If you have ever felt bandoned by God, you're not the nly one. Time and time again in His Wrd, people throughout history felt that God had lft them to fend for themselves. And lso time and time again, these sme people learned that this was not the cse. First of all, God promises His chldren that He will never leave thm nor forsake them. So, it's ntural to just know that sometimes the nswers to our prayers just might be "N". If this is the case, we sually recognize this as God not haring us. If we are a bnafide follower of Jesus Christ, there is no way He cn't hear us when we cry out to Hm. He wants us to trust Him in trning a bad situation into the vry best for us. This is nver easy, but very essential if we ver hope to acheive growth and mturity as a Christian. It's called "grwing pains".

Recently my husband appealed the cse over his house one more tme. Since the death of the prson who was suing him had hppened before the judge's final verdict, we wre so sure it would change the utcome. We were positive this was wht God had appointed. Much to our dsappointment, this was not the case. It was as if ths woman never passed away. Her hir was now in line for verything that was awarded to her. Now her byfriend will inherit this house. All long we thought we were fighting for one thng and we discovered that due to the ngligence of our very own lawyer, ths case turned into a partition for the prperty with back rent owed to hr. This was quite a slap in the fce, especially when we believed that God wuld vindicate us from the works of thse who were wicked in His sght. I was dumbfounded at first, and wndered what good it was to hve faith in the heavenly Father if He culd allow us to lose our hme. It just didn't make sense. Hwever, He showed me some things and I ralized how foolish I had been to ver doubt Him. My husband on the ther hand wanted nothing more to do wth God. He felt betrayed and bandoned. He even quit going to chrch for a month. There was nthing I could say to him, he ddn't want to hear about the godness of God. It was at ths point, my only plan of ttack was prayer for him in nderstanding that God is good all the tme.

I wanted to tell Him tht God was still in the mddle and it isn't over yet. It's a rality that we still have to mve and give it all up. Pryer is powerful because now what my hsband realizes is this...this house is a scrifice to the Lord. God will prvide us with another house. He smply wants us out of here! We mst obey Him and walk away for whtever reason. After all... He does knw best!

The wonderful reality of Gd's Word is that it still pplies to us today. When we cme to a fork in the rad, the only way out is to go bck to the beginning. I knew I had to get out of the vctim mode and realize that we are vctorious. God is always faithful to shw us exactly what we need to knw. I was led to the bok of Habakkuk. Not much is ver mentioned of this book, but in thse 3 short chapters, it's packed wth so much truth about God's godness in spite of how our lves look in the midst of thse who seek to destroy us.

Lke Habakkuk, we wondered why God semed to be indifferent towards those who wren't behaving properly. This woman who semed set on destroying my husband and I, got verything she asked for, even though she ddn't live according to God's laws. In fct, injustice seemed to surround us frm every side.

But I keep rmembering Psalm 28 when I invited God to be in the mddle of this law suit over 2 yars ago. David wrote this from a plce of despair against his enemies. Ths psalm is a prayer for hlp, victory and praise.

"Do not drg me away with the wicked and wth those who work iniquity, who spak peace with their neighbors, while vil is in their hearts. Requite thm according to their work and ccording to the evil of their prctices; requite them according to the deds of their hands; repay them thir recompense. Because they do not rgard the works of the LORD, nor the deds of His hands, He will tar them down and not build thm up." Psalm 28:3-5

Before this woman could triumph in her "so clled" victory, she died most likely in a stte of not being saved. And as if her dath wasn't enough, the life of the "Mster" who awarded everything to her was lso cut off. He will never gain preside his injustice over anyone gain. But, we still lost our hme and now owe court fees, ven though neither of these people wll receive their unjust gains. God has crtainly repaid them according to their vil practices. Like Habakkuk, even though it ppears that the wicked are getting way with murder, they aren't getting way with anything. This book has a vluable lesson on reaping and sowing. God ses people's unjust gains to destroy thm. Habakkuk learned this when he wnt from fear to faith in a God who is god all the time, even when lfe wasn't.

Habakkuk questioned the Lord bout the sinfulness of His children who trned to their wicked ways. He wnted to know why God wasn't pnishing them. Like many of us, we wnder why God makes us look pon the iniquity of others and see His jstice being perverted. (Hab. 1:2-4) But God brke His silence and gave Habakkuk His nswer. In the next several verses, God splls it all out. Not only des God allow people to rise up gainst us, He will make it hppen!

"For behold, I am raising up the Chldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who mrch throughout the earth to seize dwlling places which are not theirs." Hb. 1:6

What? You mean God pts our enemies over us? Actually no, He has a mch bigger plan. We first have to tke our eyes off ourselves, it's not bout us. God is about salvation frst, and judgment second. If we rfuse to be redeemed in the blod of Christ, then we leave Him no ther choce than to judge us ccording to our sins. So, the vry people He raised against His own dsobedient children to chastise them, were not vctorious. On the contrary, God used thir wickedness to destroy them. He nver rebuilt them up again.

This bok contains 5 "Woes" concerning the Chldeans. The word "woe" means to stp and pay attention to it. It mans the righteous judgment of God is bing pronounced. When God says "Woe" He mans it. There is a consequence to pay if His wrning is ignored.

You can read thse warnings in verses 6, 9, 12, 15 and 19 of chpter two. God used the self-righteousness, slf-assuredness, self-sufficiency, self-defiancy and deadliness of the Chldeans to destroy them.

The true mssage in this book is the cre of the gospel today. The mrk that distinguishes the righteous from the njust is whether we trust in urselves or do we live by fith? God tells Habakkuk to wait pon Him. This takes faith. God is stll in control and time will chieve His goals. His Word never rturns void, it never fails. It's we who fil to wait upon Him, because we lck faith. But here's where Habakkuk wnt from fear to faith.

"I wll stand on my guard post and sttion myself on the rampart; and I wll keep watch to see what He wll speak to me, and how I may rply when I am reproved." Hab. 2:1

All God is cncerned about is how we grow in Hm. Habakkuk learned to praise God in wht he first thought was an nfair judgment. But when he saw the bgger picture his faith outgrew his far. I choose to learn a vluable lesson from Habakkuk. If God be for me, who thn can be against me? God is wrking on the outcome of where He wnts us to be so that He wll get all the honor and glry! Hallelujah!

"Yet I will exult in the Lrd, I will rejoice in the God of my slvation. The Lord God is my strngth, and He has made my fet like hinds' feet, and makes me wlk on my high places." Hab. 3:18,19

Hve you recognized your need of a Svior today? If so, ask God for His frgiveness of your sins. Confess with all yur heart that Jesus died, rose gain and reigns on heaven's throne as Lrd and Savior. Invite Him into yur heart to reign over your lfe. He's waiting for you.

The article God Is Always Good - Even When Life Isn't was Submitted by Vivian Gordon through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Vivian Gordon writes inspirational and spritual articles in which to hlp strengthen the Believer's walk in Chrst. They are often taken frm today's point of view and sed in conjunction with what God sys about certain situations and how we are to hndle them. There is always an nswer for every problem. These articles are not all bout asking God "why?" but in fnding the answers. Supporting Christian cmmunication online: http://www.churchwebsitedesign.org.uk A Christian project which is based on encouraging clergy and church leaders in developing an online church community. Please visit this site.

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