Perseverance...character...hope
"I found trouble and sorrow ... I was brought low, and He saved me." Psalm 116:3,6
I've been wrestling with the complexity of life. It's hard! Today my counselor shared a number of passages with me: Philippians 1:19-26, James 1:2-4, and Psalm 116. I've also been encouraged by the examples of the prophets who waited for God even during a period of national judgment. Micah laments that all the people are wicked and he determines that he "will wait for the God of my salvation" (Micah 7:7) even though he knows that God's wrath is coming. Micah humbly says, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness." (Micah 7:9) Habakkuk wrestles in many of the same ways. He cries out "violence!" because of the wickedness around him and also sets himself to wait for the Lord, saying, "I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes...Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:16,18)
"For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
'For yet a little while,
and He who is coming will come
and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'" Hebrews 10:36-38, Habakkuk 2:3-4
I've been wrestling with the complexity of life. It's hard! Today my counselor shared a number of passages with me: Philippians 1:19-26, James 1:2-4, and Psalm 116. I've also been encouraged by the examples of the prophets who waited for God even during a period of national judgment. Micah laments that all the people are wicked and he determines that he "will wait for the God of my salvation" (Micah 7:7) even though he knows that God's wrath is coming. Micah humbly says, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness." (Micah 7:9) Habakkuk wrestles in many of the same ways. He cries out "violence!" because of the wickedness around him and also sets himself to wait for the Lord, saying, "I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes...Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:16,18)
"For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise:
'For yet a little while,
and He who is coming will come
and will not tarry.
Now the just shall live by faith;
But if anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him.'" Hebrews 10:36-38, Habakkuk 2:3-4