Walking With Christ

Habakkuk 1:2  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?  Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?(ESV)

Have you ever cried out to God in frustration, wondering why He seems silent while injustice thrives?  That’s exactly where Habakkuk found himself.  His world was crumbling, his people had abandoned righteousness, and corruption was everywhere.  But when he demanded answers, God’s response left him shaken.  The desperation of the tone from Habakkuk might get lost in the poetic language that is used, but make no mistake that he was at his wits end when looking at the children of Israel.  The people had lost their way and had essentially turned into a perverted shadow of who they were intended to be.  We can’t be sure of exactly when the book was written, but we can be sure of just how bad the people had gotten.  There was rampant corruption and injustice in verse 1:4.  There was violence and oppression in verse 1:3.  Perhaps worst of all, the people had turned away from God to worship false gods, despite being warned by Jeremiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah.

Habakkuk’s frustration is almost palpable.  He begs for the loving correction that only God can bring.  God’s response was a bit of a surprise.

Habakkuk 1:5  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.(ESV)

God basically says that He has a plan that Habakkuk wouldn’t believe even if he was told.  He said that He was going to raise up the Chaldeans, we call them Babylonians, and bring the children of Israel to destruction at their hand.  It’s important to know that this book was most likely written close to the fall of the southern kingdom of Israel—Judah, Benjamin, and a remnant of Levi.  The northern tribes had all been lost to history and served as a warning to the remaining tribes.  This warning was being ignored.

What Habakkuk didn’t know was the God had already judged Israel and begun to raise up the Babylonians to take them into captivity.  The pieces of the plan for their redemption had started moving into place long before the first tears Habakkuk shed hit the floor.

Honestly, it’s almost funny that Habakkuk seems to get a bit indignant when God tells him the plan.  Truly, he was horrified.  He begged for justice, but he never expected for God to use a nation even more wicked than Judah to bring judgement.  He asks God how He can use a people so much worse than the Israelites to teach them a lesson.  What’s interesting to me is that Habakkuk is warning the people of Israel about their bad behavior and being completely ignored.  When he takes his complaint to God and asks Him to step in.  I’m pretty sure he was expecting some plagues or curses, maybe a famine or something like that.  The response that God gives obviously shakes Habakkuk to his core.  He might be safe from the destruction, but he knows what horrible things await the rest of Israel.  He can probably feel God’s wrath in a physical sense.  The true danger of this situation is not lost on him.

Ultimately, Habakkuk knows and understands that the correction might seem severe to him, but God is not intending to completely wipe out the entire nation.  He knows that he might not see the path forward, but he will still sing God’s praises for the salvation that is promised.  The correction might hurt, but it will lead to a deeper healing.  Habakkuk realized that even if everything was stripped away—food, security, stability—God was still worthy of praise.  True faith isn’t just trusting God when things make sense; it’s holding on when everything falls apart.

Habakkuk 3:17-19  (17)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, (18)yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.  (19)God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.(ESV)