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by Katie Erickson

“Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.
I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.” (Habakkuk 3:11-19)

For the past two weeks (here and here), we’ve been looking at Habakkuk’s prayer to God. Today’s passage is the conclusion both of his prayer and of this short book that we’ve been studying. What better way to end it than on the theme of rejoicing in the Lord, even when circumstances appear difficult.

This section of Habakkuk’s prayer starts with God’s created order. The sun and the moon represent that order, and the image of them standing still means that order is disrupted. Arrows and lighting refer to a storm, which is further disruption. Habakkuk uses these images to show how he feels that the world is no longer working right when the people are not following God’s law; it’s as if the sun and the moon no longer appear as moving in the sky as they are supposed to.

Habakkuk brings up God’s prior deliverance of Israel, and he is confident that God will deliver them again and that Israel will once again become powerful. Remember back in Habakkuk 1:2-4 how Habakkuk was pleading with God for deliverance? As the course of this prophetic book goes on, Habakkuk hears God’s responses and remembers God’s power, and he is now confident that God will deliver them. However, he doesn’t express confidence that it will be smooth sailing; Habakkuk knows that the people need to pay for their sins. But deliverance can come in all sorts of forms.

There is a lot of military language in this passage, which shows how God had destroyed and will destroy Israel’s enemies. God had shown His power in delivering the people from Egypt many years before, and God will show His power again by delivering them from the Babylonians. There will be judgment on Israel by the Babylonians, but then God will judge the Babylonians as well.

We see specifically that Habakkuk himself does not expect to be exempt from the effects of God’s judgment. He says in verse 16, “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” Even if Habakkuk was more righteous than most in Israel, he is still part of the nation and will still suffer the consequences of God’s judgment.

We could pity Habakkuk for this, or make him a victim. But what is Habakkuk’s response? Rejoicing! In verses 18-19 he says, “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”

If I had to choose a theme for my current season of life, it would be similar to Habakkuk’s refrain: The joy of the Lord is my strength. Even when life is terrible, I still have the joy of the Lord and nothing can take that away from me. I may forget it at times and need to be reminded, but even in difficult circumstances that may or may not be consequences from my bad choices, I can have joy. The song Joy of the Lord by Rend Collective has recently become my theme song to help remind me of this.

What do you do in your life when your circumstances are difficult? Do you become miserable and consider yourself a victim, or do you rejoice in the Lord? The choice is yours.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed — but he marches on forever. I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.
Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and your chariots to victory? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high.” (Habakkuk 3:3-10)

In Habakkuk 3:1-2, which we discussed last week, Habakkuk started a prayer to God. In this week’s passage, he is continuing that prayer. Even though Habakkuk is praying to God in this passage, he starts by elaborating on God’s glory and power.

In verse 3, Habakkuk mentions two places: Teman and Mount Paran. These places likely have no significance to you or me, but they would have been significant to the people of Israel. Teman is also called Seir, and they would have known these places from their mention in Deuteronomy 33:2-4. Why is that passage significant? It talks about the people receiving the law of God through Moses, which was one of the most important events in the life of the nation of Israel. By referencing Teman and Mount Paran, Habakkuk is bringing to mind the remembrance of God giving His law to Israel. Remember from Habakkuk chapter 1 that the people were completely disregarding God’s law, so bringing it up again was very necessary.

But God is not just all about the law; He is also full of glory. His glory was (and is) everywhere - it permeates heaven and earth. God’s presence is clearly seen everywhere in creation. That was true back then, and it’s still true today. Habakkuk uses the analogy of light to represent God’s glory. God illuminates the world with His presence and His glory. We see this idea elsewhere in Scripture too. In John 8:12, Jesus (who is fully human and fully God) says, “I am the light of the world.” In Revelation 21:23-24 we read, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.”

God’s power is also revealed in judgment. We see reference to the plagues of Egypt back in the days of Moses. (Find them in Exodus 7-11 if you want to read up on them.) God clearly demonstrated His power through these ten plagues on the Egyptians, but in a different way than His glory shining like light.

Habakkuk goes on to explain how God has power and dominion over the waters. In that culture, water represented chaos, darkness, and death. Having power over water was seen in the same light as having power over death, which is pretty powerful! This also brings up two significant times in Israel’s history when God had power over the water - when He parted the Red Sea for them to cross in Exodus 14, and when Israel crossed the Jordan River in Joshua 3.

All three of these glimpses into the past bring up how God delivered Israel in the past. Why is that important? If we see how God has done something for us in the past, we can believe that God will do it again in the future. The circumstances may be different and even the details of the outcome will likely not be identical, but we can count on God for being unchanging. God’s faithfulness in the past allows us to remember that He will be faithful in the future.

What has God done in your past that gives you confidence for the future? Take a few moments today to examine how God has worked in your life in the past, and rest in the certainty that God is working in your present and will be working in your future as well.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.” (Habakkuk 3:1-2)

Previously in Habakkuk, we have seen Habakkuk crying out to God twice, and both of God’s responses. God’s last response to Habakkuk included five ways that God was going to judge the Babylonian people, who He would use to judge His people in Israel. Here, the book changes form significantly. The form now is that of Hebrew poetry, which is very similar to the structure of the book of Psalms. In particular, this is similar to psalms of lament, such as Psalm 18 or Psalm 77.

If you’ve done much reading in the Psalms, verse 1 may seem similar in structure to you. Psalms often start out with who wrote them, what context they were to be used in, what genre of music this is, or what sort of musical instruments were to be used with it. This is similar information to what we would see at the top of the sheet music for a song. Because of this, it is believed that the “shigionoth” referenced in this verse is a type of musical genre that’s devoted to crying out against injustice. The theme of Habakkuk 3 is the same as chapters 1-2, but Habakkuk’s lament here is recorded in a different style.

Verse 2 is a model for a way that we can use in prayer to God. Habakkuk first acknowledges who God is and the mighty things He has done for His people. Habakkuk knows that God is a merciful God because of what He has done in the past, and therefore Habakkuk believes that God will be merciful again. When God’s people have messed up in the past, God has shown them mercy. Habakkuk first praises God before he asks God to show mercy on the people.

Is that how you pray? Do you praise God first and foremost, before starting in on your list of needs and wants? It’s so easy to just come to God with all of our requests and forget to praise Him in our prayers. I fall into this too, as often the purpose of my prayer is simply to ask God for things, whether for myself or for other people. One way to help me remember to praise God is to use the acronym ACTS for my prayers. The “A” stands for adoration - we first praise God for what He has done and who He is. The “C” stands for confession - confessing where we fall short of God’s standards, and recognizing that God is God and we are not. The “T” stands for thanksgiving - thanking God for the multitude of amazing ways He has blessed us. Finally, the “S” stands for supplication - bringing our requests to God. This acronym helps me put my prayers in the proper perspective, with more emphasis on God and less emphasis on self.

In Habakkuk’s prayer, he recognizes that the people have sinned and do not deserve God’s mercy. But he is asking for God’s mercy anyway, in spite of knowing that God has said the people will be judged for their actions. We will reap what we sow, unless God decides to give us grace. It is only through grace - getting what we don’t deserve - that we may experience God’s mercy and not receive the full consequences for our disobedient actions. For us on this side of the cross, we know that we experience that grace through the work of Jesus Christ, in His sacrificial death on the cross and resurrection for us. While we are still under God’s natural law, so we will often reap what we sow, as followers of Jesus Christ we know that our eternal fate is due to Jesus’s sacrifice, which we experience by grace through faith in Him.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.
The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:15-20)

For the past two weeks, we’ve been taking a look at the first three of the five “woe”s in Habakkuk. These are judgments that God is pronouncing on the Babylonian people, who He is going to send to punish the people of Israel. These “woe”s are a lesson to the Babylonians, to Israel, and to us today.

The fourth woe is in verses 15-17. The crime listed here is drunkenness, and more specifically the evil intention of wanting to humiliate others through drunkenness. Their evil motivation will cause them to have the same fate - they, too, will get humiliated. Again it is brought up that they have caused violence and shed blood, so the same will happen to them when they get judged by God.

The key thing for us to take away from this woe is the idea of motivation. God knows our hearts, and He knows if our intentions are pure or not for any given action. Doing a nice outward action isn’t enough; our intentions need to be good as well. For example, let’s say I make my husband’s favorite dinner for him. That seems like a nice gesture, right? If I make that dinner because I want to show love for my husband and allow him to experience a nice meal, that is a good intention. But if I’m making the meal because I want to manipulate him to do something for me that he may not want to do, or if I’m grumbling about how he isn’t cooking dinner that night and I have to instead, then I would still be outwardly doing the nice action but my motivation is all wrong. We need to keep our intentions pure, and ask God for forgiveness when they are not.

The fifth and final woe for the Babylonians is in verses 18-20. The crime here is creating and worshiping idols. While people who don’t know the one true God may see worth in these idols, in reality they are completely worthless and only cause people to be drawn away from God. The contrast here is that God is a living God, and He is in His temple. He’s not just some lifeless statue, but He rules over all of the earth.

Idolatry is one of those things we as humans so easily fall into, because it’s typically not as obvious as bowing down to a statue. Anything we put as higher priority in our life over God is idolatry. Jason DeZurik has been writing a series on this for this blog; I encourage you to check it out, starting with his first post here.

So, from today’s passage you have two things to consider: what is your motivation for doing what you do, and what are you worshiping? Are your intentions pure, and are you putting the one true God first in your life above all else? We all fall short in these areas, but if you remember these warnings to the Babylonians, you can at least recognize when your motivation isn’t where it should be or where you’re putting something else in front of God, and try to do better in the future.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain, setting his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin! You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice! Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:9-14)

At this point in the book of Habakkuk, God is replying to Habakkuk’s second lament. God has already stated that He will send the Babylonians to judge Israel for their crime, and now in God’s response He is proclaiming the judgment that will come on the Babylonians too. This section of Habakkuk has five “woe”s; we saw the first one last week, and now we continue with the second and third ones.

The second woe is in verses 9-11. The crime is similar to that of the first woe (verses 6-8) - storing up many things for themselves. Here, it is more focused on their selfish ambitions. The Babylonians will receive shame as the punishment for their self-exaltation. They will also receive loss of life and a result of their ruining other peoples and taking their lives.

While this clearly applies to the life of the Babylonians, does this apply to the life of the average person today? Personally, I wouldn’t consider myself to have “plotted the ruin of many peoples.” But I must admit that I have had times when I have wished something evil would happen to another person. There are times that we think seeing someone fail will make us feel good, but often that ends up not being the case. We realize that watching someone else fail really doesn’t make us feel any better, and we end up only hurting ourselves in the process. Like the Babylonians, we receive shame as punishment for trying to make ourselves look better by wanting someone else to look worse.

The third woe is in verses 12-14. The crime and punishment here are clear: if you build an empire on destroying others, that empire will be destroyed itself. All of this conquering people and laboring to be the best are really for nothing. Whether in the day of Habakkuk or today, we humans are really not in control over this world. These verses emphasize how God is sovereign and rules over everything. God’s glory will fill the entire earth, totally and completely.

We can focus on the crimes we commit and the negative consequences we deserve from them, but it all boils down to the fact that we are here in this place and alive for the sole purpose of glorifying God. No matter what we do, God must be worshipped as the God of the universe. This is in stark contrast to the Babylonians, whose God is their own strength (Habakkuk 1:11).

Every person has two choices in this life: to glorify self, or to glorify God. Which are you choosing today?

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Then the Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
‘See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright — but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness — indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
‘Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?” Will not your creditors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their prey. Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.’” (Habakkuk 2:2-8)

If you’ve been following our writings on the book of Habakkuk, by now you’re perhaps seeing a pattern. Habakkuk laments to God, then God responds, then Habakkuk laments again, and now in today’s passage, God is responding again. Just before this passage, in Habakkuk 2:1, Habakkuk said, “I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” Clearly, Habakkuk was familiar with this pattern too, as he was watching and waiting for God’s response.

The command from God to write down this revelation, in verse 2, is significant. In our society today, nearly everything is recorded in a written manner, whether handwritten or typed on a computer or cell phone. Back in Habakkuk’s day a few hundred years before Christ, however, the means to write something down was scarce. He couldn’t just grab the nearest pen and notepad (or cell phone) like we do today. It was a strongly oral culture back then, with important stories or information being passed down through the spoken word and remembered through re-telling. So God telling Habakkuk to write this down means it will have true, lasting relevance and should be preserved for many future generations. It is likely because of this command from God that we even have the book of Habakkuk today.

In verse 3, we see that this revelation will happen at an appointed time. The phrase “it speaks of the end” likely refers to the end of the Babylonian oppression that was coming, which the people must wait for the appointed time. The end would come, but not until God says it’s time. We are in a similar position today, waiting for Jesus to come again. We have assurance that He will come again, but we are waiting for the appointed time that no one but the Father knows. Until then, just as the people of Judah would have to live under the Babylonians’ rule, we need to remain in this sinful world.

Verses 4-5 explain some of the negative characteristics of the Babylonians, but it’s important to note the contrasting phrase in verse 4: “but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” Even in the midst of all the evil that the Babylonians were going to bring, there would still be righteous people who would be faithful to God’s ways. The same is true today. It is only through God’s power and faithfulness that we can continue to live righteous lives in the face of the evil of our society.

Starting in verse 6, we see a new section of the book of Habakkuk. This is the first of five “woe”s - five sets of verses that explain the crime and pronounce the judgment on it. We’ll take a look at the rest of these over the next couple weeks. These judgments are directed toward the various crimes of the Babylonians, but they’re used as an object lesson for the people of Israel, and us as well.

The first woe, in verses 6b-8, tells us that the crimes committed by the Babylonians are piling up stolen goods, making themselves wealthy by extortion, and plundering many nations. The judgment and punishment are handed out according to the crimes. Because they pild up stolen goods, the people they have stolen from will come after them. Because they extorted people to make themselves wealthy, people will extort them. Because they plundered many nations, they too will get plundered. They have shed blood and killed people, so they too will be killed.

The phrase “What goes around, comes around” comes to mind here, as well as the idea that you will reap what you sow. This is God’s natural law, and it is how the world works. If you commit a crime, you can expect to face the negative consequences, whether those be simply punishment, or having that same crime committed against you.

So what is God telling the people of Israel through Habakkuk here? Israel has become violent and unjust, so they will be judged. God will use the Babylonians’ violent nature to judge Israel, but then the Babylonians too will be punished for their wrongdoing. But although God will vindicate His people, that doesn’t mean they can escape their punishment, and Israel should not be tempted to seek revenge.

The same thing applies to our lives. When we experience negative consequences of our actions, we may be tempted to get mad at whoever carries out that consequence. But that is God’s job, not ours. If we are following Him with our lives, we can rest in His guarantee that He will take care of each person as He sees fit. Revenge is the Lord’s (Deuteronomy 32:35), not ours, for we will always reap what we sow.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy? I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.” (Habakkuk 1:12-2:1)

The book of Habakkuk started out with the prophet Habakkuk complaining to God about all the evil and lawlessness that were happening with the people Judah. Then, we saw God’s response to that, which was to tell them that judgment was coming by way of a Babylonian takeover. Now, we’re back to Habakkuk lamenting to God again.

This lament of Habakkuk’s connects with his first one in a few ways. He uses God’s name (verse 2 and verse 12), he urgently addresses questions to God (verse 3 and verse 17), and he implores God that the injustice needs to be resolved (verse 4 and verse 13).

This lament is written in poetic form, so there is a lot of parallelism going on in this passage. There are many forms of literary parallelism, but the most common one here is called synonymous parallelism. That is when the writer says one thing, and then he says the same idea again using different words. A good example of this is in verse 15 where he writes, “The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet.” See how Habakkuk said essentially the same thing three times in a row? That’s synonymous parallelism.

But back to the story at hand. We see that Habakkuk starts out his lament by showing his faith and trust in God. He sees that there is a huge discrepancy between what God seems willing to tolerate and what is actually going on with the people of Judah. God’s character says that He can’t tolerate wrongdoing, but yet His people are full of injustice, violence, and lawlessness. And if what God said previously about judgment coming is true, then that will just bring more injustice and violence into their land. How can God keep allowing this violence to occur?

Habakkuk finishes his complaint by saying that he’ll be watching and waiting for God’s answer. Even though it appears that God has been silent for a while in correcting the people’s wrongdoings, Habakkuk fully expects God to answer and fix the situation.

How are you doing at that in your own life? When you cry out to God, do you expect an answer? And if you do, are you watching and waiting expectantly for that answer? In 1 John 5:14-15, John writes, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.” We, too, should approach God with what is wrong in our world, and wait expectantly for His answer. The answer may or may not be what we were hoping for, since God is God and we are not, but we should be confident in knowing that God does hear our prayers and He does always answer them.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty people, whose own strength is their god.” (Habakkuk 1:5-11)

Last week, we started writing on the book of Habakkuk. I’d encourage you to go read last week’s post to get a feel for the background of this prophetic book.

In Habakkuk 1:2-4, the prophet Habakkuk was calling out to God. In this week’s passage of Habakkuk 1:5-11, we see God’s response to Habakkuk’s pleas. In short, God’s basic answer is the judgment is coming. God addresses some of the concepts from Habakkuk’s lament, such as violence and the lawlessness of the people at that time.

God will carry out this judgment on Judah through the Babylonian people. In verse 6, we see the three ways judgment will be carried out: through their character, their conduct, and their motivation. Their character was “ruthless and impetuous.” As a whole, they were not nice people. Their conduct was “to sweep across the whole earth,” and their motivation was “to seize dwellings not their own.” Their goal was clearly to take over as much territory as they could.

The Babylonian people did not worship God, at least not the one true God that the Israelites worshipped. They considered themselves to be gods. In verse 7 it says, “they are a law to themselves.” That indicates that they decide what it right and wrong, rather than listening to the rules that God has set for right and wrong. Similarly in verse 11, we see that their “own strength is their god.” The Babylonians had no accountability to others but instead worshipped themselves. They had absolutely no remorse about terrorizing others.

But you may be thinking, why would God send this kind of judgment on to His people? This situation with Habakkuk occurred before Jesus came to earth as God in human form, so the people were still fully under the Law and hadn’t experienced God’s grace yet. The law stated that violence should be repaid with violence. God was simply upholding the law that He had put in place for the people. They were demonstrating so much violence that that was clearly what they wanted, so that’s what they needed to receive.

But didn’t God love His people and want to spare them from violence? The love of God, which is totally and completely good, doesn’t always mean that life is all happy and cheery. Sometimes God shows love to His people through things that aren’t comfortable for them. If you have ever disciplined a child (or been disciplined as a child), that discipline is only done because you love that child. The child doesn’t enjoy being disciplined, but he or she needs it so they learn how to live a right life. That is what God was doing with the people of Judah.

The world we live in now is difference, because we’re on the other side of the cross. Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection has allowed us to receive grace more often than the true punishment we deserve, although God still loves us enough to discipline us when it’s needed.

When we disobey God, we deserve punishment too, just like the people of Habakkuk’s day. God’s law states that we should reap what we sow. If we disobey, we deserve the punishment. We should always be praising God that we often do not get what we deserve, and we should respect God’s decision when we do suffer the consequences of our actions.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.

by Katie Erickson

“The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:1-4)

This year at Worldview Warriors, we’re starting a new adventure into the Biblical book of Habakkuk. You may be thinking, “Why Habakkuk? Who ever reads that book?” Well, we do, because it’s part of the Bible, and the Old Testament is still God’s Word and it still provides us input into God’s character and how we should live our lives as His children. As we dig into this book over the next few months, I hope you’ll see how relevant it is to our lives today and the culture we live in.

In order to understand any book of the Bible, we need to know the context in which it was written, who it was written by, and to whom it was written - or as much of that information as we can gather.

The context of the book of Habakkuk is the decline and fall of the kingdom of Judea (the southern kingdom when Israel was split into two), which was approximately 626-586 B.C. This book was likely written over this whole time frame, or thereabouts, since different sections of it point to different time periods in that range. At this time, living conditions in Judea were progressing from great to terrible as the destruction loomed ever closer.

We know nothing of the person Habakkuk, aside from his name. All we know about him is right there in verse 1: “The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.” Habakkuk was a prophet, and he received a prophecy. Often times names will have significant meaning in the Hebrew language, but Habakkuk’s does not.

One particularly interesting thing about Habakkuk is that most prophets speak from God to the people. Habakkuk also speaks to God from the people. Often times God raised up prophets to speak to the people when the people had fallen away from Him, and in this case Habakkuk is no different. Israel had gotten their focus away from God and needed to be brought back. Violence, injustice, and law breaking were running rampant. There were some righteous people, but we see that it appeared to them that their prayers to God for redemption felt pointless.

Now that we know the context, let’s dig into this first passage of the book. It starts out with what is known as Habakkuk’s first lament. A lament is a way to express grief or sorrow over something. There’s a whole book of them in the Bible (Lamentations), and a number of psalms contain laments, plus Habakkuk’s laments of course. The format of Habakkuk’s laments include asking questions to the Lord, describing a dire or urgent need, then asking for deliverance.

In Habakkuk’s first lament, his primary concern is the contrast of good vs. evil, and justice vs. lawlessness. In verse 2 he asks God why He has not answered their cries for help, and he asks God to deliver them. In verse 3 he continues to ask why God doesn’t do something about their situation, and then begins to share what’s going on. Violence was everywhere, and their justice system had become corrupted by it, so the few righteous people felt they had nowhere to turn. Even most of God’s people had given in to the violence.

The Hebrew word used for “violence is “hamas” (yes, pronounced the same as the Palestinian military organization, even though their name is derived from Arabic). “Hamas” is a complete violation of moral law, including men injuring their fellow men. It is ethical wrong including physical brutality. That was how bad things had gotten in Judea during the time of Habakkuk.

In verse 4, Habakkuk explains that their justice system is corrupt. Those who were supposed to enforce the laws have become corrupt. In that society, justice didn’t just mean judging of legal matters such as in a court system, but all functions of the government. All of the government had become completely corrupt! The order of society was based on the law, which justice puts into practice.

So do you see any similarities yet between the culture of Habakkuk’s day, and our American culture today? Stay tuned as we continue to dig into this book.

This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration.  All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved.  Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.