I’ve always enjoyed Habakkuk – at least the last couple of verses when Habakkuk radically commits to worship God no matter what he loses. The rest of the book has always been lost on me – just more prophetic stuff.
We’ve been working on Habakkuk in class recently and I have really come to love almost every word of this book – and understand most of it too!
In breaking down the text, I’ve identified what I think are pretty significant messages for me:
· God’s idea of judgment in not the same as Habakkuk’s idea of judgment.
· The righteous will live by faith while those who do wrong will face certain consequences.
· Seek mercy from God and offer worship to God.
As I typed the first statement out, I wanted to substitute my name for Habakkuk. You see, it should read God’s idea of judgment is not the same as Matt’s idea of judgment.
This idea has caused me to reflect on the many worship services where we sing about the Lord’s return and I’m crying and pleading with God to come quickly. To come and end all the bad stuff. To judge those who have been mean to Him (especially if they’ve been mean to me).
We watch bad things happen in our personal lives, our ministries, and all over the world and often we too cry out for judgment, for the end to come. But, like Habakkuk, I have realized that when the Lord comes back to judge, I bet its not going to result in a celebration of all that I’ve done right. My thoughts, my motivations, the deep things in me that are impossible to see, will all be exposed and I’ll be held accountable.
His idea of judgment is very different from mine.
So what do you do? God warns Habakkuk about pride and then says, “the righteous will live by their faith” (2:4). Trusting God regardless of our circumstances is a mark of the maturing believer.
The end of the book brings us to a conclusion about how we should live: as people who seek mercy from God and offer worship to God. As Habakkuk realized that God’s judgment would include him, would happen at the time of God’s choosing, would be accomplished by whatever means God chose, and would be perfect and holy, Habakkuk’s fear of the Lord returned.
He realized that his cynical questions and raised eyebrows were not the appropriate way to conduct himself before the Lord in his holy temple.
So, he pleads that God “in wrath may . . . remember mercy” (3:2). When faced with the prospect of God’s holy and perfect judgment, Habakkuk and I can only ask for God’s mercy. Anything less results in a quick guilty verdict against us.
He goes on to praise God’s immense power as Creator, Warrior, Judge, and Savior. Then Habakkuk closes his prayer with some of the most beautiful poetry in the Bible:
“Though the fig tree does not blossom,
And no fruit is on the vines;
Though the produce of the olive fails,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock is cut off from the fold,
And there is no herd in the stalls,
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
I will exult in the God of my salvation.”
When confronted with God’s holy presence and power, Habakkuk asks for mercy from God and offers worship to God. Oh, that I would live each day of my life doing just the same.
