Rejoice with Fear and Trembling

Habakkuk fills chapter 3 with the awe of God. He shows his fear of God’s power, evidenced through His wrath, and God’s mercy. Habakkuk does this through a prayer. Through the chapter, he gives a historical account about who God is, what He’s done, and what He will do. Verse two of this chapter is the thematic statement; while verses 18-19 are the ultimate expression of Habakkuk’s praise and worship of God for who He is. Through all the things God did in the past, Habakkuk could say the Lord is his strength.

What had God done and what will He do according to history and this prophet? First, Habakkuk reminded the Judeans of God’s presence in their history. God was with their forefather, Abraham, and He chose them as His people. Habakkuk said this in verse 3 when he said God comes from Teman and from Mount Paran. Abraham came through Teman and the Israelites, in their exodus wandering, camped or visited at Paran several times.

Habakkuk continued to remind the Judeans who God is by His presence in nature. He said God’s splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of His praise. Even His created world will proclaim and praise Him.

Next Habakkuk reminded the Judeans of what God had done. This reminded them of His presence in power. God brought pestilence and plague to the Egyptians. He startled the nations and made them tremble. Before the watching nations, God shattered mountains on which cities relied for defense. The people of Cush and Midian knew God and trembled. Even other nations realized who God is, and that He is eternal.

Habakkuk then used rhetorical questions to make his point. Was God angry against the rivers or sea? Was He concerned about the salvation of the waters or of people? This made sense to the listener. This prayer of Habakkuk’s was for them to attune to and return to God.

Habakkuk said the power of God’s love would bring them salvation and/or chastisement. God tried to give salvation to His people, but then, as the loving Father, He had to resort to chastisement. The bows of other nations God would use to correct them. Habakkuk paused and let the people think about this.

God’s kindness leads us to repentance and salvation (Romans 2:4).

With verses 9-11, Habakkuk returned to God’s influence on nature. Before he wrote about God’s power in nature. This time Habakkuk personified nature as writhing in fear and raising its voice and hands in proclaiming God. Even the sun and moon acknowledged God’s majesty. Their light dimmed when God’s great splendor shone. God’s glorious light outshone the stars and moon, so they were unseen.

With verses 12-15, Habakkuk showed God’s power in chastisement would be fearful, but it would cause salvation. He showed God’s power over all things for His purposes. God was indignant because the Judeans (and all Israelites), though God showed His love and care for them, showed by their lives how little God meant to them. He was angry because of their disobedience. Habakkuk said God marched through the earth and trampled the nations. God would destroy all the people counted on to give them what they needed or wanted. Still, God did not do this because of His anger. He based His anger upon His love for all the people of Israel. God would march and trample because of His love for them to save the people. He was angry at the Israelites and the people who caused them pain and destroyed them. God would chastise the Judeans and their subjugators. He would kill their subjugator’s leader with his own spear. Though the Judeans’ enemy would exult in Judah’s destruction, God would go far and wide to chastise them with His might, knowledge, and anger. He would cross lands and seas to accomplish it.

Habakkuk recognized God’s power, influence, salvation, love, and continual presence. He feared with awe His God and he trembled with fear at God’s prophecy of Judah’s destruction. Habakkuk’s fear was so great he shivered with it and his bones melted.

With Habakkuk’s final three verses, he proclaimed his certainty in God’s word and His love. He praised God because he recognized that though Judah’s enemies would loot and destroy them, God was their salvation. God would not permanently remove His hand from His chosen people. Habakkuk rejoiced triumphantly because God is mighty. God was his strength. He believed God would lead him and make him steady even during rocky or shaky, fearful times.

Though God takes us through difficult times, we can trust Him. We can proclaim God when we experience trials because we realize He is our salvation. His salvation comes from His love for us as does His chastisement. Everything God does is because of His love for us. Recognize God’s greatness, His power, influence, love, and continual presence, just as Habakkuk did.

Join Habakkuk and the great cloud of witnesses exulting and rejoicing in the Lord, the God of our salvation!

“Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say, rejoice!” Psalm 4:4

Though my days are dark, oh Lord, I will remember Your splendorous light and the rays of power coming from Your hands. I will not be afraid. I will wait upon and exult in You now knowing You are in control and this time is for my growth because of Your love. You, God, will provide the way of escape, and I will be able to endure through this trial with Your strength and guidance, too. Amen.

“No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

1 Corinthians 10:13 [NASB]

Rejoice with fear and trembling; God will break through for you!

Holy Presence

Recall what Habakkuk said in 2:20. He said, “The Lord is in His Holy Temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.” This caught my eye as I was reading this chapter. Why is this significant? We know where we can always find the Lord, and be still and hushed in His presence. That place is His sanctuary.

Pieces of wood or stone made by humans into statues have less power than the man who carved them. They were inanimate before the carving and remained that way after the carving. The one who carved them into a shape has more power than the object. No place is holy to these objects because it has no power to make a place holy or sacred. Holiness is imbued by the character and power of a being. The only one who has this kind of power is Yahweh God. He cleanses and makes holy a place for His habitation by His decree. If we each proclaim a place clean that does not mean it actually is clean. We’ve just moved the dirt from one place to another or missed something. We do not have the power to declare something, someone, or some place clean or holy because we ourselves are sinful and unholy. We cannot even make something that is holy because of our sinfulness.

When we search for and find this place of holiness, the temple of God, we may enter. We must remember we will be in the presence of almighty, holy God. What right do we have to bring our filthy selves before Him? None, but He made a way for us to be cleansed and made holy through the sacrificial death of His Son, Jesus. Once accepting Jesus as your Savior and repenting of all your sins, you are clean. God sets you apart as His child. This setting apart is the act of “making holy.” God set apart and made His temple holy, sacred. Can you imagine the release and relief of a person who feels the weight of their dirtiness removed from their heart, mind, and soul? God’s “making holy” provides release and relief. It’s like a huge cleansing breath after being in the basement of a dank building. The sky is clean; the sun shines; the darkness departs.

Even though we tasted this cleansing, this deep breath of release and relief, why do we choose to go back to our old ways? Why do we choose to chase idols of the heart, mind, and flesh? Who would purposely choose to carry a weight on his chest bearing him down as he tried to rise from the floor every moment of the day? That is what we do when we tell our idols to awake or arise as Habakkuk said in verse 19. If we must wake our gods, they are no gods at all. They are products of our minds and hands. If they come from our hands, they have no power - no power over our present situation or our future. They cannot cleanse and make a person holy or sacred. They cannot declare a place holy. The person who made the thing is the only voice heard.

If we must wake our gods, they are no gods at all.

This then brings us back to what Habakkuk said in verse 20. The Lord is in His holy temple. We can find Him there. Always. He has breath. He is alive and doesn’t need to be awakened. The Lord created the holy temple. He has the ability and desire to make you His holy child, too. He is awake. He is aware. He is Holy and love. God wants to make you clean so you can enter His temple and come to Him.

“Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.” [Matthew 11:28] Only God can say that. Only He has the power do it. Only He loves you enough to offer it with no attachments, no tricks, and no requirements.

Come to God with your heavy hearts.

Come to Him with your pain.

Come to God with your broken hearts and spirit.

Come to Him with defeat and exhaustion.

Come to Holy God and find rest, cleansing, love, and hope.

Nothing created by the hands of people can give this. They have less power than the person who made them. We humans cannot make ourselves holy, give ourselves soul peace, heal pain, broken hearts, and spirit, or give refreshing rest. Human-made idols cannot give you this.  

God leaves it at that – COME.

Lord, I come to You exhausted, broken, sinful, hopeless, unloved, and filled with pain. I ask to come into Your presence. I seek your Holiness and to be in Your presence. Please cleanse me, calm and restore my soul, heal my broken heart, and give me your sweet rest. Show me my sins against you so I may repent and enter into Your presence.

In Their Words: Mataa's Story

(for sale at Kakuma Market)

Allow me to introduce Mataa to you. One morning when I awoke, a message was on my phone. It said, “Hello.” No name was attached to the message and you know how reluctant people are to reply to an unknown message or call. Well, I felt God saying, “Go ahead. Talk to this person.” I replied tentatively back to this person and said, “Hello.” Those two initial words began a growing understanding for me about the plight of refugees. I have been working with refugees and asylum-seekers, who for this and other articles I will group all as refugees, for 7 ½ years. I have heard stories, seen where they live, watched as they grew thinner with each week, and regularly felt broken with them as the government refused to give them their official documents. This day, my eyes would be opened to another kind of story. [Note: There is some content that might disturb sensitive readers.]

After “Hello,” this person began telling me his story of how he became a refugee and what it is like to be a refugee in the world’s largest refugee camp, Kakuma, Kenya. This young 19-year-old man’s story unfolds like an interview. For this story, a pseudonym will be used.

Mataa is this young man’s name. He said, “Thank you so much for replying to me. I purposely inboxed you to give a story of mine, if it’s okay with you. I am a Sudanese refugee living in Kenya. And I thought to myself I should share my story with you in hope I can get any help concerning my academic issues. Thank you so much. I hope you would wish to hear me out.”

Gail: Mataa, please tell me your story. I don’t know if I can help with your academic issues, but I would like to hear your story.

Mataa: Thanks to you so much for understanding my point. It is long and sad.

Back when I was in Sudan, we used to live a life with much happiness until war broke out in some parts of our country, which left a lot of people dead, including many children and women.

My parents took us to some place they thought was safe, but all went worse there. I lost my cousins and uncle there when we were attacked in the dawn by rebels.

Before the final attack, early one morning when we were looking after our goats in the nearby forest, we saw some guys who were running while bending approaching us and we knew they were up to no good. We screamed and ran back to the village. A few minutes later they caught up with us. They began shooting guns at our village so people started running, but most women and children did not make it. They were laying down dead. It was a terrible situation, so I and my friend decided to hide inside the grass. My friend saw his mother and his 7-month-old sister on the back of his mother. He ran to them and hugged her. I called him to bend down since the bullet sounds were still too much. But they never heard me. He witnessed his mom being shot in the chest and die on the spot. As she fell, she fell on her child, too. They both died. My friend was so shocked he couldn’t believe what he saw. He stayed until evening.

Later that evening, my father who was away with my mother came and took me with my friend to the forest where I first saw my mom. I was so happy to see her. Days later, we took off to some villages in the west Sudan. There we stayed for days. In that village my friend was so stressed, so he got sick and died, too. Now, I feel he deserves justice in some way.

Later, the fighting continued. I ran away to the forest where I thought it was safe for me to stay. All our village members ran, too. While I was still in the bush, I used to hear wounded people screaming for help and screaming out the names of people who had been killed with their bodies just lying there. That made me run deeper into the forest to go and look for whoever was alive.

Days later, while I was in the forest, I found a hunter who said he would take me with him. He told me I should wait for him until he first got an animal to kill. I waited for him under that tree for 4 days, but he never returned. I used to sleep on the tree branch and drink water from the nearby water source. There was no food. The only food available was the tree leaves, which I ate, then I slept. Five days later, I gave up and left that place.

Guns were still being heard, so I decided to go to the banks of the river Nile where I found some people who were experiencing the same issues as me. We walked together to a small town where they believed people were being taken to a Kenyan refugee camp, so I followed them. When we reached that town, we stayed there for a month, then we were taken to the refugee camps. Life in that camp was a bit fair; I never heard any screams. The only worrying thing is where were my parents and siblings.

A year later, I joined a primary school where I learned small English. I am now in form 2 [form 2 is grade 11 or 12], but the schools are being turned into a private school system and require money to attend. In case I don’t get a chance to finish my high school, I would want to do some computer course and driving school, then go to Sudan and find a small job.   

I am praying hard. Going to school is a big dream nowadays.

Gail: What is the school’s name? Where is it located? How much are the fees?

Mataa: They charge 18,000 Kenyan shillings per term (3 times a year). [That’s about $180 three times a year.] I am taking grade 12 classes. The school is called Kakuma Secondary School and is outside the camp. No one in my family has ever gone to high school or university. I had never been to school until I arrived in Kakuma. [They didn’t use to charge tuition, but another organization oversees the schools as of this year.]

Gail: Is there a school inside the camp?

Mataa: Yes, but it is more expensive.

Gail: Do you live inside the camp?

Mataa: Yes. The saddest thing in my life is knowing that my mother brought me into this world and I feel it is my obligation to give her a life she deserves along with women of her age by bringing peace to our country. The only way of bringing peace to our country is through forgiving those who have killed our beloved people. The past is in the past.

"The only way of bringing peace to our country is through forgiving those who have killed our beloved people. The past is in the past."

My biggest dream is one day I can be a peace ambassador in my country and in the world in general.

Gail: How many years have you lived at the camp? How old are you now?

Mataa:  I’ve been in this camp 6 years. I am 19-years-old now.

Gail: That’s a long time to be without your parents to love on and care for you. Who took their place in the camp?

Mataa: We stayed as boys only in our compound and we cook for ourselves. I am used to it now. I am good. But I have been lonely.

Gail: Where are your parents now?

Mataa: My mom is in Sudan. My dad passed away in 2012 in the conflict.

Mataa experienced atrocities most people will never see or understand. He faced them with almost no adult help. Mataa has learned to live with other orphaned boys in the camp. He tells me they are violent boys, and it is very dangerous to live in the camp. Mataa sent a picture to me of a young man, maybe 18-years-old that had stitches put in across his scalp this week because none of the boys wanted to cook for the group, so they fought about it.

Just because a refugee makes it to a refugee camp, does not mean life will be rosy. Please pray for Mataa and other orphaned refugee children living in camps or in places where there are no camps. Pray for all the refugees to be able to have enough food, a place to live, free education, and a place of safety.

One final note, Mataa wants to return to his home country of Sudan. Most refugees I have spoken with want the same thing. Their host country is a temporary refuge. Mataa wants to be a peace ambassador. The other day he told me he wants to open an orphanage for children in Sudan. And just in case this matters to anyone, Mataa is a professing believer. He is humble and cares for other people.

Mataa ended our last conversation saying that he now has two moms, the one in Sudan and me. We speak almost every day now. We don’t need to live close to someone to develop this relationship. We need to be genuine to build relationships with refugees, just like any relationship, ones that feel like family and involve trust.

Contentment Is...

“You will be filled with shame and contempt instead of glory. Drink also and be like an uncircumcised heathen. The cup of wrath in the Lord’s right hand will come around to you, and foul shame shall be upon your own glory.” [Habakkuk 2:16]

This is us. When we read Habakkuk, we read about the Babylonians and the Judeans. God proclaimed who He would use to bring his judgment upon the Israelites. But, we need to look closer at this. We deserve God’s judgment, too.

I must be honest, I wanted to see God take the Chaldeans down. I mean, hey, they destroyed Judea and the whole area. They overthrew the most horrific army of the time, the Assyrians. In our minds, they deserve judgment, right? 

Yes, it’s true the Chaldeans deserved judgment. Still, when you read closer, you will find the Judeans did, too. In Habakkuk 2:5 & 8, the prophet records the sins of the Chaldeans. He said they were proud, restless, greedy, and they plundered nations. From historical records, we come to learn this plundering meant they utterly destroyed nations. They killed the people and animals, destroyed the farmlands, and took the resources of the people-gold, silver, wine, grain, oil, etc. Besides this, the Chaldeans took captives. These actions deserve punishment, yet God would use them to exact His judgment against the Judeans.

Why would God allow such a heinous and horrific army to invade and overthrow them? Consider the sins of the Judeans according to God’s judgment in verses 6-7 & 8b-19. The overarching sin of the Judeans according to God was their greed. He spoke of this in verses 6-7. God said their debtors will rise against them and they will taunt them with derision. They amassed wicked gain and lived on a higher plane of existence than people around them (vs 9). God further stated the Judeans shamed their own people and made them destitute without caring for them (vs 10). They worked for futility, falsity, and emptiness trying to satisfy their burning greed (vs 13). This futile work would end up destroying what they had done. Their work amounted to nothing. They worked for perishable things instead of things that mattered (vs 14). These Judeans even encouraged and made their people drunk to disgrace them and bring shame upon themselves (vs 15) to make themselves look better than the other Judeans.

When we compare the Chaldeans with the Judeans, not much difference exists between them. They each were greedy. Both people groups willingly destroyed other people to get what they wanted. The Chaldeans did it with physical violence and destruction. The Judeans did it by taking more money than necessary for services and loans to make themselves wealthy. If that wasn’t enough shame, they caused their fellow countrymen to get drunk. This made the rich seem more glorious and the drunkard, the one they made drunk, lose his or her glory and cause shame. Both nations caused people to be shamed because of their greed. Both people chose to step on people to make themselves appear bigger to other people and nations. They did not care about the physical and/or spiritual destruction they caused the people.

Surely, we don’t do that, do we? “We work hard for what we have; we deserve it,” you say. “That beggar on the corner can go get a job and work like I did,” you think. “I want to be able to go to the spa each week.” This attitude can go on and on. There is always something else you can buy or that you want. Advertising marketers hungrily gain your attention and help create a desire in you for something so you are never satisfied completely. The greed this breeds in your heart can lead you to be stingy with the money God gave you. It can make you have a “better than thou” attitude as you compare yourself to someone else. This attitude and desire to want more than you need comes from discontentment with what God has given you. You want what someone else has so you can be as good or better than them. Maybe you want to buy a flashier car than your frenemy across town. Possibly you want to move into “that” neighborhood because people consider you wealthy if you live there. You can’t help someone else by giving them a loan because you might need that money to fulfill one of these desires. Hoarding money for your own use and not considering the plight of someone else is greed and harmful. You do this to draw more attention to yourself as if you are a god. It is setting yourself up to be higher than someone else. This then puts the other person in their place, below yourself.

This grasping and hoarding of resources God calls covetousness. If you will remember, covetousness is a sin spoken against in the Ten Commandments. It makes you put your desires over God’s. You end up thinking of yourself as your own god, not caring that you don’t know everything, you’re not perfect, and you are mortal.  The things you buy or do with your hoarded money become your idols, your gods. They are more important to you than almighty, eternal God. In verses eighteen and nineteen, God proclaimed woe on the Judeans. He said the Judeans made an image from something God created. The Judeans trusted in these things to give them satisfaction and fulfillment, but forgot all manmade things fade away. They rust and are destructible. These idols cannot help their owners when God’s judgment comes upon them. There is not one breath in them. They are not alive, nor powerful.

We each hoard our possessions and won’t share at times in our lives. We get a promotion and an increase in pay. Instead of living with enough and having resources left over to help people, we move up the chain to a higher plane of living. This allows us to show other people we are wealthier than them, to gain notoriety, or it allows us to have a beach house. Possibly we can go on ocean cruises each year while we pass the same person on the street who wants a job we could afford to give them or help them get training to have a marketable skill. Perhaps with our hoarded money we buy a boat or plane or fourth car or motor home instead of asking God for what use did He give you the raise, bonus, or gift. Each of these and many unmentioned examples are like how the Judeans. They had enough. All good things come from God. He provides for our needs. Sometimes, God provides for someone else’s needs through the gifts He gives us.

For the Judeans who had received God’s mercy continually for their repeated sins over the centuries, the time of God’s judgment was upon them. Habakkuk wrote this prophecy sometime between 626 and 605 BC. The Chaldeans/Babylonians invaded and destroyed the Judeans in 586 BC, just 19-40 years later. God said in 2:3, though the prophesied judgment of God seemed to tarry, it would occur at the right time. “Wait for it because it will surely come,” God said.

God’s judgment against the Judeans and Chaldeans was right and due. We recognized that from the start, didn’t we, when we read they devoured whole nations, shamed the people, destroyed livelihoods, plundered people? Our using every cent of money we receive for ourselves also deserves God’s judgment. We have more than we need. God means for each person to be a channel of His blessing, not to hoard everything for him or herself. You say, “I only have two loaves of bread in my house. That is barely surviving.” Still, a person lives down the road or in another neighborhood with no loaf of bread. That person is not surviving. For others of us, we say, “Someone needs to take care of that.” It could be that “someone” who should be you taking care of it is you. God provides each person with skills, time, and His plan and purpose for his or her life. Seek God asking if He wants you to fill that need with your time or physical resources. Jesus told His followers in Matthew 7:7 to ask and keep on asking, seek and keep on seeking, knock and keep on knocking for those who ask receive, those who seek find, and for those who knock the door will be opened. We take that to heart and do those three things for ourselves. God answers and provides physical, spiritual, and mental things. We love it when He answers our prayers. Other people ask, seek, and knock, but you are holding on to the things God wanted to use to answer that other person’s prayers. That is hoarding. That is greed. That is destroying other people just as the Chaldeans and Judeans did.

Just as God judged the Chaldeans and Judeans, He still judges today. We are the Judeans and Chaldeans of this age. When our neighbor goes hungry, homeless, thirsty, or naked, we did not show love to God (Matthew 25:35-40). But, when we feed, house, quench thirst, or clothe someone, we show God we love Him and our neighbor (the person in need). To these people, God will give rewards. To those who hoard and harm other people, God will judge just like He did the Judeans and Chaldeans. We should search our own heart to determine if we are hoarding and greedy, or helping and generous.

Lord, please show me where I have failed and sought my own will. Show me where I have harmed people by not helping and through that have not loved you. Forgive me of my selfishness and lead me to Your path again. Please lead me to know where and when to give or help someone else. Amen.

Cake Mix

When Jesus began His earthly ministry, He went to different places, sought different people, and told them to come and follow Him. He ate with people of difference occupations and beliefs, and to all of them He spoke about being in a relationship with the Father. For each of those people whom He met, Jesus explained the great love of God, that He wanted none of them to be lost forever, but to have an eternal relationship with Him. He explained this depth of relationship with the most astonishing verse ever written in the Bible. Jesus said, “God loved the people of the world so much, that He gave His only Son (Jesus), so that whoever believes in Him will not perish forever from a relationship with Him, but will have eternal life with Him” (John 3:16, my paraphrase). God wants no one to be lost to sin and death.

This being the case, that God loves us, you, so much that He sent Jesus to die for you, we realize Jesus’ earthly ministry was very important. Jesus didn’t go to a person and say God loves you, then go away. No, Jesus spent time with the people, especially His disciples. He taught them about having new life. Jesus taught the followers about having a relationship with God. He used His relationship as an example for the people. Jesus prayed the believers would be one, just as He and the Father are one. John recorded this prayer in John 17:21, but please read that whole chapter; it’s important. To be “one,” means to be in a relationship, but not just any kind of relationship. It means to be in a close, life-altering relationship. It requires work on your part. Let’s consider two examples to help us understand the degree of this closeness.

When you first met the person of your dreams, you didn’t go to them and say, “Let’s get married now.” No, you called the person, dated him or her. You spent time with the person and thought about that person often. You may have sent letters or emails, possibly left cards on his or her car or sent flowers. These were ways to deepen your relationship.

Let’s consider another example. When you crave cake, you think of the ingredients and decide which flavor you want to taste. You take the cocoa from the cabinet and put it in the bowl. You add flour, eggs, butter, baking soda, salt, and milk. Now, you have poured all these into the bowl and you step back. There’s still no cake. You might have the right ingredients for cake, but there was no personal effort to mix it so it can become (grow) into what you desire. That’s like going to church, hearing a sermon, listening to some songs, and giving a tithe, but not giving of yourself, putting no personal effort into it. Without applying what you know, like mixing the cake ingredients in the bowl which is adding yourself and effort, your ingredients won’t become a cake. This is the same as having a close relationship with God. You must apply yourself in the relationship-go to Him, read the Bible, worship Him at church, pray to Him regularly, take to heart the sermons and Bible studies you hear, and seek His will. Without your effort to seek God, your relationship with Him won’t grow. You would understand all the right things to do, but you wouldn’t have applied yourself to the effort. Your lack of effort to have a close relationship with God means you do not really love Him.

Jesus realized relationships required effort. He preached about it in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and keep on asking, and it will be given to you. Seek, and keep on seeking, and you will find. Knock, and keep on knocking, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks the door will be opened.” Jesus spoke about being in relationship with God while he walked with people on earth. Keep asking. Keep seeking. Keep knocking. It requires personal effort; it requires drive to want to have a relationship with God. If you just want to taste the individual ingredients, you are missing the party. The cake is so much better when you mix it and invite some friends. Mix the ingredients of your cake and taste the fruit of your rewards. The fruit of putting in the effort with God is a vital, personal relationship with Him.

Lord, please help us realize having a relationship with You is not about checking the boxes as if faith is a task. It is about being with You, seeking You, and talking to You. Help us add to our faith, hope and love, and with those a desire to be with You.

Conception: Empowering to Serve Refugees

We each have heard about or know at least one person who is a refugee. News media report of nations upset by corruption, war, greed, and natural disaster. The United Nations High Council on Refugees (UNHCR) defines a refugee as, “A person who has been forced to flee his or her country because of persecution, war, or violence. That refugee has a well-founded fear of persecution because of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. These refugees most likely cannot return home or fear to do so” [https://www.unrefugees.org/refugee-facts/what-is-a-refugee]. Another thing to understand is refugees do not come only from Middle-eastern countries. They come from the Far East, Europe, east Europe, Africa, and North and South America. People from first-world countries even seek asylum.

With the 20+ million refugees and asylum seekers on earth, how does one help? Where do they start? What should they do? With the first article in this series, we remembered everyone, not just Christians, is to help their neighbor. God made each person with the innate capacity to empathize, love, and care for others. As Christians, we know we are to love our neighbors, those who find themselves in need whether they are family, friend, or foe. This article will help each of us as we seek God’s wisdom on how to serve refugees in our communities. The best place to begin is with God.

Conception

As with the beginning of any program, task, or organization, before it can start, an idea for the program must occur. For a faith-based refugee program, the beginning is no different. A conception of the idea must come from God. If a person wants to help someone, she could buy clothes and take them to the person in need. What if the person was a different size than the clothes, or the person no longer lived in that place because he didn’t have rent money? Perhaps the person was starving, instead of shivering. When you give the person unneeded clothes, are you helping or just appeasing your conscience? For this reason, conception must come from God. Prayer, inspiration, determination, and further prayer should occur during the conception stage of ministry.

Prayer

If we truly want to follow God, we should seek His will. Just because a vacancy exists for a person to work in a ministry doesn’t mean God wants you used there. Pray and keep praying until God tells you where to work (Matthew 7:7). From personal experience, when at term’s end on the mission field, the ministry in which I worked was completed. Determined from that point not to do just anything, I waited on God. I spent November and December seeking God’s will. I returned to the field not knowing, but continued praying through January and February. Eventually, God told me to look around and asked what I saw. I saw refugees, no longer just people from another country. (Funnily, I qualified for that title). I saw people who fled for their lives, needed help, and hurt from trauma. This example of waiting for God with expectant prayer emphasizes determined and expectant praying must come before inception (Habakkuk 2:3).

Vision

When you’ve prayed and God has shown you the work He wants to do through you, you don’t jump right in and work. You begin by understanding the situation in which God wants to use you. A worker must be educated before he goes to work. He must receive the vision as God ordains it. This worker must recognize the people being touched by the ministry. He must understand what work needs to be done and how. This inspiration, this vision, comes from God.

Determination

A very important part of conception is for the worker to have the determination to follow God’s leading. Whether it costs him nothing or costs him his all, his calling by God should sustain him in the work. When the worker’s heart grows heavy from the suffering, and when the needs of the work require his money, time, and mind to be “all in” to make a difference and stay the course, he must be determined to stay where God called him, following God’s leading. Praying until God tells you in what ministry to work, no matter how long it takes, is of great importance.

Prayer

Conception is incomplete until prayer enwraps the whole program. Prayer should lead you to seek God’s will, His vision for you now, and to keep you determined-steadfast-in the task He gives you. It should be included at the end of conception, too. Without prayer enwrapping conception, the boat has wind and goal, but no rudder to direct it. If Paul had not sought God’s guidance, he might have gone to Rome too soon and the Emperor may not have heard the gospel. God must be the One who steers the ship. Having His vision and determination to do as He called you is invigorating, but do not set sail without God. He guides the direction in which you are to go and minister.

Conclusion

You may have refugee friends or know of refugees, and their plight breaks your heart. To begin work, you must seek God for His vision. This requires prayer. You must be emboldened to remain steadfast and determined in the work, not wavering when days are difficult and require more than you think you can give. This conception of God’s will for your life must be draped with prayer from start to finish. Without prayer at the end of this stage, the vision has no aim, no direction.

To begin work for the Lord in aid of refugees, God must call one to the task. With that calling comes His vision, the strength to remain steadfast, and the drive to do whatever it takes to complete the task. With the conception God gives, an inception-a start-can occur. Inception takes a person from envisioning and empowering (conception) by God through three phases of preparing and doing ministry to help refugees.

Rana's Story

The chubby-cheeked face peeks out of the clothes that warms it and smiles at the love emanating from his mother’s face. He peers to his other side and sees his sister bouncing in place as she looks at him expectantly. The man he’s come to recognize and whose voice booms from the depths of his chest is not visible. Still, he feels secure. Why shouldn’t he? Rana’s world is small. He recognizes just the people who cherish him most. Still, something seems not right. From the look at his sister, nothing appears to be wrong, but a second glance at his mother’s face, her tightly clenched hands, and her worried eyes speak of something he doesn’t know. Rana hears crying, but it’s not him…and it doesn’t come just from one place. Cries bounce against the mud-brick walls and flow liquidly from hut to hut. To Rana, these cries are about more than wanting food. Even in his short life, he recognizes cries from the heart, not just the belly. Could his father’s absence be related to this reverberating and piercing outcry among the walls of huts?

Days would pass, Rana and his sister, Roxana, would become familiar with others holding, feeding, and watching over them. Nights of long walks and whispers would become the new norm for Rana and Roxana. Days of hiding in bushes and having hands cover their mouths felt suffocating. Where is Papa? Why doesn’t Mama smile anymore? Where did the joy in Roxana’s face and walk go?

Many dark days and weeks have passed. Mama doesn’t cry in the dark anymore. Roxana doesn’t dance anymore. She sits and stares blankly at the ground. I cry, but am not always heard. Papa is missing from the family still. Life, it seems, is not easy.

My clothing is tight. My ears have learned many new sounds. Sounds of bass booms and rapid-fire pellets hitting trees. I have missed hearing the birds and fear the sounds of the night animals. I wish Papa was here. I would be safe. Will I ever be safe again?

Roxana would have been 6 today. I miss seeing her face full of joy and her bounce of excitement. Mama tells me she was too small and too sick. She went to Papa, wherever he is. Mama never smiles anymore. She always looks for roots and bugs. I wish we could eat the food my people tell me they used to eat. For now, I am always hungry; a little bug or a stick lined with them is not enough to fill my stomach. Even Mama notices I am small for my age. The clothes I wear as a four-year-old are Roxana’s clothes from when she was two. What must life have been like back home, wherever home was?

Today, I am a man; I am thirteen. Mama and Papa are not here to celebrate with me. Roxana was too small and sick. No more voices of laughter and love echo around me; I am without family. I live as part of the group of orphan boys. We take care of ourselves…mostly. It would be nice to have a Mama and Papa. I see others who are Mamas and Papas and wish I had one of them, too. Maybe then I could feel a hug, see joy, eat meat, celebrate life. Maybe one day, I will get to be with Mama, Papa, and Roxana again. The other Mamas say not to talk like that, but I want what they were to me. I want family.

Bolting by the Billboard

“Then the LORD answered me and said, ‘Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets, that the one who reads it may run.’” Habakkuk 2:2 [NASB]

When we come to this verse in Habakkuk, the first part of God’s command makes sense, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets.” It’s a command He gave to Habakkuk, His prophet. Remember, Habakkuk said in verse one he would go to his guard tower above the noise of the city and wait expectantly to hear from God. In verse two, we read God answered Habakkuk’s heart’s desire to meet with Him.

From the first part of God’s command in this verse, we understand recording God’s vision. Anyone of the time who wanted people to listen to an edict from a King or a message from the LORD wrote the message for people to read or a “crier” to declare loudly. This verse is no different. God wanted all the people of Judea to know about His judgment of their destruction. What may seem different about this prophecy is the last phrase. God said He wanted His prophecy of judgment written, “So that the one who reads it may run.” First reaction would be, “Why read and run?” Does it make the person run faster? Is it so urgent a message people must act upon it at once? Or, is it so insignificant that people can pay little attention to it and so expect just to skim it?

God told Habakkuk write this prophecy on tablets so it would endure. Remember, as the Israelites crossed the Jordan River, God told each tribe leader to place a stone in the middle of the river as a reminder of His leading them across safely into the Promised Land. Jacob placed stones where he wrestled with God one night. These stones were a spiritual marker. Stones last a long time. They are the perfect object by which to mark a place in location and in memory. They remind people of a time or event that was significant and should inform them of who God had been for them and what He had done. These tablets Habakkuk would inscribe would remind the Judeans of the original tablets on which God had Moses inscribe His Ten Commandments. It would hearken them back to one of the most often repeated parts of their history. These new tablets would receive great attention from the Judeans because of their history as a people of God.

This method of relaying messages to people was common to the time. The size of stone tablets with writings etched on them was very large. Etching in stone requires chiseling tools because of this, the letters would be large. To include the whole prophecy of God as Habakkuk heard it would require multiple tablets, like a frieze. God’s word through Habakkuk would be very noticeable because of the number of tablets and their size. People may have said, “Have you seen the new work? You can’t miss it.” What the tablets said would cause an uproar because it declared their doom. People would speak of these tablets often for more than one reason.

Why is it important that a person can “read it while they run”? First, because the tablets are so big, you can’t miss them. You can’t say, “I was too busy; I didn’t realize.” The Judeans had no excuse for not knowing God’s judgment of their sin. Second, the writing on the tablets would be big since chisels etched the stone. The people can’t say, “I didn’t see it because I was too far away or I had to move too fast past it and couldn’t note it.” People would either read the tablets intentionally or not, or they would hear about them. These tablets would have been like our roadside billboards today. You can’t miss them. Companies pay lots of money to make sure no one misses their messages. The advertising agencies makes sure people read the messages. God made His judgment of Judea clear. He had it declared to them by the prophet and had it written on a frieze of stone tablets. The people would face their sin and resultant judgment from God even if they tried to avoid it.

God had these tablets written plainly, in large letters, and on large tablets as was the custom for Judeans to receive notices from their priests and prophets. He had them put in a place the people regularly saw notices. The tablets were so big people could hurry past them and still get the message. None of them could say they didn’t realize they were sinning, God saw them, and His judgment was coming upon them. Everyone would understand, even the foreigners who lived among them.

God made sure the Judeans heard His message. He commanded Habakkuk to tell His message. God still makes sure we know His message. He wants us to know Him, His love, and the love sacrifice He made to ensure we each can have an eternal relationship with Him.

Did you hear the message?

God loves you so much, He sent His Son, Jesus, to die in your place for your sin so you can have eternal life, a relationship with Him, and victory over sin and death.

Are you ignoring the Message?

Don’t be like the Judeans who ran past the prophecy tablets saying they didn’t know. God makes sure you recognize who He is and His great love for you.

Stop.

Listen to Him.

Hear of His great sacrificial love and forgiveness.

Repent of your sin.

Accept Him and receive victory over sin and death.

This one billboard from God you pass by today tells you the one Message you need to know. The gospel of Jesus Christ is the Message.

Take heed.

Lord, show me yourself. Reveal to me the Message. Let me see You and heed Your word. Take me to Yourself and use me for Your will. Help me not to run past You.

Expectant at the Rampart

(Author:Keirn OConnor Source:https://www.flickr.com/photos/keirn/77876813/) 

“I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.”

In chapter one, Habakkuk cried out as the voice of Judea aghast at God’s devastating judgment of the them by using the Chaldeans to correct and reprove them. In chapter two verse one, Habakkuk determined and expected to hear from God. He wanted a chance to hear from God more, to understand better, to receive more instructions, and, possibly, to complain. Habakkuk, as the trained priest of the temple or a prophet, knew to wait for and listen to God, and how to do that.

What did Habakkuk say in verse one? He made one statement and reiterated it to emphasize how important it was to him. He said, “I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart.” A guard is a person who is a servant of another, a commander. His job is to do what the boss tells him to do. For the commander to speak to him, the guard must be in his assigned place, on guard watching and waiting expectantly. A guard’s job at his post on the rampart was to watch for incoming enemies or couriers bringing news. The rampart was a place on the wall away from the noise of the city. It was high enough to see far and wide from the wall so couriers or enemies would not catch the citizens unaware. If the guard was at ground level, he would have no advance notice of anyone approaching the gates. The guard and citizens would be caught off-guard when news or enemies arrived. The guard’s job was to watch and wait expectantly, then report what he sees and hears to the commander and people.

Habakkuk made the analogy he is the guard. He would stand on guard at his post on the rampart waiting with expectancy and patience for God to meet with him. Habakkuk was the guard, the watchman, for the Judeans waiting for revelations from God. His job was to be the mouth for God’s pronouncements to the Judeans and for anyone else to whom God wanted to speak. Habakkuk expected God to speak and so prepared and positioned himself to wait expectantly and patiently for Him.

Habakkuk chose to hear from God. He intentionally stationed himself on the rampart because he listened to God’s judgment of the Judeans in chapter one. Habakkuk recognized the sins of his people and understood they deserved God’s judgment. He also realized when he told the Judeans about their judgment from God, anger, confusion, fear, and questions would arise. Habakkuk, as a Judean, wanted to understand better. That’s what the word “see” means in Hebrew. It means to hear, perceive, consider, and understand. As a priest of Yahweh God, Habakkuk wanted to know God better and understand His heart more. As a priest to the Judeans, he wanted to understand well so he could give the Judeans reasons for their judgment from God.

Habakkuk sought God because he knew God; he had a personal relationship with Him. He sought Him because it was a discipline that became a habit in his life. Habakkuk sought God because he had a relationship with him of love and servanthood. He devoted himself to God. Habakkuk’s determined seeking of God-waiting patiently and expectantly knowing God wanted to be with Him-was his devotion time, his quiet time, with God.

A guard on the rampart is an analogy for being a child of God who seeks Him through devotion and quiet times. So often people say, “Well I am open to God to talk to me all day. He can speak to me as I work or drive, so I don’t need, nor do I have time for a quiet time each day. God understands that.” Yes, God understands you are busy, and you put your busy-ness before Him. Your devotion to God is not absolute like Habakkuk’s when your schedule is more important than your time with Him each day. A quiet time is a time you expectantly and patiently wait for God to speak to you externally through His Word and internally through the whispers of His Spirit. It would be hard to hear God over conversations with other people, music in your car, busy-ness in your office, or the roar of the vacuum. That’s not saying God can’t break into your day, if He wants. By living this way, it says God is not important enough in your life. You are not devoted totally to Him and so set aside a time to wait and expect Him to meet with you.

Why do we have quiet times and devotionals?

Ø  To deepen our relationship with God through communing together.

Ø  To hear a word of encouragement, love, correction, or instruction.

Ø  To draw strength and peace from His Spirit.

Ø  To find calm during your busy-ness.

God knows how to fill the needs of our hearts, minds, bodies, and spirits. Quiet times with Him do this.

Why do we have quiet times? Because as a child of God, we naturally yearn to be close to Abba, Daddy.

Don’t neglect yourself by chasing butterflies. Go to God, the butterfly Maker.

Prejudice....But God

Anna’s Story-

Anna, her husband, and their six children fled from the DRC. She was born there and was a teacher there. She fell in love with her husband, but that love came with a price. You see, Henri was from the Tutsi tribe who fled Rwanda during the genocide. He was a small child and doesn’t know anything about Rwanda personally, what only his parents told him.

Being a Tutsi in the DRC did not mean he wouldn’t be tracked and persecuted. Everywhere he and his parents went, the people of DRC found them. Even after marrying a Congolese woman, the fear did not abate. Finally, in their last year in the DRC, Anna and Henri had to keep moving from city to village to bush to stay ahead of their hunters. They were caught a couple times, but managed to escape.

How did the people recognize Henri was a Tutsi? There’s a myth that you can tell by the ankle bones. It’s not truth; that’s why we call it a myth. Still, when people get it into their heads, that someone is a Tutsi or a Hutu or a Somalian, or whatever they hate or fear, they will hunt you down. At least that’s the way it is for Anna and Henri.

After being chased for so many years, being caught a few times and escaping, they decided to make their “great escape” to South Africa with their six children. They came with hopes and dreams of freedom from fear and income to support their family. They had no idea the prejudice they would experience in Africa’s “most democratic country.”

After arriving in South Africa, Anna became pregnant two more times and each of those babies were delivered by Caesarian section. I have known Anna since before her last child was born 3 years ago. I met her in March 2014. She supports her family by buying large bags of dry goods and selling them in individual packets at the train station. The school-age children get a free lunch at school, so Anna works to pay rent for the one room in which they live. There are more people than floor space in that room, so she is grateful for the small balcony. Some of her children sleep outside, which was fine except for when the rainy, windy winters arrive. Still, one room often is more than she can afford along with providing one more meal a day.

The day I visited her room, she had just had her last child by C-section. She sat crying in her seat with the baby at her breast. Understand, we had just walked in carrying one month’s supply of food to feed each person in the family 3 meals a day. I asked her why she was crying. She said that morning the children fought over one spoon of oats. That was all they had. Her husband had turned to her and asked her, “What will we do?” Anna said, “God will provide.” Little did she know God already had a plan. Just a couple hours later God would send food for her family for 6 months knowing beforehand she was going to run out of food that day. Christians carried armload after armload of food in boxes of food up three flights of stairs. She just shook and bowed her head as tears streamed down her cheeks.

That little bundle of joy, her eighth, is the last child she has birthed. For three years she has been in great pain in her abdomen. She has been to multiple clinic doctors. Some refused to see her because she is an asylum-seeker. Others would see her, give her Panado (aspirin) and tell her to go away. This week she tells me this story and I am angry again at the prejudiced government doctors. This is not a rare occurrence. I’ve had to intervene for several of my refugee friends. What makes this one different is that Anna and Henri borrowed money so she could pay for a doctor in private practice in the poor area of the city in which they rent a room. What did this doctor say? He said she has a “dead womb.” I looked quizzically at her and asked her to repeat that, but I had heard right, a "dead womb."

I planned to talk to my personal GP quickly. I told her about Anna. Her eyebrow rose, and she said, “Say that again.” I told her the doctor said she had a “dead womb.” My doctor said, “That isn’t even a medical term.” I asked my doctor, “Would you see her please?” “Yes,” she said.

Even when refugees go to new countries with supposed freedom that offers hope after desperation and fear, prejudice abounds, lives are endangered, and people are cast aside. But God… We must remember that small conjunctive phrase. But God knew Anna would need a personal, professional, non-prejudiced doctor and He created a loving, obedient heart in my doctor. But God provided a listening ear and concerned heart in me (in each of you) so that we immediately look for help for our refugee friends. For God… so loved the world… You know the rest.

Next week Anna will see my doctor. She will get a referral to a specialist. Anna will experience acceptance and care. She will realize there’s a reason to still have hope in her new adopted country. God still cares for Anna, Henri, and their eight children and He has prepared a way for her to get the healthcare she needs right now.