How long, Lord, must I call for help and You do not listen or cry out to You about violence and you do not save? Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing. Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.
Look at the nations and observe-be utterly astounded! For something is taking place in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it. Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own. They are fierce and terrifying; their vows of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves. Habakkuk 1:2-7 HCSB
The first paragraph in our scripture passage today is the prayer of the prophet Habukkuk. The second paragraph is the Lord’s answer to him. When I read this, all I could say is “Wow, that sounds familiar!” Habukkuk is crying out to God asking God why He would tolerate such awful behavior? He says there is violence all around and wonders why God is not doing something. Well, God is doing something alright. God tells him that He is about to hand them over to their enemies. God has had enough of their disobedience. Uh-oh. They have gone too far this time. God is going to let those nasty Chaldeans, who make up their own laws, take them captive.
What is so tragic about this situation is that the Israelites are God’s chosen people. They were meant to be the Golden Child if you will. But they just couldn’t get it right. They would follow this awful pattern. They would do well for a little while, fall into sin, be warned, fail to heed the warnings, suffer severe punishment, cry out to God, be saved by God, and the whole pattern would repeat itself. This happened over and over again. They had been brought out of Egypt where they had been enslaved. God had brought them through the Red Sea and across the Jordan on dry land. God had fed them and guided them through the desert. But they just kept messing up. They grumbled and complained that God just wasn’t doing enough for them. They made idols to worship instead of God. They made God so angry. If you think about it, it kind of sounds like modern day USA.
While Habbukuk is telling God how bad things are, God is replying, “Yeah, you ain’t seen nothing yet. You are not going to believe what I’m about to do. Things are about to go from bad to worse.”
I don’t know about you, but I have lived as an Old Testament Israelite. I have wandered around in the desert for far too long. I have thought things were bad only to see them get much worse. That life is exhausting.
Often times people who find out that my mom, who has dementia, lives with me think that I must be going through such a hard time. I am blessed each and every day that I have with my mom and nothing warms my heart like seeing her smile, which she does often. But I can tell you what a hard time is. A hard time is when your sin separates you from God. A hard time is when you stray away from your creator. A hard time is when you live the life that He never intended for you to live. A hard time is when you are dumb enough to think you can straighten out the mess you have made all on your own. That’s a hard time my friend.
You see, when I was living that life, I had created my own personal little hell here on earth. My sin had separated me from God. When that happens, news flash-He can’t hear you! When we do this we build a barrier between us and Him (Isaiah 59:2). How stupid is that? How stupid must one be to allow their sin to get in the way of their relationship with the only One that can save them? It boggles the mind. But I went through a time in my life when I was just that stupid. I allowed my sin to separate me from God. I had all this turmoil going on and I just couldn’t understand why God didn’t rush in and fix it. I mean I believed in God. I loved God. I just didn’t love Him enough to trust in Him. I didn’t believe Him enough to believe that He could help me overcome my sinful behavior.
But finally, I got into church. Oh I had been going to church, but I got involved in church. I started attending every Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night. I was so hungry for God in my life. I began to not just read my Bible but study my Bible. I began to pray and pray often. And finally that little light went on. I finally realized that this was way too big for me. I needed God to straighten out this mess I had made. So, I cried out to Him. He fixed it all.
You see in our scripture passage today, Habukkuk was crying out, but the people were still sinning. They were refusing to let go of the sin in their lives so God was going to really show them what suffering was.
Are you crying out today? Does it seem as though God is not answering you? Does it seem that when you cry out it gets worse? Well, look at your life. Do you have sin that is separating you from God? If you do and you refuse to let it go, I can tell you from personal experience that it’s only going to get worse.
Turn to God, let go of your sin. Trust in Him to help you to turn away from the sin in your life. Give it all over to Him. You will be so glad you did. Our communities need to wake up, our states need an awakening and our country needs an awakening. It has to start somewhere, let it start with you. If not, things could get much worse.
Have a great day!