought it was going to cost me in fees. If I had discovered it earlier in the day, I could have fixed it easily, but that wasn’t to be.

So I stewed and spent the afternoon in a bad mood because a rather small error was going to cost me. Somewhat later in the evening I prayed about it. I told the Lord it wasn’t a big thing in the general scheme of things. We’d survive in any case. But it would be so nice not to end up with a stack of fees over such a small error. Well, as it turns out, everything did work, and I was charged no fees. It’s a minor thing, but it’s my miracle for the day.

In our passage the Psalmist talks about “trouble and anxiety” overcoming him. It’s interesting what will actually overcome us. I’m such a good worrier. I do anxiety with the best! I can cook up scenarios for trouble that are truly astonishing in their devastation. The good thing about it is that I’m almost always pleasantly surprised by how little of the disaster I imagined actually takes place.

We all have to experience trouble, but we have some control over the anxiety. Neither the trouble nor the anxiety needs to overwhelm us. There is nothing about your situation or mine that giving up is going to help.

How do we keep to a firm path? God’s instructions, commands, precepts, laws, and judgments. They tell us about God and about who he is. If we understand them, we have no need to be overcome. If we let God’s word into our heart to remake us, we may still have trouble, but it will not overcome us.

The final prayer here is for God to “give us understanding.” We need to understand who God is and how he is working in our lives. Only by doing so will we be able to live.

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Thursday Morning Devotion (Witnessing one Way or Another)

Posted on November 1, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

10You are my witnesses–a declaration of YHWH–and my servant whom I have chosen, so that you might know and believe and understanding that I am he. No god was formed before me, and there will be none after me. — Isaiah 43:10

In Christian circles we tend to talk about witnessing as an option. Shall I go knock on doors or not? Shall I invite my neighbors to church? Should I talk to the person next to me on an airplane about Jesus? How many tracts should I hand out? But we always leave the option of not witnessing at all.

Our text today is addressed to Israel at the time of the exile. They are in Babylon, suffering the judgment of God. They are coming up on the time of redemption. Many of them were not such good witnesses, or at least we can guess they weren’t by the number who chose to assimilate and stay in Babylon. But God doesn’t say that they will be witnesses, or that they used to be witnesses. He says they are witnesses.

I think it is much the same with us. There are none of us who live in complete isolation from other people. People see how we live, how we act, whether we put our faith into action. They see us, often better than we see ourselves.

We are witnesses. There’s no way out. Today as you move around your workplace, you are a witness. As you drive and choose either to cut someone off or not, to speed or not, to be courteous, or not, you are a witness. You can’t help it. You just are.

We wonder why God would choose to work that way. I know that often I wish my witness was much better. I find myself repenting for not loving my neighbor as myself. I have to wonder about God’s strategy for his world when he would choose people like me as his witnesses!

Today I was reading an article on science education. You may wonder just how such an article could have to do with witnessing, but there was a statement in it that suddenly clicked with me. The author said that people don’t change their beliefs simply because you outline the facts to them. It’s a matter of repetition by different people in different circumstances. The author of the article suggested that science teachers pay more attention to the way the brain works. (Source. Note that the article does not intend to have anything to do with witnessing!).

Many of us think that witnessing involves convincing people through cogent and unanswerable arguments that we are right and they are wrong. But we all know the saying: A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still! Now there is a time and place to talk, and there is even a time and place for debate, though that is pretty rare, I think. But the witness God chose, the way he established to build his kingdom is you.

You are the evidence of God’s work in the world. You are a person touched by the grace of God, reflecting God’s grace and love in an imperfect world. Don’t sweat your imperfections. Do you think God is surprised by the fact that we fail? That is, after all, the reason we needed his grace in the first place!

And don’t be discouraged. It may be that you are just one way that God has ordained your family member, friend, co-worker, or “chance” encounter to hear about him. You just do your piece, and leave the rest to God.

And remember your part is simple: Just be a person touched by God’s grace. You are his witness!

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Wednesday Morning Devotion (Seeing Over the Crowd)

Posted on October 31, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

1He entered and was passing through Jericho. 2There was a man named Zaccheus, a supervisor of tax collectors, and he was rich. 3He tried to see who Jesus was, but he couldn’t since he was too short to see over the crowd. 4He ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore so he could see when Jesus passed by. 5And as Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus! Hurry down! Because I must stay at your house today.” 6Zaccheus hurried down and received Jesus joyfully. 7But the crowd was indignant. They said, “He’s going to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” 8But Zaccheus stood and said to the Lord, “Look! Half of what I own, sir, I’m giving to the poor, and if I have improperly charged anyone I will give it back to him four-fold. 9Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a child of Abraham. 10For the son of man came to seek and to save the lost.” — Luke 19:1-10

Zaccheus is one of those Bible stories you can use to teach quite a number of different lessons. Out of the whole crowd in Jericho, who is it that gets special attention from Jesus? Who catches the attention of those who later remember Jesus and tell his story? There are lessons there for our service to God in church and home.

One reason I like Zaccheus is that he doesn’t manage himself very well in crowds. When Jody and I are walking together in a relatively clear area, I have to pay attention to my pace, because I’ll leave her behind or rush her. I have two speeds for walking—stopped or full speed ahead. But when we come to a crowd, our situations are reversed. She flows through crowds. She knows which way people will move and can dodge between them and get to where she is going. In crowds I’m the one left behind. It seems to me that wherever I turn there’s another body in my way.

In church, we have the front row people and the back row people. Do you run into church and head straight for one of the front rows? What about a class or conference room. The stereotype is that the ones up front are interested, prepared, and eager to please. Personally, I’m more of a middle range person. I like to be fairly inconspicuous in a crowd.

Spiritual seekers also seem to fall into categories. There are those who show up at every event at their home church. Prayer meeting—they are there. Sunday School—you can count on them. Worship services? 52 weeks per year. Others seek all over the place. If there is a revival at a neighboring church, they are there to visit. Special speaker? Off they go. A chance for someone new to pray for them? They’re on their way.

I’m not concerned today with the best way to find God. I just want us to notice how different we each are in the way we go about these things. I don’t think the particular way we search is important. Sometimes I like to think about how a story might have gone. What if Zaccheus had been blocked by more people and had not made it to the tree in time? What if he climbed up and then a limb broke? Silly ideas, perhaps, but they interest me.

I think the ending of this story would have been the same in all those cases. Because Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and Zaccheus was lost and ready to be found. I think Jesus would have found him if he’d fallen and been trampled by the crowd.

One of the joys of seeking God is that we know he’s seeking us. Sometimes we forget this, and we become stressed over friends who have not found God. But God is seeking them too, and he knows even better than you do how to get there. Like Zaccheus, whether you’re seeking for yourself or someone else, don’t give up. But trust God, the great Seeker, to make sure you find him.

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Tuesday Morning Devotion (Taking a Stand)

Posted on October 30, 2007 by Henry Neufeld

Note: I apologize for sending this so late, but my morning didn’t quite work out as planned.

1The burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

2How long, YHWH, must I call for help,
and you do not hear me?
Must I cry out to you, “Violence!”
Yet you don’t save?
3Why do you make me see disaster,
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me,
Strife and quarelling rise up!
4Therefore law (Torah) becomes weary,
And judgment doesn’t win in the end.
For the wicked surround the righteous,
so the judgments that are issued are confused.

. . .

1At my watchpost I will stand,
I will take my position on the rampart.
And I will watch to see what he will say to me,
And what answer he will return to my complaint.
2And YHWH said, “Write the vision,
and make it plain on the tables,
so that a runner may read.
3Because the vision is yet for an appointed time,
It gives witness to the end.
It does not lie.
If it delays, wait for it,
because it will surely come, and will not tarry.
4Look at the arrogant person!
He is not right inside!
But the one who is righteous will live by faith. — Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a hundred times—I don’t really like to wait. It’s a four letter word. I don’t like to say it, and I don’t like to do it. I’m pretty sure Jody has said it a few times in these devotionals as well.

Now you might think that a person who was extremely patient would be God’s ideal. He would just hang out and announce piously, “Whenever the Lord wants to work is OK with me!” That’s a peaceful picture, but I’m not so sure it’s some kind of divine ideal.

In fact, there are quite a few examples in scripture of God’s servants being quite impatient. In this text, taken from the lectionary for this coming Sunday, Habakkuk is anything but patient. He wants God to explain to him why he has to continue to wait. Why does he cry for help, but it seems that the Lord is not hearing him? Not only does he complain, but he takes a stand and stands his ground, challenging God to explain himself. Sometimes this passage is read quite piously. Habakkuk is watching and doing his best while he waits for God, or he’s standing against he enemy. But I believe he’s standing up to God and saying, “Things are bad, and you’re supposed to do something about it!

There’s a time and a place for patience and waiting, but then there is also a time and a place for impatience. When things are wrong, badly wrong, patiently waiting may be the worst thing to do. Habakkuk’s concern is the violence and destruction done by the wicked to the righteous. Being “patient” with this—waiting apathetically as though it didn’t matter, would be very wrong.

It’s good not to be a whiner, complaining at every hardship. At the same time, there are quite appropriate times to stand up to God and say, “How long?” Are you driven to challenge God by the site of injustice as Habakkuk was?

Posted in Bible Books, Devotional, Habakkuk, Lectionary | Comments Off on Tuesday Morning Devotion (Taking a Stand)