The Bible is a historical document; that is, it tells us what transpired in the history of God鈥檚 people. As much as scholarly individuals have wanted to dispute the validity of scripture over the years, God always reveals documentation of what is found in the scriptures.
Darlene Stern
The introduction to the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament describes the current state of affairs in Judah. "His country had fallen from the heights of Josiah鈥檚 reforms to the depths of violent treatment of its citizens, oppressive measures against the poor, and the collapse of the legal system. The world around Judah was at war ... . The threat of invasion from the north added to Judah鈥檚 internal turmoil." (New Spirit Filled Life Bible, Jack W. Hayford, editor, 2002) This is how the book opens with Habakkuk鈥檚 eyes on his downright discouraging circumstances.
In 1996 our children鈥檚 grandfather graduated to Glory. Our eldest was a foreign exchange youth ambassador to another country at the time. A fax notifying him of Grandpa鈥檚 passing was sent to the family hosting our son (no cellphones then). When he responded that he wanted to come home for the funeral I contacted my dear friend in the travel industry to see what arrangements could be made on such short notice. We learned this was not an easy task, as all outgoing flights were halted for the upcoming national holiday.
While my friend worked on the flight, I went to the Word of God for an answer. Not only is the Bible a historical document, it is also direction for our lives. There are answers for every question you have in the Bible; you just have to know where to look, or ask Holy Spirit to show you. In my search of the Word I found myself in the book of Habakkuk. Chapter one describes the difficult times Judah was experiencing in Habakkuk鈥檚 words to God asking why is it this way?
At the beginning of chapter two Habakkuk says he鈥檚 just going to park himself and wait for God鈥檚 answer to his questions. And the Lord answered him. "I will give you my message in the form of a vision.
Write it clearly enough to be read at a glance. At the time I have decided, my words will come true. You can trust what I say about the future. It may take a long time, but keep on waiting: it will happen!" (Verses 2-3 Contemporary English Version)
I told the Lord I was going to wait for his answer to getting our son home for the funeral, despite the grim outlook. The sense of urgency became so strong at 2:30 a.m. that I called my friend to insist now was the time to get the arrangements solidified. She could have blown me off and gone back to bed, but she didn鈥檛. She worked it in the middle of the night, which was seven hours later in that country. She called the airline of the one flight going out before the holiday shutdown direct to see what could be accomplished. At first she got the run around. Eventually, in frustration she asked the woman at the other end whether she had a belief in God; that this young man, the eldest of all the grandchildren, earnestly desired to attend the burial of his grandfather and she believed this was the Lord鈥檚 plan. That鈥檚 as far as she got.
In the meantime I was writing the vision I received from the Lord that our son would be able to be home in time. Also in the meantime, our son boarded a bus alone 鈥 never having made his own travel arrangements ever 鈥 for a five-hour bus trip to the capital that would arrive just in time to make the plane. This was all done in faith that the plane would make room for him, trusting verse 4 applied to this situation as well: "Only those who live by faith are acceptable to Me."
We had no knowledge whether our son had been able to board that last flight out of the country until we received a call from Chicago that evening reporting he had arrived and would take a limo bus to Milwaukee from there. Someone went to Milwaukee to pick him up so he could attend the evening visitation and the funeral the next day.
From the despair at the beginning of the book, Habakkuk ends chapter three with great hope and encouragement: "Then I will still rejoice in the Eternal! I will rejoice in the God who saves me!" (3:18) Habakkuk knows that despite what he sees, God will come through. So did we 鈥 and God came through just in time.
(Darlene Stern is a Kewaskum native and writes a weekly column for the Daily 六合彩开奖记录.)