On the back of an amazingly hopeful Gathering (Sandy Shoshani) my mind is now on the Lament of Israel.
As a nation waits for the arrival of the Bibas mother & children. The nation’s heart is broken, and God’s people are in a state of lament. God must feel far from them. Yet they wait. Just like Habakkuk they wait and question the Almighty.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
The Lord’s Answer
5 “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.
As the Rivers Cover the Sea
‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.’
The Lord will answer, He will fulfil His Word. At the moment He is the Watcher and the Witness. These verses tell us of His Faithfulness to do as He has promised.
I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.
17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
he enables me to tread on the heights.
1 John 5:4 ‘For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world – our faith.’ Yet ‘We mourn with those who mourn’
Watch our latest Podcast discussing this
Paul Smith,
PFI Director.
