Habakkuk

The Lord sent warnings about the coming onslaught of Babylonians not just to Jeremiah, but also to other prophets like Habakkuk.  The most beautiful prayer/song that I can remember reading in a long time is found in Habakkuk 3.  Here’s my favorite part:

^“17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
¹⁹ The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,^[e]
able to tread upon the heights.”

The Sovereign Lord is my strength!  Overnight and today I suffered with neck pain and back pain.  It gripped me to the point where I couldn’t even sleep.  Yet somehow the Lord got me through, and I’ve had a nice evening with my family.  The pain has lessened somewhat.  I wish I knew what was causing this pain between my shoulders, and I wish Jesus would touch me and heal whatever is hurt.

I pray also that He will be the strength for my husband and his family.  His grandmother of 96 years is not doing well at all.  She isn’t eating and, as far as I know, has not woken up all day.  The end of her suffering is near, but the beginning of grief is also near.  I feel that grief right in my stomach, like a rock.  I have always loved NaNa.  She has seen so many changes in the world in her lifetime and has weathered so many storms.  The hard part is knowing how to be there for my husband.  He doesn’t really want to talk about it.  We’ve debated taking our daughter and heading down to see her, but at this point she wouldn’t know we were there, and we don’t think our daughter is ready to see what she would see if we went.  (I don’t know that I am ready!)

So…for now, life goes on.  I am gradually preparing the homeschool room for the coming school year.  Due to my back pain, I’m having to do it in small bursts, which is incredibly frustrating.  Usually I plow through a project and don’t even remember to eat until it’s done.

But the Sovereign Lord is my strength!  I don’t have the strength to face much of anything on my own….not to help my husband deal with grief…not to handle all 1,678,432 details associated with directing a Classical Conversations community…not to fix my back and all that is wrong with this achey old body.  But the Lord has more than enough strength.

As Habakkuk wrote:

“³ This vision is for a future time.
It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled.
If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently,
for it will surely take place.
It will not be delayed.”

In context those verses are referring to the end of the 70 years of captivity when all Israel was forced to live in exile in Babylon.  But it also applies to the end of whatever you and I may be facing, doesn’t it?  My mom always assured me that “this, too, shall pass.”  She was right and was in good company in saying so.  So the stress of wondering and praying about the right thing to do about NaNa will pass.  The stress of setting up our schoolroom will pass.  The stress of getting this next year of CC off the ground will pass.  Or, in other words,

It will surely take place.