Vision and Decision

Vision and Decision

“And Jehovah answered me and said,
Write the vision and engrave it on the tablets,
that he who reads it may run…”
Habakkuk 2:2

Our vision of God, our understanding of His purposes, and most of all His person determines our response and the power of faith moving in our lives.

Habakkuk lived in a time comparable to ours.

“Why do You make me see evil, and You look upon toil? For destruction and violence are before me, and there is strife, and contention rises up. On account of this, the law has become feeble, and justice does not go forth with continuity. For the wicked surrounds the righteous, so justice goes forth, being perverted.”
Habakkuk 1:3-4

There was an unraveling of society. Mounting contention filled the land and there was a crippling of justice as the nation slid into the darkness of its own corruption.

Amid this growing travesty God speaks:

“Write the vision and engrave it on the tablets,
that he who reads it may run…”

The vision is spiritual. The vision breathes life and purpose into a day in which lawlessness is rising, righteousness is mocked, and the wicked multiply in number and power.

“Write the vision”

Declare the vision of God’s rule and His coming Kingdom. Declare it to one and all. Habakkuk was instructed to engrave it upon stone tablets so that its decree would stand. To what end? Those who read it would rise and run the race set before them, undaunted by the darkness. Run the race with endurance because of what they have seen.

The vision will purify those who run as a flowing river is purified by its flow. Without a vision, our responses will be carnal ones. Our responses in this day will reveal the sphere in which we live. Do we look to carnal means to fight the corruption of our day or do we run to safety in the name of the Lord, our strong tower of faith?

“The name of the LORD is a strong tower;
the righteous man runs into it and is safe”
Proverbs 18:10

We must forsake the pollution of a false gospel; a gospel that causes His own to slumber and to be at ease, to remain content in the mixture of carnality and faith. The time of sifting is upon us and our vision of God will be tested to the very limits of our faith. We need to see just as Stephen, though being stoned, beheld HIM standing on the right hand of God clothed in glory and immortality! Paul was beheaded, and Peter was crucified. Thousands upon thousands were murdered for their faith in the Colosseum just for the entertainment and sport of the wicked.

May we be of the same faith. May we interact with one another to be prepared for the storm which is about to break. May we be free from the angst of placing our hope in elections, in the strength of man, and the growing animosity that will surely lead to civil war and unmitigated violence.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? Even as it has been written, “For Your sake we are killed all the day; we are counted as sheep of slaughter.” But in all these things we more than conquer through Him loving us.”
Romans 8:35-37 (ESV)

Only those who have seen the heavenly vision will be able to run the race, endure the shame and the humiliation, and conquer all “through Him loving us”! I tremble at the things that lie before us but recognize it is only faith (the living faith that ever leads His own to victory) that will make us stand impervious, unmoved, and triumphant to the end.

“Therefore take up the whole armor of God,
that you may be able to withstand in the evil day,
and having done all, to stand firm”
Ephesians 6:13

It is in our “taking up the whole armor of God” that we will be able to withstand this evil day and in our “having done all” to remain standing.

“Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision;
for the day of Jehovah is near
in the valley of decision!”
Joel 3:14

The valley of decision is now. Many are deciding how far they will follow the Lamb. How true will we be in a day that may cost us our lives? Are we deceived like the unconverted Peter who declared his allegiance only to discover his unpreparedness? Have we allowed Him to pierce our self-confidence so that in humility we may discover His mercy to stand in the hour of testing?

“And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb,
and by the word of their testimony;
and they loved not their lives unto the death”
Revelation 12:11

Will we seek to overcome by the carnal weapons of self or will we find our victory in the blood of the Lamb?

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“Whoever be the instruments of any good to us, of whatever sort, we must look above them, and eye the hand and counsel of God in it, which is the first spring, and be duly thankful to God for it. And whatever evil of crosses or afflictions befalls us, we must look above the instruments of it to God.”
– Thomas Boston

“That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you…”

Brian Troxel