(Part I is here.)
This is an early Sunday post because Sunday we’ll be on vacation and not posting. Lord willing we’ll be at church with my uncle in Santa Barbara for, as he says, “another day in paradise.” Then we’ll be heading to the Reagan library.
(Hmmm, that quotation at the head of the Reagan library page might fit in here…. And now, back to early Sunday, i.e. a sermon reflection.)
Last Sunday was a continuation in Habakkuk. The message, When God is Silent, was about waiting. The pastor introduced his topic by relating a recent waiting experience he had. He had waited at the airport. And waited. And waited. And waited. Twelve, yes 12, hours later he left on his flight…. (Lord, please, not our flight tomorrow.)
Habakkuk had questions about injustice, and he waited to hear, to understand. He saw the law paralyzed and justice perverted (1:4).
God’s answer for the wickedness of one nation (Judah) was for another wicked nation (Chaldeans) to destroy it. But doesn’t that leave Habakkuk’s question?
I mean, having the wicked destroyed by the wicked is fine, but what about the righteous? Don’t they suffer regardless? How can this be for a Holy God?
Well, the answer seems to be: wait. Hmmm. Habakkuk was determined to wait and hear (2:1), and waiting seems to be God’s answer…. The just live by faith–you know, that stuff of things hoped for. (2:4) Apparently the faithful don’t live by the righteousness of nations, of law fulfilled.
But I’m struck by a couple of things. First, the prophecy of destruction by the Chaldeans was written so “he may run who reads it.” (ESV) (Now it appears that this may be read a couple of ways, a messenger running, or, as I’m running with it, one who hears the message and runs.) It seems the righteous live by running as well as by faith, or at least they stay alive by running in faith from the coming judgment on Judah. Nothing seems wrong there. I don’t see that running and living by faith are exclusive. I don’t see anything wicked in running for the hills…. but running seems to be more than waiting.
Second, the bottom line is the life by faith. Running and avoiding injustice and suffering is practical, but running doesn’t restore anything, and living in the hills doesn’t seem like a good way to live. And it seems that no matter how much running we do, we can’t avoid all suffering.
So while the wicked get fat living on unjust gain (1:16, 2:9) and trust in idols (2:18-19), the righteous wait to hear, are silent before the Lord. Vengeance is the Lord’s.
Of course, as the pastor noted, through our suffering and waiting, God works. In suffering we do run for the hills, for there is our strength, He is our Rock, and in Him we are lifted up and restored. And in suffering we are taught not to trust in idols but to “rejoice in the Lord.” (3:18 )
There is violence in the world, within nations by perverted laws, and by wicked nations against each other, but the problem of violence is not solved without a reverence for God. (2:20) The unjust are filled with shame and crooked souls, but the just live by faith. (2:4, 16)
