No Matter What, Blessed Be Your Name

Ahhhh, life has returned to normal. The kitties were active very early this morning so guess who was up? Rather than just lie there, I turned on the bedside lamp and read the Scripture assigned for today. Habakkuk is only three chapters long, tucked away among the lesser known books of the prophets. Most people don't find it in their lifetimes, much less learn to spell it correctly. But it's extremely relevant if only because the prophet asks the same questions many of us do.

Habakkuk's first concern is why God doesn't punish evil. Then when God announces to him that He is going to send Babylon to punish Judah, Habakkuk wonders why God is sending an even more evil nation to punish His people for their evil. In the end the prophet concludes that he needs to trust God that even when everything is bleak, black, and bad, there is reason to rejoice in the Lord because: "The Sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer; he enables me to go on to the heights" —Habakkuk 3:19, NIV.

When the questions and concerns of life threaten to overwhelm us, that little known and less appreciated prophet has a hugely important message to deliver. God is sovereign; nothing happens or will happen that isn't part of his divine design. Good news or bad, He provides the strength we need to face the day. When the tides of life sweep in, and the fire of adversity roars through, He sends swiftness to our feet and makes it possible for us to gain safety as we are lifted up beyond the nasties into His holy presence as we worship Him.

This song by Matt Redman comes to mind as I think about Habakkuk's closing words:

Blessed Be Your Name
In the land that is plentiful
Where Your streams of abundance flow
Blessed be Your name

Blessed Be Your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed Be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be Your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's 'all as it should be'
Blessed be Your name

Blessed be Your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be Your name

Every blessing You pour out
I'll turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord
Still I will say

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be Your glorious name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, blessed be Your name