Why God Doesn’t Always Deliver, Part 2

Habakkuk 1 (cont)

In the first part of the chapter he describes the violence and deceit of the nation of Judah, contrasting it by pale comparison in v. 9 to the utter abandonment to violence, cruelty and brutality that typified the armies of Babylon in every nation that they invaded. In other empires, when nations fell the conquerors would respect their traditions and laws in order to make the fallen people more manageable for their occupying armies. The Babylonians were different in this respect as v. 10-11 describe, showing absolutely no respect for fallen kings or their laws, and showing no mercy to vanquished peoples. All of these cruelties were perpetrated as v. 11 states, because they felt that the gods they served empowered the Babylonians to do no less. Habakkuk objects to the pagan beliefs of the Babylonians in v. 12 asking God “are you not from everlasting, O Lord?”. In using the name “Lord” Habakkuk is invoking the covenant name of God, reminding Him that He has obligated Himself to preserve and defend the people of Israel, which as far as Habakkuk was concerned, wasn’t happening.

Thus, we come to the crux of the issue that the book of Habakkuk centers on, which is why does God seem to fail to act in times that we think His promises have failed us? The people of Judah saw themselves as God’s covenant people. They knew that the promise to David was that a king would sit on the throne of Israel forever, yet now the fall of Jerusalem was immanent, and no deliverance from the hand of God was forthcoming. Habakkuk’s challenge to God, (while admitting that the people were cruel and sinful) was how could God let this happen? These are questions that we all ask during times of difficulty. We all experience in our lives gaps of contradiction between what God has promised and what we are experiencing at any given time.

Sometimes things take place that are final in nature and God has not come to our aid. Some teachings, by cowardly leaders simply suggest that God’s ways are mysterious, and even though (allegedly) there is no question that the sufferer is a good and godly person, nonetheless God saw fit in His inscrutable sovereignty to suspend the clear promise of His word from some ineffable purpose. This is a very common teaching today but does it hold water? The prophet Isaiah addresses this very question when prophesying about the same impending invasion that is about to take place in Habakkuk’s day:

[Isa 59:1-16 KJV] 1 Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid [his] face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor [any] pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch cockatrice’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.

6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works [are] works of iniquity, and the act of violence [is] in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts [are] thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction [are] in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. 9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if [we had] no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; [we are] in desolate places as dead [men]. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but [there is] none; for salvation, [but] it is far off from us.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions [are] with us; and [as for] our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment. 16 And he saw that [there was] no man, and wondered that [there was] no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.

Notice what v. 16 concludes: the sin condition is what occasions human suffering, therefore because there was NO MAN who could rightfully inherit the unbroken protections of God because man is inherently sinful, God will send a savior to accomplish the deliverance that man under the law could not earn or be worthy of. The nation of Judah was sold under sin because of transgression. They are under the law and as Gal. 3:24 tells us, the law was our school master to bring us to Christ. These things that befell the Old Testament peoples (1 Cor. 10:11) happen to them to demonstrate to you and I that we cannot save ourselves, we cannot merit our own deliverance, that only the Christ and the righteousness of Christ is salvation merited and extended.

Therefore, when we suffer, and in our minds, contend that it is unjust, we must remember the words of Isaiah, reflected as well in the book of Romans, that there is none righteous, no not one other than through the shed blood of Calvary. We must then be willing to examine ourselves during times of duress, to see if we are in the faith, and be willing to transparently see our shortcomings and repent in humility and honesty before God. This is utterly repugnant to most Christians, who are so averse to having repented once to receive salvation are loathe to repent on an ongoing basis, rather choosing to believe that the shed blood of Christ constitutes a cloak or a pass on all behaviors that come after. In Habakkuk’s contention with God, he doesn’t deny the sinfulness of the people, he just thinks God should overlook that and spare them anyway – which God declines to do – outside of Christ. Sin must have its penalty, which is why ultimately Jesus came to stand in between us and the consequences of human iniquity

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