EXPLORE IT - Habakkuk 1:12-2:4

Our passage this week is the second of two questions from Habakkuk to God and a portion of God’s response back to Habakkuk.  Habakkuk’s second question refers back to God’s first response, when God announces that He will punish the Israelites by allowing the Babylonians to overtake them.  Habakkuk continues his lament, asking God, who’s character is holy and just, can provide a punishment which itself seems unjust. 

Habakkuk begins his psalm to God by relating to Him as “Yahweh” (the original Hebrew word for “O Lord” that appears twice in verse 12).  “Yahweh” is the name God used when He created a covenant relationship with the Israelites.  Habakkuk uses this name for God, beginning with this covenantal relationship in the forefront of his mind, knowing that the Israelites have a unique and special relationship with God.

The question Habakkuk raises to God is about the Babylonians.  While Habakkuk agrees that the sin of the Israelites must be addressed and punished, he struggles to understand how God could use an even more wicked entity, the Babylonians, to carry out the punishment.

God’s response to Habakkuk makes me think of the George Strait song, “Write This Down.”  God wants Habakkuk to “write this down, take a little note.”  Though, God’s message isn’t just for Habakkuk, God wants him to write it down so it can be shared with the masses, “that a herald may run with it” (2:2c).  God shares that Babylon too will fall…about 66 years after Habakkuk’s prophecy.  While the Babylonians will overtake the Israelites now and will be in exile for a time, there is still hope.  At an appointed time in the future there will be an end to Babylon and God will redeem the Israelites once more.

The Israelites are sinners and so are we.  God decided to use other sinners, the Babylonians, to punish the Israelites and help them to repent and eventually get back on track.  Sometimes God uses unGodly things and people to help us come to a point of repentance and to get us back on track.  We sometimes dismiss certain people or messages that come our way because “they’re not a Christian, that couldn’t have been from God,” but Isaiah 55:8 encourages us to remember that God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts.  God can use the Godly and the unGodly to speak to us…He’s God!

As you go throughout your week, keep your ears and eyes open to what God may be saying to you!  He may speak to you in ways you never anticipated!

Blessings,
Pastor Amy