July 15, 2007
Background Scripture: Habakkuk 2:1-20; 2 Kings 23:35-37
Devotional Reading: Psalms 37:27-34

The all-too-recent tragedy at Virginia Tech once again brought to light the perennially nagging question: How can a good God permit such an evil? There was a time when I would have been uncomfortable either raising that question myself or hearing anyone else asking it.

When I was a young pastor, my great-aunt passed away and I can still vividly remember her three children, normally fairly meek people, expressing a burning anger with God. I was shocked, because I assumed people of faith do not demand answers of the Lord.

But that was before I read the Book of Job, Psalm 73 or gave any serious thought to the pointed questions the apostle Thomas poses to Jesus.

Eventually, I came to realize that questioning God is not necessarily evidence of unfaith, but possibly just the opposite.
Often, it is the person of faith who raises the essential questions to God. I have also noted that Jesus did not rebuke Thomas, nor was God angry with Job.

How long, Lord?

Habakkuk 1:1-2:5 is a similar dialogue between the sixth-century B.C. prophet and God. Although we are concentrating on Habakkuk 2 this week, it is also well to browse through chapter one, beginning with the prophet’s impassioned complaint: “Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and thou wilt not hear, or cry to thee ‘Violence!’ and thou wilt not save?”

The prophet goes on to complain about the brutality of the Chaldeans (Babylonians), their invincible military might and their arrogance. Besides, why should the wicked Chaldeans prevail over God’s elect? How long, he asks God, is this to last?

The prophet waits and watches for God to come and answer his challenges: “I will take my stand to watch, and station myself on the tower, and look forth to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint” (2:1). He is compelled by his faith in God to await the reply that seems so delayed.

Howard Thurman says it well: “The acuteness of human need at any moment may cry out for immediate release, immediate action at the point of urgency.

Because the help does not come in accordance with our timetables, we seem driven to conclude it will not come at all – or if it does, it will be too late.”

Finally, however, the answer comes, “Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seem slow, wait for it; it will not delay” (2:2-4).

God has replied, but He has not given Habakkuk the answers he was seeking. God tells him that it is in waiting that he will receive the answer: “… it will surely come.”

Living faithfully

It is that faith by which the prophet and the nation will endure and be saved after the tribulation to come: “Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith” (2:5).

Ultimately, the unrighteous cannot prevail and their “victories” will be empty. (Note: Do not get stuck on the word “wine” in 2:5, as it appears to be a copyist’s mistake and different translators render it as “the arrogant man,” “the Greek,” “wealth,” “the traitor,” et cetera, none of which seriously change the meaning of the passage.)

In the meantime, we are to live faithfully. The Hebrew word, emunah, which is translated in some versions as “faith,” is even better expressed in the term as “faithful” as in the New English Bible, “… while the righteous man will live by being faithful.” This is much more a way of living than merely a way of  believing.

Why does God not seem to hear our cries? Why is justice perverted? Why do the wicked prosper and even prevail? Why does God permit the slaughter of innocents?

These and more questions are answered by God in His own way; be patient and live faithfully, and in the end you will be justified. Fellowship with God is more to be desired than the temporary answers and victories of this world.