MORE IN THE MINOR PROPHETS

Today is Sunday!  I love Sundays!  I get to teach, preach, preach in the afternoon to the Spanish Church, and preach again in the evening service.  So, I'm looking forward to having a full day preaching and teaching God's Word.  I enjoy being with God's people the most.  It is going to be a great day! I'm in the Minor Prophets again.  Since there are 68 chapters in the Minor Prophets (last 12 in the O.T.), it will take me almost a week to go through them with 10 chapters at a time.  For years I have gone 20 chapters a day, but there is too much to write about.  Even going only ten chapters a day, I have to skip over so many things I wish I had time to write about.  Here are a few I have chosen for today: 1) SLOW BUT SURE- Nahum 1:3 says:  "The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked:  the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."  Here we see that God is slow to anger, but will not neglect judgment.  He has His way in the storms of life and there destruction is tied into His ultimate plan.  God is so big that the clouds are the dust of His feet.  Wow!  2) WHY GOD THE FATHER AND HOLY SPIRIT TURNED THEIR BACK ON GOD THE SON ON THE CROSS- Habakkuk 1:13 says:  "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:"  So when Christ became "sin for us", then He embodied the whole of humanities sin and then it turns dark, and then He cries out:  "My God (the Father), My God (the Holy Spirit), why hast thou forsaken me?"  Because God is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.  We caused that separation when Christ paid for our sin debt!  Remember that sin causes separation and our sin caused that separation of Christ and the Godhead.  Thank you Jesus for Calvary!  Thank you for the Cross!!  3) FAITH IN HARD TIMES- By it's very nature, faith is for the hard times!  Faith means trusting when it doesn't make sense to keep trusting.  In Habakkuk 3:17,18, we see an excellent example of this faith needed for the hard times.  Here it is:  "Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation."  We could say:  Though the stock market falls, though we have just been laid off, though our unemployment just ran out, though we just lost our home in foreclosure, though our retirement is not funded; Yet I will rejoice in my God, and praise Jesus for His Salvation!! This might be a modern paraphrase.  Keep the faith friend! Hope you have a wonderful Sunday!  I'm planning on it! Pastor Mike Mutchler