Welcome to a group of women who's goal is to encourage each other to put down some serious roots in the Word of God. This blog is dedicated to reading through the Bible in a year. Hopefully you will find the encouragement and accountability here that you need to push through the tough parts- or when life just gets in the way. The reading plan is located at the bottom of the blog. It contains links to the passages we are reading through biblegateway.com. You can use those links or read your own Bible, whichever you prefer.
We are all members of Oak Hill Baptist Church in Griffin, Georgia and felt the need in our own life for a little bit of the Lord's splendor. Please join us!!

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Why?

The weekend before last, Aaron and I went apple picking with some of our best friends and their two year old little boy. His response to everything was, "Why?" I'm sure most of you who are parents are familiar with the question. All kids seem to go through the "why" stage. The thing is, sometimes as adults, we still ask the question "why?" Only now our questions aren't about why the sky is blue, why the apples are so high, or why the tractor has metal things that stick out the back. The questions we ask come more from the sores of our heart. "Why does evil triumph?" "Why do bad things happen to good people?" "Why don't things ever work out for me, but do for others?" The question is, who are we looking to for our answers?
Habakkuk took the aching questions of his heart to God. Discouraged by the world around him, he had some very burning questions about "why?" God told Habakkuk that he was going to provide justice. Then, God reminded Habakkuk that He was on His throne, and that He reigned over earth. Our hope, and answers are found in knowing that God is alive, on His throne and will do what is right. It's based on faith. This gives us the strength and hope to endure "though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes 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 rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior." We have to focus our eyes somewhere besides our present circumstances.
Through Zephaniah, God is proclaiming the "Day of the Lord." This is the day that Habakkuk was asking for earlier- the day when God judges the world and evil is finally conquered by good. The message is a double edged sword though. Who of us are perfect? Who of us deserves to escape God's judgement? We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. At the end of the book we see that God will preserve his people. He will purify us for His glory. We will no longer need to be afraid or deal with deceit and lies.
We can't always see the answers to our "why's." We can't see all that God is doing; or understand it if we could. But we can know, through our faith in Him and His word that it is all working toward a glorious day of hope for those of us who believe.

Sing, O Daughter of Zion;
shout aloud, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O Daughter of Jerusalem!

The Lord your God is with you,
he is mighty to save,
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love
and rejoice over you with singing.

At that time I will gather you;
at that time I will bring you home.
Zephaniah 3:14,17, 20
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6 comments:

  1. conversaving.comOctober 12, 2011 at 8:35 AM

    What a good verse to end with. I am going to write it down and meditate on it today.

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  2. AmyOctober 12, 2011 at 10:29 AM

    Natalie I know about that "why" stage. Some children seem to be more inquisitive than others too. My first born is six and still asks a lot of whys. Habakkuk is one of those books that I wonder why we don't hear about more often. I love his prayer at the end.
    One verse in Zephaniah that stuck out to me was 1:18 "Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to save them on the day of the Lord's wrath." So many put so much trust in financial security because they loose sight of who is really in control.
    Great post Natalie!

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  3. JaybrenaOctober 12, 2011 at 12:29 PM

    Hahaha, Amy! You asked "why", too :) I have asked that question for as long as I can remember, and will continue to do so.

    I have learned that I will not always receive those answers, as Natalie reminded us....and I suppose that adorable 2yr old boy is realizing that, too? Makes me wonder if God is the original author of, "Because I said so" Hmmmmm..... :)

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  4. BarbaraOctober 12, 2011 at 8:29 PM

    I have underlined in my Bible Habakkuk 1:2 - "O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear?" I don't remember when I underlined it, but it was probably when I had so many questions and had a hurting heart. The Lord does answer - not in my time always, and certainly not in the way I expect (thank heavens!), but He does hear and eventually we understand - or try to.

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  5. MindyOctober 12, 2011 at 10:22 PM

    I have heard that when Zephaniah states that He will "rejoice over you with singing", that language indicates that God is so excited He is leaping and twirling over us. Isn't that just amazing?!?!? I know I ask the "why" question a good bit as well. I also know that everything will make sense in heaven!!!! Another great post Natalie!

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  6. BootsOctober 12, 2011 at 10:36 PM

    and the funny thing was in our class tonight which by the way is Natalie and Aaron. the question was asked, "Okay, but Why?" Did some of the things that they Israelites did, did they do it without questioning why. Do we sometimes do the same or should we even ask Why when God tells us to do something. Barb, you are so right when we ask sometimes we may think God doesn't hear but he answers in his own time, not our. Great post Natalie you got us all thinking.

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