Does it seem to you as if the world is slowly beginning
to spin out of control? Another week and
another tragedy that is simply too horrific to explain. Look back at the past few years and answer
the question; “are things getting better or are they getting worse?” We began
last week to look at an article written by Jack Kelley about the book of
Habakkuk, and how applicable it seems to be when compared to the world we are
living in today. Today we look at the second
part of the article, and Habakkuk’s conversation with the Lord.
...
Habakkuk’s Second Complaint
O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy
One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O
Rock, you have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are
you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
You have made men like fish in the sea, like 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? (Habakkuk 1:12-17)
Surely the Lord couldn’t be behind the rise in terrorism.
He’s too pure. He couldn’t possibly condone that kind of evil, could He? But
somehow, like the tentacles of some giant yet invisible octopus, Islamic
terrorists have slithered into every western society and according to some have
positioned themselves undetected at our most vulnerable points, awaiting the
signal to strike. And we admittedly have no certain defense against what will
surely be a devastating attack. “It’s inevitable,” we’re told. How did they
accomplish this? Will the Lord really permit this to happen to his own people?
And if He does, will the terrorists then acknowledge Him
as their benefactor after they’ve struck? Will they proclaim Him as their God?
Or will they give the credit to the one they worship, offering sacrifices and
burning incense to him as if he had brought them the victory?
The Israelites expected God to protect them from the
Babylonians. They convinced themselves that He would never permit any harm to
come to them, even as the Babylonians were camped outside their gates. They
were His people, after all. Never mind their unfaithfulness, their lusting
after false gods, their disrespect for the fatherless, the down trodden, the
widows. Never mind that they only gave lip service to their beliefs, that their
worship had become form without substance, ceremony without meaning, that they
sacrificed their children in the name of prosperity, and worshipped the idols
of the harvest.
It’s different now, we say. But is it? We sing, “God
bless America” playing lip service to our relationship while our sins pile up
to the heavens just as theirs did. And even now, as our leaders admit the inevitability
of further attacks and as our countries suffer storms and earthquakes and the
threat of pandemic disease, are our churches and synagogues full of repentant
worshipers, praying as Habakkuk did, “In wrath, remember mercy”? (Habakkuk 3:2)
For over 50 years Christians have looked with concern on
the plight of Israel while Islamic enemies periodically tried to wipe them off
the face of the Earth. Now the fight’s come to us, just as they promised it
would, and we seem surprised. We don’t even consider that this might be
another, stronger warning from God.
A few conservative preachers call terrorism an attack on
our religion, but not even they suggest that it might be more than that. They
join the secular voices demanding stronger fences on our borders, bigger
weapons in our arsenals, and tighter restrictions on our populations, but where
are the voices calling for repentance from our lifestyle, or for mass prayer
vigils in our auditoriums and stadiums? Are we already so far gone that God has
spoken to them as He spoke to Jeremiah. “So do not pray for this people nor
offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not
listen to you. (Jeremiah 7:16)
Habakkuk 2
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 2:1)
Habakkuk has complained about the Lord’s method of
judging Judah. “Sure, we deserve it” he said, “But at the hand of the
Babylonians? They’re ever so much worse than we are, and they don’t even
believe in you. Do You think they’ll credit You for giving them victory over
us? No, they’ll think it was their god who did this, and they’ll worship him
for it.”
The LORD’s Answer
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, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but
the righteous will live by his faith – 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 debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake
up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their victim. Because you have
plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have
shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
“Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set
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 crime! 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.
“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 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 man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in
them.
“Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or
an image that teaches lies? For he 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. But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all
the earth be silent before him.” (Habakkuk 2:2-20)
Chapter two deals primarily with the Lord’s condemnation
of the Babylonians, declaring in no uncertain terms His distaste for those evil
people. In language eerily reminiscent of His judgment of Satan in Isaiah
14:1-23 (interestingly called the King of Babylon there) He answers Habakkuk’s
complaint by promising Babylon’s destruction. Cautioning him to be patient, He
swears that it will surely happen.
Is this how it will be in our day? The West is also ripe
for judgment, and it appears that Islamic terrorists are positioned to bring it
to us just like their ancestors did to Judah. If so, Europe and America are in
for even more difficult times, and as His people we’re admonished to rely on
our faith to see us through. Like it did in Judah’s case, the judgment will
come, but our enemy’s victory will be short lived, as his ultimate destruction
awaits the appointed time and will not prove false. His god will be of no help
to him then; the error of his teachings exposed. But the Lord will stand in His
Holy Temple; let all the Earth be silent before Him.
...
There have been many articles written this past week
attempting to explain the violence this world is seeing, and in many the word “agenda”
has been used. Unfortunately no one as
yet has been willing to apply this word to the one individual behind all of the
violence that is occurring everywhere today.
That person is Satan. It is his
agenda which will bring about the end of days and it is no surprise that we see
it unfolding right now before our very eyes.
Keep watching.
