November 4, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
If there is one question that all of humanity has in
common, that question may well be, “How am I going to live?” For, if we listen closely, we hear people
constantly asking this very question: “How am I going to live if I lose my
job?” “How am I going to live if I don’t
get the job I’m after?” “How am I going to live without that special ‘someone’
in my life?” “How am I going to live
until retirement with all these bills?”
“How am I going to be able to live in retirement if I can’t afford to
save?” “How am I going to live in
retirement when I’m on a fixed income and nothing else stays fixed?” For many people, this is an all consuming
question. It is one that keeps them up
late in to the night. For others it is a
question that they seldom worry about.
But for the Prophet Habakkuk, it was a question that he may not even
have realized that he was asking. Yet,
it was a question that the Lord answered when he told him, “The Righteous will
live by his faith.”
Now, when we meet Habakkuk in our lesson this
morning, he has a serious problem. He is
frustrated and upset by all the wickedness and evil that he saw around him day
after day. He couldn’t understand why he saw violence, destruction and
corruption everywhere he looked. He
couldn’t understand why the Lord seemed to allow the wicked to prosper while
the righteous were struggling to get by.
But on top of that, he was tired.
He was tired of living in a nation that had kings who continued to do
evil in the eyes of the Lord by actively worshiping false gods and goddesses
rather than worshiping the true God, and in his frustration he cries out to the
Lord. “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry
out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at
injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me;
there is strife, and conflict abounds." (Habakkuk 1:2–3, NIV84)
Though it may have seemed to Habakkuk that the Lord
was no longer listening, the Lord heard Habakkuk’s complaint. But when the Lord answered and revealed his
plans for Israel to Habakkuk, Habakkuk was quite surprised; for the Lord’s
answer was to prophesy that he was going to do away with the wickedness in
Israel by sending the Babylonians. He
was going to send the Babylonians, a people who were known for their ruthlessness,
a people who were know for their wickedness, a people who were known for their
destruction. The Lord was going to send
the Babylonians in to conquer Jerusalem, destroy it, and take the people off
into captivity. This didn’t make any
sense to Habakkuk, because he didn’t understand how the Lord could do away with
the wickedness and evil in Israel by sending a nation that was even more wicked
and evil to conquer them, destroy them, and lead them off into captivity.
Yet in the midst of Habakkuk’s confusion, the Lord
takes an opportunity to teach Habakkuk a very important lesson as he says,
“‘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, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—
but the righteous will live by his faith—" (Habakkuk 2:2–4, NIV84)
When Habakkuk heard this prophecy, he knew that it
would come true, because the Lord had declared it. Most naturally, Habakkuk
would have been afraid because the Babylonians were the most feared nation on
the earth. He knew that they would
destroy the city of Jerusalem just as they had destroyed every other city. But the lesson that Habakkuk learned through
this prophecy gave him strength and comfort; for he had learned that no matter
what happened, the righteous would live by his faith. Though the times were evil and they would
soon be getting much worse, Habakkuk had learned the lesson that the righteous
will live by his faith, and now that Habakkuk had learned this beautiful
lesson, his mission was to spread the news to the rest of the Israelites. It was his job to let them know that they did
not need to fear the coming destruction because God himself had promised that
the righteous will live by his faith.
Well, that lesson, which the Lord taught Habakkuk so
many years ago, is the same lesson that he is teaching us today, and what a
beautiful lesson it is for us to learn in these last days. Even though we might be separated from
Habakkuk’s time by nearly 3,000 years, the times in which we live in are not
much different than Habakkuk’s day. No
matter where we look, we see the results of sin on every side. We see violence and destruction and
corruption wherever we look. Like
Habakkuk, we are living in a nation that is falling farther and farther away
from the true God each and every day. We
are living in a land where many of our leaders have openly lived immoral lives
and yet received overwhelming support from their continuants. We are living in a land that has been
actively pushing God out of the picture every chance it gets.
We are living in a world where Evolution is taught
as a fact. We are living in a world
where absolute truth is no longer valued as more and more people seek to find
their own truth in this world. We are
living in a world where more and more people are claiming to be Christian, yet
fewer and fewer of those claiming to be Christian see any value in growing in
their faith or even revealing their faith through their lives. We are living in a world where we are
continually seeing an increase in the number, scope, and ferocity of violent
crimes. We are living in a world whose
lust for blood is on the rise, as movies add bloodier, gorier, and more
horrific scenes than ever before. We are
living in a time when violence is a way of life, because it is all around
us! Even here in Le Sueur, there are
certain times when we would do better to stay off the roads because of the
violent ways in which people drive! Add
to that the fact that we are only days away from election day and candidates
and their supporters are fighting tooth and nail to discredit their competitors
and gain as many last minute votes as possible.
Just like Habakkuk, we are living in troubled times
that often caused us to cry out with Habakkuk, “How long, O LORD, must I call
for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not
save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict
abounds." (Habakkuk 1:2–3, NIV84)
Just like Habakkuk, there are many Christians, even
faithful Christians who have been tempted to give up, throw in the towel, and
simply live like the unbelievers. Just
like Habakkuk, each and every one of us has found ourselves at the end of our
rope, angry with God and crying out to him, asking him why he allows the wicked
to get away with so much while we who believe in him have to suffer and endure
so much. Each and every one of us has
been to that point that we were ready to simply throw our hands up to God and
say, “I give up!” Yet it is in those
very moments when the Holy Spirit whispers to us those beautiful words of
comfort: “Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not
delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous
will live by his faith—" (Habakkuk 2:3–4, NIV84)
Though at first glance these words might not seem
all that comforting, when we take even just a slightly closer look at them, we
realize that with these words, the Lord is reminding us of all that he has
done. Though we are not waiting for the
judgment of the Babylonians against the sinful nation of Israel, we are waiting
for the judgment of the Lord Christ against the sinful-unbelieving peoples of
this world. For on that day, our Lord
Jesus will separate the believers from the unbelievers as easily as a shepherd
separates sheep from goats. On that day,
we who have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior, will be recognized as his
people made sinless through faith in the one who gave his life to free us from
our sins and evil. On that day, we will
hear our Savior welcome us to the kingdom he has prepared for us—not because we
had earned it in any way, but because he loved us and freed us from our sins by
his own blood. On that day, the Lord our
God will declare that we are his holy and righteous people through faith in
Jesus Christ, and will lead us to his heavenly home were we will live with him
forever because of the faith instilled in our hearts by his Son.
Though it may linger, wait for it, because through
faith you have been declared righteous.
Through faith, you will live.
Though it may be a long time in coming, know that the Last Judgment will
come. Though it may not appear during
our lifetime, we can take comfort that we, who are righteous by faith in Jesus
Christ our Savior, we will live at our Savior’s side for all eternity. Though we have all had days like Habakkuk, we
can take comfort in the life of righteousness that is ours through faith. Though it still may seem that the Lord is
doing nothing to hinder the evil of this world, we know that he is prolonging
this world so that even those who are evil might have ample time to turn from
their evil ways and live. Thus we can
take comfort in the Lord’s promises and our knowledge that once made, they will
be kept!
What a comfort!
What a comfort, indeed, to learn the lesson which the Lord is teaching
to us as he taught to Habakkuk nearly 3,000 years ago. What a comfort it is to know that the
Righteous will live by his faith! For it
is faith in Jesus Christ our Savior through which we live as his children here
on earth, and will live as his children forever in heaven. Though there may
still be some in this world who think of this kind of living as difficult as
living on a fixed income, we know that it is the richest living in all the
world. Though here on earth we may seem
to be the poorest of the lot, as we look forward to the day of our retirement,
we take comfort in the wealth of the riches of our Savior’s home of glory, in
which we will live forever through faith in Jesus Christ our Savior.
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace EvangelicalLutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
