Comfort and Hope

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, 

as the waters cover the sea."  

Habakkuk 2:14 NIV

Today it's the little Book of Habakkuk-little but deep in content, that was my reading in The Message by Eugene Peterson.  I really find The Message refreshing and informative although I always have my NIV and other references on hand for easy cross referencing.  Interestingly, today on "Listen Up" with Lorna Dueck, she showed a clip of an interview she had with Mr. Peterson.  Apparently it's the only interview for tv that this amazing man has ever done.  I caught part of his comment - "...just read the Bible as a novel and let God's Word flow into you as you read"- just love that.  That's how I try to read it and it works.  There are so many riveting stories always containing the thread of  God's plan, that of "rescuing us all", skillfully interwoven throughout.  A great heroic epic - and it's true!

Mr. Peterson includes great intros to each Book of the Bible.  Here's a few paragraphs I've highlighted in regards to the prophet Habakkuk:

"Living by faith is a bewildering venture.  We rarely know what's coming next, and not many things turn out the way we anticipate.  It is natural to assume that since I am God's chosen and beloved, I will get favorable treatment from the God who favors me so extravagantly.  It is not unreasonable to expect that from the time that I become his follower, I will be exempt from dead ends, muddy detours, and cruel treatment from the travelers I meet daily who are walking the other direction.  That God-followers don't get preferential treatment in life always comes as a surprise.  But it's also a surprise to find that there are a few men and women within the Bible who show up alongside us at such moments...

...But this prophet companion (Habakkuk) who stands at our side does something even more important: He waits and he listens.  It is in his waiting and listening - which then turns into his praying - that he found himself inhabiting the large world of God's sovereignty.  Only there did he eventually realize that the believing-in-God life, the steady trusting-in-God life, is the full life, the only real life.  Habakkuk started out exactly where we start out with our puzzled complaints and God-accusations, but he didn't stay there.  He ended up in a world, along with us, where every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good."

Those paragraphs are so reassuring, so comforting, so full of hope.

Habakkuk, a prophet to Judah, lived in the 7th century BC, before the destruction of the magnificent temple in Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587 BC .  No doubt he will have offered sacrifices and worshiped here before God's judgment fell on His people at that time.

My upbringing was in simple church buildings.  Thinking about the great diversity of church structures and the hardships that often occured as a result of raising up these impressive structures, can be dismaying.   And yet I hope it also signals the workings of the inner desire within the human heart to give our very best, our very most and our very finest to God, not as a means of gaining our rescue but as an offering of gratitude and thanksgiving to our God who has given us life.

 

 While in Moscow I got a good shot of St. Basil's church which was right across the street from our enormous hotel.  I was thrilled that my photo scanned so well just now and that I was able to enhance it somewhat using i-photo.  I had planned on only including the scanned postcard picture below that I bought while there:

 

 All the beautiful churches in Russia were desecrated from 1919 and on.  It was not until the end of the 20th century that registered services could be conducted.  Most of these churches remain secular today and serve as museums.