Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”
Our Bible verse for today: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit 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 triumph in Yahweh; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!” Habakkuk 3:17-18 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “The Bible teaches us how to be a hopeful realist.”
This morning when I read the above passage from the Old Testament prophet Habakkuk, it reminded me of something else I read recently from Scott Sauls’ book “Jesus outside the Lines.”
Scott writes about the fact that far too many Christians attempt to portray what he calls a “pie in the sky”, “happy clappy” brand of Christianity. Regardless of how bad things are, they paste a phony smile on their face and they rely on superficial “Bible Band-Aids”. They say things like, “Well, God is good all the time; and all the time God is good!”
Well, yes. Ok. That’s true. But is that really how God expects us to respond to obvious hardship, pain, and suffering – with a phony smile and empty clichés? What do you do then with Bible passages like David’s mournful lament in Psalm 13:1 “Lord, how long will You forget me? How long will I store up anxious concerns within me, agony in my mind every day?” Or how about Jesus’ cry from the cross “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
No phony smiles or happy clappy nonsense there. That is real, raw, honest anguish from suffering people. So apparently then, it’s ok to be real and honest? We don’t have to pretend everything is just fine and dandy when it really isn’t? Yes, it’s ok.
This is what we read from the prophet Habakkuk. Things weren’t fine and dandy. They were a mess, and he said so. All four chapters of his little book record a time of suffering and fear for the people of Israel, and of confusion and frustration for Habakkuk. But he also records his unfailing trust in God and his hope for the future. Habakkuk learned what another Old Testament prophet had also recorded for us, “The Lord is good, a stronghold in a day of distress; He cares for those who take refuge in Him.” Nahum 1:7
What we’re about reading there is hopeful realism. It’s an honest declaration of how things really are, alongside an acknowledgement that God is sovereign and good and that we can trust Him.
The Bible doesn’t teach us to rely on superficial Bible Band-Aids or empty pie in the sky clichés. We are not to be phony people with fake smiles. We are to be realists … but “hopeful” realists.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 