Habakkuk

I have been abundantly blessed this week in studying the little book of Habakkuk to teach the ladies Sunday school class on Sunday morning. The little book is basically a dialog between the prophet and God that culminates in a song of praise. It goes something like this (in my own words):

Habakkuk: God! Don't you hear me crying for help? Why don't you answer? Why don't you do something? Must I forever see all this sin around me?

God: I am doing something. You'll be so amazed when you see it you won't believe your eyes. I am raising up the Iraqis to be a world power. They will come in and scoop up captives like you scoop up a handful of sand.

Habakkuk: The Iraqis? They are worse than we are. How can allowing such a wicked nation to wipe us out be justified? Answer me that.

God: Mark this down in big, bold letters. Wicked men trust in themselves and fail; but the righteous man trusts in Me and lives. I am not blind. The Iraqis will get what they deserve in the end. Eventually everyone in the earth will realize God alone is the supreme ruler and stand silent before Him.

Habakkuk: God, You are great and powerful. I trust Your judgment. Even though I dread the terrible things that are going to happen, I will trust in You no matter what.


When I look at the setting of this book I can see parallels to our times. The nation of Israel had been taken into captivity by the Assyrians, leaving only the small nation of Judah where Jerusalem was located. Then the Assyrians were conquered by the Babylonians (Iraqis) and Judah breathed a sigh of relief that they didn't have to worry about the Assyrians anymore. They didn't know the Babylonians, who were even worse than the Assyrians, were about to become the new world power and wipe them out. That did not even seem like a possibility.

Fast forward to the 20th century.

In the 1980s Americans breathed a sigh of relief when communism crumbled from within. We no longer had to worry about Russia marching in and taking over. But how long was it before we started hearing about Osama bin Laden and seeing terrorist attacks? These attacks are growing and become more vicious. Will the terrorists manage to subdue the free world? What terrible things might we have to live through? What shall we do?

Read Habakkuk's prayer song in chapter 3. No matter what happens, we can trust in God. He is sovereign. He knows what He is doing. Although everything we have is totally destroyed, we can trust God to see us through. In the end, He will punish the wicked but "the just shall live by faith." Even if we lose our lives in a terrorist attack, we shall LIVE eternally by faith. Even in losing we win!

(Now if you're going to be in my Sunday school class on Sunday, I just spilled the beans and you know already what I am going to say.)