Habakkuk's Journey: Day 2

Day 1

Habakkuk’s Journey – Day 2
(Habakkuk 1, Genesis 50:20)
There are multiple ways to look at any one thing. Not all of them have to be one or the other. In any given situation we need to ask ourselves, what does God want me to take from this.

Challenge:
Read Habakkuk one more time and try to see the message a hope for things to come.

Iniquity may rage on around us but every day that God delays judgment is another day that we can try to pull as many people out of that iniquity. We need to take every opportunity we’re given. A day that we put off trying to save our brothers and sisters from the iniquity is tantamount to a day that we’re asking God to punish them. Do they deserve it? Yes. But so do we. We all deserve it. God has shown us grace by sending His Son, and the grace given to me is not greater than the grace allotted for them. There is no end to grace. There’s no bucket full of grace and when the bucket is empty then the grace is over. Grace is infinite just as the Father is.

This doesn’t mean that we don’t anger the Father. And this doesn’t mean that we can’t provoke judgment and tribulation. This doesn’t even mean that people don’t take advantage of grace, and use it as an excuse to sin. I would even argue that it’s possible that those who act in such a way never knew Jesus to begin with. But there is no bucket of grace, existing in wait for the last drop to be doled out.

So we live on, day by day, anticipating judgment but thankful for its delay. Don’t waste the days we’re given. Follow the example of Messiah, living a life free from sin, not afraid to speak in love to our brothers and sisters who embrace iniquity. Let them know the road they’re traveling down, but don’t push them away by their words. Some will hate you for it. Jesus said, in Matthew 10:22-23, “and you will be hated by all for My Name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another…”

It is the love that Jesus modeled for us that drives us on, looking past the sin and finding the person. And then loving that person and calling them to repent and turn from their sin. That’s the love that Jesus modeled.

As for you, you planned evil against me but God planned it for good, in order to do this – to keep many people alive – as it is today.
-Genesis 50:20