Habakkuk’s Conclusion
In the opening verse to chapter 2 we actually have the concluding
thought to Habakkuk’s second complaint to God.
Here Habakkuk says that he will stand as a watchman and see what the
Lord has to say in response to his complaint.
Some have taken this statement to be an arrogant statement where
Habakkuk has positioned himself in opposition to God. I do not see it this way. Rather, I see this as a position of
humbleness. Habakkuk recognizes that he
has put up a complaint for God to hear and now he is humbling himself and
waiting for a response. In fact, I
believe it actually demonstrates that Habakkuk assumes the Lord will
respond. He is waiting – watching even! –
for a response. One does not post a
watch for something that one assumes will never come.
Furthermore, notice that Habakkuk’s complaint is not an
opportunity for him to lose faith. Yes,
Habakkuk has issues with the world. Yes,
Habakkuk is confused as to why God desires to work through the godless
Babylonians. But that does not cause
Habakkuk to lose faith. It causes
Habakkuk to realize his own shortfalls and therefore his need to wait upon the
Lord.
God’s Second Reply
God begins his reply with a reminder to Habakkuk that there is a
time and a place for everything. God
knows all that Habakkuk has said, and He will deal with it. God reminds Habakkuk that patience is
absolutely necessary. When we think
about this comment from the perspective of history, this is especially
profound. You see, most of the people
living in Habakkuk’s day would live to see Jerusalem fall to the
Babylonians. But the majority of them
would not live to see the return of the Jews under Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and
Ezra. When God says to be patient, He is
asking Habakkuk to have a patience that extends beyond his lifetime. When you think about it, that’s a very
profound request. I applaud Habakkuk for
being able to hear it, realize it, and understand it.
God reminds Habakkuk of an incredible quote: the righteous shall
live by faith. In contrast, the
Babylonians are arrogant (puffed up).
They are not upright. They are
drunkards. They are never at rest –
implying many things but the most important of which is that they never take
time to listen to God! They are
greedy. They trust in the pledges of
other men rather than turning to God.
They will use any means for personal gain. They are violent. Yes, the righteous shall live by faith. God tells Habakkuk that He is well aware that
the Babylonians are nowhere near close to being righteous.
As a result of their unrighteousness, God promises that the
Babylonians will be consumed by their debtors.
He says that those they have plundered will plunder them. God promises that they will be consumed by
the remnants of the peoples that they could not destroy in all of their power. Again we see God reassuring Habakkuk that He
has the situation under control.
Habakkuk may not live to see the day, but that doesn’t mean that the
Lord doesn’t have the situation under control.
Knowledge Of The Lord Will Fill The Earth:
The Lord promises that He Himself will be the avenger of the
Hebrew people and the other nations that the Babylonians have consumed. The cup for the Babylonians is in the right
hand of God the Almighty. They shall
surely not avoid drinking it. Who can
ever hope to avoid the judgment that comes from the Lord?
Furthermore, this is a reminder to those of us who feel oppressed from
time to time. Which one of us has God
appointed to bring His wrath? Does not
the Lord say that vengeance is His? We
need to be patient and allow God to be our vindication rather than taking
matters into our own hands. It is the
glory of the Lord that will fill the earth, not my own personal glory.
The thrust of truly obedient living can actually be found in the
last verse of this chapter. “The Lord is
Holy in His temple and the earth should be silent before Him.” It is God who fills us. It is God who is in charge. It is God who is in dominion of the place in
which we reside. We can make no idols
superior to our Creator. Who among us
can give life to anything, much less create something out of nothing?
Since God is completely and fully in charge, He is making an
absolute point to Habakkuk. It is not as
though God is uninterested in helping the Hebrew people. Rather it is God who is letting the people of
the earth reveal their true character through their actions so that He can
honestly judge them. It is God who
created us and thus stands in judgment over us.
We cannot stand in judgment over the “gods” just because we think that
we have created them.
In this sense we see God coming full circle to where He
began. The righteous will live by
faith. God is allowing us to demonstrate
our character through our deeds.
Habakkuk has wondered how it is that God can tolerate and even work
through the Babylonians. God replies
that He alone is sovereign. God is
simply giving the Babylonians rope because he wants them to see for themselves that
with enough rope the Babylonians will just end up hanging themselves. That is the course of human nature. Success brings reliance upon ourselves. Reliance upon ourselves brings ignorance of
God. Ignorance of God brings about
hardship, woe, and a culture that is in need of God’s corrective hand.
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