Project 119: Habakkuk 1
| Project 119
This week's devotions are written by MBBC Student Ministry Intern Allison McSwain.
The book of Habakkuk opens with a complaint by the prophet it’s named after. Habakkuk asks God why He is not responding to the injustices present in Israel. How long will there be violence, destruction, strife, and lawlessness? One may be shocked by Habakkuk’s forwardness with God. He seems quite angry. Is it really okay to speak that way to Almighty God?
Yes! We often forget that there are more psalms of lament than any other type. Look at Lamentations and Job; both include raw, unfiltered complaints directed to the Lord. God can handle your heartaches and your frustrations. Perhaps you need to lay your heart bare before Him today. Be honest so that you can be healed!
Verse 5 contains the Lord’s response to Habakkuk’s complaint, and this verse is often taken out of context. “Look at the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told” (Habakkuk 1:5, ESV). I’ve seen this verse made into graphic art and shared on social media; I’ve seen it as Instagram bios and decorative plaques. I believe readers stop at Habakkuk 1:5 and misinterpret it out of its context. They take this verse to mean that God is going to do something great in their generation today, something so good that it will astound everyone. Read in context, however, the verse needs to be followed with verse 6 where God announces that He is raising up the Babylonians (the Chaldeans) for the purpose of keeping Israel in check. This “work in your days” was certainly not a “great” thing by Israel’s standards.
So God responds to Habakkuk’s cry, but Habakkuk doesn’t like God’s response. That sounds an awful lot like you and I, doesn’t it? When we finally get our answer, we tell God we’d rather have it answered our way. Habakkuk complains again in verses 12-17, asking why God would remain silent while the wicked (Babylon) inevitably swallow up Israel. Yet, God had a plan. The use of the oppressive, wicked Babylon may not have been Habakkuk’s desire, but God’s ways and thoughts are higher than our own. Let us remember this when we present our requests to the Lord. He may not solve our problems in the manner we plan, but He is the God Most High who sees and knows all. Trust that God has your best interest at heart today, even when the enemy convinces you otherwise.
Habakkuk 1 (ESV):
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
The LORD’s Answer
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
12 Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
like crawling things that have no ruler.
15 He brings all of them up with a hook;
he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury,
and his food is rich.
17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net
and mercilessly killing nations forever?