Wed.’s Devo - From Fear to Faith

Read: Habakkuk 1:1-3:19; Revelation 9:1-21; Psalm 137:1-9; Proverbs 30:10
Habakkuk means “embraced by God”. Habbakkuk was to bring that message to his people that they were held and loved by their Heavenly Father.
Josiah had brought spiritual revival but the people had fallen greatly from that place of repentance. They were oppressing one another and justice was perverted to violence and turmoil. Their own justice system was collapsing and war was all around Judah. The Babylonian were rising to take over the Assyrians and Egypt and Judah was under constant fear of invasion.
Habakkuk is a spiritual journey of one man’s walk from doubt to faith. He begins in fear and hopelessness and ends in victory and faith. He ends standing on a firm foundation totally trusting and rejoicing in God with joy.
In Revelation, we have the fifth angel sounding the trumpet for war. Some think it is speaking of the Gulf War where the Iraqi’s set fire to over 700 of the largest oil wells of the earth in the deserts of Kuwait. Smoke entered the atmosphere blocking the sunlight for three months. Suddam Hussein’s name means “Destroyer” or “Abaddon” in Hebrew. He started a battle with the United Nations which is still under turmoil today. I think that God gives us types all along the way. There is a astroid predicted to hit earth in 2029 which would have this same affect but would affect one third of the world instead of one third of the Middle East. It would hit exactly 2,000 years after the death of Jesus on the cross. That sounds significant to me!
The sixth angel sounded a trumpet that released four angels who were bound at the great river Euphrates. These leaders of four nations would kill a third of mankind. The four nations that border the Euphrates are Syria, Iraq, Turkey and Iran. They will command an army of 200 million soldiers. This will be the last war and in the middle of the war the Abomination of Desolation will be set up and the Great Tribulation will begin. Even in the midst of such turmoil, the people will refuse to give up their idolatry and evil ways, but God’s justice will prevail.
Lord, thank you for your justice. May it prevail on the earth today. May we rejoice when faced with fear and disappointment today.