Text:
Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4
W
19th Sunday after Pentecost Inquiring Minds Want to Know Dear
friends in Christ: Grace, mercy, and
peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. There were some particularly disturbing
reports in the news this last week. For
example, as I was beginning to think about what I’d be saying to you today, we
heard about a mother who drowned her two daughters in the bathtub. The poor little girls were only two and four
years old. And apparently their mother
killed them with cold calculation and no feelings of remorse whatsoever. It’s hard to fathom. At the same time we were hearing about a
manhunt out west for a creep who filmed himself sexually abusing a three year
old. What kind of monster could even think
of such a thing much less act upon it? I
mean, there’s evil, and there is Evil with a capital “E”; and surely we’d agree
that such crimes directed against children fall into the latter category. And what’s most disturbing about reports like
these is how common they’re becoming. Hardly
a week goes by when we don’t hear about a school shooting, or a kidnapping, or a
severe case of neglect or abuse, or some other equally malicious act of violence
against a child somewhere in the nation.
And of course the reason we hear these stories is because news agencies
know that they attract our attention. We
get really upset when a child is a victim.
The sad truth is that reporters know we’re almost numb to the many more violent
crimes being committed against others because we’re so used to hearing about
them. But even though older victims are perceived
as being better able to defend themselves and less innocent than children, I
don’t imagine that they suffer any less. Just the
same, it’s the exceptionally sad and tragic cases that affect us most. We more readily sympathize with the victims
and burn with anger at the perpetrators.
And for we who are people of faith, they are the kind of news reports
that provoke in us the question, “Why?” Why does God, whom we know to be loving and good allow people to commit such horrible crimes? If he
is all powerful, as we believe he is, then why doesn’t he stop them? And why does he allow innocent people to be
the victims? If he is the defender of
the helpless and the refuge of the oppressed, as he claims, then why isn’t he
doing anything? Setting aside for the
moment the question of the origin of evil – which would be another sermon based
on a different text – and acknowledging that evil things with a capital E are being
done, why does the Lord allow them to continue?
And why does it seem that more often than not the people who do these
evil things get away with their crimes? We are
hardly the first people in history with the kind of inquiring minds that want
to know. A burden of questions exactly like
these weighed heavily on the mind of Habakkuk the prophet. He lived in the waning days of the And unfortunately
the church, the one institution that should have been speaking out against all
this abuse of power, was no help. In
fact, some of the worst perpetrators of these crimes were high ranking priests
and religious authorities; after all, they were some of the richest people
around. And they made themselves even
richer by turning the Now, we don’t know exactly who the prophet
Habakkuk was, because he doesn’t tell us.
However it’s been thought that he was likely a low ranking member of the
priestly class. If so, we might think of
him as a young pastor just out of seminary, brimming over with faith in the One
True God and a heavy dose of youthful idealism.
He is eager to serve the Lord by faithfully serving his people. But when he gets to his first call and sees
how the world really works, his eyes are opened. He sees the And it’s
from this posture that he looks up to the Lord of heaven and pours out his
complaint. “I don’t get it Lord. Why are you letting this go on? How long do I have to cry out to you before
you’ll listen? Why aren’t you doing
anything? How long will you see the
violence and injustice that your people are being made to suffer before you’ll do
something to save them?” One thing we
can say for sure about Habakkuk is that he was persistent in his prayer. Most of us give up all too easily in those
times when things are bad and God seems to be silent. When we don’t get an immediate response, we
assume that the Lord doesn’t care, or that he won’t do anything, or that maybe
he’s not even there at all. Not
Habakkuk. He says to the Lord, “I know
you’re up there, and I know that you can hear me. And I’m going to stand here like a watchman
on guard duty until you give me an answer.” And the
Lord who rewards faithfulness in his people did answer Habakkuk. His initial response is recorded in the
latter part of the first chapter of the prophet’s writings which we did not
read this morning. But if you’ll allow
me to summarize, what the Lord says there is this: “Relax, Habakkuk; I’ve got it all under
control. You’ll be happy to know that I am
even now in the process of delivering my faithful people and bringing those
responsible for their misery into judgment.
And let me tell you how I’m going to do it, because it’ll blow your
socks off when you hear” [yes, that’s a bit of a paraphrase]. The Lord tells Habakkuk, “You could never
have imagined it, not even in your wildest dreams, but I’m going to bring the
much feared and hated armies of Hearing
this answer caused Habakkuk’s lower jaw to hit the floor. From his perspective, it was like he was
complaining about flies in his house and the Lord’s response was to tell him that
he was going to send over a platoon of infantry armed with a flamethrower and a
crate of hand grenades to deal with the problem. However wicked the people making life
miserable for God’s faithful were, the Babylonians were ten times worse. They were merciless in their conquests, and
they ruled the nations they subjugated with terror tactics. They would routinely order mass executions;
making examples of those they killed by torturing them to death slowly. And on top of it all, of course, the
Babylonians were idol worshipping, Gentile, pagans. At least the present leaders and nobles of
Judah, the ones afflicting the people, were of God’s chosen race. At least they paid lip service to the Lord. At the public religious festivals and what
not at least they outwardly claimed to acknowledge and worship him. It didn’t make any sense to
Habakkuk. How could the holy, perfect,
and righteous God fight evil among his own people by the hands of people who
were in every way even more evil? Evil
with a capital E, if you will. And how
would that make things any better for the oppressed? I mean, if things are bad for them now, then
how much worse will conditions be for them under the Babylonians? Armed with these new questions, Habakkuk went
back to his guard post of prayer to inquire of the Lord again. “Thanks for finally giving me an answer; but
I don’t like what said. Can you explain
this to me? How is it that you who are
holy, you for whom the tiniest sin is an outrage, how can you use that which is
evil to accomplish your good and perfect will?” We heard the Lord’s answer to Habakkuk,
and what he says is essentially this: “Write this down, and use big letters so that
everyone can see. I want this message to
be spread around. My plan of salvation for
my faithful people is unfolding exactly according to my timetable. It’s moving forward as it should and it will
certainly be fulfilled precisely as I have ordained. You can count on it. Even though it seems to you like I’m slow in
doing what I have promised, hang in there.
It will surely come. It won’t be
put off indefinitely.” And then he concludes with what are
some sharp words of rebuke for the prophet:
“Look at you, your soul is puffed up with pride and it’s all bent and
twisted inside you; but the righteous will live by his faith.” What he’s saying is this: You act
as if you think you know it all, that you can see the big picture. You see people suffering from injustice and the
sins of others and then have the audacity to accuse me of falling down on my
job. And then when I tell you how I’m
going fix things, you think you can tell me that the way I’m going to do it is
all wrong. Well, let me remind you of a
few of the basics: I am the Lord, not
you. And I really do know what’s going
on. You don’t; you only think you do. I also know what is best for each and every
person living on the face of the earth, and that’s precisely what I give
them. And all things ultimately serve my
good and holy will, yes, even the sins of the wicked. To those who need hardship and suffering in
their lives to keep them faithful, I give hardship. To those who are in sin and unbelief, I
provide opportunities for them to repent and turn to me – which necessarily
means that I don’t instantaneously destroy them every time they do something
wrong. I know what I’m doing; and even
though you seem to think so, I’m not making any mistakes. You can be sure of this: all my faithful will be saved, and every sin
will be punished. In the end you will
see. Both my love and my justice will
prevail. Your part in all this is to
trust me. Indeed, your trust in me and
my loving care despite what you see and experience is how I count you righteous
in my sight. You are righteous when you
put your faith in me. The Lord didn’t need Habakkuk to tell
him how to do his job. And what he did
in the end was truly remarkable. He
brought in the Babylonians just as he said he would. They overthrew the wicked rulers of And that should not surprise us because
we know the rest of the story. All of
this we’ve looked at so far today is only a foreshadowing of the much greater deliverance
that was yet to come, when the Lord would use evil rulers and corrupt religious
leaders to carry out the greatest injustice in all of human history. They condemned and killed Jesus Christ, the Son
of God, who was the only truly innocent person who ever lived. There has never been nor will there ever be a
worse crime – and yet what men meant for evil, God meant for good; for through
the innocent suffering and death of his Son, the Lord God brought salvation to
sinners who repent of their sins and trust in Jesus. There, on the cross, God saw to it that every
sin ever committed was punished in his Son so that those who put their trust in
him will be saved. In him both God’s
love and his justice prevail. And in him
we live before God righteous by faith. And believing this, as we do, changes
the way we look at all the evil in the world around us. Not that we suddenly perceive it as good
because through it the Lord accomplishes his will; no, evil is still evil. It’s bad.
It’s rather that we, when confronted by evil, don’t use it as an
occasion to accuse the Lord of falling down on his job, or of not caring for
his people, or of not being just.
Instead, we should see it as a call to greater faith in Jesus – to trust
in him even though we cannot see or imagine what good the Lord is accomplishing
by it. We should see it also as an
opportunity for us to show the love and compassion of our Savior for the
victims. And finally, remembering the
prayer of our Lord to forgive them because they do no know what they’re doing,
we should see the evil we suffer at the hands of others as opportunities to
extend to them the same forgiveness that we have received in Jesus. May God our Father use every means at his
disposal to work in us such a complete and holy faith in Christ Jesus our
Lord. In his holy name. Amen. Soli Deo Gloria! |