Haba...Who?

            “What do you know about Habukkuk?”

            “Haba…what?”

            “Not Haba…what. Haba…who: Habakkuk.”

            “Who is that? I don’t know anything about him. I know I’d never name a kid that. Never heard of him. Should I know him?”

            “Well, yes. But don’t feel bad. Nobody really knows much about him. All we know about him comes from a three chapter book in the Old Testament consisting of 56 verses. Beyond that, no one’s ever heard of him.

            “So, who is he… one of those prophets in the Bible?”

            “That’s right. When you read his book, you learn that he was a musician who prophesied just before the Assyrian Empire fell to the Babylonians. He was probably around when Jeremiah was around. The only members of God’s once strong people who were still about came from the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin in the south by Jerusalem. All the others had been gradually captured, enslaved, displaced, or destroyed. And the people of Judah were not loving God as they should be.”

            “I bet he couldn’t say very much in just 56 verses.”

            “Actually, just the opposite my friend! The book is really a conversation between Habakkuk and God. It starts out with old Hab complaining to God. It seems to him that God is not fair, because God was allowing Judah’s leaders, who were wicked, to oppress the poor. Habakkuk was asking a question many people – maybe all of us – have asked God at one time or another: ‘Why?’ Then when God told him He was planning to send the Babylonians to come and punish Judah, Habukkuk didn’t like that either. How could God bring judgment on His people by using other people who were even more wicked than His people were? He wanted to know how God could execute justice in such an unbalanced world that was full of wrongs everywhere you looked. But God was patient with Habakkuk. He gives His answer (chapter 2), which, in large part, was that patient faith – or trust – in Him was the key and that before all is said and done, true justice will prevail. In due time God would also deal justly with the Babylonians.  God’s answer must have persuaded him, because in the last chapter Habakkuk’s complaining stops. He has a change of heart and mind that acknowledged that God was in control.”

            “That sounds amazing. And pretty relevant to my life with some of the questions I have had. Maybe I’ll check it out and read it over.”

            “That’s a great idea. There are some amazing words in the book, like… ‘the righteous man will live by faith (2:4)’… a time is coming when the earth would ‘be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord (2:14)’… and Habakkuk’s prayer that God would renew His deeds of old and show mercy in his own time (3:2). But the most powerful passage in the book (in my opinion) is the last three verses (3:17-19). There Habakkuk makes a commitment to trust the Lord no matter how bad life might get – and it can get pretty bad. But he commits strongly to rejoice in the Lord and to trust the Lord to be his strength. What a tremendous example of faith!”

            “Wow! That sounds like something I would like to experience. If God can do that for Habakkuk, maybe He can do it for me too.”

Habakkuk 1:2 (NIV)  How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?

Habakkuk 2:4 (NIV)  "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by his faith-

Habakkuk 2:14 (NIV)  For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Habakkuk 2:19-20 (NIV) ¹⁹  Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. ²⁰  But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."

Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV)  LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (NIV) ¹⁷  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, ¹⁸  yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. ¹⁹  The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.

PRAYER:  Father, I pray for joy in you when times of adversity come. Fill me with faith to trust you even that much. Without your strength I cannot do it. Thank you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!    

Scott