“I hear and I tremble within;
my lips quiver at the sound.
Rottenness enters into my bones
and my steps tremble beneath me.
I wait quietly for the day of calamity to come upon the people who attack us”.
(NRSV Habakkuk 3:16)
To those who say the Bible doesn’t really have any significance today, I respond with: THINK AGAIN! This passage was part of my routine daily devotions this past week. In my anguish over world events, God sent this! I am a fan of this very minor prophet, and my favorite Bible verse is found in Chapter 2, verse 4b: “But the righteous live by their faith.” So, God reminding me of Habakkuk in the Bible was very significant for today as I keep the Ukrainian people and the world’s response in my prayers.
Let’s review Habakkuk’s situation. As a prophet of Israel’s God in around 600 B.C.E he was living in constant fear of invasion. Judah was situated in between the competing superpowers of Assyria and Babylon. And in Judah, the people were seeing increased corruption of their own government with the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. (Does this sound familiar?) Habakkuk cries out to the Lord with questions about this situation. God doesn’t answer all the questions, however Habakkuk receives a vision of God acting to save God’s faithful people. This vision gives him hope to remain faithful to God’s promises.
Habakkuk takes the leap of faith to trust that God will act according to promises of the covenant. This is how faith works peace in challenging times. It gives us the courage and peace to know God is at work in the world for the best outcome to those who have a relationship with God. How might this be today? We see the West strengthening bonds of justice though economic sanctions. I think of this as tough love on a grand scale to those caught up in greed and power. We acknowledge new heroes in the people of Ukraine who stand up to fight for what they consider right. We see new resolve for an insurgency that will continue against this oppression. We see servant leadership remaining with the people and continuing the fight. (Does Zelenskyy know Habakkuk?) We see the Russian people demonstrating against the war. We see oligarchs challenged about their self-interests. All this seems like good news to me. News that evil does not succeed. In the global village of this century perhaps nations are learning the wisdom of living together in mutual respect and accountability.
Even better news: God is still working in the world for justice through faithful people. And if all this fails, we who are of the Christian faith trust in God’s ultimate promise for eternal life in relationship with God. This is the peace and bliss promised to the faithful. Sometime a crisis brings people back to God. For Habakkuk, living a life by faith in God during any crisis is the one thing that made life with God meaningful.
For Your Consideration:
1. What crisis did God get you through?
2. How is your personal relationship with God? Do you worship? Do you pray? Welcome to the season of Lent where we trust God receives all who seek to know God.
3. What is the one thing you can do to exercise your faith today? Do it!
4. Have world events made you more anxious? Find someone to talk to about this.
5. What is your vision for life in the 21st Century?
Contact me with other thoughts and suggestions about living by faith.
Thank you for sharing about this prophet who lived out his faith. It is definitely an example of what is happening in our world today.