Pastor Herk continues: In our day, just like in Habakkuk’s day, there are worldly people who do not see things from a biblical perspective. They do not have a biblical worldview. In a nation whose national motto is “In God We Trust”, when you call them to holiness, to repent of their many sins, and to live in a godly manner, they look at you like you are speaking in another language. Why? The Apostle Paul asks in Romans 10:14 “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” The “Natural” man in their fallen state says, don’t judgment me by God’s standards; they are not mine.
Habakkuk’s burden is the godless lawlessness in the land and God’s silence in the issue. But, there is another part that we need to look at as well. The prophet is not only burdened by all the sin, evil and inequity around him in the world, or God not seeming to act to stop the sin, but also the burden that it is not just godless, lost sinners who are living out wickedness; it’s God’s own people who are acting wickedly, causing division by departure from godly “Covenant Life”. Are we any different today? The United States of America’s Declaration of Independence states: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” But, do people honor, respect and protect the sanctity of life and liberty, or the Creator that endowed these unalienable Rights to us, (Rights that cannot be alienated or transferred)? What do we honor, respect, protect and memorialize? Life or death?
The word “violence” is defined as:1. Physical force; strength of action or motion; To assault. 2. Moral force; vehemence. 3. Outrage; unjust force; crimes of all kinds. 4. Eagerness; vehemence.5. Injury; infringement. 6. Injury; hurt. 7. Ravishment; rape. To do violence to or on, to attack; to murder. In general, of rude wickedness of men, their noisy, wild, ruthlessness. In Hebrew, this term is talking about deliberate, brutal and insensitive infringement of the Rights and privileges of God’s people. It goes much deeper than the regular sense of the word, in that God’s faithful and righteous people are being attacked and persecuted, slandered and losing their Rights for standing firm on the Word of God. Are Christians losing their Rights today?
The word “inequity” is defined as: being wicked or immoral in nature or character. Primarily, it indicates "not an action, but the character of an action", and is so distinguished from "sin". Synonyms of Iniquity: corruption, degeneracy, immorality, sin, vice. It is the inherent, habitual sinful behavior and lifestyle that we have from “original sin” (drunkenness, debauchery, immorality, perversion, wrath, anger and hatefulness). Violence and inequity are taking a strong stance in our country today, so that strife and contention arise. Wickedness unchecked results in a divided community and society. Do we see a divided state of affairs in our communities today? Suspension and accusations, either real or imagined, are the natural consequences of disunity. People have become desensitized to God’s standard of “right” and “wrong”. That which is wicked, scandalous, immoral and corrupt is just the “new normal”.
Habakkuk cried out for God to intervene in order to change and restore the people back to an upright position before Him. We should be crying out to God in a like manner for divine intervention because the same kind of wickedness and lawlessness is in our world today. But, if God is silent, that does not mean that He is unaware and doesn’t mean that He is not working. Yet, His answer to these problems may not be the answer that we want. Instead of the problem being removed, He may institute divine judgment. God brought judgment upon His own rebellious people living in an ungodly, sinful way in Habakkuk’s time. God acted and raised up a pagan nation to invade the land as punishment. Habakkuk didn’t know what to do, but knew that God is “good”. If God is doing something, even if it is something that you did not expect Him to do, it is still good and right.
Ultimately, Habakkuk had to have unquestioning faith in God, like a child to their Father. He doesn’t understand what His heavenly Father is doing or is going to do, but he trusts Him, knowing that God loves and cares for him. And God loves and cares for all His children today (John 1:12-13). The question is: Do we really know that? We have to trust God; even when we do not have a clue what is going on or what He is doing. Trust God with child-like faith; absolute trust and faith. We can lean on Him and rest in Him, but we cannot get ahead of Him to get things done our way or how we think things should happen. We have to trust God, listen to God and be obedient to God. In God We Trust.
In Christ, Brian
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