Have you ever been in the outdoors amongst tall pine trees and just looked up?  The blue sky…the tall trees…the birds, the branches blowing in the breeze… I did that several times this past week while on a family trip to Oregon.  I don’t know about you, but when I look up at those tall trees and the sky above them, I feel “small”.  Not insignificant small, but whoa…God is BIG small!  That sentence came out weird!  🙂  It’s as if I’m being given a whole new perspective on how HUGE God is and how amazing it is that He would love someone so small like me!!  Is it just me, or is it that in that moment, problems seem to shrink, stresses aren’t so stressful anymore, and the eternal things seem to be more important than the earthly problems that surround?  Hmmm…maybe I should plant some pine trees in my back yard!! 🙂

Today I was just feeling overwhelmed by a tough circumstance that we’re facing. I’d like to tell you that I wrote down Bible verses and proclaimed God’s promises over our lives FIRST…but no….I can’t.  That did not happen until much later this afternoon…after I had already done the following:  First, I whined to God.  Then I griped and complained a lot.  Then I sulked a bit.  Then I tried to lose myself in a novel!!   Then I questioned God’s goodness….ugh!!!  It was going downhill fast.   I felt like I was standing inside a beautiful forest of pines…only I was looking at my muddy shoes instead of looking up!!

It was then I remembered Habakkuk!!!  Thank God for Habakkuk!!

The story of Habakkuk has always been one of my favorites…mainly because I love the ending…it’s a good one!  Who doesn’t love a good ending?!  But you can’t just skip ahead and only read the end…you have to endure the beginning and middle with him first!  It just makes the ending all that much better…trust me!

Habakkuk was a man living in Judah during a time of extreme violence, oppression, and even war.  He saw the weak and helpless being continually mistreated by evil men.  (Sounds a lot like things going on in our world today)!!  Overwhelmed by the circumstances surrounding him, he begins his story feeling as if God has left earth, that evil men are in control, and everything is basically hopeless.  He can’t help but see all the devastation around him…the trouble, the plundering, the violence, the lack of justice.  He’s mad at God and begins to question His motives.  “God, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear?  Even cry out to you, “violence!” and You will not save.”

Honestly, I know I’ve asked God some questions like that before…and I have learned that’s okay.  God wants us to be real with Him, right?

Okay, back to the story…

Habakkuk stands still and waits for God to answer.  And He does.  God tells Habakkuk of future things to come.  He tells him that those who are evil will eventually fall.  What the evil men have done to others will eventually happen to they themselves.  As a result, the earth will know all about God and His beautiful glory!  God has a plan for justice to prevail…He is the Hero of our story!  Sounds like a good ending, right?  Yes, but it’s not even the best part!!

I love this…Habakkuk realizes that his focus has not been on God and His amazing power…but rather on the awful circumstances that are surrounding his life.  He’s looking at the wrong thing!!  He’s looking at his muddy shoes!!!  (Okay, I added that part!)  🙂  He then has a change of heart realizing that it is possible to rise above his circumstances, and even to rejoice in them, by focusing on God who stands above all…not on the horrible circumstances around him!! He doesn’t deny his troubles, but instead he chooses to trust God in the midst of them, full of faith instead of fear, and even declares one of my favorite verses in the Bible… you’ll LOVE this…it’s power-packed faith!!

“I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us.  Even thought the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, YET I will rejoice in the Lord!  I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!  The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.”

So for me today…I’m going to do a “Habakkuk”!!  I’m going to look up…not to the trees, but to Jesus…my Hero! 🙂