“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.” (Habakkuk 1:5)
In a
recent sit-down with my Bible, it occurred to me that there are numerous books
of the Bible that I tend to routinely ignore.
I pour over the Gospels, Paul’s letters, and numerous gems in the Old Testament
like Daniel, Isaiah, and Psalms. But when
it comes to books like Habakkuk, I tend to just skim right on by. Can you relate? How easily I forget that there’s a reason all
the books of the Bible exist: it’s because God thinks they have some important
things to say. Point taken.
In
its three short chapters, Habakkuk beautifully addresses one of the most common
dilemmas of human existence: the crushing injustice in our world and our
perception of God’s unwillingness or reluctance to intervene in a timely
fashion. In speaking of the corruption in
Babylon, Habakkuk summarizes the dilemma nicely in his dialog with God: “How long, O Lord, must I call for your help,
but you do not listen? Or cry out to
you, “Violence!” but you do not save?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict
abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails. The wicked
hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted” (1:1-4). I don’t know about you, but I think Habakkuk
and I would have been good friends. His
words have flooded my heart and crossed my lips more times than I’d care to
admit. Have they yours?
The
book of Habakkuk is less about God exercising His perfect timing and will,
although His answer to Habakkuk does address it (see the verse cited at the
beginning of this post). The book is
more about we the faithful resting in the knowledge that God has it under
control. He absolutely does see the injustice around us, and He
absolutely does have a plan to right
the wrongs. It is up to us to trust that
God knows what He’s doing, even if we don’t see His justice exercised before
our own eyes as quickly as we’d like. It
could be that the enemy is allowed to swell in power and pride so that his
eventual fall will be harder and more complete than it would otherwise. In the meantime, our patience and trust in
God strengthens our faith and solidifies our hope. As Habakkuk concludes, “Though the fig tree
does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines…yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (3:17-18).
All
too often, our world is cruel and full of violence and corruption. True faith and abiding joy is realized when
we trust God to address the injustice in His perfect way, in His perfect
time. It’s a good reminder today and
always.
And
to think how many times I've skipped past Habakkuk…
If
my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.
(2 Chronicles 7:14)
There
are some people who get lost while driving and calmly navigate their way back
to familiar territory while taking the time to enjoy the unexpected view. I’m not one of those people. I fall into the panicked, sick-to-my-stomach
group of folks for whom being lost (especially while alone) is all but
intolerable. Even with the benefit of
GPS, all I can think about is finding familiar ground, and when I do, the sense
of relief is tangible.
It’s
easy to recognize when we lose our way on the road, but it’s not always so easy
to recognize when we’ve lost our way in life.
It tends to happen more slowly in life, one poor decision and
circumstance at a time. Things snowball
and before we know it, we’re miserable and we can’t seem to figure out why.
There
are two women with whom I once shared a wonderful friendship, but a couple of
years ago, I destroyed that friendship by choosing to engage in hateful gossip
about them that had nothing to do with me, and which made a difficult situation
for them much worse. I felt completely
justified in my sinfulness at the time, not recognizing how lost I was. I prayed about it, and thankfully, God
reminded me that my internal compass was stuck.
The GPS of my soul kept saying in that disappointing, nasally voice, “recalculating route,” until I finally oriented
myself in the right direction. I reached
out to these two women, sincerely apologized, and showed them some long-overdue
compassion. It was difficult and
awkward, but it was needed. They
responded more graciously than I could have hoped, and one of the women just last
weekend emailed me to say she is sleeping better now that she has in
years. Praise God.
When
it came to my salvation and my faith in Christ, God relentlessly pursued me
until I finally stopped running. And still
today, He pursues me whenever I errantly choose to run circles around His love,
rather than living in it. The key is in
learning not to run. When someone runs
from the police in crime shows on TV, it means he has something to hide. It also means he’s making life much more
difficult for himself that it needs to be.
The same applies to our relationship with God. If we feel the need to run from Him for any
reason, then it means our compass is pointing us in the wrong direction.
There are many
detours and adventures on the road of life.
Sometimes it’s smooth sailing, sometimes we hit some potholes, and sometimes
we choose to ignore warning signs meant to guide and protect us. No matter what road you’re on right now, just
remember one thing: there are no dead-ends with God. We are never truly lost if we remember that
all roads lead back to Him.
