Tag: Habakkuk

Morning Musing: Habakkuk 1:13

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“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 up one who is more righteous than himself?”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

The world is not like it’s supposed to be. That is a truth everyone understands. Everyone. No matter what religion they profess or no religion at all, we all have a general sense that the world is broken. Our understanding of exactly why it’s broken and what the solution should be varies, but on the brokenness we all can agree. This is called the problem of evil and it is exactly what we find Habakkuk wrestling with here at the end of chapter 1. Let’s wrestle with him.

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Morning Musing: Habakkuk 1:5-6

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“Look at the nations and observe — be utterly astounded! For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it. 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.”‬‬ (CSB – Read the chapter)

Have you ever cautioned someone to be careful what they wish for? Why do we do that? Because we generally understand that we don’t know everything and that wanting things to be other than they are may come with consequences we don’t anticipate. Seeing one thing happen that we want at the expense of two or three (or more) things happening that we don’t may not be a worthwhile trade. Habakkuk here reminds us that the same principle applies to the things we ask of God as well.

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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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Morning Musing: 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)

Have you ever struggled with the state of the world? Of course you have. We all do from time to time. We look at the state of things around us and lament how they are. We all recognize sin in some capacity even though we don’t all identify it in the same terms. We recognize sin and we instinctively cry out for it to be dealt with. We cry out to a power higher than ourselves whether human (often the government) or divine. If you have ever found yourself in this kind of a position–and you have found yourself in this position before–Habakkuk is for you. This, of all the Minor Prophets, and maybe of all the books of the Old Testament, is the one with which most folks should have the easiest time understanding and connecting. As we work through this over the next few days, I think you’ll see why.

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Digging in Deeper: Habakkuk 3:17-18

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“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”  (ESV – Read the chapter)

Have you experienced something disappointing yet today?  Not to start you off on a downer here, but the odds are pretty good that you will.  It may be a small disappointment–the parking space you were really hoping to be able to nab gets filled at the last minute.  It may be a big disappointment–someone close to you fails in some significant way.  Or, more likely, the disappointment will fall somewhere in between these two ends.  Whatever exactly is the extent of the disappointment, you are probably going to face one before the day is out. Read the rest…