Word Live: Silence Please
In this moment, we move away from our usual routines and keep silent. As I become aware of my breathing, so too do I welcome the Lord’s gracious presence. I ask him to open the eyes of my heart as I open his Word.
Bible passage
Habakkuk 2:2–20
The Lord’s answer
2 Then the Lord replied:
‘Write down the revelation
and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald may run with it.
3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end
and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
it will certainly come
and will not delay.
4 ‘See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright –
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness –
5 indeed, wine betrays him;
he is arrogant and never at rest.
Because he is as greedy as the grave
and like death is never satisfied,
he gathers to himself all the nations
and takes captive all the peoples.
6 ‘Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying,
‘“Woe to him who piles up stolen goods
and makes himself wealthy by extortion!
How long must this go on?”
7 Will not your creditors suddenly arise?
Will they not wake up and make you tremble?
Then you will become their prey.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
the peoples who are left will plunder you.
For you have shed human blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
9 ‘Woe to him who builds his house by unjust gain,
setting his nest on high
to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples,
shaming your own house and forfeiting your life.
11 The stones of the wall will cry out,
and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.
12 ‘Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed
and establishes a town by injustice!
13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined
that the people’s labour is only fuel for the fire,
that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
15 ‘Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbours,
pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,
so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory.
Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed!
The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming round to you,
and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
and your destruction of animals will terrify you.
For you have shed human blood;
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
18 ‘Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman?
Or an image that teaches lies?
For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
he makes idols that cannot speak.
19 Woe to him who says to wood, “Come to life!”
Or to lifeless stone, “Wake up!”
Can it give guidance?
It is covered with gold and silver;
there is no breath in it.’
20 The Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him.
Holy Bible, New International Version® Anglicized, NIV® Copyright © 1979, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Explore
God replies to Habakkuk’s second complaint – and you can almost sense the prophet’s disappointment growing. Maybe he’d hoped for better news, a sweeter pill to swallow; that God would relent and speak soothingly. Instead he hears five woes that will be spoken by the Babylonians against the people of Judah.
In God’s strange providence he’s going to use a brutal and godless imperial army to alert his own people to their need to repent. No wonder the passage ends with a command to keep silent (v 20). It brings to mind Frank Cotterell Boyce’s 2008 play The Trial of God, where a group of rabbis in Auschwitz put God on trial. Based on a real experience reported by holocaust survivor Ellie Wiesel, God is found guilty of breaking his own covenant with Israel. Having pronounced judgement, the play ends in the most poignant way. The men rearrange their kippahs and prayer shawls and start praying. Faced with the mystery of suffering and loss, prayer and silence are the only response left.
Author
Gethin Russell-Jones
Respond
God is looking for faith in our lives (v 4), so we name him as Lord over our lives, the world, space and time. And we keep silent in the mystery of his presence.
Deeper Bible study
Make this your prayer: ‘May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope’.1
Have you ever been in a situation where you are expecting a severe reproof (perhaps from a teacher, or a boss) and instead you’ve been offered some surprising encouragement? Much to his surprise, this was what God’s reply to Habakkuk was – a vision of hope that the prophet must write for future generations (vs 2,3). The vision contrasts the righteous, saved by faith, with the resolutely proud and haughty, who will be condemned (vs 4,5). God assured Habakkuk that he would finally demonstrate his righteousness and vindicate it in faithful people.
Verses 6–20 describe God’s ridicule of the proud and haughty – the Chaldeans – in a series of five mocking statements.2 God may be using them as judgement on Israel, but he will punish them as well. Certain verses stand out for us: verse 14 reminds us that whatever may be going on in the world today, whatever tragedies and horror, one day all will know the glory of the Lord. We don’t know how or when, but God will have the last word: those who have mocked him will one day have to answer for their words and actions. Then, after a blistering mockery of idols who are silent and lifeless (vs 18,19), we have verse 20, which should lead us into worship and adoration: ‘The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.’
So from bewilderment and a sense of severe injustice, via honest and frank prayer, Habakkuk comes to receive God’s encouragement and finds himself worshipping him. We shall read his inspiring prayer tomorrow.
Spend time worshipping God. Remember that, despite the chaos, he is in control of the world’s history and will one day vindicate his faithful people. Be encouraged!
1Rom 15:13 2 For details, see O Palmer Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, Eerdmans, 1990, p185ff
Author
Vivien Whitfield
