“Lo! Freedom weeps,/Wrong rules the land and waiting Justice sleeps.” Josiah Holland’s quote would have resonated with the prophet Habakkuk. His plea for justice came during the final days of the Assyrian Empire and the beginning of Babylon’s domination (seventh century bc). The object of Habakkuk’s concern, however, wasn’t the surrounding enemy nations but Judah itself (1:2-4). Those were dark days: Justice had disappeared, evil was rampant, and violence went unchecked. Habakkuk’s prayer for divine intervention was met with a surprising answer: God would send the Chaldeans to judge Judah (vv. 5-11) — no solution to the prophet’s dilemma. Judah was God’s covenant people; Lord, cleanse their sin and restore their righteousness. To use the Chaldeans to judge a nation more righteous than they added insult to injury. After all, wasn’t God on Judah’s side? Most of this prophecy is dialogue, even argument, between the prophet and his God. The exchange soon shifts from how God dealt with injustice to God’s character in light of His covenant with His people. This is a real theological conundrum. The argument reached its zenith when Habakkuk climbed the city’s watchtower in protest (2:1). I’ll come down when God has a satisfactory answer, he may have thought. And what was God’s answer? “The just shall live by his faith” (2:4, NKJV). This statement, twice quoted by Paul (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11), not only informed Habakkuk’s thinking but also has been used by the Holy Spirit to spark movements that significantly reshaped the church in history. Beyond inspiring the doctrine of justification by faith, Habakkuk 2:4’s application is that God is sovereign, which, rather than His temporal blessings, should be the true motivation of worship:
The tendency to serve God for material benefit has a reverse effect: We may be inclined to view such blessings as evidence of “favored-nation status” and guarantee of national security. That’s why modern Christians, especially in America, have much to learn from Habakkuk’s experience. These are dark days for our nation — “Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne” (James Russell Lowell). Enemies flex their nuclear muscles; terrorism looms. Is God on our side? Would He allow nations less righteous to judge the U.S. for its sins? God’s answer is no different than it was for this seventh century prophet. He is sovereign and will do what honors His cause. Meanwhile, we live by faith, trusting Him amid national and world conflicts. What ultimately happens is God’s business because history is “His story.” Instead of “Is God on America’s side?” the vital question is “Whose side is America on?” In answering the question “Where was God on September 11?” Anne Graham Lotz suggests that God was where secular culture put Him: out of our schools, out of our government, out of our businesses and system of values. God quietly backed away, removing His hand of protection. Thomas Jefferson once said, “I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that his justice cannot sleep forever.” A little godly fear and trembling might be in order these days, in the nation and in the church. — Whaid Guscott Rose * Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright ©1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group
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