Faithful God when His Answer is Confusing (5/11/23)

When Habakkuk asked God about the injustice in Judah, God answered by stating He would use Babylon to address Judah’s injustice and wickedness! 

Habakkuk 1:6-11    I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
⁷ They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
⁹     they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
¹⁰ They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
¹¹ Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

God knew Habakkuk would be confused, so He up front acknowledge all the wickedness of the Babylonians. They were ruthless, arrogant, violent, haughty, and prideful! It would be like God saying He is going to use totally evil terrorists to judge the wickedness in our country. Yet, that was His plan.

Habakkuk pleaded with God to address the violence and injustice (as we saw a couple weeks ago). God graciously answered him with specific details. He would be faithful to avenge injustice, but it wasn’t going to be the way Habakkuk would expect.

Have you ever been confused by God’s answer? Like Habakkuk, we are finite and can’t see the big picture. We can trust God and His plans and His timing. We can be thankful for His personal responses, even if it doesn’t make sense to us. He is Faithful!

Alice

Faithful God when He seems silent 4/27/23

Is God listening? Why does God tolerate injustice? Why doesn’t God do something? Do you ever ask God those questions? Habakkuk did. He wondered why God continued to seemingly sit back while Judah continued to get more and more wicked.

Habakkuk 1:1-6    The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s Complaint

² How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
³ Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
⁴ Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.

God was working and had a plan, even though Habakkuk couldn’t see it yet. Today, we may think it looks like God is silent, but He is working and has a plan.

Where do we take our questions? Do we talk to everyone else about our frustrations and the continued evil around us? Or, like Habakkuk, do we talk to God about it and expect and look for His response? As we study the Bible, we will hear some of His answers! He already has a plan in place through the very end!

Alice

Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us In Injustice

 If someone snatches something from us, we usually try to grab it back. When my kid’s sweatshirt was supposedly stolen, we tried to get it back. I wonder what would have happened if we had applied Matthew 5.

Matthew 5:38-42 ³⁸ “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’ ³⁹ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. ⁴⁰ And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. ⁴¹ If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. ⁴² Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.

Instead of trying to get the sweatshirt back, what if we had given a fashionable coat to the person we thought took the sweatshirt?

 

This is extremely difficult on the “sweatshirt” level, much less in larger situations. We’ve had renters abandon apartments or not pay their last month’s rent. We haven’t written them a check equal to a second month’s rent!!! Maybe this would “kill some with kindness.”

Romans 12:17-21         Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary:

“If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
    if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.”

²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

God sees the injustice! In Matthew 5, Jesus commands us not to get even or retaliate. God sees and it is for Him to avenge. This is super hard for me to truly trust and apply!!!

 

Alice