Each year you’ll usually hear or read about a list of people who have made the “Top Ten”: Top Ten Fashion Designers, Top Ten Bloggers, Top Ten Musicians, Top Ten Authors, or Top Ten Wage Earners.
We may never see our name on a “Top Ten” list–or on anyone’s positive kind of list. Things in our lives can easily slip from bad to worse. And it’s entirely possible that some circumstances will never change, no matter how hard we try to influence them. Life may never seem fair. How can we possibly handle that without giving in or giving up?
A Challenging and Encouraging Opportunity for You
Life can get pretty discouraging if all we focus on is “what might have been” or “what we’ll never see happen.” The prophet Habakkuk dealt with that. But that pattern of thinking could lead us to the wrong conclusion. He ultimately made the right one.
God will never leave us without hope. That’s the Resurrection power we recently celebrated. It’s the Good News we treasure daily. When life doesn’t seem fair, what is your ultimate conclusion? The choice is yours.
I have a challenging and encouraging opportunity for you. Take a few quiet moments this week and meditate on the book of Habakkuk. It’s that short, little-known book near the end of the Old Testament, full of life-changing, relative-to-your-world, kind of stuff. Specifically, read carefully Habakkuk 3:17-19 in your favorite Bible translation.
Imagine a difficult set of circumstances that might emerge at some point in your life or in someone else’s like you. Then jot down your own paraphrase of that Habakkuk passage in a way that could relate to that life situation or occupation. You could write from the perspective of a parent, a grandparent, a teacher, a ministry leader, an executive, a secretary, a businessman or woman–or whoever you are.
An Example for You
God has blessed me as a writer through the years, but all of us experience, days, months, or years, when we play that “waiting” game–times when we probably won’t be featured on anyone’s “Top Ten List,” and times when we must determine where our focus will be, and how we choose to respond.
Here’s an example for you with a set of circumstances that could happen in any writer’s life, and a faith response that I truly hope would be mine, no matter what. Here’s a paraphrase of that Habakkuk passage I wrote, using a writer’s viewpoint:
For the Joy of the Lord
and of the Written Word
By Rebecca Barlow Jordan
“Though the sales fade away,
and returns keep coming in;
Though contracts seem a distant memory;
Though fans decline,
and marketing may fail,
Though no checks are arriving in the mail;
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord my God.
I will wait and watch,
and keep believing.
I will release my dreams for safekeeping
into the hands of my God who gave them to me.
But for the joy of the Lord
and for the written word,
and for the sheer joy of creating pictures and stories,
I will keep writing
until He tells me
there is nothing left to write.”
(c) 2011, Rebecca Barlow Jordan
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; 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, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains” Habakkuk 3:17-19, NLT.
Day-votional Thought to Remember:
You’re always #1 on God’s list!!!
And He raised us up together with Him [when we believed], and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, [because we are] in Christ Jesus (Ephesians 2:6, AMP).
*You might also enjoy this post, another Habakkuk paraphrase I wrote in 2020 during the pandemic called, Do You Want No Matter What Faith in God?
Do You Need Fresh Hope?
Did you know that God, your faithful Father, wants to give you that hope and longs to meet all your needs? I’d love to help you know more about that and to discover your faithful Father’s heart in my new book, Day-votions® with Your Faithful Father: 90 Days with the One Who Wants to Meet All Your Needs. You can find it here or on Amazon.
It’s Your Turn
What are your paraphrased Habakkuk words? Share your creativity! I’ll post the best one online in the next two weeks. I’d love to hear from you anytime. You can always write me through my contact page. Just fill out the basic name and address info, and then the email will come to me. Your name or info will never be shared with anyone without your permission.
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