Peter Misselbrook's Blog

Sep 5 2019 - Habakkuk 3 – Habakkuk's prayer of faith

In yesterday's reading God declared that he is in sovereign control of human history and is working out his purposes through all that Habakkuk sees going on around him. God's purposes will culminate in the earth being "filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." The Lord calls upon his people to trust him – for his righteous ones to live by faith.

In today's passage we read Habakkuk's response. It is entitled "a prayer" for it is addressed to the Lord, but in many ways it is a psalm of praise rising out of a situation of pain.

Habakkuk remembers what God did for his people in days past. The stories of God's saving acts of power towards his people had been passed on down the generations of the people of Israel and have been the focus of regular celebration. They recalled how God had rescued their ancestors from slavery in Egypt by acts of judgment which broke the power and will of their oppressors and led them into freedom. Habakkuk longs for God to come and do the same again:

LORD, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy. (3:2)

Habakkuk longs that God would again deliver his people and save his anointed one (v.13).

We often have feelings very similar to those of Habakkuk. We read of what God did in days past, in times of revival in the eighteenth century under the ministry of Whitefield and the Wesley brothers or in the USA through the ministry of Jonathan Edwards. We read of the revivals that broke out in Wales at the beginning of the twentieth century or in the Hebrides in the middle of the twentieth century. We read of how thousands were drawn to faith in Christ and whole communities were transformed. We read of what God is doing today in parts of Africa, South America, China and Cambodia where the churches are multiplying as many turn to faith in Christ. Surely when we read such things our hearts cry out to God, "Why not here and why not now? Lord we have read of what you have done and it fills us with awe at your deeds. But it also fills us also with a deep ache in our hearts that you would do the same for us today. Rend the heavens and come down."

But Habakkuk has learnt to trust God and to wait on God: "I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us" (v.16). The chapter ends with verses that express his deep trust in God, his confidence that God will act to save his people according to his promise even though he cannot yet see that salvation:

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 sheepfold
    and no cattle in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Saviour. (vv.17-18)

This is faith, trusting where one cannot see and rejoicing in God's promises even when they are yet to be fulfilled. This is what it means to "live by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Father God, you have given your Son for our salvation and have promised with him to freely give us all things. Help us to look beyond the difficult circumstances that sometimes threaten to overwhelm our lives and to trust in you and your word. By your Spirit, fill us with joy and peace in believing.

Sep 5 2020 - Matthew 11:7-30 – I will give you rest

We saw yesterday that the children of the Kingdom are not promised a peaceful life. But we are promised rest – rest for our souls.

The words of Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 are well known and well loved: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." The pressures of this world leave us feeling "harassed and helpless" (9:36), "weary and burdened". The promise of rest is like the promise of water to a traveller in a dry and thirsty land. Eagerly we come to Jesus for the rest he can give us.

But the promise of Jesus is paradoxical. Jesus says that we enjoy the rest he has to give when we take his yoke upon us. The yoke is a picture of burdensome work. The yoke is laid upon the ox that it may pull the plough. The yoke is not a symbol of rest but of hard labour. More than that, Jesus invites his disciples to take his yoke upon them; to join him in the work that his Father has called him to do. And Jesus yoke becomes his cross; this is the wood that he shoulders to the place of execution. The invitation to share Jesus' yoke hardly seems to be a promise of rest. Can it really be said that this yoke is easy and this burden is light?

Part of the answer to this question comes from a realisation that we do not bear this yoke alone. Often a pair of oxen would be yoked together in the work of ploughing. A young ox would be yoked to an older animal that was well used to labouring under the hand of its master. In this way the novice would learn from the experienced animal. Perhaps this is the image used by Jesus. He invites us to take his yoke upon us, not that he might shift it from his shoulders but that we might join him in his work. Yoked to him we labour with him and learn from him and never bear the burden on our own. And, in the paradox of the kingdom, it is in labouring with Christ in the work the Father has given him to do that we find our rest.

Kingdom rest is not inactivity. It is the rest and refreshment that comes from sticking close to the Good Shepherd and following him in the path he treads before us.

The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
   for his name’s sake.
Even though I walk
   through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
   for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
   they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
   in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
   my cup overflows.
Surely your goodness and love will follow me
   all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

With him, the labour of the Kingdom becomes rest and the birth pangs of the Kingdom become our joy. This is something that many cannot understand, but the children of the kingdom of this gentle Saviour can testify that his yoke is easy and his burden is light.

Lord Jesus, you have revealed to us the father-heart of God. I have heard your call to come to you and find rest for my soul. Gladly I come. Bind me close to you that I may never leave your side. Place your yoke upon me and teach me to work alongside you in the field of the kingdom. May this be my daily delight.

Peter Misselbrook