Yesterday morning, as part of our Staff meeting here at Buffalo Covenant Church, I shared with the staff some thoughts from one of my favorite Minor Prophets. His name - Habakkuk. I sort of fell in love with this 6th century BC prophet when I first prepared notes for a class I was teaching at Village Schools of the Bible years ago. This prophet takes a remarkable journey in a mere three chapters. Yet his message is so vitally important for us today, living some 26 centuries later.
As we open the pages of Habakkuk's book, we observe a very frustrated man of God. Now, what I like about Habakkuk is that his frustration came because of two factors. First, he was a student of his culture and world of his day. He read the newspapers everyday. He listened to the CNN's and Fox News Channels of his day. He was totally conscious of how terrible the times were. In fact he cries out, in verse 2, "Violence!" (Did you know that the Hebrew word for "violence" is "hamas?") He observes what is happening in the courts of law: justice is not prevailing. It seems that right is wrong and wrong is right; black is white and white is black. Everything is out of whack! Can you identify with the frustrations of this prophet? I know I can. I read the newspaper every morning. I subscribe to several news magazines that I read weekly. I follow certain websites for further news information. I don't have to tell you that the world seems upside-down and spinning out of control.
The second cause for Habakkuk's frustration is that he believes God is doing nothing at all about it. He does not see the hand of God intervening to correct the wrongs, to alleviate the sufferings, to cause things to be right. As the book opens, God seems to be "out there, some where" and it frustrates Habakkuk because he knows that only God's intervention can possibly correct what he sees happening.
Beginning in verse 5, God answers this frustrated prophet with remarkable words: "Look at the nations and watch - and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." Then God proceeds to tell an already frustrated prophet that God's solution is to send the Babylonians to destroy the city of Jerusalem and take the people into captivity. Not the answer Habakkuk was anticipating...not at all! And, by the end of chapter 1 his frustration has reached fever-pitch. God's logic has become illogical...at least to one very confused and frustrated prophet.
But, as chapter 2 opens, we see Habakkuk doing something that is remarkable. Instead of going into his room and pouting because he did not get what he wanted, we find him climbing the city wall and watching to see God's answer. What is he watching for? An army of Babylonians. I want to share three incredible truths from these early verses in Habakkuk 2: 1) faith can put us in a position to watch for God's response - how we need to be looking for the hand of God to be at work in our world; 2) faith puts us in a position to wait for God's response - how we need to remember that God works in God's ways in God's time, not our time; and 3) faith puts us in a position to trust God - even when that trusting is not exactly what we desire. As Habakkuk's faith is being cultivated, so is his understanding of how God is already at work. Because his confidence is now restored in God, the remainder of chapter 2 is a strong declaration of God's judgment upon the sins of the culture and society of his day. And he closes the chapter with a strong statement about our response to a holy, Almighty God: "But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."
Finally, in chapter 3 we see the prophet at prayer - and what a remarkable prayer it really is. Our frustrated prophet has become a most contented prophet. The one who had complained about God's inaction, now is a prophet who rests in the hands of God no matter what happens. Listen to these amazing words: "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." Wow! Did you hear what the prophet was saying? If God should take everything away, there would still be a reason to rejoice in what God had done!
Friends, our world today is not unlike that of Habakkuk's. We see the vileness of sin on every hand. Yet, we need to be driven by our faith in God to know that God is in control of everything. The way we want God to answer may not be the way God will answer. Certainly God did not respond in the way that Habakkuk thought God should. Yet, God grew his faith. As we get closer to the return of Christ and we see the world getting increasingly more difficult, let us ask God to grow our faith so that we can respond as did Habakkuk: Lord, even if everything is taken away from me, I will still trust in You! Amen! Let me encourage you to read this little book. I think you, too, will fall in love with this amazing prophet.
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