Brown's Daily Word 8-10-10

Good morning,
Praise the Lord. We spent the weekend with Sunita and Andy in Washington, DC. We took our 6 nieces and nephews to their annual summer pilgrimage to Washington, DC. Sunita and Andy have a little garden behind their house. They were blessed with lots of tomatoes and other vegetables. In particular, they have planted one vine of butternut squash, which appears to have close to 40 squash on it. Sunita, her mommy, and I took a walk on Friday evening, from their house to Roman Catholic Cathedral, near Catholic University and the center that is home to the Council of Catholic Bishops. It was an easy evening walk, a little over one mile one way. Sunita said they walk that route often, meeting the people on the streets and praying for them. She said she often takes prayer walks and feels the presence of Jesus, feeling very safe.
We took our nieces and nephews to spend some time at Smithsonian Museum of American History and Heritage. It was a very beautiful experience. On Sunday we worshipped with Sunita and Andy at their church, St Brendan's in the City, a small Anglican congregation that seeks to reach out to the City. The church meets at a Rescue Mission downtown, where the poorest of the poor live. The church meets at 4:30 PM on Sunday. It was a great blessing to be there worshipping the Risen Lord. Most of the congregation was much younger than us. Alice and I were the oldest persons there. Many of the people are of Andy and Sunita's age. Several work for various Government branches such as FEMA, USAID, USDA, World Bank, etc, but all love the Lord Jesus and attempt to live their lives to make a difference in the world they live. Their priest, Father Bill Haley, had just returned from attending a conference on Healing that was held in Jacksonville, FL. He preached on Moses, who had many questions as he walked withe Lord.
When we read the Bible, we find a lot of people asking big questions. Moses, who was born a pauper, was raised as a Prince of Egypt. He took things into his hands, did things his own way, and ended up in a big mess. The Prince of Egypt then became a fugitive and a pauper in the faraway land of Midian. He married, had a family and worked for his father-in-lay. He remained there from the time he was forty until he was eighty, living with many questions. While out tending the sheep one day, the Lord appeared to him in burning bush, in a desolate desert.
If you look closely you will notice something about the questions that Moses asked. They were asked in the face of unfulfilled promises or personal tragedy. They were similar to the questions that are on our lips when difficult people try to steal our joy, when we are facing immanent danger, or even when we face undeserved punishment. When times get tough, wise people start directing their questions to God.
The prophet Habakkuk also stood in the middle of that tradition of questioning God. His work differed from every other writing by every other prophet in the history of Israel. What makes it different is that he never said a word to another person. Habakkuk was somebody with questions for God, and he was not shy about asking them.
The book opens with a question of frustration. “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you ‘Violence,’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?” The situation during Habakkuk’s life was difficult. As he looked around at the world, at the injustice and pain that are a natural part of life, he asked God why He did not do something about it.
We all feel that way sometimes. In the wake of a personal tragedy, or when we were waiting for some good thing to happen instead of the bad, we have moments when we just want to try to get God's attention.
Tim Hansel was about as active a person as anyone could be. He lived in central California and his passion was mountain climbing. He loved it so much that he made his work leading mountain climbing expeditions. One day in 1973 around dusk, when the snow-covered mountain turned to ice, Tim fell and suffered an injury that would cripple him for the rest of his life. The injury was not of the nature that he would be bound by a wheel chair; he wasn’t. He could move around fine, but his spine was unalterably damaged so that every movement gave him excruciating pain. It was pain so intense that it shook him to the core of his being.
Tim spent several years questioning God. “Why did this have to happen to me? Why don’t you take away the pain?” As you can imagine, the longer Tim lived with the pain the more intense the questions became, but after a couple of years, Tim’s questions began to be answered. If you read through his journal, you can get glimpses into the answers that God was giving him.
Winter 75. “Perhaps this is the ultimate realization--when we recognize that all questions have the same answer that comes from you, O Lord, from you.”
Spring 76. “At times I whisper in the night: “God I’ve learned enough now! I’m ready for the next test.”
Summer 76. “Learning patience. . . takes a lot of patience.”
“What a test of character adversity is. It can either destroy or build up, depending on our chosen response. Pain can either make us better or bitter.”
Spring 78. “If your security is based on something that can be taken away from you--you will constantly be on a false edge of security.”
Reading through Hansel’s struggles, we find that his words are parallel to those of Habakkuk. Habakkuk questioned about why God let pain and evil continue on earth. When God answered and explained that he was going to punish the wickedness of Israel by allowing the Babylonians to destroy the southern Kingdom, Habakkuk was not any more satisfied. He than struggled with why God could use the most ruthless and terrible people, the infamous Babylonians, to judge the Jewish nation who were at least more godly than the Babylonians. As we read through the text, we cannot help but realize that Habakkuk didn’t receive all of the answers he was searching for. Yet, through the process of his questions, he did come to a conclusion that empowered him to move on. In 3:19 he wrote, “The Sovreign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.” What changed between the questions and the affirmation of confidence in God was a realization that he came to in chapter 2. 2:4, "The Righteous will live by his faith."
These are words that Paul latched onto as he explained how to live as a Christian. Paul quoted the passage in Romans 1:17, and the Hebrew author quotes it again in Hebrews 10:38, but this New Testament idea is rooted all the way back in Habakkuk. Righteous people live by faith. It means that people who truly follow God trust Him enough to be obedient, even when life doesn’t make sense.
Habakkuk 3:17-19, "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, yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
In Christ,
Brown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qp11X6LKYY