A Modern Woman's Perspective On The Kingdom of God on Earth


May 20, 2012

Habakkuk 3:17-18

"Though the fig tree does not bud
and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
and no cattle in the stalls.
YET I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD,
I WILL BE JOYFUL IN GOD MY SAVIOR."


     Habakkuk is a little known prophet of the Old Testament, but he happens to be one of my favorites.  He was a contemporary of Jeremiah, a REAL favorite of mine, and legend has it that he ministered to the needs of Daniel when that notable prophet found himself in the lion's den.  This can't be historically proven, but it's a nice image, isn't it?
     Habakkuk prophesied about the coming Babylonian invasion, when King Nebuchadnezzar invaded Judah and ransacked Jerusalem, destroying the First Temple in 586 BC.  
     Like us, Habakkuk struggled to understand God's ways.  He wrestled with trying to understand why wickedness, strife and oppression were rampant in his country, yet God seemingly did nothing about it. When God revealed to him that He was preparing to do something about it through the "ruthless" Babylonians, Habakkuk's perplexity only deepened.  
     He cried out, "Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong;" and then asked, "Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?  Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?"  In essence, he was asking why would you allow the wicked Babylonians to destroy your favored people?
     God makes it clear that He will eventually deal with the wicked in His own time, and in His own ways; Habakkuk must rest in His assurances.  The opening verses of this post reflect the prophet's peace in his circumstances and his worshipful response.
     Like Habakkuk, I sometimes look around me, and the wickedness of the world weighs heavy.  Since 1973, there have been approximately 50,000,000 abortions in the U.S.  Don't you think those souls are crying out for justice?  The US State Department reports that approximately 300,000 American children are at risk for the sex trafficking trade.  Pornography, greed, rape, murder..... the list goes on and on.  As the world speeds toward utter chaos, debauchery and evil, I am sometimes overcome with hopelessness.  
     And when I contemplate what our immediate future may hold; what a failed economy, civil unrest and religious persecution might look like, I, too struggle with God's ways.
     But in those darkest moments, my soul longs for comforting words from the Holy Spirit; promises that justice will be served to the wicked and God's goodness and mercy will reign supreme.  And I realize that even if the worst happens and we are struggling with daily survival, God will still be on the throne.  He will be in charge.  Evil will be punished and my faith will be rewarded.  And like Habakkuk, I will shout out my confession of Trust and Joy in the Lord!

2 comments:

  1. I'm enjoying your posts and want to thank you for taking time to warn people.

    I also felt led to tell you that God really does mete out justice. I have seen it in my own life recently! It went to the point that I was feeling sorry for my enemy. Also, it may not be the way we want it to happen, but it will be better than that because it will be His perfect will. His ways are not our ways because he sees the thoughts and intents of hearts. We have to try not to wish evil upon our enemies even though it's natural to. We don't know their motives, and if we knew what God knew about the situation, we may decide that we don't want anything else to happen to our enemies because they've had enough happen to them already, or maybe they don't really deserve it after all. We don't know.

    Great blog, I'm glad I had it bookmarked!

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  2. Believe me, I KNOW that God's Justice is real .... and very much deserved! His wrath is coming and I so want people to repent of their sinful ways and accept the salvation that comes through Christ. I have decided not to worry about how God's Justice will be apportioned. It is not up to me to try to figure that out, or know His mind. Instead, I will pray that their hearts are changed, because I don't want to see anybody suffer His wrath. But it will be justified and we all have the ability to make the right choices. In the meantime, I'm going to try to warn everyone I know to get right with God and hang on!

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