IS IT CIRCUMSTANCES OR FAITH: In These Troubled Times?

We are living in a time of trouble and a troubled world. For some it is hard to keep going. Our faith is being tested and now more than ever we need to trust and obey, for there is no other way. As I think about how tough times are now I think of two books of the Bible that can help us make it through these times. They are the books of Job and Habakkuk.

When we read and study the book of Habakkuk we can see it is all about faith in God. In fact we saw that the key verse of the whole book is “The just shall live by faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4) The righteous man must not trust in himself, but in God, the creator of Heaven and earth. His faith is directed upward toward Heaven to the throne of the most High, not inward to his worries and problems that are here on the earth. Faith is the ability of the believing Christian to accept what one cannot fully understand. The one who trusts in God is not troubled by something that he can not understand about this life. Man  lives by his faithfulness in God. He will trust and obey, even if he does not understand or comprehend all of God's ways. There is no other way for the Child of God, in this troubling world of today, but to trust and obey.

Most of us have are experiencing hardships now. The whole world is in a bad recession. The unemployment is high and there is no work. Many people have no jobs.  A lot of people have bills that are due and they cannot pay them because there is not enough money or better yet there is no money, In a lot of homes there's not enough food to feed the family or maybe the utilities are just about  to be turned off. People are asking,  “what else could possibly go wrong“. When a person gets to that point they have two options. They can do as Job's wife said  “curse God and die” or be like Job. He lost everything, his kids, his fortune, and his heath but he demonstrated his faith and said’ “…For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God” (Job 19:25-26) I’m so thankful, because I’m just like Job, I know my Redeemer lives!

There is another option  we can be like Habakkuk when he said, "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation." (Habakkuk 3:17-18)  We can keep our eyes fixed on our Great Provider and choose to rejoice in the Lord, and joy in the God of our salvation. It may be a hard decision for some people, but it is a decision that we all have to make.

Too many of God’s people are looking at the circumstances around them and have said, “they can't take any more or they don't see a way out of their circumstances.” The truth is what they're not seeing is the fact that God is our only way out. Our temporary circumstances have absolutely nothing (zero) to do with who our God is. In that one statement, we can rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of our salvation. He is Lord whether we see Him working in our situations and problems or not. He is Lord whether we feel it or not. The fact is He is Lord, period. There is none other and He is all we need! Jesus is all we need! He made the earth and all it’s fullness. Our God can do anything!

When it looks like the storms of  this life are overtaking you,  remember He is LORD. Remember that. He knows our circumstances, He knows our weaknesses and our strengths; He knows you and me. Rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of your salvation. He is worthy of ALL our praise. We need to keep our eyes fixed on our Lord God and not our circumstances.