Quote for the Day
“O Lord, are you not from everlasting?”
Today's Prayer
This week pray that God will allow those traveling to ask the tough questions. Pray that those traveling will not only ask the questions, but will prepare themselves for the answers God will provide.
Habakkuk 1:11-2:1
Habakkuk 1:11-2:1 (NIV)11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler.15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?Habakkuk 21 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
Message
Just as we are shocked by the comments and actions of God in last week’s passage, so is Habakkuk. These guys are even WORSE than in terms of righteousness. These are the REALLY bad guys. How can you use the thoroughly rotten guys to bring justice to the merely bad guys? This is the question Habakkuk asks in verse 13, “Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” It does not make sense to Habakkuk, and it does not seem to make sense to us. Habakkuk questions God on His methods but also correctly waits for an answer from God (chapter 2, verse 1,”I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.”) This is the way God wants our relationship with Him to be. Yes, He wants us to question this world we live in. He also, though, wants us to wait for an answer and listen to it when He speaks. He also wants us to understand that our relationship is with HIM and based in HIM and not others.