Category: Digging in Deeper

Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 2:4

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***Well, I said there weren’t going to be any posts this week, but after much thought and prayer, I decided to not go to the training course as planned. While it would have been a small gathering, the health of my family and my church family was more important. I’ll be able to take the course again in a few months when all of this nonsense has prayerfully passed. That being said, let’s dig back into Habakkuk this morning by taking a look at the verse for which it is most famous.

“Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

This is easily the most well-known verse in the whole of Habakkuk’s collection of prophecy. It is quoted in three different times in the New Testament; twice by Paul and once by the author of Hebrews. But what does it mean? And, if you read this same verse in different translations, you’ll find several different versions of it. Is this even the right translation? Let’s talk about it.

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 2:3

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“For the vision is yet for the appointed time; it testifies about the end and will not lie. Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Are you a good waiter? I’m not talking about serving tables at a restaurant. I mean, are you good at waiting for things? Most of us aren’t, if we’re being honest. We live in an instant culture. We expect things to happen when we want them to happen and not a moment later. The challenge, of course, is that the world doesn’t operate on our timetable. More than that, the God who created it doesn’t. This means that if we want to get through life well, we’re going to have to learn to wait.

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 1:2-4

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“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? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Wednesday we started our little journey through the collection of prophecy from Habakkuk. I said then that Habakkuk is perhaps the easiest prophet to understand in terms of the nature of his message. We can all connect to wrestling with the state of our culture. We can all connect with not liking the answers God gives us when we ask Him hard questions. Those two things along with God’s responses to Habakkuk’s questions are the majority of the book. As we started this journey, we talked about the fact that Habakkuk gives us permission to ask God hard questions of our own. I promised you then that today we would talk about how we are to do that such that it proves a profitable experience for us. Let’s do that.

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Digging in Deeper: Genesis 1:9

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“Then God said, ‘Let the water under the sky be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so.” (CSB – Read the chapter)

I read a lot of news. Well…I read a lot of headlines. Actually, I read a lot of headlines from the Bing search engine website from Microsoft. I don’t mean this as a commercial, but I signed up to earn Bing points for doing basic internet searches. Every so often I cash in the points for free gift cards. Bing raises their search profile and I get free stuff for my family. And I stay broadly informed of what’s happening in the world. Not a bad deal. In any event, the easiest way to do this is to click through the headlines that Bing posts each day on their main page. Usually I just click from one headline to the next without paying too much attention. On occasion, though, something grabs my attention. This morning I want to share with you about one headline that grabbed and hasn’t let go.

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Digging in Deeper: Nahum 2:13

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“Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will make your chariots go up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

When the apostle Paul was retelling his testimony to King Agrippa before being sent off to Rome in order to be tried before Emperor Nero, he added something to what Jesus said to him on the road to Damascus. When Jesus asked Paul why he was persecuting Him, He also made a statement: It is hard for you to kick against the goads. It is indeed hard. And, as Nahum describes here, the harder we try and kick against them, the harder the pushback will be.

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