Yet I Will . . . // Chelynn Broughton

I recently heard some of my high school students talking about God also being the Son and the Holy Spirit (the Trinity). One student was asking how it could even be possible, and another was trying his best to explain. (Side note: we were working on a verb tense worksheet, so I’m not sure how this came up…lol) I had to stop myself from jumping in and telling them that they were trying to limit God by looking at Him the same way they would a human, but being a teacher, I had to leave them to discuss on their own. 

This is the moment I realized what I wanted to write about in this blog. The assigned topic was Habakkuk 3:16-19. This wasn’t an easy task. Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets from the Old Testament, and you don’t hear his name anywhere else in the Bible. He isn’t someone you hear many preachers talking about, so I was really struggling until that conversation ignited a spark in me.  

If you’ve been keeping up with the past few weeks’ blog posts, you know that Habakkuk had questioned God about all the bad people in the world and earnestly sought out the answer as to why God hadn’t yet done anything about it. 

God responded in Book 2 that He was bringing the Babylonians to handle it, which frustrated Habakkuk even more because the Babylonians were not good people either. In the 3rd book, Habakkuk finally realizes that he didn’t need to understand God’s ways; he just needed to have faith that God could and would deal out justice when the time was right. 

Habakkuk 3:13 “You went out to rescue your chosen people, to save your anointed ones. You crushed the heads of the wicked and stripped their bones from head to toe.”

‭If you are a news watcher, you may be feeling like Habakkuk did about all the chaos going on across the world, wondering how God can just ignore all of the evil going on around us. As our next Election Day gets closer, many people are questioning what the future holds. 

I think most of us can relate with Habakkuk, wondering when God is finally going to step up and take control of the chaotic mess we’ve made of the planet that He trusted to us.

This is where that aha moment I had that day in my classroom comes in. We do not have to understand God’s ways, we just have to know that He is able to do more than we can even imagine. 

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.” ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭55‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

I think Habakkuk had that same aha moment and realized that all he could do as he waited for God’s judgment to be dealt out on the evilness of his days, was to praise God and have faith that everything would work out:

16 I heard and my heart pounded,
    my lips quivered at the sound;
decay crept into my bones,
    and my legs trembled.
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity
    to come on the nation invading us.
17 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,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

I’ve recently attended several funerals for really good people who died way too soon and prayed continuously and earnestly for another amazing woman who just passed away with cancer. I have said more than once, “This just isn’t fair!” 

Maybe you’re going through something extremely difficult right now,  and you’re questioning how God can possibly let it continue to go on. Like Habakkuk, we just need to praise God through our storms and trust that His ways are so much greater than our ways. 

“Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians‬ ‭3‬:‭20‬-‭21‬ 

The final verses of Habakkuk 3 remind me of the song “Praise you in this Storm” by Casting Crowns. As you listen with the attached link, turn your worries over to God and know that He’s in control. https://youtu.be/0YUGwUgBvTU?si=0IBCvK-OG8xzn0hK

Just Praise

Less distraction, no judgment, freedom to move. That is why I choose to sit on the front row. Because let’s face it, we all have our own way to worship the lord. Mine includes a need to dance and move so I like having space and the ability to tune things out. If I sit in the back I’m distracted by what other people are doing and find it hard to concentrate on just praising God.

I’ve mentioned before in a post called “Twirling Dancer” that I used to dance in church as a little girl. What I didn’t get into is that as a teenager I could barely raise my hands in worship. Why? Because I was embarrassed and felt like I was being judged by my friends. I didn’t want their opinion of me to change, so I changed myself to fit in with them. 

In John 12:1-7, we come across a story where Jesus visited the family of Lazarus, not long after Lazarus had been raised from the dead. 

“Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair.” 

(John 12:2-3)

Each one of the siblings was honoring Jesus in their own way. I will even say they were praising him. Of course Mary’s praise was probably the strangest to both us and the people around her. It was normal to wash a visitor's feet with water, but insane to use expensive perfume, worth a year's income, and your own hair. But she didn’t care. Mary had her eyes on her Lord and savior and didn’t let the opinions of the disciples, her siblings, or anyone else deter her. She humbled herself and simply worshiped. 

My prayer is that you will be encouraged by Mary’s example and be daring in your praise and worship like her. I was reminded of Mary while singing in church on Sunday, “I just want to kneel here at your feet” (“Nothing Else” by Cody Carnes). Can you be daring and humble yourself before the Lord for his sake? Do something different this coming Sunday or in your own worship time during the week: dance, kneel, sway, raise your arms to the lord. Just praise HIM. 

Bethany Thomas is the Publicity Coordinator and a contributing writer for Shaken & Stirred. She is a daughter of God, a wife, and a dog mom. When not writing for the blog, you are most likely to find her reading a fantasy novel or crafting at her home in Sapulpa, OK.

Photo by Darya Ogurtsova on Unsplash