As
a young student at Bible College, perhaps one of the most significant lessons I
learned then, and am still learning today, comes from a short prophetic book in
the Old Testament, the prophecy of Habakkuk.
There
are many parallels between Habakkuk’s times and our own. Society in his day was
out of control. Despite God’s covenant with Israel, choosing them above all the
nations to be His own people, they were no different from their wicked,
idolatrous neighbours.
They
despised God’s instructions on how to live in harmony with one another and with
their neighbours. Instead, crime was rife, law and order had collapsed, the
rich oppressed the poor, and the justice system had failed to stop the rot.
Habakkuk
was desperate. The situation was intolerable. It seemed to him that God was
either deaf to his cries or powerless to do anything to intervene. He was
sitting on His hands, perhaps even indifferent to the mess His own people were
in.
When
we read the opening verses of Habakkuk’s prophecy, we could be reading today’s
newspapers.
“How
long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is
everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil
deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and
violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has
become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far
outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”
Habakkuk
1:2-4 NLT
How
often do God’s people cry out to the Lord to intervene in a situation like
Habakkuk’s, but God is seemingly doing nothing! All we see is that sin is
escalating everywhere in the world, and not only in our own country. The whole
world has gone crazy!
(Despite
what is happening around us now, and the apostle Paul’s warning of a state of
meltdown in society that will characterise the end times, there are many
so-called “prophets” who happily and confidently predict a great and
worldwide revival before Jesus comes. Who is telling the truth? Jesus Himself
said that the love of most will grow cold).
God’s
response to the prophet’s complaint was both startling and frightening. “I
am doing something that, if I told you what it is, you would not believe me. I
am raising up the Babylonians.”
The
threat of Babylonian invasion may have seemed remote to Habakkuk at that time,
but God alerted him to the reality that the Babylonians were coming, and they
would inflict great suffering on God’s people.
Perhaps
what troubled Habakkuk the most was that God claimed responsibility for raising
them up and letting them loose on His own people.
How
could God use such a vicious and cruel nation to punish His own people who
were, to the prophet, “more righteous” than the Babylonians? Doesn’t
God hate sin? Wasn’t He too pure to condone evil? Why would He use Babylon’s
wickedness to punish His own people?
Habakkuk
was determined to get answers from God, so he declared his intention to wait
until God answered him (most probably to his own satisfaction, since God’s
response up to this point provoked more questions than provided answers).
“I
will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to
see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.”
Habakkuk
2:1 NLT
Eventually,
God answered Him, but again, not in the way the prophet expected. Yes, the
Babylonian army would invade Judah. Yes, they would destroy Jerusalem and take
God’s people into captivity. Yes, God’s people would suffer at the hands of the
invaders but….
God’s
focus is on those who remain faithful to Him throughout all the times of
hardship.
“Look
at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the
righteous will live by their faithfulness to God… “
Habakkuk
2:4 NLT
God
is never indifferent to the suffering that ungodly people inflict on those who
are faithful to Him. His cup of wrath guarantees that the wicked, be they
individual or nations, will be made to drink that cup to its dregs.
Habakkuk
finally got the picture. God uses situations that force people to make choices
that separate the godly from the ungodly. He never imposes change on people. He
uses circumstances and situation to drive them into a corner so that they must
choose for good or evil. (Hebrews 12)
Change
comes from within, and change happens when we recognise the evil of our ways
and return to the standards of God’s word.
And
so, when Habakkuk finally understood how God works, though His way might be
painful and difficult through hardship and suffering, his faith in God became
stronger and more resilient. Justice would be served on those who inflict
hardship on others. The prophet rejoiced in God’s grace to endure when
everything around him failed and fell apart.
“Though
the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the
olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in
the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be
joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet
like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights.”
Habakkuk
3:17-19 NIV
How, then, can we understand and participate with God in prayer in what He is doing in our world today, as Habakkuk did in his day?
As
a young student at Bible College, perhaps one of the most significant lessons I
learned then, and am still learning today, comes from a short prophetic book in
the Old Testament, the prophecy of Habakkuk.
There
are many parallels between Habakkuk’s times and our own. Society in his day was
out of control. Despite God’s covenant with Israel, choosing them above all the
nations to be His own people, they were no different from their wicked,
idolatrous neighbours.
They
despised God’s instructions on how to live in harmony with one another and with
their neighbours. Instead, crime was rife, law and order had collapsed, the
rich oppressed the poor, and the justice system had failed to stop the rot.
Habakkuk
was desperate. The situation was intolerable. It seemed to him that God was
either deaf to his cries or powerless to do anything to intervene. He was
sitting on His hands, perhaps even indifferent to the mess His own people were
in.
When
we read the opening verses of Habakkuk’s prophecy, we could be reading today’s
newspapers.
“How
long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is
everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil
deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and
violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has
become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far
outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”
Habakkuk
1:2-4 NLT
How
often do God’s people cry out to the Lord to intervene in a situation like
Habakkuk’s, but God is seemingly doing nothing! All we see is that sin is
escalating everywhere in the world, and not only in our own country. The whole
world has gone crazy!
(Despite
what is happening around us now, and the apostle Paul’s warning of a state of
meltdown in society that will characterise the end times, there are many
so-called “prophets” who happily and confidently predict a great and
worldwide revival before Jesus comes. Who is telling the truth? Jesus Himself
said that the love of most will grow cold).
God’s
response to the prophet’s complaint was both startling and frightening. “I
am doing something that, if I told you what it is, you would not believe me. I
am raising up the Babylonians.”
The
threat of Babylonian invasion may have seemed remote to Habakkuk at that time,
but God alerted him to the reality that the Babylonians were coming, and they
would inflict great suffering on God’s people.
Perhaps
what troubled Habakkuk the most was that God claimed responsibility for raising
them up and letting them loose on His own people.
How
could God use such a vicious and cruel nation to punish His own people who
were, to the prophet, “more righteous” than the Babylonians? Doesn’t
God hate sin? Wasn’t He too pure to condone evil? Why would He use Babylon’s
wickedness to punish His own people?
Habakkuk
was determined to get answers from God, so he declared his intention to wait
until God answered him (most probably to his own satisfaction, since God’s
response up to this point provoked more questions than provided answers).
“I
will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard post. There I will wait to
see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.”
Habakkuk
2:1 NLT
Eventually,
God answered Him, but again, not in the way the prophet expected. Yes, the
Babylonian army would invade Judah. Yes, they would destroy Jerusalem and take
God’s people into captivity. Yes, God’s people would suffer at the hands of the
invaders but….
God’s
focus is on those who remain faithful to Him throughout all the times of
hardship.
“Look
at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the
righteous will live by their faithfulness to God… “
Habakkuk
2:4 NLT
God
is never indifferent to the suffering that ungodly people inflict on those who
are faithful to Him. His cup of wrath guarantees that the wicked, be they
individual or nations, will be made to drink that cup to its dregs.
Habakkuk
finally got the picture. God uses situations that force people to make choices
that separate the godly from the ungodly. He never imposes change on people. He
uses circumstances and situation to drive them into a corner so that they must
choose for good or evil. (Hebrews 12)
Change
comes from within, and change happens when we recognise the evil of our ways
and return to the standards of God’s word.
And
so, when Habakkuk finally understood how God works, though His way might be
painful and difficult through hardship and suffering, his faith in God became
stronger and more resilient. Justice would be served on those who inflict
hardship on others. The prophet rejoiced in God’s grace to endure when
everything around him failed and fell apart.
“Though
the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the
olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in
the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be
joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet
like the feet of a deer; he enables me to tread on the heights.”
Habakkuk
3:17-19 NIV
How,
then, can we understand and participate with God in prayer in what He is doing
in our world today, as Habakkuk did in his day?
Let
me tell you what the Holy Spirit has revealed to me through His Word…
Some
time ago I asked the Lord why He has not stopped the war in Ukraine, since many
people around the world are praying. His response surprised me as much as His
reply to Habakkuk’s question stunned him.
He
took me to a verse in Genesis 15.
“In
the fourth generation, your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the
Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”
Genesis
15:16 NIV
God
told Abraham that his descendants would be enslaved in a foreign land for 400
years. After that, they would return to the Promised Land (and conquer it –
understood) because God was giving the Amorites time to repent or to fill up
His cup of wrath against them.
In
a process of unfolding revelation, He told me that Russia’s cup of wrath is not
yet full. He took me to the prophecy of Habakkuk and showed me the parallels
between the prophet’s dilemma and the dilemma of the church in our day.
South
Africa is not a nation in covenant with God but the church in South Africa, as
part of His church through the ages, is a covenant “nation”
spiritually.
“But
you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special
possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of
darkness into his wonderful light.”
1
Peter 2:9 NIV
The
church is God’s representative to the world in the New Covenant era as Israel
was to the surrounding nations in their day. God’s attention is always on His
covenant people since they are part of His plan for showing the world who
He is.
“You
show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not
with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on
tablets of human hearts.”
2
Corinthians 3:3 NIV
When
the church fails to live as citizens of God’s kingdom in this evil world, the
Lord disciplines and trains us through hardship and suffering so that we might
be a holy people, set apart for God. As, with Israel, He uses circumstances…
including people and nations, to do His work of sanctifying us for His glory.
“Moreover,
we have all had human fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them for it.
How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They
disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us
for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems
pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of
righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”
Hebrews
12:9-11 NIV
A
short while after this encounter with Scripture, I had a mental picture, out of
the blue, of a huge ship ploughing through stormy seas, then slowing down and
turning around. The words came to me, “The juggernaut is turning around.”
Juggernaut? I looked up the meaning of juggernaut – an unstoppable force.
I
had no clue what this picture meant until I was riveted by a statement in a
weekly newspaper called “The Daily Friend” which I receive by email.
The articles are written by knowledgeable people who view current affairs with
insight and discernment.
The
article I was reading examined the reason for President Ramaphosa’s agreement
with Minister Gwede Mantashe that an “Eskom 2” was a “good
idea” and should be built to stimulate competition with Eskom1 as one
option to deal with the energy crisis in South Africa.
What
was underlying this ridiculous proposal to solve the problem of an already
failing state enterprise? The writer’s conclusion, (that Gwede Mantashe is a
“died-in-the-wool” communist whose sole purpose is to turn South
Africa into a socialist state, to which President Ramaphosa agreed at this
point), set alarm bells ringing.
This
was not the president merely giving nodding approval to the suggestion,
according to the writer, but a deep-seated conviction that this is the way to
go for this country, underpinned by the SACP’s partnership with the ANC in
government.
Imagine
my surprise when I read this statement near the conclusion of this article…
“The
ANC, which has always been under the tutelage of the SACP, is intent on turning
the ship of state around (!!!!!!) and leaving this embarrassing period of state
failure behind them….”
Shortly
after reading this, I learned that South Africa is to become the headquarters
of the news channel, “Russia Today” after other countries had refused
them.
With
South Africa’s sympathetic attitude and close links with Russia, is there
every possibility that the “ship of state” is intent on leading South
Africa towards becoming a socialist state? We have only to examine the new
policies the government is proposing (e.g., EWC, NHI, BIG, etc.), and new
legislation being inflicted on the people in South Africa to recognise that the
ANC is moving us ever closer to absolute control over our nation.
How
does this tie in with Habakkuk’s interaction with God?
God
claimed responsibility for raising up the Babylonians. His purpose was to
punish His people for their disobedience to His covenant, and to bring them
back, through their suffering, to faith in Him.
He
also had to deal with Babylon. Their wickedness, cruelty, and oppression of
God’s people may have been the final drops in God’s cup of wrath which they
would drink when the Medes and Persians overthrew Babylon in one night (see
Dani 5).
I
present my conclusions in the form of questions since I have no right to put
words in God’s mouth or claim to speak for God. I can only conclude, on the
strength and authority of God’s Word, that He might be using similar tactics as
He did in Habakkuk’s day to bring His church back to Himself or, at least, to
refine the remnant of His faithful ones who will survive the troubled times we
are living in.
Since
God is sovereign in all human affairs, can it be that He has raised up the ANC
to purify His church and restore the simplicity of faith in and obedience to
Jesus as Lord?
What
if the ‘ship of state’ is turning us back to communism – the scourge that
Russia let loose on the world – with its avowed intent to rid the world of
faith in God and in Jesus as Lord, and to control the world and its wealth by
oppressing the poor. Is that not Putin’s intention – to restore Russia’s rule
over its once vast empire by bringing its former member-states to their knees?
Russian
and Chinese communism’s attempt to destroy the church failed. It produced,
instead, a purer and more powerful witness to Jesus. Perhaps this shaking may
just be what the church in South Africa needs to sift out the counterfeit
church and refine the bride in preparation for the Bridegroom’s return.
I
claim no prophetic gift or office. I ask only that you consider what I have
offered you and heed the message that faithfulness to Jesus and His ‘law’ of
faith in Him and love for one another (1 John 3:23) is our only hope of
survival despite all attempts to nullify our faith and drive us to deny our
allegiance to Jesus as Lord.
How
did Habakkuk respond to God’s startling and terrifying revelation of His ways?
Did
he “pray against” the invasion by the Babylonians? Did he “take
authority” over the devil and his attack on God’s people? Did he
“identify” and “pull down” altars and strongholds? Did he
organise “prayer walks” and mass prayer meetings to deal with the
situation he was enduring?
“No!”
to these reactions which are so often typical of the current “prayer”
movements.
Habakkuk
reflected on the coming destruction of those who harmed God’s people. He
remembered God’s great deliverance of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. He
remembered how God’s power over nature destroyed the enemy and opened the way
for His people to escape. If God did that for His people, then He could do it
again. His prayer, in response to all that God had revealed to him, was simple.
“I
have heard all about you, Lord. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. In
this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by. And in
your anger, remember your mercy.”
Habakkuk
3:2 NLT
Armed
with a renewed confidence in the sovereignty, power, and wisdom of God, Habakkuk
ends his encounter with the Lord in a song expressing his profound faith in God
despite absolute disaster. The Babylonian army may come and destroy everything
but… accompanied by wild music and dizzy dancing, the prophet expresses his
confidence in God’s grace to see him through the test.
“The
Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to
tread upon the heights.” (For the choir director: This prayer is to be
accompanied by stringed instruments).
Habakkuk
3:19 NLT
Is
it possible, then, that God’s message to Habakkuk is His message to us today?
It is not our mandate or role to try to direct the political affairs of state
by interference or prayer. Our role as members of Jesus’s church is to be
faithful to Him, to live in obedience to His word and the leading of His
Spirit, and to trust Him that He is working, in all things, for our good, to
conform us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:28-29).
All
the signs of South Africa becoming a socialist state under the present
government are there. Communism’s ultimate goal, as demonstrated in the history
of Chinese and Russian communism, is to destroy the church and annihilate God’s
people.
Unless
God rescues us from the present regime with its hidden and not-so-hidden agendas,
the church in South Africa will be shaken as never before. Whether we stand or
not will depend on our commitment to be faithful to Jesus, no matter what.
Communism
or not, God is sovereign. He will use whatever is necessary to transform us
into true children of God. His perfect family is His goal.