Blog

by Nathan Buck

I remember a few years ago some friends telling the story of their toddler, who loved to play in the bathroom toilet. He was fascinated by having a place to splash in the water, and of course watching the water swirl down the hole, again, and again, and again.

Beyond the mom feeling an added passion to ensure a constantly sanitized state for the toilet, and dad thinking about the water bill, both parents felt this was not a good habit to continue. They tried baby gates, buying fun toys to lure him away, and any other reasonable bribe they could think of. Eventually, one night they decided they would just remove him from the toilet each time he went in there. The next scene was one of dad holding a screaming toddler, who was desperately clinging to the edge of the toilet bowl and seat, while mom was trying to pry his little fingers loose. It was agonizing. He screamed and fought relentlessly to hold on to the toilet.

The good news is, they finally did train him away from the toilet and he suffered no weird diseases from his toilet time. But the mom and dad both reflect back on that, and how it was a profound lesson for them. They said, “It’s just amazing to think, how many times am I holding on to the toilet, while God is trying to pick me up and show me something good?”

In Habakkuk 2:9-14, God is giving “woes” (or warnings) from the example of judgement against the Chaldeans/Babylonians. (For context be sure to read the last few weeks’ posts.)

Look carefully at the two woes in this passage. One is about securing your own home/safe place, at the expense of other people’s safety. The other woe is about using the work of people to secure your own wealth. These both break the commandments of ‘having no other gods’ and ‘do not covet.’ In both of these, ‘self’ is being worshiped, and one person is gaining at the expense of another person’s well being.

How often do we see this happening today? Where do we see people being accused of doing this, when they really haven’t? Where are people doing this, while presenting themselves as the victim? (I’ll give you a hint, it’s all through the socialist agenda.)

What’s most interesting to me is in the midst of these two warnings, where God warns us not to secure our livelihood at the expense of others’ well being, He inserts a reminder of His promise. God’s promise is that, “The earth WILL be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord.” Why is this important?

It is a reminder of His justice. Like the little boy who clung to the toilet, there will be a day where all of the stuff we have hung onto for ourselves is shown for what it truly is. There will be a day when our actions and the ways that we acquired our own security and safety will be stood up next to God’s glory and shown for how un-godlike it was. In the midst of these two warnings, God inserts a loving and firm reminder, “Please, let go of the toilet! I have so much more for you (and your neighbors) than this.”

God made us all to work, and for all of us to benefit from and be provided for by Him through our work. Taking the benefit of another person’s work to store up for ourselves, and securing our safety at the expense of someone else, is robbery from that person, and from God.

I challenge you to let go of socialist ideas that tempt you to feel entitled to whatever someone else has. But more importantly, I challenge you to believe God’s promise, that “the WHOLE earth WILL be filled with the knowledge of HIS glory.” Because if that is true, then I can trust Him to provide what I need, and also more than enough to share so that others will trust HIS promise too. I challenge you to move from clinging and screaming, to trusting and sharing.

What philosophies, business practices, retirement strategies, political affiliations, or social agendas have you believed that have caused you to store up for yourself at the expense of others’ well being? Or at the expense of trusting God? Are you even aware of how establishing your well being has affected others? Is what you are hanging on to really worth what you think it is?

What is one way this month that you can participate in God’s promise, by helping others know Him and benefit from His provision in their lives?

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