The word of the Lord that came to the little known Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk, often has been found to echo in my head in recent months. Indeed, considering the times we are living in, I think you would do well to become acquainted with this prophet and his message, and give him a much needed hearing. Many consider his short book "fly over country," pausing only very briefly when coming across a passage that happens to be quoted a few times in the New Testament. Yet, I believe his message deserves much more attention than we have customarily given it.
Habakkuk's lived about a generation or two prior to the fall of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians in 586 B.C. He was a forerunner to the prophet Jeremiah, bearing a message that God had enough of the sin of Judah, and had ordained that in the not-too-distant future God would raise up the Chaldean people to invade Judah and destroy it. The prophet was astonished that God's threshing work would be done at the hands of a people more sinful, spiritually blind, and more deserving of judgment than those who were being judged. The prophet actually protested this word he received from the Lord, saying such simply was unfair and unjust. God assured Habakkuk that a day of reckoning would eventually come for the Babylonians. However, that would not absolve Judah from the punishment that they must receive.
The book closes with a highly emotional prayer that the prophet utters, in which Habakkuk truly has a revelation of God's righteousness in doing things this way. I have left out much of the prayer on purpose. I would encourage you to read it all when you can. But I want to draw your attention specifically to the following two verses:
Habakkuk 3:2 Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy... 16 I heard and my inward parts trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in my place I tremble. Because I quietly wait for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.
Habakkuk resigned himself to God's justice. Having heard God's report, a holy fear entered him. Many people today protest God's judgments, and some preachers today even pride themselves on not being "hell fire" preachers and the like. Such people don't know God as they ought. Habakkuk had this revelation that he did not know God as he ought. For once he truly "heard" the report of God, a change occurred in Habakkuk. No longer did he protest God's judgments as being unjust and unloving, but rather, his simple plea before the Lord became, "In wrath remember mercy!"
We need to be such a people that learn to "hear" the things we don't necessarily want to hear. For refusing to hear will leave one with an inadequate knowledge of the Holy. "That offends me!" Well good, the message was designed to do that. It is a message calculated to offend your sensibilities, likes, and dislikes. Our, "My God of love would never do that," attitude is a barrier that often keeps us from having a true knowledge of God.
Only when we come to the true place of "hearing" can we become God's spokesman. But what a horrible task one is given. The offended hearer must now become the offending messenger. You can be sure if the message offended you it will offend others. After all, you are a man just like any other. But, now that you are no longer the offended, you are in the place as God's messenger to patiently deal with those who are turned off and offended by the message. You are in the place to be an agent of mercy, as you can relate and sympathize with the fool who cannot receive such a message.
Perhaps that is why Habakkuk was reduced to a "God have mercy!" in his prayer. For he realized that his message was a bitter medicine for the man who would take it. And such a message would not be received without protest. But it is that very protest of offended men which puts them in danger of impending judgment. Men don't like the idea that they must be saved, let alone "saved from the wrath that is to come." God have mercy indeed! Lord, in your wrath remember mercy, for as you say, unless those days be shortened, no flesh would survive.
Jonathan Edwards' preached in his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," that men are suspended by a thin string in the air above the very pits of hell, and the only thing that keeps them from dropping in at any moment is God's grace and mercy. People today look back and scoff at Jonathan Edwards for being a crazed preacher who held too closely to puritanical ideals. Say what you want about that sermon, but I believe he was right in what he said. Not only was he right about such in relation to the eternal fate of men in regard to heaven and hell, but I believe what Habakkuk said and what Edwards said can be applied to the present state of America and the world, and the judgments the nations are presently experiencing.
That's right, I said it, America and the nations are currently experiencing judgment. You may or may not accept this thought. But I believe it to be of the Lord. You may want to explain the present situation away by various "natural factors." Sure, you can point to problems with the ways banks and nations do business with each other, and point the greed of capitalist nations, republicans, democrats, or whomever. Be aware though, that people have even offered "natural" explanations as to why Israel fell in 722 B.C. to the Assyrians, and why Judah fell in 586 B.C. to the Babylonians.
After all, Israel and Judah "just happened" to occupy the land most convenient for accessing Egypt, which is who the Assyrians and Babylonians were really interested in. Israel and Judah were, as some would say, just two of many nations standing in the way of the conquering armies of the North trying to go South to get the treasure they desired. "Such wasn't really the judgment of God," some say, but Israel and Judah just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.
But if you see things as God sees them, you will see these "natural factors" as merely manifestations of the judgment that is actually going on. Such is simply the outworking of what God is doing. Sadly though, many people do not see as God sees. Which makes the message we have been given as the Church all the harder to bear. They only see what is happening in the natural, but we must see what is happening in the spiritual.
Real economic factors are definitely at play. Real political factors are definitely at play. But much deeper than that, what we are seeing play out in America and the world right now is sinful men "receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error." (Romans 1:27) God's judgments are not merely reserved and stored up for some future great day of wrath, though, there certainly will be that. What we are seeing now are the preliminary judgments of God that precede that time. We are seeing the shaking of all things that can be shaken, as God's predestined plan unfolds before our very eyes.
But who can hear that? Tell that to the man who lost his job and is unable to find work to support his family. Tell that to the family who is being kicked to the curb because they fell behind on their housing payments. Tell that to the people who are dependent upon foreign aid from America in order eat or receive basic medical treatment, but are now unable to do so because monetary support has vanished. Tell that to the people who see their loved ones murdered before their very eyes during the days of violence that are ahead. Tell that to the people who are gripped by fear and are panicking from the things about to come upon the Earth.
God, in wrath remember mercy! But for those who are willing to receive it, the preliminary judgments of God are intended as a mercy. They are intended to awaken you and instruct the rest of the world in righteousness. "For when the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness" (Isaiah 26:9) And when we can accept these things, then will we only truly know God as He actually in fact is. God is seeking to instruct us. The question is, will we receive such instruction?
If there is any "hope" we can offer people in this world regarding the days ahead, it is this: that God does in fact remember mercy in judgment. As awful as things may get, all of God's judgments will be restrained to the degree they must be restrained in order to further His ultimate purposes. We read even in the book of Revelation that God's preliminary judgments do not kill everybody, nor do they destroy everything. He does restrain His hand, for as Peter said, He is willing that none should perish, but that all would have everlasting life.
Let us therefore, as much as possible, use the present times to reach out to the people within our sphere of influence, and educate them in the ways of God. Be prepared for such a message to deeply offend the sensibilities of many. But be prepared to deal with them patiently in the same manner which God has dealt with you. And if and when God awakens them, be prepared to lavish the rich grace you have received from the Lord upon them. For ultimately, our purpose is not to offer men hope in this world (though, that's not to say they will be devoid of such), but rather, our purpose is to offer men hope in the world that is to come. But they will not see that there is a world that is to come that they may hope in, unless they see that this world is presently under judgment, and is passing away. _________________ Jimmy H
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