Home, Radio Preachers, and Habakkuk

Ah... Home!  There's nothing like being able to rest in a place of comfort and love after a long and hard semester. 

As I was driving back to the Sooner State after my finals, I decided to listen to the radio instead of my CD's.  I pressed the scan button, and found a Christian radio station that was in the Bott Radio network (BRN), a nation-wide evangelical Protestant radio ministry.  When I drive the I-44 corridor, I am usually able to find a number of stations that carry this network, and I enjoy getting to listen to the preachers discuss various Scripture passages.  It's oftentimes very enlightening, and I am always impressed by their knowledge of the Word of God.  I may disagree with them at times, especially when the eschatological sermons come on the air, but you've got to respect their abilities and their genuine love for Christ.

One of the sermons was on the Old Testament book of Habakkuk, namely the final chapter (3).  I enjoyed listening to the preacher preach about this minor prophet, relating him to our own times.  This made me want to share with you this wonderful book -- short, but so pertinant to us, especially in the times when we struggle with seemingly hopeless situations.

Habakkuk lived just prior to, and possibly during, the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.  The book is rather short, but it speaks of oppression and a shaken faith; a faith that has been tested by the onslaught of the enemies of the People of Israel, and yet has not failed.

The book begins with the lament of the prophet: "O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?  Or cry to you 'Violence!' and you will not save?" (1:2)  This plea speaks of human frailty and, I think beautifully, implies the firm faith of the prophet in the never-failing assistance of God.  Think about it; why would Habakkuk have even bothered to cry out to the LORD if he had no precedent, no trust in the abilities of the God of Jacob?  Indeed, he makes this point in verse 12 of the same chapter: "Are you not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?  We shall not die."

This lament is followed by God's reply to the prophet.  It is a reply of consolation, but not the consolation that is necessarily desired.  "... the righteous shall live by his faith(fulness)." (2:4)  The rest of the prophecy speaks of the evil of those who do not follow God's commands, how they will be "sated with contempt instead of glory," (2:16) yet it only ends with one real consolation:"But the LORD is in his holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before him." (2:20)  While this is a showing of God's fidelity to Israel -- that He remains in his temple, and therefore with His people -- it appears almost superficial and a even shallow, like the depths of a reflection pool.  It does not speak much of God's Righteous wrath, but rather of the self-imposed struggles that come with a life that is not upright in the Eyes of God.

This hollow answer shakes Habakkuk, and his anxiety is expressed in his prayer to God in the final chapter.  In desperation, he pleas to God: "In the midst of the years renew (your work); in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy." (3:2) It is as if Habakkuk is trying to entice the LORD to work great wonders, and make His Presence felt as He had so magnificently in ages passed.  Habakkuk is fearful for the future of his country, for the future of his race.  Yet he shows faith inspite of this.

Habakkuk knows that God's wrath is not made manifest in His Presence, but rather in His absence. By this, he is acknowledging the necessity of God's Presence in all things.  He realizes that God's prophecy in the previous chapter speaks of how God's absence is a direct result of our own choice to reject him, not His own choice.  Habakkuk is afraid of the judgement we bring upon ourselves and that is found in in the hearts of Men, not God.  He knows that salvation and reconciliation to God can only be found in God.

With this in mind, Habakkuk finishes his work, in chapter 3, with some of the most profoundly faith-filled words I have prayed upon:

(17)Though the fig tree does not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flocks be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

(18)Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

(19)God, the LORD is my strength;

he makes my feet like deer's feet, 

he makes me tread upon high places.

I get the chance to pray with these words in the Liturgy of the Hours, during Morning Prayer (Lauds) of Friday in Week II of the psalter.  They are words that speak of complete surrender to God.  God will not always choose to bless us with material comfort and solace, but if we remain faithful, He never fails to bless us with His Presence, even in spite of our failings through sin.  If we can hold on to this insight into God's Love for us, we will come to realize that He is all we need.  Then, we will be saints.