yet I will exult in the Lord

my time at home is almost over . . . I head back to school tomorrow.
as usual, I am not looking forward to going back - but I know that I will love it when I do.

this next month is going to be crazy, and will fly by so quickly. we have 4 journals do in a week (each journal has to be around 4 pages). they take me quite a while to do - because I try to really put alot of thought into them. the journals are really for our benefit, to make us stop and think about what God has been teaching us - and it will be so nice to look back on these journals in a couple years and be reminded of God's faithfulness. as well as the journals - we also are working on a study project. we each were given a minor prophet to do a study on (major themes, history, word meanings, etc.) - and we have to give a 20 minute presentation to our small group. we have already done this once, with different chapters in Mark - and I learned so much from it. this time, I have the book of Habakkuk.

God is already teaching me so much in my study of this short book . . . and I thought you might want to hear :)
. . .What really lays heavy on the mind of this prophet is that God seems to look upon the distress of His people with indifference . . . and it reminds me that the silence of God in human affairs was as difficult to understand then as it is now - but that does not mean that He has not heard us, or that He is not in control. In Hab 1 :5 God says,

"Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days - You would not believe if you were told."

how true is that? God is at work in ways that we would not believe . . . that our minds will never be able to comprehend.
in this case - what God was doing, was indeed not what Habakkuk had expected or wanted. God was going to raise up their enemies, and evil people, to correct their wickedness. that was a very hard thing for Habakkuk to understand - but in the end, Habakkuk come's before the Lord in praise.

"Though the fig tree should not blossom

and there be no fruit on the vines,
though the yield of the olive should fail
and the fields produce no food,
though the flock should be cut off from the fold
and there be no cattle in the stalls,
Yet I will exult in the LORD,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength,
and He has made my feet like hinds' feet,
And makes me walk on high places. "

despite the things that are going on around us - despite the way that God likes to surprise us with His plans . . . I WILL EXULT IN THE LORD. He is my salvation. He is my strength. And that is a strength that the enemy will never be able to defeat.