Word Live: Questions And Answers
Waiting is an inevitable part of life. It’s also an important aspect of spirituality. We wait for God in prayer and worship. In the silence now, we give ourselves to him and await his voice.
Bible passage
Habakkuk 1:12 – 2:1
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
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 people like the fish in the sea,
like the 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 drag-net;
and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
and burns incense to his drag-net,
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?
2 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.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
The first two chapters of this book employ a question-and-answer technique. Unlike many of the other prophets, this is not a conversation between prophet and people but between prophet and God. The prophet complains, and waits for God’s reply. But it’s not a welcome response. He accuses God of tolerating national corruption, only to be told that the Babylonians are being raised up to punish the people of Judah (1:6).
This leads to Habakkuk’s second complaint: why is God using a wicked nation who will relentlessly punish people who are more righteous than they are (v 13)? God is turning a blind eye to the brutality of the Babylonians,
knowing what the impact will be. And having voiced his anger, the prophet waits. It makes for uncomfortable reading: Habakkuk’s desperate questions (v 17) and God’s seemingly hard, unyielding answers.
God’s ways are always redemptive in the long run even though they are often baffling to those living through them. This is surely exemplified in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. The bleak dereliction of the cross gives way to the glory of the risen king.
Author
Gethin Russell-Jones
Respond
‘My soul waits for the LORD more than those who wait for the morning’ (see Psalm 130:6, ESV). Use these words to come before the Lord.
Deeper Bible study
‘Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.’1 Meditate on this promise before God.
When I was a child, my mother used to encourage me to share how I felt about things. Her stock phrase was ‘I’ve got broad shoulders’. She could take what I said, however bad it seemed, and it wouldn’t change our relationship one whit. She was always there, even if I ranted and raved.
God has broad shoulders, too! Most of the prophets take Israel to task for not fulfilling their covenant obligations. Habakkuk takes God to task for (apparently) not fulfilling his! God had promised to protect his people and act for them,2 but here he is doing the opposite! He is bringing a cruel, godless army to attack his special, chosen people! How come? The second question that tormented Habakkuk was that the Chaldeans, God’s means of judgement, were even worse than Israel. How is it, he asks, that God is ‘silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves’ (v 13)? Furthermore, they will do so in a barbarous manner (vs 14–17). Will this go on for ever, he asks (v 17). He then waits to see how God will reply to this extremely serious complaint.
I love Habakkuk’s daring directness with God. His frankness illustrates his very real relationship with God and his continued trust despite what he knows lies ahead and despite the fact that he feels it’s very unfair. It is a wonderful thing that we can be really honest in prayer. We don’t need to pretend. We can express the hurt, the bewilderment, the despair that we feel, especially when we sense that God is silent, that he seems not to care, that he allows things to get worse instead of better.
Are there things that God is allowing in your life that seem very unfair? Talk it through with him honestly, remembering that he has broad shoulders!
1 1 Pet 5:7 2 Cf Hos 11:1–4
Author
Vivien Whitfield
