Readings for today: Habakkuk 1-3
It’s the heart cry of God’s people. Ever since the Fall of Adam and Eve, we’ve been crying out to God. How long will you wait? How long will you tarry? How long until sin and evil and death are finally and completely destroyed? We look around us and we see the wicked prosper. We see evil flourish. We see those who commit violence and injustice and oppression get ahead. We don’t understand. Why do bad things happen to good people? How can a good God allow such evil and suffering? Why doesn’t God do something about all that is wrong in the world?
The thing I love most about the Bible is it doesn’t shy away from these hard, honest questions. The prophet Habakkuk asks some of these same questions in our passage today. “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:2-4) Remember, Habakkuk is prophesying sometime after the death of Josiah. He has witnessed one of the most righteous kings in Israel’s history die at the hands of a pagan king. He can’t wrap his mind around how God could ever allow such a thing. Josiah did everything God asked. Josiah was righteous and good and noble and true. His death was the final blow for God’s people. The wages of sin are now beginning to be paid. Destruction and violence and strife and contention are all on the rise while God seems to stand idly by. The Law is paralyzed. It cannot save. Justice is stymied. It never goes forth. The wicked surround the righteous. There can be no hope.
How does God respond? He’s honest with His beloved prophet. “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.” (Habakkuk 1:5-7) God is using the Babylonians to accomplish His divine purposes. He raises them up in order to bring the nations low. Like the Assyrians before them, they will become the rod of God’s righteous judgment on His people. Habakkuk cannot believe what he hears. “Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?…Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?” (Habakkuk 1:12-13, 17) Habakkuk is full of fear for his people. He can see how merciless the Babylonian horde will be. The violence will not stop. The killing will not end. The suffering will be overwhelming.
Once again, the Lord answers. “And the Lord answered me: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith…For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea…But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.” (Habakkuk 2:2-4, 14, 20) God does not count time as we do. His vision is pure. His timing is perfect. He is on the move. If His salvation seems slow, we are to wait. If His deliverance seems delayed, we are to have faith. Indeed, the righteous shall live by faith. Just as Abraham waited for the fulfillment of God’s promise so must we and the good news is that God meets us in the waiting. He speaks to us in the waiting. He ministers to us in the waiting if we will but turn to Him. What is God waiting for, you might ask? He is waiting for His purpose to be fulfilled. And what is His purpose? To fill the earth with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. To call the earth to silence and awe and reverence and worship before Him as He indwells His holy Temple.
Habakkuk hears God’s heart in these words and his despair turns to faith. “O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy…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.” (Habakkuk 3:2, 17-19) Habakkuk walks by faith not by sight. He may not live to see the deliverance of the Lord but he believes it. Trusts it. Rejoices in it. This is our call as well. No matter where you may find yourself in life. No matter the challenges you may face. No matter the hardship you may endure. God is already on His way to save. Already on His way to deliver. Already on His way to lift you out of the pit and miry clay and give you a new song to sing. Trust Him! Believe Him! Have faith in Him! Rejoice in your coming salvation!
Readings for tomorrow: Joel 1-3