Charlyne Cares

June 25, 2007

Each Monday in Charlyne Cares we share a devotional written by a fellow stander. Today Ruth Anne,
from Illinois, shares about who might be the first stander in the Bible. You can submit an original
devotional from - http://rejoiceministries.org/ccsubmit.html

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HOW STANDERS FACE TROUBLES

How much do you know about the minor prophets? The minor prophets actually have a whole lot to do with
standing for your marriage if you study them. In fact, we have the first recorded stander in one of the minor
prophets, Hosea. Habakkuk was the eighth of the twelve minor prophets. We don't know a whole lot about
him personally, but we do know that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah. His name means
embrace, or he that embraces. He embraced the words the Lord gave him for Israel, as well as embracing
the Lord in great trust. In Habakkuk 3:16-19 there are quite a few of the treasures that can be found to help
us stand.

Note that the passage starts out with Habakkuk admitting:

"I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs
trembled." Habakkuk 3:16a

He was afraid and admitted he was afraid in his prayer. How often are we standers fearful of what will happen
with situations we find ourselves in regarding our marriage? If you're like me, quite often. But, he goes on to
show trust in the Lord as he goes on farther in his prayer.

"Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us." Habakkuk 3:16b

Unwavering trust in the Lord is the only way to face the difficulties of life. One of the first things we see in
verse 16 is waiting on the Lord, and His timing. Yet I will wait patiently. The key word is patiently. This means
that we have confidence that God will act in our behalf at the right time. We aren't standing around
bemoaning our fate, how hard it is to stand, how rough we have it. We aren't comparing ourselves to anyone
else and thinking they have it so much better.

We come to a point in our stand where we accept our circumstances knowing that God will work it for good.

"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are
called according to his purpose for them." Romans 8:28 NLT

If we accept where we are, and trust God will work for good, it makes it easier to be patient. We see the small
ways in which God moves, and trust that the bigger ways will come in His timing.

Our temptation is to be impatient, because we don't see His hand moving. And the more impatient we get, the

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less likely we are to see the small ways in which He is moving. But, His hand is always THERE!

Another temptation we can easily fall into is questioning God. Questioning God leads to doubting. That is a
trick of the enemy! God is omnipotent. In Job 38, God begins to question Job after Job had begun doubting
earlier in the book.

"Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me. "Where were you when I laid
the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely
you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its
cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Job 38:3-7
NKJV

The list of questions from the Lord goes on to Job. But I couldn't answer any of those questions if I was asked
to. Nor could Job. You probably can't either. But God can! And that is the thing we need to focus on so very
intently. He has a mind that is beyond compare. His timing is perfect. God is NEVER late. He is always on
time. He isn't going to say, "Oh, whoops. I forgot. I meant to restore that marriage today. Oh, well, I guess I'll
have to do it later now." His timing, when our marriages are restored, will be absolutely, 100% perfect.

Then, as we move on to verses 17 and 18, we see Habakkuk turn to rejoicing in the Lord despite the outward
circumstances. Habakkuk starts with a list of calamity in verse 17:

"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 pen and no cattle in the stalls." Habakkuk 3:17

That is a pretty long list of all that is wrong. There is no food to be found anywhere. The animals are all gone.
This is one radically dire situation. But yet, Habakkuk then praises God in verse 18:

"Yet I will rejoice in the LORD , I will be joyful in God my Savior." Habakkuk 3:18

The blessing of God is related directly to His people's obedience to Him. God blesses those who are obedient
to Him. Think of it this way: Are you going to take your misbehaving child out for a special dinner at their
favorite restaurant? Or are you going to ground him, so that he learns the behavior is inappropriate? If you
wouldn't reward your misbehaving child, why would God reward a misbehaving child of His? He wouldn't. But
He would reward the child of God who is following in His ways and trusting Him.

Our ability to praise God in difficulty is directly tied to our trust in God. The more we trust Him, the easier it is
to praise Him in the midst of our struggles. Our praise actually prepares the way for His deliverance. We can
praise Him through prayer, singing, reading the Word, the list goes on and on. There are plenty of ways to
praise God. And the more we praise Him, the more our mood lifts, the easier it becomes. As we keep on
praising Him, our trust in Him grows.

Praising God not only increases our trust, it also increases our strength in our faith in the Lord. Praise is one
of the ways in which the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to grow our faith and increase our knowledge of the
Lord. Only God can give us the kind of strength that will not falter - strength that will enable us to do good and
bring honor to God in time of trouble.

It is easy for us to think that we need to do something to change our situations. We are very "action oriented."
We are also very mistaken in thinking that we are the masters of our destiny, which is part of why we think we
need to take action. Waiting can imply passivity to us, but waiting for the Lord is NOT passive. Not even
close. Waiting on the Lord takes strength. It takes faith. And it also takes a whole lot of courage.

We want to get through these troubles with God being glorified. We want our marriage restoration to be a
story of God's glory. But it cannot be a "Glory Story" if we get ourselves all mixed up in it. Think about

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Gideon. He started with an army of 32,000. At 32,000, they were already greatly outnumbered by the
Midianites. God immediately cut the army down to 10,000. Now, not only are they vastly outnumbered, they
are to the point of ridiculously outnumbered. God whittled down the army yet again, to only 300 men. At this
point, there is only One who could possibly have been the reason for victory, and it wasn't Gideon. It was
God. The same is true for us. We might be outnumbered, but the King of the Universe is on our side. And
with His strength behind us, we cannot fail.

Basics in the Christian life are surrender, prayer, Scripture memorization, fasting. Those are all ways to tap
into God's strength, but are even more important as we stand for our covenant marriages and believe in
God's deliverance, healing and restoration.

Habakkuk was focusing on God's deliverance for Israel. By concentrating on our relationship with the Lord,
we are focusing on our deliverance in our troubles. God will not forget, and He will not delay. I cannot wait to
see the day of His deliverance for each and every one of us!

Standing on the promises of Christ, My King,

Ruth Anne in Illinois
Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.
Post Office Box 10548
Pompano Beach, FL 33061 USA
http://rejoiceministries.org

Devotional Copyright 2007 Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.

Scripture quoted by permission and are from the Holy Bible; New International Version Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights
reserved.

Printed from http://rejoiceministries.org/cc/view.php?id=2845

Rejoice Marriage Ministries, Inc.

Post Office Box 10548
Pompano Beach, FL 33061
http://rejoiceministries.org

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