Habakkuk 3:12 (KJV) Shock and Awe

Habakkuk 3:12 (KJV)

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

No wonder the unbeliever is so angry at God.

As we read Habakkuk 3, we cannot help but be impressed with the fierceness, the violence, the “shock and awe” of the battle. God holds nothing back. God spares no weapon. God extends no mercy. God marches through the land in indignation and threshes the heathen in anger.

• It’s terrible.
• It’s tragic.
• It’s total destruction.

What could have caused such uncompromising wrath on the part of God?

Habakkuk 3:13 (KJV)

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

Now it makes sense. God’s mission is one of salvation. God’s purpose is the rescue of His anointed. They are held captive in an enemy camp. They are abused, mistreated, and threatened with terrible brutality. God’s mission is one of mercy. But this time, His mercy is targeted. He will save His own and He will judge their enemy.

Not too many years ago, I watched a Medal of Honor recipient tell his account of the mission when he earned this award. As a member of an elite SEAL team, he had been assigned to rescue a man held captive. Once the captive was located, a small team was sent to raid and rescue. The first team member in was shot and killed. This man entered, located the captive, and using his body as a shield, pinned one enemy combatant against a wall with one arm while shooting and killing the rest. He then dispatched the one he held down, rescued the captive, and recovered the body of his fallen team member.

Whether the soldier is a hero or a monster in your eyes depends on which side of the mission you are on. The same is true of God. To those who love Him, follow Him, and have been saved through His sacrifice, He is worthy of our highest praise.

#GodsWrathAndMercy #DivineJustice #SalvationMission #FierceCompassion #SaviorAndJudge

Shock and Awe: The Wrath and Mercy of God

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Habakkuk 3:12 (KJV) Shock and Awe

Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV) How Long?

Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV)

For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

The book of Habakkuk begins with a prayer. One commentary calls it a complaint. “Habakkuk's Complaint”

Habakkuk 1:2-4 (KJV)

O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.

Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

I believe we need a lot more of this sort of complaining! We need a lot more crying out to the Lord, “How long?”

But then the passage goes directly into an answer. There is a judgment so swift, so terrible, that the description is rife with hyperbole. The judgment is not intended to last forever. It is a step toward final and eternal redemption. In the meantime, “the just shall live by his faith.” The reason? “The vision is yet for an appointed time,” the Bible says. “Though it tarry…it will not tarry.”

In our world, it feels like the plan of God is prolonged, procrastinating, maybe not happening. Those without faith can argue by observation (their false form of science) that the message of the Bible is ineffectual. But this is all an illusion. It’s only that we don’t see through the same lens of truth God does. Our mortal corruption, our sin condition, has darkened our view. Faith allows us to see that we do not see, but it does not allow us to see what we do not see.

By faith we, “wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

#LiveByFaith #GodsTiming #TrustInGodsPlan #WaitOnTheLord #FaithAndPatience

How Long?: A Necessary Prayer

To my readers:

Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and, more than 6300 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Join me at Daily Visits with God Podcast
https://marvinmckenzie.substack.com/

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi  is an opportunity to support this effort to reach a world of souls with the Word of God. I would appreciate any gift you can give. 

Habakkuk 2:3 (KJV) How Long?

Habakkuk 1:5 (KJV) Revival, Repentance and Return

Habakkuk 1:5 (KJV)

Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

The burden of Habakkuk is like that of Jeremiah. He sees the wickedness of his nation, Judah, and is burdened by it. He is praying for the Lord to intervene and turn the people back to God. He longs for revival, repentance, and a return to holiness.

But it seems like the answer is so long in coming.

And when it does, it is not what he nor anyone else, would have believed. “I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.” The Chaldeans will come and possess the land.

Jeremiah will preach faithfully that this is the judgment of God, and Judah should surrender to it.

But they will not believe, though it be told them.

The hearts of men have changed but little. It is so that today, just as then, the same people praying for God to do a work will not believe the work that God will do.

May God grant that we have eyes to see and faith to believe when we are told what God is doing.

To my readers:
Thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

Donate to our cause of “Reaching a world of souls with the Word of God.”

For this and, more than 5600 earlier Daily Visits with God, visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books, and other resources, are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Merch at my Teespring store https://macz.creator-spring.com/
Be a witness with hats, mugs, t-shirts, sweat shirts, and more

Let’s have coffee?
The link to Ko-fi provides a means for those who appreciate my content to leave me a “tip.” I would be thankful for it.

Habakkuk 1:5 (KJV) Revival, Repentance and Return

Habakkuk 3:18 (KJV) In High Places

Habakkuk 3:18 (KJV)
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The conjunctive “yet” is of huge significance here. The prophet determines that he will rejoice  and joy in the God of his salvation despite: 

• The fig tree won’t blossom or bear fruit
• The olive tree fails
• The fields show no meat
• The flock is cut off and
• The stalls are empty of sheep

Yet even in this state, he will rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of his salvation 

And it is because the Lord is his strength. The Lord has enabled him to live and move, as the hind does, in high places where there is little but rock and hard surface. 

In a hard time, it is good to praise the Lord that He has enabled you to live for Him through that time. 

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 5100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Habakkuk 3:18 (KJV) In High Places

photos from pexels.com.

Habakkuk 2:20 (KJV) Keep Silence

Habakkuk 2:20 (KJV)
But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Human history, though on a course leading to eternity, has not changed. Men rise to power, enlist followers, and build nations opposed to Almighty God. They see not that the course they set for themselves only progresses history to the conclusion God has predetermined. They are no power at all against the one power that matters. 

Men fret at the forces of these various man-made powers. We worry about their outcomes and what consequences may come of them. 

God’s word to us is simple. 

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

Donate to Bible Baptist Church every time you make an Amazon purchase through this link, https://smile.amazon.com/ch/91-1265824

For this and more than 5100 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2005.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
https://marvinmckenzie.org

Habakkuk 2:20 (KJV) Keep Silence

photos from pexels.com.

Habakkuk 3:18-19 (KJV) High Places

Habakkuk 3:18-19 (KJV)
Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

God has some “high places” prepared for us. I would suggest that the ultimate and best application would be those high places in eternal glory.[1] What higher places could there be than: 

• Those around God’s throne, 
• Those atop His holy mountain 
• Those places in the New Jerusalem 

I can think of some high places in this life too:

• The place of surrender
• The place of sanctification 
• The place of separation 
• The place of service

Notice that before He makes us to walk in our high places, He makes our feet like hind’s feet. High places can be slippery and the path to get to them can be tough. We can’t walk in the high places without the walk up to them. 

---

[1]Ephesians 2:6 (KJV)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Habakkuk 3:18-19 (KJV) High Places

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.

Habakkuk 1:6 (KJV) Bitterness

Habakkuk 1:6 (KJV)
For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.

Bitterness. It is never a quality we want in our lives. Though God used the Chaldeans for his own purposes, they were destined for judgment precisely because of bitterness. 

Notice the description of bitterness:

Hasty
Though it’s not truly an adjective here, it is none the less true that the bitter are often impetuous, warlike; they fly off the handle quickly.

Selfish
Marching through properties and possessing dwellings that are not their own.

Self-righteous
They believe they have the right to judge those they will as they will. They forget that vengeance belongs to God.

Violent 
Bitterness is explosive. It erupts as a volcano to do terrible damage.

Unstable 
His mind changes. At one moment he is angry a thing happens. In the next moment, he is angry the same does not happen. 

Religious
He may claim faith, but it is most often in a god of his own making.

To my readers:
First of all, thank you! It is a great joy to me to know you read the thoughts and lessons God has given me in His word. Secondly, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave comments.

For this and more than 4500 earlier Daily Visits with God visit https://mckenzie-visit-with-god.blogspot.com. There you will find daily visits going back to 2006.

If you have been blessed by this blog, please subscribe to my feed and share it with others.

For more resources from Pastor Marvin McKenzie visit http://puyallupbaptistchurch.com.

My books are available at:
My author spotlight at Lulu.com:
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/marvinmckenzie

My author Page for Kindle/Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/author/marvinmckenzie

Habakkuk 1:6 (KJV) Bitterness

photos from pexels.com

Please consider helping our church’s teen department by signing up for cash back shopping at http://www.dubli.com/M04VB. This program has three levels of participation, the first being completely free.