Lately I’m feeling it.
The world isn’t a safe place.
A fellow I work with never lets me get away with saying stuff like that.
It was hard to hear, so recalling it isn’t so easy for me, lots of resistance on my part… but he pointed out that I don’t have any control over the evil in the world, and to accept that fact. But he quickly added that I can choose to be the difference I want to see in the world. I hate and love this man LOL.
Jesus said “…in this world you will have trouble…”
In his arms I am safe. I’ve known his care and provision my whole life. My trust is in HIM alone. My heart, mind and soul is so full right now, of his assurance.
I spoke of this to my Auntie Barbara, and she told me about Habakkuk’s final verses. I turned to it as we spoke on the phone, and noticed the first verses of Habakkuk 3, is a song I play on my guitar (when alone and absolutely positive nobody can hear me) Its a Vineyard song from many years ago.
I read the whole chapter, to get the context. Its poetry to the world, but in Bible talk its prophecy. By that I mean, you have to work at understanding it. I’ll upload a page explaining how I read/study my bible, and put it here sometime soon. For now I’ll say that I just write it out in a book – pen and paper – and let the Holy Spirit do the rest. Last night I had dear friends over, and I mentioned the passage. A moment later I saw that the fellow was uncharacteristically absorbed with his phone screen… turns out he looked it up and was reading it… so I felt bold enough to read it aloud for all four of us there. The words that gave me pause were these,
verse 14: With his own spear you pierced his head
Here’s the context, verses 13-14,
You came out to deliver your people,
Habakkuk 3:14
to save your anointed one.
You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness,
you stripped him from head to foot.
With his own spear you pierced his head
when his warriors stormed out to scatter us,
gloating as though about to devour
the wretched who were in hiding.
I don’t mind consulting commentaries. But I trust in these pauses because I know it is the Holy Spirit telling me what he is commencing: “I’ll be teaching this to you in the coming days…” which at times, most times perhaps, ends up being for the rest of my life. Simply looking at Eugene Peterson’s version is a good start. But I know that God is answering my prayer, so I need to keep listening, this scripture being only a part of it. Hey, you! Your input is also a part of it! 🥰 Write me!
Walkingdownvimy@gmail.com
I drive for a living. And that leaves me, for the most part, to muse, ponder, meditate on the contents of my mind. Today’s musing took me to Habakkuk 3, and all of the above. And then to an audiobook I recently finished listening to again, Les Misérables.
Les Misérables is a giant book, written by Victor Hugo. I looked it up! It’s 545,945 words long. As an audiobook it’s 67 hrs 53 minutes long. He takes a long time to say it. Lots of details. Amazing thing is that its one of those books available at Gutenberg.org (click on that to see what I mean there) Amazing cuz its out of copyright, nobody owns it anymore. Its public domain. I opened up one of those files to see the original details and found this:
LES MISÉRABLES By Victor Hugo Translated by Isabel F. Hapgood Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.No. 13, Astor Place New York Copyright 1887
The latest movie that came out is 2012 and is 2 hours 38 minutes long.
I guess you’re a busy person, and aren’t all of us really busy? That’s why I listen to it as an audiobook, so I can do other things at the same time, like cleaning my house, or while out for a walk, or bike ride. But that gets you past the time commitment, the part that makes it so hard is the details. Victor Hugo uses the facts, true history to furnish the details. In one part he spends whole chapters describing the sewer system of Paris, and its history. He describes in detail the political angst of his time, the French Revolution, Napoléon aka The Emperor vs the Royalists. What does Les Misérables mean? The Wretched.
It’s much easier in life to escape the suffering, so listening to the book, or sitting down to read it, would be the opposite of that. It cuts in so many ways. You can’t help but see yourself within those pages. Its an exposure of all that is right and good, and all that is bad and horrible about our world. I dare not pray that God slay the wicked, for I’d be amoung them! Rather I pray Isaiah’s prayer, here’s how Eugene Peterson puts it:
“Woe is me, for I am ruined!
Isaiah 6:5
Because I am a man of unclean lips,
And I live among a people of unclean lips;
For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.”
Victor Hugo tells in gritty gory detail all about our depraved world and its victims. By God’s grace I see that I am with them. I am flesh and blood and part of that… but by his grace I’m saved.
I hear my salvation come to me. I resist the temptation to claim that I have overcome… God isn’t finished his work in me. He is sanctifying me. Heal me, Oh God!
See this theme scripture Isaiah 50:4 –
I mention it because I only wanted to say, today, that the world isn’t a safe place, but all this came after those few words… as his answer to my question. He told me,
HE is a safe place
He is my strong tower, my fortress. And when I say its mine, I mean its ours. Ours because there you are, take a hold of this truth, and apply it there to your wounded heart. If you kept reading up to now, take courage, take heart. Jesus has overcome this world. He’s understood it! He’s conquered it! He’s crushed the leader of evil! He’s pierced his head with his own spear! Another way the bible describes this comes to mind,
They triumphed over him
Revelation 12:11
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony;
they did not love their lives so much
as to shrink from death.
I hear him say to me, Take up your cross and follow me. My friend said it to me slightly different, be the difference you want to see in the world.
It’s hard to do.
The temptation is to take out this angst on those around me. My talk and actions can all be used to spread the despair and horror that lurks within ready for me to take a bite! I mean… when I partake, when I become like that which I hate… I spread that hurt around. But when I take his word in my heart, and obediently do it… healing comes to the world around me.
The World isn’t safe, but HE is.
Running Down Vimy 
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