Habakkuk 2 (cont)
With Habakkuk standing with arms folded, confident in his argument against God, the Father answers in verse 2, telling him to get a stylus and tablet, and prepare to record the answer that will be given. The answer, God explains is for a time to come, but that it will surely be applicable as an answer to Habakkuk’s objections that God has unjustly allowed the people to suffer contrary to the promises of His own word. The following statement embodies everything that God has to say to Habakkuk and by extension to you and I when we lament the contradiction to God’s covenant promises in our lives, when we feel we have done all that was expected and that God should act, but apparently isn’t, here is His answer to Habakkuk and to us:
v. 4: Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.
I somehow think that is not what Habakkuk expected to hear. The answer is this – in making the objection, God is telling Habakkuk his heart is not right before God. We feel at times we have a right to ask and to object when we think we have done all and God isn’t following through that our objections are well justified. God’s answer to the “why God” question is to state that the underlying heart motivation betrays the fact that deep repentance is needed. We hear this all the time, when people come to us wounded and feeling victimized by God’s seeming lack of response to their alleged faithfulness. “I’ve paid my tithes, I go to church, I have done my part, I’ve paid my dues…” is the lament, but the answer of God ignores all that and simply says that to ask the question is to betray a heart out of fellowship with God and in need of a return to humility and repentance.
The second part of the answer from heaven is “the just shall live by his faith…” In other words, to question the faithfulness of God is indicative of a heart filled with unrighteousness, but the just person, the person who is looked upon as in right relationship is the one who maintains his faith in God regardless. Why? Because God knows more than we do. He knows the end from the beginning. It may look like God’s word has not been made good on in your life at times but God works from the canvas much broader and more complex than we are seeing at the time. Our limited scope causes us to make assumptions. Even when we are blessed we tend to think it has more to do with our own works than His unmerited favor.
When we are blessed we think we earned, and when we are not blessed we blame God as though our works are not connected with the outcome of circumstances in our lives. This is colossal error on our part and betrays a willfully darkened mind. The answer is – put your faith in God and trust Him, then we will live. God is correcting Habakkuk and correcting us, if we will hear it.
The chapter goes on to declare by the hand of God that Babylon will indeed be dealt with, in God’s time and not Habakkuk’s. They are portrayed as a city and an empire built on blood guiltiness and savagery, and will be brought to their end, which happened when Cyrus the Great took the city in 589 BC. In verse 13, the surmising given is that it is “not of the Lord” that the people “labor in the fire…” In other words, regardless of the ill-conceived logic of asking the question “if God is who He says He is, then why are we suffering…” it is not “of the Lord”. This is a truth difficult to grasp, not because it is too complex, but because man’s heart is inherently self-vindicating, more willing to blame God than to lay responsibility at the charge of sinful flesh. We expect (in spite of all the scripture says to the contrary) that God should overlook our flawed humanity. We attempt to plead the blood of Christ as a cover for our human frailty, just as the Jews used their status as Abraham’s descendants as an objection to God’s refusal to shield them from the consequences of their actions.
The chapter ends with a denouncement against idolatry, and worshipping the works of men’s hands. The Lord is in His Holy Temple. Even in the midst of a corrupt and decadent Jerusalem, where every street corner was known to be dedicated to a different pagan deity, God reminds the people that He hasn’t gone anywhere. He is still in His temple, therefore let all the earth (flesh) be silent before Him. We have no grounds for clamoring and complaining. God will not respond to the thinly veiled clock of false humility and objection we make when we see ourselves as victims of God’s refusal to act in our behalf. The faithful heart acknowledges that whatever we may face, or others around us as Habakkuk looking upon his suffering people, the only answer is to keep silence before God, and wait upon His salvation
