With the recent news of so many lost of lives in China, Burma (Myanmar), and here in the U.S., I am echoing the words of Habakkuk:
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?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Are you going to do something about this, Lord?
How does the Lord answer Habakkuk? The Lord says:
Look at the nations and watch – and be utterly amazed.
That sounds promising. What amazing thing will the Lord do?
He promises that things will get better. But before that happens, things will actually get worst! He is doing something, alright. But it was definitely not the way Habakkuk wanted it to be.
We want the world to be cleaned up, NOW. We want the suffering to end, NOW. We want the injustices to end, NOW.
From our perspective, God seems to be sitting around doing nothing, merely passively allowing events to come to pass.
But He tells Habakkuk that He is actually actively involved, ordering things to happen. When the time comes when all is in place, everything will be set aright.
I think it’s sort of like playing chess. I hate playing chess. I am not smart enough to see my opponent setting up the pieces for the final kill. Out of nowhere, “Check Mate” and I lose!
I think world events are like that with God. The final order has not come because He’s setting up the pieces. We think nothing is happening. We think these are just random events.
But in the fullness of time, the righteous will triumph when “Aslan” comes.
God says to Habakkuk:
But the righteous will live by his faith
By faith we foresee the Lord’s plan. So the last verse of the book of Habakkuk says:
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
In the midst of circumstances that we do not understand and cannot explain, living by faith in God’s ultimate good plan gives us strength for today.
Yes, Habakkuk is my favorite book of the Bible.