I Stand In Awe

I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. (Habakkuk 3:2a, NIV 1984).

My Musings – Habakkuk has been on a journey.

I have heard of your fame – “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Habakkuk 1:13, NIV 1984).

I stand in awe of your deeds – “I heard, and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” (Habakkuk 3:16, NIV 1984).

A journey from impatient questioning (“why are you silent?”), to patient trusting (“I will wait.”). From, “I don’t understand what you’re doing (not doing). It’s not consistent with what I had heard of your fame.” To, “I get it now. I need to trust in your grace and justice. Now that I see, it is awesome how consistent your deeds are with what I had heard of you.” In your wrath you remembered mercy (Habakkuk 3:2b).

What made the change? Habakkuk encountered God. A God he had only heard of before, he now saw. Society around us is like that. What they hear about God. they often do not like. And they question His goodness, without realizing He is also just. That is because they have not encountered Him. Once they do, through Christ, they are able to see how grace and judgment intersected at the cross. Through His grace, He offers mercy. Through His wrath, reserved only for those who reject His offer, He executes judgment.

My Advice – Don’t be hearers only. Encounter God and see the light. You’ll stand in awe.