September 09, 2024 | Be God's Light
Habakkuk's Complaints to God
Scripture: Habakkuk 1(NIV)
1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,
but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you do not save?
3 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.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed,
and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
so that justice is perverted.
5 “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.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,
that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves
and promote their own honor.
8 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;
9 they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”
12 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.
13 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?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 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.
16 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.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
destroying nations without mercy?
Devotional
Recall that Assyria had vanquished the northern kingdom of Israel a century earlier. By the time Habakkuk became a prophet to the southern kingdom of Israel, Assyria itself had just been conquered by Babylon, which was becoming the new evil empire.
Habakkuk confronts God, asking Him why He allows evil people to go unpunished, and even to flourish. Many people ask the question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” Habakkuk turns that on its head, asking the Lord, “Why do good things happen to bad people?”
After I graduated from college, I was working as a computer programmer. I thought I needed to build up some money before marrying Lisa and going off to seminary for a master’s degree. Lisa’s dad told me, “When God calls, you don’t have the right to put Him off.” With his blessing, I asked Lisa to marry me that evening!
I told my boss that I would be resigning from my job to pursue a career being a pastor. His response startled me. He looked me in the eyes and said, “What a waste of a good mind.” Then he went on to question the existence of God. Actually, he questioned the goodness of God with questions like this:
“Why would a good God allow misery in the world?”
“Why are innocent children allowed to suffer?”
“Why would God allow evil people to get away with terrible things?”
My boss was asking the same questions as Habakkuk, who asked God:
“Why do you make me look at injustice?”
“Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?”
“Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?”
“Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
What questions do you have for God? How do you think He answers the questions raised in this devotional?
Poem
It Is Okay?
Is it okay to complain to the LORD—
To cry out, to shout, to whine you are ignored?
Is it right in your grief to ask questions? How? Why?
To weep all the day? To shake fist at the sky?
Is our God big enough to hear all of our groans?
Does God not know the sourcing of all of our moans?
Can we trust God enough to be patient, God’s timing?
Can we wait on the plan of God’s perfect designing?
Can we sit calm in silence, knowing God will supply?
Or will we give up, curse God’s name and then die?
