Utterly Amazing

Day 203: Habakkuk 1-3

What an interesting conversation between Habakkuk and the Lord. Habakkuk cries out to the Lord, begging for answers, wondering when he will ever respond. When will he save them? When will will he respond to the injustice, to the wrongdoing. God tells Habakkuk in 1:5,

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.

God is going to do something utterly amazing. And this something is actually a something. The Lord Jesus. He's coming to save these people. God knows it and tells his people to keep hope because this act is going to be so amazing that they wouldn't even believe it if they were told.

So Habakkuk decides what his respond is going to be. In spite of pain and suffering and the lack of justice occurring on earth, Habakkuk will trust in the Lord. He will rejoice in the Lord. The Lord is his strength, and he will be joyful in Him. What a hopeful message to all of us.

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Have you ever wondered where this first comes from? It's Habakkuk 2:20. 

The LORD is in his holy temple;
       let all the earth be silent before him.

Renewing Holiness

Day 187: Ezekiel 40-44

Ezekiel has a vision of a specific temple, and these chapters detail what the temple will look like. The temple Ezekiel envisions includes a wall, many different gates, outer and inner courts, rooms for the priests and for preparing sacrifices, a sanctuary, an altar, and the most holy place. It doesn't appear that this temple was ever built, and I'm not quite sure of the significance of this temple. Perhaps Ezekiel's detailed explanation about the temple is to serve as a message to Israel about the holy people they are supposed to be. The temple gives Israel a place of worship and might encourage them to return to holiness, to renew their commitment to the Lord.

It's interesting to me--and I know I've said this before--how much of the Bible reflects the same theme, the same story, just told in different ways. Israel is God's people. Israel leaves the Lord. The Lord pleads for them to repent. Israel repents. Israel strays again. And over and over and over again you have this motif.

But what I also find interesting is that we do the same thing as Israel does. Israel didn't get it, and neither do we. God wants us to pursue him. He wants us to be holy. He has called us. He has named us. But we stray. We sin. We turn our back on the Lord. We look out for our own self-interests. And through scripture, God is calling us to renew our hearts and minds by worshiping him in the temple. He's built this great place for us, and he wants us to come. To sit by His side and listen to Him. To worship Him. To love Him. If we renew our faith, He will make us holy.