I went into this shabbat with a determined, but heavy heart. Determined to worship the LORD, but frustrated by many little frustrations in the various spheres of life. If I can't expect to have a pleasant life, then why bother to hope at all? But then I remember Job - how Job refused to give up his hope in God, even in the midst of terrible circumstances. And what of the people who lived during the time when God executed the curses of Deuteronomy 28? Habakkuk may have been (must have been?) one of the people living at that time. How could he then sing praise to God? Surely, if these men can find hope in God, then I as a new-covenant pilgrim in only mildly frustrating circumstances can trust God. That was the sober resolve with which I welcomed shabbat this week. I wanted to hear the Lord and I wanted strength to cling to his truth.
Toward the end of the day, I read this: "I am coming soon - hold on to what you have, so that no one will take away your crown. The one who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God and he will never leave it." Revelation 3:11-12a (Tree of Life version, TLV)
"How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, even faints For the courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God." Psalm 84:1-2 (NKJV)
loved