Kevin Feathers, Apple Pie, and Lessons from an Old Prophet

For the past week, I have been laying low, trying to avoid exposing my immune-deficient body to any unnecessary risks. Now, I am not extremely extroverted, but I have had a difficult time being confined to the home.

When we used to take long car trips with small children - fourteen to eighteen hour drives to see family - we used to joke about having kevin feathers the last few hours of the trip. I'm not sure whch of our children coined the phrase for cabin fever. But you know the feeling, the feeling that you cannot spend another minute in the car. The feeling that you have to get out of the house. The feeling that you have to find a way to crawl out of your own skin.

I had a bad case of kevin feathers this week. I was getting irritable (ask my wife!). I had to get out of the house - so we did. We ventured out to have lunch with some friends. And on the way home, we stopped by the house of another couple we had not seen in a while. Here, we happened upon a fresh-baked apple pie. What timing!

Note: Fresh baked apple pie at the home of friends is a great cure for kevin feathers!

Moments like this are a nice, temporary diversion from the difficulties we are facing. But the difficulties are still present and there are still lessons to be learned . . .

In the midst of my present difficulty, God is present, working out His sovereign plan in my life and the lives of those around me.

I revisited an old prophet this week:

Habakkuk cried out to God as he observed what was going on around him – violence, injustice, wickedness. He asked God why He wasn’t doing anything about it. God answered him and told him to look around. He was doing something – something so amazing that Habakkuk would not believe it! God was already at work in the circumstances.

Then God told Habakkuk His plan to use the wicked Babylonians to chastise Israel. This was not the answer that Habakkuk was expecting! But Habakkuk praised God. Habakkuk thought about God. He reflected upon His character. He looked past the circumstances to see the God who was in control of the circumstances.

God told Habakkuk that the righteous will live by his faith (2:4). God wanted Habakkuk to live by his faith.

Living by faith means looking past our circumstances and seeing God who as at work in our circumstances.

In the end, Habakkuk determined to praise God because he knew that the Lord was his strength (3:17-19).

Like Habakkuk, when we are afflicted, we can choose to acknowledge God’s sovereignty and rejoice in our salvation, knowing that God is our strength.

Grace and peace to you all.