The Lord is Bigger than Bully Empires [The Book of Habakkuk]

The Lord laid on Habakkuk a burden to see bully empires humbled…

“The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. ‘O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? Even 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.” [1]

Evil bullies had a stranglehold on society so that it was impossible for any human being to enforce good laws. No judge was willing to condemn the guilty.

In these last days we have seen the rise and fall of bully nations. This evil will end when the Lord returns and vanquishes all who oppose Him, and who oppose His law of love.

Habakkuk reminds the Lord of who He is and asks Him to act in accordance with His holiness. Why? Because wicked people are feeding on righteous people as predatory animals tear apart their catches…

“Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” [2]

Those who are righteous before the Lord don’t achieve this status due to their own ingenuity or superior character, but because they place their faith in God…

“Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.” [3]

The Lord indicts bully nations:

“Indeed, because he transgresses by wine, he is a proud man, and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death, and cannot be satisfied, he gathers to himself all nations and heaps up for himself all peoples.”

“…Woe to him who increases what is not his—how long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges’? Will not your creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken who oppress you? And you will become their booty.”

“Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you, because of men’s blood and the violence of the land and the city, and of all who dwell in it.”

“Woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster!”

“Woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity!”

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness!”

“Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Awake!’ To silent stone, ‘Arise! It shall teach!’ Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, yet in it there is no breath at all.” [4]

The day is coming when earthly empires will no longer be able to deny the glory of the Lord…

“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” [5]

“The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.” [6]

The Lord has brought down bully nations in the past and He will do it again and again, as often is needed:

“You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people, for salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, by laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah” [7]

Habakkuk did not let the current circumstances deter him from rejoicing in the Lord because the Lord was his strength in the meantime and in the end, the Lord saves all who trust in Him.

“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. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills…” [8]

[1] Habakkuk 1:1-4
[2] Habakkuk 1:12-13
[3] Habakkuk 2:4
[4] Habakkuk 2:5-9, 12, 15, 19
[5] Habakkuk 2:14
[6] Habakkuk 2:20
[7] Habakkuk 3:12-13
[8] Habakkuk 3:17-19