“The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.” Have you a burden for righteousness? Jesus declared, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.” [1] The Lord satisfied Habakkuk.
Habakkuk means embrace. He wanted to embrace people. Accept them! Love them! But he could not embrace their deeds, so he gave his burden to the Lord…
“O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ and You will not save. Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround, the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds.” [2]
He prayed the popular one-word petition to the Lord… “Why?” Why did the Lord give him an intense desire for righteousness if the Lord was not going to bring it about? He didn’t enjoy grief, but how he could feel otherwise?
The Lord gave Habakkuk a “coming soon” preview: “I am raising up the Chaldeans…they all come for violence… they deride every stronghold…” The Lord was raising up a mighty army to humble defiant evil doers. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [3] The word for “resist” in the original Greek means to set up a military against.
The Lord urged Habakkuk to, “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.” [4] So, he, like other Bible prophets, wrote down the Lord’s words, and the Lord brought His promise to pass in due season.
The Lord gave Habakkuk a spiritual truth that is quoted in the New Testament, and it is a foundational truth of Christianity: “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” [5] Proud people will not admit their need of God. They trust in themselves. They justify themselves. The just people of this world live by faith in God’s Messiah, namely Jesus Christ His Son. They know by a gracious revelation of God that only the Name of Jesus is above other names. Evil bows to the Name of Jesus. Justice comes forth as God’s people trust in Him to turn the tide on it. Numerous stories in the Bible have the theme of God giving grace to the humble, and of God humbling the proud.
“He is a proud man… he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied...” “Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you…” “Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high…” “Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity!” “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” “The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” [6] The Lord shall certainly bring about a day where righteousness prevails, and wickedness fails.
What did God’s Word do for Habakkuk? God’s Word gave him faith to keep on waiting upon the Lord. God’s Word yielded for him joy. By God’s Word he knew for certain that a day of salvation would come. He stopped looking to helpless humanity for help. He threw away the idol of self being the hero of the story. He placed all His confidence in the Lord.
“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls—Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” [7]
[1] Habakkuk 1:1; Matthew 5:6
[2] Habakkuk 1:2-4
[3] Habakkuk 1:6, 9-10
[4] Habakkuk 2:1-3
[5] Habakkuk 2:4
[6] Habakkuk 2:5, 8-9, 12, 14, 20
[7] Habakkuk 3:17-18
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