Tag Archives: vision

HABAKKUK’S FIRST DILEMMA-1

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Habakkuk 1:1-4 NLT
[1] “This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. [2] How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. [3] Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. [4] The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”

This little, seemingly insignificant prophecy from the pen of an unknown prophet, has huge implications for God’s people. if we look into it carefully, we can draw lessons and principles that will guide us through the same dilemma we face in our world today.

The first few verses reveal a scenario that is eerily similar to the reports in our daily newspapers. Violence, evil, misery, destruction, conflict, lawlessness, failure of the courts, injustice…all so evident in our own society! The only difference is that Habukkuk almost lays the blame for the escalation of wickedness at God’s door. “Things have got so bad because you, God, are doing nothing!” he accused.

Now that’s a bold claim! God had every right to swat His angry prophet…but He didn’t. He was patient and kind in His explanation of the real situation. You see, God is painting on a different canvas from the one we think we see. We see the effects of the hearts of people, and God seems indifferent. Unrestrained wickedness, rebellion, lawless…it all began in the garden of Eden.

So why should we be surprised? The same things have been going on since Adam’s decision to go it alone. When people kick God out of their lives, the rest is history…and history tells the story.

Habakkuk’s problem wasn’t so much what was happening but that God was letting it happen. After all, wasn’t God in charge? Isn’t He still in charge? Then why has He allowed things to become so bad, so unrestrained and out of hand? Has he lost His grip on humanity? Is He going anywhere with this mess? Can He turn things around, pull us out of it? Can He, will He put us back on even keel? Is He even interested or concerned about what’s happening to us? Will He eventually shut things down by obliterating the whole planet? After all, He owes us nothing!

In our world, history is repeating itself every day. God’s people are appalled at the level of wickedness and rebellion in the world around us. How and why have things got so bad?

To be continued…

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – THE SOLITUDE OF ECSTASY

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THE SOLITUDE OF ECSTASY

“Meanwhile, the congregation waiting for Zachariah was getting restless, wondering what was keeping him so long in the sanctuary. When he came out and couldn’t speak, they knew he had seen a vision. He continued speechless and had to use sign language with the people.

“When the course of his priestly assignment was completed, he went back home.  It was not long before his wife, Elizabeth, conceived. She went off by herself for five months, relishing her pregnancy. ‘So, this is how God acts to remedy my unfortunate condition!’ she said.” Luke 1:21-25.

True to the angel’s prediction, Zachariah was struck dumb from the moment the angel had spoken. The waiting worshippers realised that something out-of-the-ordinary had happened to him behind the curtain of the sanctuary. His unskilled use of sign language left them curious and mystified.

Zachariah completed his duties in the temple and returned home to Elizabeth. One wonders how he explained to Elizabeth what had happened to him in the sanctuary and what the angel had said to him! Perhaps he had to leave the details of the story until after John’s birth. The most important fact was that Elizabeth conceived a child to her amazement and delight. Unlike some of the reactions of elderly mothers-to-be, she saw in this event the grace of God and the removal of the stigma of childlessness.

Not only was the fact that she was at last to have a child precious to her, but also the realisation that God had not forgotten her. All the years of waiting, the cycle of hope and disappointment and the belief that she was not one of God’s favoured daughters, fell away with the slowly dawning reality that she was pregnant; she, barren Elizabeth, was no longer barren.

She went into solitude, not to hide in shame or embarrassment, but to savour and enjoy this new-found realisation that God had a purpose for her too. She wanted to be alone with her God to worship Him and to voice her ceaseless praise to Him without interruption from any other human being, not even her husband, Zachariah.

Was it this season of solitude with God part of the foundation laid for John’s life and destiny? Elizabeth may not have lived to see the outcome of this boy that she was privileged to bring into the world, but she would surely go to her rest knowing that he was safely in the hands of the God who had destined him for greatness.

She worshipped and prayed into her unborn son the great heritage of her people, perhaps using the song-book of the Psalms to instil into him a love for God and His Word that carried him through testing, incarceration and an untimely and violent death.

Jesus classified John as the greatest of the Old Covenant prophets, even though his ministry lasted a paltry six months. It was not the length of his ministry that constituted his greatness but the nature of his calling and the diligence and faithfulness with which he carried it out. His had the honour, as the forerunner of Messiah, to herald the king’s arrival even though Jesus did not come with the pomp and ceremony of an earthly king.

True to His role as the rightful ruler of creation and all mankind, Jesus came in humility and simplicity and John announced His coming as befitted Him. It was not their apparel or their bearing that made them great but the authority of their office, Jesus as the king and John His herald, given to them by the great God Himself.

Elizabeth was the wife of a country priest but she fulfilled her maternal role with dignity and excellence, preparing her son from the moment of his conception to be the greatest prophet who ever lived.

THE BOOK OF ACTS – YOU CAN’T KILL A DEAD MAN!

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YOU CAN’T KILL A DEAD MAN! 

“‘What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change — this radical turn to God and everything it meant to everyday life — right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world 

“‘It’s because of this “whole world” dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as He promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen. One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, He would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and god-fearing.'” Acts 26:19-23 (The Message).

The same Jesus, who created the universe and sustains it by His powerful word, stood before Paul and awaited his decision. In that life-changing encounter, Paul was offered a package – to be opened one day at a time, containing good and bad. The choice was his. Would he accept it or walk away and never know what was inside or have the privilege of being a partner with the King of kings?

‘I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that.’ Paul decided to accept the package in toto. It was his response to the “heavenly vision” that set him up for life he lived — danger and death staring him in the face every moment of every day. It’s no wonder he wrote, “I die daily.” Death was his daily companion on his road of obedience to his Master.

But it did not seem to trouble him unduly. His attitude was, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Death to Paul meant nothing worse than relocation into the presence of his Lord. As far as he was concerned, he was already a dead man, and no-one can kill a dead man. When did he die? In that moment when he surrendered his life to the glorious risen Jesus he saw on the Damascus road.

It was his job to follow the vision wherever it led. Unfortunately for him, his obedience to the vision took him into “forbidden territory” — the Gentiles. These were people abhorrent to the Jews for a very strange reason. During their early history, instead of living as God had instructed them and worshipping Him only, so that their way of life would put their God on display, they persisted in following the disgusting idols of the surrounding nations. This eventually led to their exile in a foreign land.

This terrible experience turned them into isolationists who thought they were better than everyone else. They treated the Gentiles as though they were less than human, refusing to have anything to do with them. For Paul to take God’s message to the Gentiles was unthinkable. How could he! He must die for that!

Yet they had forgotten that their very own Scriptures had predicted that Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles and that all the nations would come to the Lord through Him. Paul’s package included the hardship he had to endure at the hands of his own people whose prejudice had blinded them to the true nature of their God and to their calling to be a light to the Gentiles.

It was for that very reason that he stood before Agrippa that day, not to make excuses for a profligate life or criminal activities, but to bear testimony to his obedience to a vision and a call he could not ignore. How unbearable it would have been had he not died to himself that day when he answered the call!

Glimpses Of The Great God: Day Twenty Eight

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DAY TWENTY EIGHT

I,  John….was on the island of Patmos

because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus….

On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit

and I heard a loud voice behind me like a trumpet…

I turned around to see the voice that was speaking to me.

And when I turned I saw seven golden lamp stands,

and among the lamp stands was someone “like a son of man,”

dressed in a robe down to His feet

and with a golden sash around His chest.

His head and His hair were white like wool, as white as snow,

and His eyes were like blazing fire.

His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace,

and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters.

In His right hand were seven stars,

and out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword.

His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance.

When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.

Revelation 1:9a, 10, 12-17

The Jesus we worship is not a baby in a cradle, a carpenter in his workshop or an itinerant preacher walking the dusty roads of Galilee.  He is a glorious and glorified Lord, majestic, beautiful and so terrifying that John, who once leaned on His breast, “fell at His feet as though dead.”  We need to lay aside the image of the human Jesus and focus on the risen Christ who is God and who stands in our place in the presence of the Father to intercede for us.

You Can’t Kill A Dead Man

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YOU CAN’T KILL A DEAD MAN!

“‘What could I do, King Agrippa? I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that! I became an obedient believer on the spot. I started preaching this life-change — this radical turn to God and everything it meant to everyday life — right there in Damascus, went on to Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside, and from there to the whole world.

“‘It’s because of this “whole world” dimension that the Jews grabbed me in the Temple that day and tried to kill me. They want to keep God for themselves. But God has stood by me, just as He promised, and I’m standing here saying what I’ve been saying to anyone, whether king or child, who will listen. And everything I’m saying is completely in line with what the prophets and Moses said would happen. One, the Messiah must die; two, raised from the dead, He would be the first rays of God’s daylight shining on people far and near, people both godless and god-fearing.'” Acts 26:19-23 (The Message).

The same Jesus, who created the universe and sustains it by His powerful word, stood before Paul and awaited his decision! In that life-changing encounter, Paul was offered a package – to be opened one day at a time, containing good and bad. The choice was his. Would he accept it or walk away and never know what was inside or have the privilege of being a partner with the King of kings?

‘I couldn’t just walk away from a vision like that.’ Paul decided to accept the package in toto.. It was his response to the “heavenly vision” that set him up for life he lived — danger and death staring him in the face every moment of every day. It’s no wonder he wrote, “I die daily.” Death was his daily companion on his road of obedience to his Master.

But it did not seem to trouble him unduly. His attitude was, “To me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Death to Paul meant nothing worse than relocation into the presence of his Lord. As far as he was concerned, he was already a dead man, and no-one can kill a dead man. When did he die? In that moment when he surrendered his life to the glorious risen Jesus he saw on the Damascus road.

It was his job to follow the vision wherever it led. Unfortunately for him, his obedience to the vision took him into “forbidden territory” — the Gentiles. These were people abhorrent to the Jews for a very strange reason. During their early history, instead of living as God had instructed them and worshipping Him only, so that their way of life would put their God on display, they persisted in following the disgusting idols of the surrounding nations.This eventually led to their exile in a foreign land.

This terrible experience turned them into isolationists who thought they were better than everyone else. They treated the Gentiles as though they were less than human, refusing to have anything to do with them. For Paul to take God’s message to the Gentiles was unthinkable. How could he! He must die for that!

Yet they had forgotten that their very own Scriptures had predicted that Messiah would be a light to the Gentiles and that all the nations would come to the Lord through Him. Paul’s package included the hardship he had to endure at the hands of his own people whose prejudice had blinded them to the true nature of their God.

It was for that very reason that he stood before Agrippa that day, not to make excuses for a profligate life or criminal activities, but to bear testimony to his obedience to a vision and a call he could not ignore. How unbearable it would have been had he not died to himself that day when he answered the call!