When I was growing up, there were a number of times when a happy occasion was planned and then unexpectedly a sad event presented itself in close proximity. Our father told us that in the ways of God, He sometimes allows these two (that is, occasions of joy and sorrow) to be in juxtaposition to each other. At the time, I remember wondering why it should be so, as it seemed that it would keep one from entering fully into the joy as a result of its being tempered by the sorrow. Perhaps in the little book of Habakkuk we have an answer.
Habakkuk is somewhat unique as one of the minor prophets, in that he is not so much given a burden from the Lord to convey to a certain people, but rather he writes of a work that God did in his own soul as His servant. As the book opens, Habakkuk is crying out to the Lord, distressed by the violence, strife and contention that are mounting up among the people of God. The “law” (Scripture) seemed to carry no weight, and justice was not being executed, but rather the wicked were prevailing over the righteous. When a right judgment was sought, it was instead “perverted.” Isaiah 59:13-15 JND reads, “Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgment is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth stumbleth in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. And truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.” Do we not live in a time when speaking the truth seems to have no value, and instead deceit and open lying seem to be the order of the day? If some cry out against this injustice, they become a target.
The “Terrible and Dreadful”
God responds to Habakkuk’s distress at the state of His people by informing him that He is going to work an incredible work. He would raise to power a bitter and unpredictable people that would confiscate that which was not theirs. He describes them as “terrible and dreadful” — a people who would act without any reference to God. Because of their success, as raised up by God, but having no fear of Him, their power becomes their god. Does that sound familiar? Upon learning this, Habakkuk blurts out to the Lord, “Art Thou not from everlasting Jehovah my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. ... Wherefore lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and keepest silence when the wicked swalloweth up a man more righteous than he?” (Hab. 1:12-13 JnD). When such injustice and ungodliness seem to prosper and go unchecked, the believer’s faith and profession is tested. Habakkuk wondered the same: “Thou makest men as the fishes of the sea ... that have no ruler over them. ... He catcheth them in his net, and gathereth them into his drag” (Hab. 1:14-15 JND).
Appointed for Correction
In contemplating this, Habakkuk comes to the realization that God has allowed this empowerment of evil to arrest His people in their course and gain their attention. “Jehovah, Thou hast ordained him for judgment; and Thou, O Rock, hast appointed him for correction” (Hab. 1:12 JnD). In response to this, Habakkuk says, “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will look forth to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer as to my reproof” (Hab. 2:1 JnD). With the dramatic changes and developments that are occurring at present, it is easy to find ourselves searching the different news sources and being increasingly distraught by what we learn. Habakkuk realized the importance of being alone in solitude (“my watch”) as well as in an elevated vantage point of separation to the Lord (the tower), if he were going to learn the Lord’s specific message to him in what He was allowing. He also realized, as Job did, the importance of answering the Lord when receiving His reproof. “Then the Lord answered Job ... Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou Me” (Job 38:1,3). It was when Job, in brokenness, answered the Lord’s reproof that he gained the great blessing that God had for him.
The Lord instructs Habakkuk that his preservation will be to live by faith. Then He solemnly recounts the attitude and actions for which he is going to judge this world, each prefaced by the word “Woe.” They are as follows: (1) Going deeply into debt in order to obtain that which is beyond one’s means. (2) Acquiring wealth through unrighteous avenues in order to gain immunity from times of scarcity. (3) Sacrificing what is of real value in order to build up what is going to be burnt up. (4) Eating and drinking with the drunken. (5) Idolatry in all its subtle forms.
Intercession and Revival
In the seriousness of all this and knowing that the people of God had been affected by these very things, Habakkuk begins to intercede before God for His people (Hab. 3:1-2,13). Then a wonderful change comes about in Habakkuk’s soul, although nothing has changed in his circumstances. Having taken his sorrow to the Lord and, in quiet solitude, heard His voice and learned His heart and mind, he has found “rest in the day of distress.” The very working of God which had previously distressed him, he now requests that God would “revive,” knowing its glorious result. And while he awaits its sure completion (Hab. 2:3), he is emancipated from the fear of losing all that he habitually looked to for his sustenance. He finds his joy and rejoicing in the Lord and all that has been secured for him by the God of [his] salvation (Hab. 3:17-19).
Habakkuk begins with crying out in distress and ends with singing. Indeed, God does not place sorrow next to joy in order to detract from our joy, but rather that our naturally constricted hearts may be expanded to enter more into the “fullness of Him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:23). Habakkuk’s portion is open to every believer!
“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39).
R. Klassen Jr.