Habakkuk 2

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Theme “____________, Where are you? (fill in the blank-Adam, Eve, Lena, whomever…)
Habakkuk 2 TNIV (Today's New International Version)
1 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. [a]
The LORD 's Answer
2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald [b] may run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it [c] will certainly come and will not delay.
4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous will live by their faithfulness [d]—
5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
6 "Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, " 'Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?'
7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey.
8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
9 "Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
12 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!
13 Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people's labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.
15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed [e]! The cup from the LORD's right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
18 "Of what value is an idol that someone has carved? Or an image that teaches lies? For those who make them trust in their own creations; they make idols that cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it."
20 The LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.
Footnotes:
Habakkuk 2:1 Or and what to answer when I am rebuked
Habakkuk 2:2 Or so that whoever reads it
Habakkuk 2:3 Or Though he linger, wait for him; / he
Habakkuk 2:4 Or faith
Habakkuk 2:16 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls, Aquila, Vulgate and Syriac (see also Septuagint) and stagger

Today's New International VersionInternational Bible Society© Copyright 2001, 2005


~ Lena’s Journalin’ ~
I’ve heard many say something like, “I’m looking to the Lord”, and usually it is in regards to something they need to trust in God for in their life. Do you know God is waiting for someone to truly look to Him? Someone who when they see Him, they see Him in His glory and honor Him as God Most High? They don’t seek His hands, and all that He gives to them. They seek His face in order to give account willingly. They seek His heart, His mind, His vision, and join themselves in covenantal commitment to His will.
Those are who He can speak with and to, and He can trust in them.
Yesterday we sang a song in worship at church, some of the words were: “Everything I need is you, my beginning, my forever…” We so often sing that to the Lord praising Him for always being “there” for us. How often are we “there” for Him? Do we realize His hands are actually tied and nothing He wants to accomplish gets done, unless humans consent to doing it?
“It” is “the Vision”.
So He lays out a request, shows forth the end from the beginning. He speaks one way, then another, then another, through the mouths or expressions of more than one type of voice. He has a man write it out and post it in big enough letters to see from a far off. Yet we excuse ourselves and categorize The Vision, putting it in a compartment in life where, if we get to it, or have time, or it works out, we may find ourselves a participator in it, and with it. But we say with our mouths, “we’re all in”. Do we think we can trick God? We may as well say, “we’re part in”, for what we do, is what we mean.
Most of us must not realize God needs us, is waiting on us, and is yearning with a burning desire to see us live out our purpose which can only be found in Him.
We’ve built our own kingdoms, that are fashioned with our own hands and we say, we are too busy with what is important to us in life. Somehow we really think these things we participate in are #1 and are greater in value than the establishment and participation in God’s kingdom fashioning? We build and finish our own, but never really start His! Yet if we go to church once a week, we literally think we’re participators?
Wow, what deception we’ve been living in!
Our world is the most important world of all, yet it will all come crashing down, all will be consumed and the only thing that will remain is what was built for God in accordance with His desire and in His name.
So when is the appointed time? The time is now, in God’s timing, but how long will He wait for us? That is the question.
Am I on the page of Lena, or on the page of the Father?

Daily Meditation/Recital/Question
Ask myself daily: “What Page Am I On?”