Daily Devotional

A couple of decades back I prepared a surprise for Lynn. A work she would not have believed if told. In cooperation with my brother Mark from Pleasanton I bought a newer car for her, on the sly, as a surprise.

A week or so later Lynn and I went to Los Banos to celebrate her birthday over a lunch at Espana’s, with Mark and his wife, Irene. We shared lunch. Lynn read her cards, she opened her gifts. The last one was my gift to her. She opened it and saw an old towel. She said with some consternation, “You gave me an old towel for my birthday!?”

I patiently encouraged her to look a little further, and soon she found car keys attached to the towel. She was confused, so I asked her to come outside and see her gift. When we got out to the parking lot, she saw a car with a massive bow and ribbon, as if wrapped around a large shoe box! She could not believe a car was given to her for her birthday! She was overjoyed. It is family lore till now!

The prophet Habakkuk asked the Lord why things persisted in being so wicked and evil in his land of Judah. He said, “How long must I wait for the answer to my cries?” And then the answer of the Lord came to him.

“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.”
Habakkuk 1:5 (RSV)

God had a plan for Judah. He asked Habakkuk to look among the nations, see, wonder and be astounded! God had already planned for the Chaldeans to come and discipline and correct Judah. As I look at our nation and even the world, my heart feels the same as Habakkuk’s did. How much longer must we watch all the decline, disfunction and destruction? How much more foolishness, arrogance and insanity?

But when I look, I do not see God’s view. I do not look in a kind of wonder or awe. I am not astounded. I do not see the work He is doing in our days. I see a hopeless darkness overtaking our nation and the world. But God is doing a work in our days. We would not believe it if He told us. We must ask, and wait for and look for His answer.

In a smaller scope, God is doing a work in the days that are before Lynn and me. I am convinced we have entered into a new era in our lives, yet to be defined. I see only the shadows of it. God is doing a work in your day, too, in addition to the big picture of the nation and the world. If you could see it, you might not believe it if told. It might be some kind of discipline and correction like He was doing in Judah. But it also might be a blessed surprise of love and provision, like Lynn discovered in Espana’s parking lot.

But whatever lies ahead for you, ask God to open your eyes to see what He is doing. Virtually everyday now I ask the Lord to let me see as He sees on my day ahead. Let me wonder. Let me be astounded. Whether that is a whole world view, or just what is going on in a more personal way. He is always up to something eternal and filled with awe.

He would delight to reveal His plans to you! That you might see and wonder at the picture ahead for you. To be astounded at what He is doing in your heart, your marriage and family, in your work place and on your block! We cannot function effectively in Christ with anything less. Spirit revelation is required.

Go to Him, and fear not. Either trial or blessing may await you. But the Lord yearns for you to seek Him, and to cooperate in the Spirit with what He is about. God is good and loves you! One day you will rejoice in everything He has done throughout your life.

Today see. Today wonder. Today be astounded. Let Him take you to higher ground.

Read: The book of Habakkuk, Isaiah 43:1–7
Sing: Higher Ground, by Johnson Oatman, Jr.

Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.