Waiting [Devotional from Habakkuk]

Devotions ChopChop ^ | March 8, 2009 | Dave Miller (tenger)

[tenger]

I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Habakkuk 2:1

Have you ever had burning questions that you needed God to answer: who will I marry? What will my career be like 10 years from now? Should I join the military? Which college should I go to? Those answers are rarely cut and dried for us. Unfortunately, we don't hear a voice from heaven saying "do this!" I’m not even sure we’d want that deep down since part of the fun of arriving at the destination is the journey it takes to get there. Sometimes it would be nice, but most of the time there'd be no satisfaction of knowing you've made the right decisions.

So, Habakkuk was waiting for God to respond. He’s not going anywhere for a while. I think we can learn a very simple lesson from this: God will speak to us if we're willing to wait for his answer. Then, once we have his answer, we've got to act on it, regardless of what that means to us.

[Jemian]

David, I see how you reached your application from that verse, but I don't think that is a very good contextual application of it. Your application is a godly application, but not from this particular verse.

Just Friday I wrote this to a friend on the America - the Right Way! thread here on Free Republic:

I recommend to you the book of Habbukkuk. It isn't long, just 3 chapters. And it is a dialogue between the prophet and God. It is set in the time of the captivity when the Covenant Children of God were under the rule of a fierce and arbitrary king. This is what was said at the beginning:

Hab 1:2 " How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save. Hab 1:3 Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Hab 1:4 Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. Hab 1:5 "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days-- You would not believe if you were told.

...

Hab 1:12 Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. Hab 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?

Those verses echo my feelings.

Then chapter 2 begins:

Hab 2:1 I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved. Hab 2:2 Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. Hab 2:3 "For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. Hab 2:4 "Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right

I especially like that verse 3. I embolded the special promises that spoke to me. We must keep the vision of living before the face of God, coram deo, ever with us. He is in charge. This is only temporary. Keep the faith.

The book ends with an affirmation of faith:

Hab 3:16 I heard and my inward parts trembled, At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, And in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, For the people to arise who will invade us. Hab 3:17 Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines, Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, Hab 3:18 Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Hab 3:19 The Lord GOD is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds' feet, And makes me walk on my high places.

I get concerned, too. But then I remember God.

I do think your application is the proper behavior for a Christian. I just don't see that contextually it is what this verse is recommending.