Habakkuk times....

Habakkuk times....

The pastor spoke about Habakkuk yesterday...three short super long chapters...the questions, the answers, the conclusions...

I may not have lived in those ancient times, but I sure lived those days...

“How long,  Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? 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.”

Habakkuk 1:2-4

The cancer diagnosis, the suicidal calls, the runaway teen, the affair, the  aging process, the emergency hospital visit, the violence, the futility, the emotional/physical/sexual abuse, the broken lives/families...how long?....these may or may not be judgment, but they swoop down as the Babylonians did...laughing at our “fortified” lives...

And again we ask as Habakkuk did... 

“Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord , have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

Habakkuk 1:12-13

Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, 

“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ 

“Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin! 

“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! 

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! 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.”

Habakkuk 2:2-3,6,9,12,15,19

The Lord spoke of greed, violence, idolatry...which we live in as well...it hasn’t changed over the eons of time...those people of long ago had the same battles we do...

The Lord encourages...

“....— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness —

Habakkuk 2:4b

Habakkuk finally declares...

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. 

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.....

Habakkuk 3:17-19a

When I read the newspaper, watch the news, listen to friends weeping/anguish, a relative’s cry for help, acquaintances’s prayer requests, a stranger’s comments....I know that God has a plan, it may not be mine, but He reigns supreme...He is in control...

I want to live by faith...

I want Him as my strength...

I want to be joyful in God my Savior...

I want to rejoice...

Th ancient words of Habakkuk can be read as current....God is the same yesterday, today and Tomorrow...

Thank YOU...