Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Today I woke up with no communication from the Holy Spirit, no dream (that I could remember), no song, no phrase, nothing. Without stressing I just opened up my Bible to the place where my finger landed and began to read.
Habakkuk chapter 3 vs. 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. (This seem to indicate it could be like a psalm or lament. ) 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known, in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden.
When I looked up what Teman might refer to was as if God came up from the south in the time following Israel’s exodus from Egypt. In the footnotes it indicated something to the effect that this was to evoke fear or awe of God.
Yesterday I stumbled on a video of Kanye West and he was describing why he was no longer a “Christian”. In short he seemed to be saying, it had to do with the necessity of having fear for God, or how people stressed the “fear” of God. I have learned over the past few years that if I stumble on something, it will come back for one reason or another. I don’t know much about celebrities or keep up with them or what they are doing so it was a bit of a surprise to me.
The Holy Spirit brought that back to my remembrance this morning. Also, I can hear the same chatter playing back in my head over and over, other people expressing that same sentiment as reason not to believe in the Bible, or Jesus. The Fear factor.
Indeed, the Old Testament is full of times of God’s judgement, and many right thinking and/or wise people who heard tell of the God Israel gave serious consideration as to which side they wanted to fall on, when it came down to the Israelites.
In Joshua 2, there was Rahab, the harlot in Jericho, who made a pact with the spies in exchange for her family being spared the wrath of the Hebrew God, then t here were the
inhabitants of Gibeon who went out of their way to deceive the Israelites into making a covenant with them because of the fame of the wrath of the God of Israel (Joshua 9 vs. 3-16).
The created order demands Justice as sure as the principal of seedtime and harvest. I have found quite a few explanations as to the reasons certain people groups experienced the severe wrath of God in the Old Testament (which is a whole other topic). Although admittedly I do not understand every situation. One thing I do know is that God is just, and He knew much more than I could possibly know, now thousands
of years later. If I could know everything about Him and everything He does, He would be too small a God for me.
The Holy Spirit challenged me to consider “FEAR”. If God is feared properly as the Bible teaches us, it is not to be scared of Him so much as it is to acknowledge and revere Him. Acknowledge what? Not that He is angry, but that He is life, He is the essence of life and without Him/ His covering, we are left to the devices of the evil one, the deceiver of this world, the one who is responsible for all pain, suffering,
sickness and sorrow. To stand in Awe of Him because of His power, because of all He has done to attempt to protect us and redeem us. But the narcissistic twisting of the idea of biblical fear in Western culture turns the table on God, to make Him look like a fearmonger.
Since the whole essence of God is Love, He knew from the beginning of the world, that He would be required to pay the eternal price for judgment. This price to protect humanity from scales that could never be balanced once sin tainted the blood of man. He chose to protect humanity from Himself as it were, by giving His most precious possession, the God-man Jesus. Thus, paying the eternal price for judgement through Jesus. So now what seems like judgment comes based directly on our proximity in standing with God. Where His Son is accepted and embraced, His presence is near, He brings peace (even in the storms of life), He brings redemption in the deepest darkness. Where He is disregarded and despised, His presence simply is vacant, equivalent to the level of that rejection of His presence. In essence He is not a God that rules with a strong hand, albeit His right hand is ALL-POWERFUL.
THAT IS A GOD TO BE IN AWE OF INDEED! THAT IS LOVE, TO GIVE THE BEST HE HAD, HIS SON, TO SAVE US FROM HIS OWN JUDGEMENT. SIN DEMANDS A SACRIFICE, SO HE HIMSELF PROVIDED IT.
My Prayer: May the Kingdom of God and His Son Jesus come on earth (as Jesus told us to pray in Matthew), and in and through me.
As I draw close to Him in purity of heart through allowing myself to be changed by obedience to His Word, may heaven be loosed on earth in every place I walk, in every pair of eyes I look into, in every text or email I send, in every hug I give, in every word I speak, may heaven be loosed. May my life be gates through which heaven can enter earth (whole chapter of Psalm 24!!). As a king in His Kingdom, may the rays flashing from His hand (like in Habakkuk 3:4), flow through my mortal body to bring about signs and wonders for the sake of His great Name.
Almost like what they say Redlight Therapy can do, only on a much greater scale obviously. People may not even know when I look into their eyes, or speak a word, or give a hug, or say a simple prayer, but my prayer is that the results be profound, and not for my namesake, but for His glory. How my heart is in AWE of Him!
BTW- the whole chapter of Habakkuk 3 is a story of judgment and righteousness and God’s power, it is beautiful. This is only a small part of what I got from this chapter. When I read the Word, especially the Old Testament, the word “enemy” or “enemies” (in my head), it is always equated to the evil one, not a specific person or people. This also ties us into being the “LIGHT” of the world.