8-13-13 “I’m in the Wrong Museum!”
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
On Sunday, I was reminded of the prophet Habakkuk’s words:
Must I forever see these evil deeds?
Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.
The law has become paralyzed,
and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted. (Habakkuk 1:3-4)
It’s just hilarious and amazing that Habakkuk is describing the society and culture he lived in a few thousand years ago because his words sounds like what we pray in our home every day! We constantly marvel at the amount of evil reported by the news. We’re continually perplexed at lack of justice that follows. I truly feel we have entered a time in our world where “the wicked (really do) far outnumber the righteous.” It’s probably always been like that and seems like that, but now it feels like that in our little corner of the world now too. Ugh.
Even though God’s response to Habakkuk is specifically just for him, I do love his words from verse 5:
Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.
I choose to believe that for me and my day that God has not run out of amazing things to do. I certainly hope it’s not raising up the Babylonian army against my country as is that case for Habakkuk’s people (v.6). But even if it is I do believe, like Paul says in Romans 8:28, “that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
How do I securely believe this about God? How am I so sure that whatever the penalty is for the evil going on in the land I live in will “work together for the good” for me and people like me who call out to him for help, rescue, encouragement, and advice?
Ephesians 2:10 is the answer God supplies for me today. God’s piece de resistance in creation was creating people in his own image with higher level thinking, a conscious, and a soul. And God’s masterpiece is for those pieces de resistances to live like Jesus. I am special to HIM!
But if I truly am his masterpiece, where is my museum? Where is my special place? Surely not here where the wicked outnumber the righteous?
I believe that God is still full of ideas, “something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”
Inasmuch as Habakkuk’s people could never imagine or foresee the punishment God had in store at that time, similarly, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” That’s the museum in which I eagerly await to be placed!
Dear God,
Jesus said that in your house are many rooms and that one of them is for me! Oh, thank you!!! Please continue to bless and protect us until you see fit to bring the rule of the wicked around here to a close. I am so thankful that you have purposes for me in spite of how society tells me to live. I am so thankful that you do work life out for us daily through your amazing protection, grace, and love. Thank you for being God who works outside of human thinking and understanding in order to do crazy amazing things for us. I love you and praise you and pray in your Son’s name. Amen.
Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.
On Sunday, I was reminded of the prophet Habakkuk’s words:
Must I forever see these evil deeds?
Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.
The law has become paralyzed,
and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted. (Habakkuk 1:3-4)
It’s just hilarious and amazing that Habakkuk is describing the society and culture he lived in a few thousand years ago because his words sounds like what we pray in our home every day! We constantly marvel at the amount of evil reported by the news. We’re continually perplexed at lack of justice that follows. I truly feel we have entered a time in our world where “the wicked (really do) far outnumber the righteous.” It’s probably always been like that and seems like that, but now it feels like that in our little corner of the world now too. Ugh.
Even though God’s response to Habakkuk is specifically just for him, I do love his words from verse 5:
Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.
I choose to believe that for me and my day that God has not run out of amazing things to do. I certainly hope it’s not raising up the Babylonian army against my country as is that case for Habakkuk’s people (v.6). But even if it is I do believe, like Paul says in Romans 8:28, “that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.”
How do I securely believe this about God? How am I so sure that whatever the penalty is for the evil going on in the land I live in will “work together for the good” for me and people like me who call out to him for help, rescue, encouragement, and advice?
Ephesians 2:10 is the answer God supplies for me today. God’s piece de resistance in creation was creating people in his own image with higher level thinking, a conscious, and a soul. And God’s masterpiece is for those pieces de resistances to live like Jesus. I am special to HIM!
But if I truly am his masterpiece, where is my museum? Where is my special place? Surely not here where the wicked outnumber the righteous?
I believe that God is still full of ideas, “something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.”
Inasmuch as Habakkuk’s people could never imagine or foresee the punishment God had in store at that time, similarly, “no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” That’s the museum in which I eagerly await to be placed!
Dear God,
Jesus said that in your house are many rooms and that one of them is for me! Oh, thank you!!! Please continue to bless and protect us until you see fit to bring the rule of the wicked around here to a close. I am so thankful that you have purposes for me in spite of how society tells me to live. I am so thankful that you do work life out for us daily through your amazing protection, grace, and love. Thank you for being God who works outside of human thinking and understanding in order to do crazy amazing things for us. I love you and praise you and pray in your Son’s name. Amen.
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