Habakkuk
Habakkuk asked God in Habakkuk 1: Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day? In Habakkuk 2, he braced himself for the worst. But, Habakkuk was silenced by God. His focus shifted away from frustration with what he saw in the world toward the Mystery of how God executes His plan. Wait to see God's plan unfold. Ask every question that rises in your heart as you live in this world. 66 LL. "Quiet everyone---a holy silence. Listen!"(2:20). Tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world knowing no sin will go unpunished even though, for a time, God appears to be doing nothing (3:16). Learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My Plan of Love to reveal itself (3:17). "Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and to wait with confidence." 66 LL. The prophet's prayer (3:1) - "Do among us what you did among our ancestors. Work among us as you worked among them...as you bring judgment, remember mercy. And though the cherry trees don't blossom...cattle barns empty...I'm counting on God's Rule to prevail.
Zephaniah
"My people were satisfied with how they were following Me. They assumed I was satisfied as well. I was not." God begins this book by promising to make a clean sweep of the earth, a thorough housecleaning (1:2). Do we enjoy the good life without seeking God with humble, broken hearts? Time's up. 66 LL. Wait for Me to pour out My death-dealing judgment on every self-centered urge that I discern beneath your religious veneer (3:8). This letter begins with God's Promise to sweep away everything and ends with God's ironclad Promise to bring His People home, to change their hearts to that HE can look on them with delight (3:18-20). No more using God for my satisfaction but for His Pleasure. HE will bring home the homeless. You've carried these burdens long enough.Painful partings will turn into glorious reunions.
I’ve thought about this before, but Habakkuk finally says it today: “Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day?” Can you imagine being a prophet with “eyes to see” the full plan of God? I have felt bad for these prophets imagining their depression, isolation, desperation, fear of martyrdom, depravity of thought, restlessness of heart, and anxiety for the future. Yet, they exposed sin for what it is, and honored God with obedience. I wonder how long God had to look for a faithful man. I wonder how many failed the test. I wonder if I could have stood, but for the strength He would have given, had I only reached out in obedience. These men deserve more credit than being tucked away in the back of the Old Testament. I cringe as I read the horrible things we do, but doesn’t a piece of Nineveh exist in each one of us? (66LL) I think about how we view prophets today, discounting their sanity and frankly, being a little uncomfortable in their presence, not just for the words they say but for the weird factor. I thank God this morning for these men, the prophets of the Old Testament, and the heroes of faith today who stand as lone voices crying in the wilderness, for their faithfulness, for their courage, for God’s Truth spoken through them.
ReplyDeleteHabakkuk was afraid of what God was doing, but His silence scared him more. “Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline? But you can't be serious! You can't condone evil! So why don't you do something about this? Why are you silent now?” When I think of God’s silence in today’s evil, I always imagine He’s doing something about it behind the scenes, but what if He has turned His back, no longer able in His Holiness to look on a nation in such rebellion and outrage of sin?
And for Angie, especially, this day:
Zephaniah 3:19-20
“You've carried those burdens long enough. At the same time, I'll get rid of all those who've made your life miserable. I'll heal the maimed; I'll bring home the homeless. In the very countries where they were hated they will be venerated. On Judgment Day, I'll bring you back home—a great family gathering! You'll be famous and honored all over the world. You'll see it with your own eyes— all those painful partings turned into reunions!"
God's Promise.
So true, Annette, as difficult as it is to read these consuming words of the prophets, I can't imagine what it must have been like for them to be God's Voice in flesh.
ReplyDeleteEyes to see and ears to hear...can we stand that?
They were eyewitnesses to God's anger, judgment and decree towards their own people.
Assyria and Babylon are killing-machines turned loose on those who have put God aside and built their homes on sinking sand...money...murder.
And as I read through these holy words burning with God's vengence, I look at our world today and see very little difference.
One verse in these readings has been with me for a while now. It is a ROCK to me when I ask the same questions these prophets keep asking.
Where are You, God?
Why do You not rescue us, God?
What in the world is going on, God?
Just look at the evil, God! Look at our youth and the troubling wickedness that beats against them day after day. Look at our land and the violent birth pangs that are wreaking havoc on areas devastated by flooding, earthquake and multiple disasters...both man-made and nature-made.
Look at the human heart, God.
Will faith be found?
Will love be found?
Will kindness be found?
Will hope be found?
Will peace be found?
And then I move my eyes toward those who have set aside every weight that so easily besets us.
Panic is defeated. Perfect Love casts out fear. In Jesus' Name.
Faith is consuming. Persecution brings martyrdom. In Jesus' Name.
Joy comes even to those who live in extreme poverty and filth...in garbage dumps. Hope dances and twirls through the hate of gangs and disease. Rising up to bring Joy that cannot be extinguished. Smiles of Joy. Eyes of Joy. Hugs of Joy. In Jesus' Name. (Thank you Compassion International, and so many other missions of hope.)
The verse that never lets me lose sight of the fact that God DOES see and hear and experience our desperate needs????
Habakkuk 2:20
"But oh! God is in his holy Temple!
Quiet everyone—a holy silence. Listen!"
Or, in my favorite version, KJV...
Habakkuk 2:20
"But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him."
If we only knew how God longs to right the wrongs of this world...
He is in His Holy Temple. He is God no matter how things appear right now. He does SEE. He does HEAR. He acts.
This prophet went up to the tower to wait for God's answers to his question concerning intervention.
God said "Wait." Though the answer tarry, wait.
How this speaks to my heart right now when I look at those who are caught in the web of deceit from the enemy. And as I see so much heartbreak because of evil.
And I see my own evil.
Are we ready yet for Messiah to come? To set things right? Today?
I know He is here in some of our hearts. But does the world need Him today?
Do I need Him?
The god of the Babylonians was strength.
All I know right now is I need Jehovah God. I am a woman in need of her God.
Waiting...though You tarry...I am waiting...in silence...You are in Your Holy temple...all the earth is silent before You.