An Evolution of Hope
Thursday, 18 June 2009 18:50 | Written by Barry Bryson | 
| 
| 
I heard, and I trembled inside. My lips quivered at the sound, decay entered my bones, and I shake where I stand – because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the invading peoples to arise.
Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit on the vines. Though the yield of the olive should fail, and the fields produce no food. Though the flock should be cut off from the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls. Yet I will exult in the Lord. I rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He has made my feet like hinds feet, and enables me to walk on my high places.
Habakkuk 3:16-19
1. How encouraging this passage is. It seems each day that another 50,000 jobs are eliminated, and we have come to accept it. Where will it all end? Our national debt is higher than it has ever been, and is climbing. Are we sinking into another depression? The benevolence calls into our office have increased sevenfold – so far we have managed to keep pace (barely), but what will happen if this keeps up? What will happen if our Church family starts taking devastating losses? So many have already lost so much out of their retirement accounts – so many have lost their homes. This passage is a reminder that no matter what happens, God will see us through it.
2. This passage is not encouraging at all. God will see us through tough times, yes, but He doesn’t promise that we will avoid them. The whole point is that, for the prophet, judgment is inevitable. It must be endured, and it will be severe. If these tough times are indeed judgment upon us it is just judgment. We have been wasteful, greedy and thankless to an almost unimaginable degree. If it is not judgment, so much as chickens coming home to roost, what right do we have to ask God to allow us to avoid these tough times? If there is to be no avoidance of them, where is the encouragement?
3. This passage is really discouraging. It is natural to think that the tough times we are going through are addressed directly by the passage. It is natural to think this is all (like everything else) about us. But the prophet is facing certain deportation, the destruction of his city, his nation, the separation of families, the death of many, the torture of some, the starvation of others. The world is still filled with these things. Genocide, starvation, displacement of populations – these are happening on every continent. We, however, will continue to eat, to drink potable water, to sleep in warm beds. Isn’t it the height of narcissism to assume that God has nothing better to do than to arrange for us to keep luxuries we couldn’t afford to begin with, when so many are truly suffering?
4. And yet - if God can see the prophet through the toughest of times, he will have no problem seeing us through less tough times. He is God, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent. It isn’t like he has to prioritize the help he gives. He doesn’t have a fixed bank account. He never robs Peter to pay Paul. He knows when each sparrow falls to the ground. He has numbered the very hairs of our heads. The fact that such confidence is possible, through Him, in the face of the most severe trial means that that confidence is certainly present in a lesser trail. This is truly an encouraging passage.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
