Hi guys, thank for joining me.
This will be a bi-weekly series on Habakkuk (The alternate weeks will continue to build on Jeremiah) — Each week you will get:
1. A song/Poem
2. The story
3. Some discussion questions and of course the link to the Scriptures that inspired it all.
Last week’s Catch up
We left last weeks story (click here) with Habakkuk pouring out his complaint to God. I’m sure that you’ve complained, haven’t you? Injustice, red tape, inflation, exploitation of power, rich getting richer and poor getting poorer, the list goes on. Not fair! Not fair! The good thing about Habakkuk is he complained not to people, but to the Lord, and then even better… he waited for the Lord’s reply. And this is where part 2 begins:
Habakkuk Part 2 of 3: Wrestling with God
How could you let all this happen God? It is not right! Aren’t you going to do something about it?
As his accusation rose to God, lacking all the polite formality of prayer as we know it: just raw honesty.
God answered. But not in the way Habakkuk hoped.
“Look among the nations and be utterly amazed. For I am doing something in your days you would not believe even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people … “
What! It was like a slap in the face: Babylon? The terror of the world? The nation that crushed everything in its path and worshiped false gods, even the moon and the stars? God, are you saying you will use these unrighteous pagan’s to punish Judah?
Habakkuk reeled at the thought. He stumbles back from the vision. He wanted to vomit. He was praying for revival, for repentance, for healing. For things to be made right. For His kingdom to come on earth. Yet God’s plan was to bring Babylon?
He turned to prayer again — this time, desperate to change God’s mind.
“Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die! Surely your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you can not tolerate wrongdoing, Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Whey are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
He wrestled with God, like Jacob in the night. And in the cold wind on the city wall, on it’s ramparts, he stood still. Overlooking the lands to the North and East as if in defiance that God would dare send a pagan nation to crush them. He sat on the wall saying … “What will God say to me now? What answer will he give to my complaint?”
And then the Lord Spoke!
“Habakkuk, write my answer on a billboard, large and clear, so that anyone can read it at a glance and rush to tell the others. But these things I have planned won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!
Look Habakkuk: Look at all these proud men, the one’s who trust in themselves alone, in the end they will fail. But the one who who will reach the end is the one who will trust in me, and remain faithful to me!”
Habakkuk saw something that brought him to his knees, silent before the God who holds the span of the earth in His hands. The God before whom even the mountains tremble. The God who sees all things, and who will judge justly and will do rightly.
If he played guitar perhaps he would have picked it up and played a song. A song that speaks of a cruel world ruled by injustice, a song that speaks of a right God who hates wrong. A song that brings us into His sanctuary, for the sojourner to find faith in a foreign land: Knowing that he lives for another City, whose builder and maker is God.
The song ends with Habakkuk in silence, in awe before a holy God. Knowing, understanding the God who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth.
A song that shows that we all deserve God’s justice, yet He grants us faith in His goodness — an anchor to hold true in times that would shake every ounce of God’s truth.
It must have been an incredible moment in the sanctuary of God.
I wish I was there with him.
I’ll see you next time for the most epic climax in the most disastrous times.
This episode was inspired by: | Habakukk chapter 2 | Jeremiah 9 | Hebrews 11 | Amos |
Tune in next time for more stuff from the prophet Jeremiah. Words more relevant today than ever before.
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And if you made it this far please feel free to contact me and we can connect !!
