A few weeks ago we had a class on
Discovering God’s Will: the
Providential will of God – what God has planned regardless; the
Moral will of God – commands in His Word; and the
Personal will of God – His direction for our individual lives. We find His will through the Bible, by obtaining wise counsel, and through listening to the Spirit’s guidance within us. John said, the Holy Spirit will lead us into all truth and show us things to come (John 16:13). One way God reveals His will is through
PROPHECY – the gift of communicating and enforcing revealed truth. Prophecy comes in two forms: prediction (foretelling) and assertion (forthtelling). In foretelling, the phrase,
“And it shall come to pass” is used to say
, “God will surely do it!”
As is too often the case, Habakkuk’s prayer to God begins with a complaint. “How long, Lord must I call for help but you do not listen?…Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? (Hab.1:1-3) He protests the evil Babylonians, whom he doesn’t realize the Lord is raising up to execute judgment on the land and deal with Israel for her sins. We don’t have a construct for the possibility that God will use our enemies to bring us to repentance. We, like Habakkuk ask, How does a Holy God who cannot look at sin use evil people to bring about righteous judgment? (vs.13) Then we wait, to see how God’s gonna answer that challenge! God tells Habakkuk, while I’m purifying Israel, I’m going to judge the Babylonians too. So write this vision down. It’s going to go down EXACTLY as I say. If it takes a while, still wait. Live this next part of your story by faith, be fully persuaded that what I’ve spoken will come to pass.
Do not quench/stifle the Spirit. Do not despise or treat prophecies with contempt, but test them all; hold to what is good. 1 Thess. 5:19-20
Two things will make us stifle the Spirit, despise God’s assertions and predictions, and disregard or even oppose God’s visions:
- We don’t like the content. Like Habakkuk, or Jonah, we disagree with what is being said. We don’t want to do it or don’t want it to be done.
- The waiting makes us despondent – we become dejected and lose confidence. The humiliation makes us give up and abandon the promise.
Some of us have heard from God. He’s given us a vision of what will take place. We may not like the content, and the wait that seems eternal…but we know the outcome. The Lord has given us instructions on what to do in the meantime. Some of us have discarded these directives due to hopelessness. I encourage you to GO BACK to what was PROPHESIED or the VISION that was written. Drop your pride and walk it out by FAITH! (Hab. 2:4)
