Habakkuk 1:12, 2:4, Psalm 9:8-13, Matthew 17:14-20
My Beloved, how often in our own lifetime we have seen the innocent suffer, the faithful oppressed, the people You call Your own are persecuted and horrifying violence is meted out to them and all the while it seems that You my God are silent. You do not intervene on behalf of Your own and they lose everything and more often than not their lives as well. When the foot of one oppressor has been lifted another heaver one is placed on their necks.
Just as the prophet Habakkuk asked why? so do we Lord. Why must those who are called by Your Name be specially targeted for persecution so terrible that one wonders if their faith will stand the test.
We receive Your response in verse 4 " I don’t look with favor on the one who
gives way; the upright, on the other hand,
will live by his faithfulness.”
Only through suffering can faith be tested like gold and silver in the furnace. The weak give way but the upright who remain faithful will know peace even in the face of unimaginable and incomprehensible evil for they Know You, trust You and love You and when their journey here ends they will inherit the Kingdom and union with You forever.
Verse 11
Those who cherish your name, O Lord, can rely on you,
for you have never forsaken those who look to you.
Verse 13
For he who avenges blood remembers, he does not ignore
the cry of the lowly.
We can trust You my Beloved always.
Matthew 17:14-20
My Beloved, the trouble with the majority of us who call ourselves Your disciples do not possess faith the size of a mustard seed. If we did, then we would be using that faith which is Your gift to us at our baptism and renewed at every worthy reception of the Sacraments, we too would performing signs and wonders in Your Name and many would come to believe in You.
Lord, increase my faith by testing it a little each not so much that I will lose heart but enough so it will grow greater and stronger as I experience Your faithfulness to Your Word.
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