Here we have a very interesting peek into the Heart of God. He is so interested in His creation that He feeds the beast (literally the dumb beast) and the raven. There is much to be gleaned from this passage concerning the loving care and concern God has for His creation. Of all creatures to speak of caring for, the Lord chooses a big dumb beast like a cow or an ox and the raven with its associations to evil and death!

What do we know about these creatures? First of all, we do know that cows are big, dumb and taste great grilled on a barbeque! Next, we know that the raven is for the most part an unpleasant bird. From its harsh, inarticulate, croaking noises to its desire to eat dead and rotting carcasses this bird has–for ages–been attached to superstitions and dark omens. And the Lord still sees fit to provide for their needs. Jesus said of the Raven… “Consider the raven, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds.” (Luke 12:24) And there lies the amazing truth: God hears the cry of the Raven and answers it, will He not hear you and me? Will the Father hear the cry of the raven and not hear the cries of us who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb? Won’t He hear the cries of we who are seeking His will for our lives, provision for our needs and forgiveness through the blood of Jesus Christ?

The Lord takes tender care of these creatures who just cease to exist when their lives are over; His promise is that He will take even better care of us! When we have breathed our last, our eternal Journey is just beginning. When the sun and the moon, the earth and the stars, even the entire universe have melted away with a fervent heat we will be in our eternal abode settling into the idea of life everlasting.

We see our loving God caring for a poor unclean bird whose death would make no sort of grievous gap in creation. If a thousand ravens had their lives ended tomorrow there would be no great grief in the universe over their death, there would simply be a bunch of dead birds and that would be all. We, on the other hand, as depraved and sinful as we are were made in the image of God. Furthermore God has told us to come to Him with all of our needs and seek His loving care. He has called us to come boldly before His throne room of grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Once again we come back to the question: will our Lord hear the ghastly cry of this poor bird and not hear our cries? Of we who bear His image and have been purchased with the blood of His only Son? Will He not hear us who have been called to seek Him with all of our hearts and promised that when we do we will find Him? Can our loving Father ignore the cries of His children when they are in pain, hunger and need? Will He ignore his little children when they come to him with hugs, kisses and words of love for their father? Is He merely concerned with the needs of the beasts and birds? I urge you to come to the Father trusting in Him and knowing that He loves and cares for you!!! Seeking Him and trusting Him with your every need, care and concern!

Remember what Paul said to the Ephesians:

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask of 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 4:14-21)

But then there are the troubling and convicting thoughts too: We can build up our church and each other, but so easily (too easily) tear it down.

When a contractor builds a brand new luxury home I doubt that a part of his plans would deal with destroying it! Or when a skyscraper is erected, does the engineer who designed the building have an urge to demolish it? I’m sure he doesn’t.

When we gather as a body of believers, each of us takes up our own building responsibilities (Ephesians 4:16). It’s our job to help build one another up in the Lord and to support and maintain the work He has started. The Apostle Paul makes it clear in Romans 12, verses 4 through 6, that we all play an integral part in this. If we are not helping to maintain the love and work of the Lord in our church, then we are helping to destroy it. So how do we keep ourselves from destroying it and instead, continue in the building up process?

In Ephesians 4:1-3 Paul says this, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”.

Paul is giving us a call to action, to be unified! When we lack any of these things listed by Paul, we allow ourselves to change from builders of the body of Christ, to destroyers of it. I think that the main focus has to be diligence to preserve the unity of the Spirit between believers. Unity is described as, “an undivided or unbroken completeness or totality with nothing wanting”. When we take on this thought of preserving the unity of the Spirit in our church, we are unstoppable. If we take this call to be unified in the Spirit, we will then achieve true humility, gentleness, patience, and love for another. But when we divide ourselves and start expecting and wanting things from each other, the slow process of demolition begins; we become human wrecking balls!

So the choice belongs to each one of us. Am I going to be that human wrecking ball, tearing down the unity of my church? Or will I strive to be a “church contractor”, building upon what the Lord came to earth to do. Do we desire to do that together as brothers and sisters in Christ? No doubt that’s what God wants from us. And He has given us the power, strength, wisdom, and love to do it successfully: UNITY in the Spirit in the bond of peace. Let’s be diligent to pray for it and committed to practice it. We, the church, will become an unstoppable force for Jesus!

My first question, “why doesn’t the computer somehow protect itself from the bloat, since I paid over a thousand bucks for it?!” My second question is, “How did the bloat get there?” And then my third question is, “So once the bloat gets destroyed how do I know it won’t come back?”

And then the epiphany: What a perfect parallel to the life of a Christian! We start out slick, efficient, excited, just raring to go (because when I first got my computer it was fast). Over some time we start to get into the swing of our “regular” lives, but of course we’re still pretty strong in our faith (on my computer, I remember needing certain applications and programs in order to do my work, so I bought some and installed them. I did notice just a slight slowdown in the system’s speed.)

Well after going to church and learning from God’s Word, but still chugging away at life’s issues and struggles, and trying to stay in control of them all, our faith starts to get choked. In fact this is usually the stage where those first elements of doubt creep in. (Now on my computer, I’ve been using these new programs for quite some time and I’ve noticed the need for more because what I had wasn’t quite enough to do what I really needed to do. So after much shopping and comparing, I did buy more and install it on the computer. Funny, I noticed that the system seemed to be getting slower! But at least I was doing what I needed to do??)

Now after a Christian has learned, and grown, and struggled, and fought for control, there tends to be a sense of indifference toward truly—actively—pursuing after the walk of Jesus. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re still in love with Him and praise Him and worship Him…but it’s the “walking in His footsteps” part that we step away from. We’ll just pick up a more worldly mode of attack, so to speak. Since we face the world’s problems we pick up the world’s sword (rather than God’s sword) and start swinging away! (On the computer, well, if you’ve used any of those average programs out there you’ll start to notice just how many icons and menus and tools and options they’ve got. And naturally you figure that if the button is there to click then you might as well click it! And somehow that click leads you to the next click, and to the next, and then the next. Suddenly you’ve implemented functions and options and styles that you never really needed to have in the first place. If anything, the software that was supposed to make you more productive has become more complicated, more overwhelming, and less productive!

Inevitably, the bloat comes in life. In worrying about whether or not you’ll keep your job because your employer has just let you know that some serious budget cutting was on the way, you decide that it’s time to start learning another trade. To do that, you’ll have to use your one day off to train and to study. But the unfortunate consequence is that the wonderful and critical time that you had with your children and spouse has now fizzled away. Phrases like “strangers in the night” and “roommates” suddenly apply in your marriage. Well that sure isn’t what God designed the covenant of marriage for! Of course back at the job, your co-workers are suddenly competitors rather than friends. After all it’s either them or you. So your demeanor changes: more guarded, less generous and kind, more self-focused. Oh boy, I don’t quite remember anytime that Jesus acted like that (and we’re supposed to imitate Him, right?)

Ah I could go on and on about my computer and about Christianity, but I think the point is made: what seems like “progress” in a world without God is really just an inevitable path towards self-indulgence and self-destruction. What is progress in a Christian’s world with God should be a path towards sacrifice and the pursuit of God’s will. The former leads to bloat, the other leads to freedom. The Bible teaches us that we’re to be in this world but not of it. Perhaps it’s time to apply God’s optimizer in our own lives? Jesus said, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me…streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:37-38) Maybe you’re noticing that your souls is pretty parched. Well it is time to drink…Time to get rid of the worldly bloat and put on the precious Spirit. I think that “lean Christians” are more critical than ever, don’t you?

Habakkuk is called the “Faithful Prophet”, He is quoted in all the great doctrinal books of the New Testament–with his verse in chapter two, “But the just shall live by faith”. Reading this book as a whole you really see something awesome about the Lord and how He works with people. Habakkuk is faced with this burden of God’s people, and crying out to God to tell him what to do about it. In chapter one Habakkuk looks to God for answers; chapter two we see Habakkuk’s monologue about God’s majesty; and chapter three he speaks passionately about His judgment. And somehow, through a lot of ranting, by the end of the book Habakkuk stops and says “Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” God didn’t even have to say a word for Habakkuk to see His plan, to understand His will, to “catch what God is throwing”.

It was the shear activity of God through which Habakkuk was spoken-to. The Lord shared so many awesome and wonderful truths without even saying a word. Think of the empty tomb and it’s proclamation of truth and God’s victory! The dinners Christ had over and over again with sinners! God never stops speaking to us through exciting and visible ways. A great pastor once said “To those with spiritual discernment, God’s movement is a significant revelation about His heart and His will”. I encourage you to pray, I encourage you to come to church and I will always encourage you to read your Bible….BUT I also encourage you to find answers just by watching. If you want to hear God’s voice, look around you to see what He is doing; and by doing this you will have a fresh understanding of how He works in your life!

That is why I encourage you to go slow in the fast lane. Maybe you get a little road rage when someone does that on the highway… especially when you need to get somewhere right now?! Nevertheless: go slow in the fast lane of life!

You see, life has, is, and always will go fast. We must take the time to slow down. Becoming frustrated and aggravated when you’re forced into slowing down—maybe because of a disheveled customer in front of you, or an oblivious driver—should be a time of blessing, since God has given you an opportunity to have a moment with Him. I often wonder how many times we miss that still small voice only because we are hurried, or shouting too loudly, irritated by the everyday “inconveniences” in life?

It is crystal clear in the Bible that we are to seize these opportunities and appointments with the Lord. In Psalms alone, the word wait is mentioned 22 times and the word meditate 11 times. If we are going too fast…well, we just might miss something. Psalm 46:10 says “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations”

It is through times of slowing that the Lord desires to work. Countless times throughout the gospels we see our Savior Jesus going out alone and spending time with the Father. If Jesus needed that time, then how much more do we? Take the time to see how God is working in this fast paced world. Only when we slow down will we see how perfect His plan is.

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“For I know the thoughts that I think…” – Jeremiah 29:11a

Over the last nine months, the Lord has taken me on one of the wildest rides of my life: working at a grocery store. I know it doesn’t sound that radical, but the lessons learned have been invaluable to me and to my life in ministry. In an effort to not forget the wonderful work God has done, I would like to share with you some of the principles that the Lord has taught and re-taught me.

His sufficiency – In having less time and more responsibility (which seems to be a popular thing these days) God has shown me that ultimately, I am not the one who gets things done in life. It has never been by my power, my ability, my anything – It is all by God’s Spirit and grace working in and through a sinner and fool such as me.

2 Corinthians 3:5 – “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God.”

Humility and Service – I have been taught–I have taught–that serving is all about Jesus, but over time, it became somewhat “cliché”. But I have to remember that service is not merely what I do, but who I am. As a Christian I’m never too good to do anything when I’m in God’s will and living for Jesus. He calls us to be humble and obedient.

Mark 10:45 – “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve”

God Works in Seasons – It continues to boggle my mind that God is outside of time. I am so constricted by, and boxed in, time. He is eternal and therefore not bound by time. God does not work in terms of hours and days, but rather in seasons. Not only that, but His seasons are perfect. I need to rest in His timing, never hoping for Him to speed up or slow down no matter what work He is in the midst of doing. When looking at seasons, there is a necessity to be patient, yet anticipate and be prayerful of what God is doing. His plan is perfect.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 – “To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven”

Redeem the time – No matter how busy I think I am, there is always going to be time that can be used more wisely. After about 3 months at the grocery store, the Lord pressed upon my heart and gave me the desire to start reading Christian books on my breaks rather than do nothing. God used that time to refocus my heart and mind on Him.

Ephesians 5:15 – “ See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil”

It is amazing to look back and see the ways that God has worked. For the Christian there are always lessons to be learned and things that we need to change. May we have a heart of humble obedience to be ready and willing to follow the Lord in anything and everything that we do.