LESSONS FROM HABAKKUK
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?
To be continued….