Habakkuk
1:1-4; 2:2-4; 3:17-19
1:1-4:
Lord, how long will I call for help and you not
listen?
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you don’t deliver us.
3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish
so that devastation and violence are before me?
There is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 The Instruction is ineffective.
Justice does not endure
because the wicked surround the righteous.
Justice becomes warped.
I cry out to you, “Violence!”
but you don’t deliver us.
3 Why do you show me injustice and look at anguish
so that devastation and violence are before me?
There is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 The Instruction is ineffective.
Justice does not endure
because the wicked surround the righteous.
Justice becomes warped.
2:2-4:
2 Then the Lord answered me
and said,
Write a vision, and make it plain upon a tablet
so that a runner can read it.[a]
3 There is still a vision for the appointed time;
it testifies to the end;
it does not deceive.[b]
If it delays, wait for it;
for it is surely coming; it will not be late.
4 Some people’s desires are truly audacious;
they don’t do the right thing.
But the righteous person will live by faith.
so that a runner can read it.[a]
3 There is still a vision for the appointed time;
it testifies to the end;
it does not deceive.[b]
If it delays, wait for it;
for it is surely coming; it will not be late.
4 Some people’s desires are truly audacious;
they don’t do the right thing.
But the righteous person will live by faith.
3:17-19:
17 Though the fig tree
doesn’t bloom,
and there’s no produce on the vine;
though the olive crop withers,
and the fields don’t provide food;
though the sheep is cut off from the pen,
and there is no cattle in the stalls;
18 I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.
19 The Lord God is my strength.
He will set my feet like the deer.
He will let me walk upon the heights.[a]
and there’s no produce on the vine;
though the olive crop withers,
and the fields don’t provide food;
though the sheep is cut off from the pen,
and there is no cattle in the stalls;
18 I will rejoice in the Lord.
I will rejoice in the God of my deliverance.
19 The Lord God is my strength.
He will set my feet like the deer.
He will let me walk upon the heights.[a]
To the director, with stringed instruments
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I’ve already quoted Bob Dylan in these devotions
and it’s now time to use the words of another great musician, Bruce
Springsteen. In one of his great songs, Reason to Believe, Springsteen says “Now Mary Lou loved Johnny with a love mean
and true. She said baby I'll work for you every day and bring my money home to
you. One day he up and left her and ever since that she waits down at the end
of that dirt road for young Johnny to come back. Struck me kinda funny…funny
yea indeed…how at the end of
every hard earned day you can find some reason to believe.”
The other verses in this song tell of similar
situations: a man who has run over a dog on the highway, gets out and hopes
that it will get back up again. A
congregation who has baptized a little baby, and also buries an old man who has
died. They wonder what it all means.
Finally there is a groom left at the altar when his bride doesn’t show
up at the wedding. All of these are
times when a person’s faith and trust can be tested. But throughout the ages, “…at the end of every hard earned day you can find some reason to
believe.”
Apparently there's some debate among Springsteen's fans about whether this song has a pessimistic or optimistic tone. In fact, I read an excellent blog about this. You can read it here.
The pessimists will say that the song looks at people like Mary Lou with derision or contempt. The optimists will point out that there is a certain nobility in the struggle each of the characters and hope in the middle of hard times. I tend toward the optimist's camp (a fact that might surprise many who know me...)
The Book of Habakkuk is all about that “reason to believe.” It was written during a time when huge empires pushed everyone else around. They were big bullies who were nasty, mean, cruel and oppressive…but they always seemed to win. It was also a time when it seemed dishonest people, underhanded, vicious and violent people were successful. At the same time, when people who did the right thing were suffering. Sound familiar?
The pessimists will say that the song looks at people like Mary Lou with derision or contempt. The optimists will point out that there is a certain nobility in the struggle each of the characters and hope in the middle of hard times. I tend toward the optimist's camp (a fact that might surprise many who know me...)
The Book of Habakkuk is all about that “reason to believe.” It was written during a time when huge empires pushed everyone else around. They were big bullies who were nasty, mean, cruel and oppressive…but they always seemed to win. It was also a time when it seemed dishonest people, underhanded, vicious and violent people were successful. At the same time, when people who did the right thing were suffering. Sound familiar?
Spouses, parents, teachers, leaders abandoning or
hurting the people they are meant to care for. Sound familiar? If not, just
watch the news or read some police reports.
Habakkuk looks at all of this and says, “WHAT’S UP
WITH THAT, GOD? HOW CAN YOU LET THIS
HAPPEN? I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GOOD GOD WHO FIXES THINGS? WHEN IS THAT GOING TO
HAPPEN?”
These are all excellent questions. And guess what? God answers. God says, (and
I’m paraphrasing here) “Listen, it won’t always be this way. There are people who are really doing the
wrong thing. It won’t last. In the meantime, the righteous will live by
faith.” To be righteous means to be
“right-related” or “set-up-correctly.” Think of a car engine that is humming
and purring and will take you from zero to sixty in no time. That’s a righteous
engine. To live by faith means that you
are basing your life on your trust in God.
Because of this answer, Habakkuk is able to do a
“180 degree” change. He is able to find
faith, trust, or a “reason to believe.”
He says that his life circumstances won’t rule who he is. He will be
free from what happens to him. What can
this look like for us?
The Toledo Mudhens (our local Minor League
baseball team) will often hold a special event after their games: “Prayer at
the Plate.” Christian baseball players
will give a talk about how their faith in Jesus Christ enhances and guides
their lives and careers as baseball players.
On one such occasion, a player share how verses 17-19 have comforted and
guided him. At one time in his career he
was in the middle of a major slump.
These are certainly not good for any player, and there was always the
chance that he could be taken out of the line-up or even cut from the team.
That is certainly the equivalent of a non-blooming fig tree or cattle-less
stalls.
But he said these verses reminded him of his faith
in God. They helped him to have trust, even when all the evidence pointed in
the opposite direction. In essence: they
made a tremendous impact in his life. In essence, they gave him a reason to
believe.
I can say that these words have done the same for
me. Our first daughter was diagnosed with a severe heart-defect while she was
still in the womb. We weren’t sure if she would survive. After she was born she
faced three open heart surgeries: two weeks, six months, and three years after
her birth. Throughout that entire
process, as I sat in hospital waiting rooms or at her bedside, these words from
Habakkuk helped me. Being reminded that “the righteous will live by faith” and
that circumstances did not have to govern my ultimate reality made all the
difference.
To paraphrase Springsteen, “at the end of every
hard earned day, I found some reason to believe.”
May you do the same and may it come from the Lord.
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