I read a story today (Christmas day) in an Israeli newspaper. An 11-year-old girl named Ayala was driving home with her father to a settlement in the West Bank. As they were driving, they saw a molotov cocktail coming toward their car. They tried to avoid it, but the girl was badly burned and is now fighting for her life in a hospital in Israel.
Why, O Lord? Why do you allow things like that to happen. An evil man firebombs a young girl's car and her life is forever changed. Why would the loving God who sent his Son into this world allow such insensate evil to prevail?
Prophets asked questions like that throughout the Old Testament era. They observed the sin, the wickedness and the wretched consequences of that sin in the world and wondered where God was. They knew two things about God - he was sovereign and he was good - and they couldn't make sense of it all. So they too their concerns to God and asked him why.
Habakkuk was one of those prophets. His book is a journey in discovery of the purposes of God. In chapter 1, verses 1-4, Habakkuk confronts God with his sense of injustice.
How long, Lord, must I call for help and You do not listen or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?
How could a righteous and holy God watch the evil that was going on in Israel and not step in? How could he allow evil men to oppress the innocent? How long was he going to sit back and let this happen?
Habakkuk had a rare privilege. God answered him, but it was not the answer Habakkuk expected. He wanted a soft hand of correction but God was going to do something more. In Habakkuk 1:5-11, God explains himself. Look at verse 6.
Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own.
Say what? That wasn't a little corrective discipline. That was a nuclear response. Whatever problems there were in Israel, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) were only worse. Wicked. Violent. Cruel. And Habakkuk couldn't understand why God would use them to punish his people. He responded to God in 1:12-17, and in verses 12-13, said this:
Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God?
My Holy One, You will not die.
Lord, You appointed them to execute judgment;
my Rock, You destined them to punish us.Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,
and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?
Why are You silent
while one who is wicked swallows upone who is more righteous than himself?
He understood what God was doing, that he was using Babylon to execute judgment on his people for their sins, but he could not understand why he was doing that. How could God tolerate people who were even more evil and use them again his own people?
In chapter 2, God answered Habakkuk - with both barrels. He let him know in no uncertain terms that he had things well in hand. He was going to deal with evildoers - both in Israel and in Babylon. Verse 20 sums it up.
But the Lord is in His holy temple;
let everyone on earth
be silent in His presence.
That is a very dignified way of saying, "I'm in charge here, Habakkuk. Why don't you settle down and let me handle things?" Be quiet, trust God and watch him work.
And that is exactly what Habakkuk did. In chapter 3, he expresses his newfound trust in God's purposes. Verse 2 expresses it well.
Lord, I have heard the report about You;
Lord, I stand in awe of Your deeds.
Revive Your work in these years;
make it known in these years.
In Your wrath remember mercy!
He had heard of the awesome power of this God, but now he knew it firsthand, and he stood in awe of God's glory. He was content now to stop telling God what to do and to simply trust God to do his work. He called out for God to renew his work of power, but now it was in a spirit of absolute trust.
The book ends, in verses 17-19, with an affirmation of that faith. Habakkuk realized that hard times were coming to Israel, but he would trust God through them. Whatever happened, God would bring him through. He could trust in the good God to see him and his people through whatever came.
Though the fig tree does not bud
and there is no fruit 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 triumph in Yahweh;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!
Yahweh my Lord is my strength;
He makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk on mountain heights!
In Israel, I saw a type of small deer walking near En Gedi on a rocky mountain paths. I could never walk there without falling, but these small creatures walked sure-footed on the worst terrain. When we trust in God, when we give ourselves fully to him, we stand like those deer, in the power of God, whatever harsh terrain we encounter.
Thank you, Lord, that you make my feet stand firm in the mountain heights. May I trust in you always.
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