Habakkuk 3:17-19    Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

If you are struggling with all of the closures and restrictions of the coronavirus, and having difficulty finding things that you need in stores near you, just remember that Habakkuk was in the middle of a deadly drought.  He had an even more difficult time finding his daily needs than we do.

We need to learn to pray like Habakkuk:  ​Though we are confined to our homes, though there is no toilet paper on the shelves, & there is fear all around us, yet we will rejoice in the Lord; we will take joy in the God of our salvation.  God, you are our strength.  You lift us up, raising us above our circumstances.  Let us live in Your hope continually.  May we praise You yet more and more.  Amen!

Ephesians 4:32   Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

How did God in Christ forgive you?  Jesus gave His life because of His love for you.  How will you love others?  Our forgiveness for them comes out of the richness of Christ's forgiveness for us.  That is why we can forgive one another as Christ forgave us.

James 4:6,10   But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”   Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

The reason the Rich Young Man couldn't give up his possessions to follow Jesus was because he felt sufficient in his wealth.  He trusted his money and his stuff too much to give them up.  He relied on himself, and he couldn't bring himself to rely on Jesus only.  If he had only humbled himself to the point of giving up what he thought he had, Jesus would have exalted him.  He couldn't see the fact that what he had would be gone when his life was gone, but what Jesus would give him would last forever.

How about you?  Are you trusting yourself, or are you trusting Jesus.  When you die, all your stuff stays here.  But when you follow Jesus, you gain treasure in heaven forever.

Matthew 6:19-21      Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

​Where is your heart?

Psalm 95:6-8a   Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord, our Maker!  For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.  Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts…

Do you have to go to church to worship God?  You can worship God anytime, anywhere.  Even right now, in whatever you are doing.  There is no need to close your eyes (especially if you are driving - but then what would you be doing reading this?) and it is not necessary to kneel.  But there are times when you can.  Worship can take many forms.  The important thing is knowing that your heart is right before God.  Give Him honor and reverence, knowing that He is the One who gives you life, now and forever.

How do you worship God?

Luke 11:9-13   And I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will instead of a fish give him a serpent; 12 or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

How much more!  How much more is God than even the best of men?  The literal verse 9 says, "Keep asking, keep seeking, keep knocking".  Never stop seeking God, never stop spending time communing with Him.  How much more of Him do you want in your life?  Tell Him.  Then keep on spending time with Him, in His Word and in prayer.  Focus your life on Jesus and watch Him change you from the inside out.

1 John 5:3   For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.

We tend to separate love from commandments.  We don't see rules being a key to love.  But true love is in the context of God's law.  It is only when we trust and follow Him that we discover love.  But His commands are not a burden.  He loves us more than we could know.  In fact, the only way we can love Him or anyone is because He first loved us.

Psalm 27:4   One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after:  that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple.

In the movie City Slickers, a character named Curly said that everyone is seeking after one thing.  When asked what that one thing was, he said that you have to find it for yourself.

What is your "one thing"?  David's one thing was to live in God's presence always.  To never leave the One who has promised to never leave or forsake you.  Jesus said that we are to abide in Him as a branch abides in a vine, staying attached, drawing life from Him.

And that's the one thing worth living and dying for.

Hebrews 3:13-14   But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

We share in Christ together as we come together in His name.  It is critical that we spend this time together in order to encourage each other, challenge each other and draw each other closer to Christ.  That is why Hebrews 10:24-25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

2 Corinthians 14-16   But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

Whether you are following Christ or not, there is an aroma that you leave with people.  I don't mean perfume, cologne, sweat or body odor.  Are you so in love with Jesus that when you walk into a room, people sense Jesus in you?  That is the way to draw people to life in Him.  Think about it.