We live in a world where three-year-olds are killed by gunshots, where 20-year-olds die of cancer, where people shoot photos of dead rappers and put them on the internet and they create a stir of excitement.
It is not the world God created nor wanted.
The prophet Habakkuk wrote (Message), "God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, "Help! Murder! Police!" before you come to the rescue? Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day? Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place. Law and order fall to pieces. Justice is a joke. The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head."
Habakkuk clearly had the belief that evil had won, that the Lord had given darkness its day. He accuses God of not listening, not acting, not caring about this, his, situation, about his world that had gone so wrong.
It is such a temptation to do that today, isn't it? With our out-of-control spending and the joblessness that strikes so near, and the daily shootings in our area and whatever terrible trauma you can think of.
But Habakkuk waits for His God, and waits and waits, and finally he decides -- in some of the most wonderful of language -- that he will trust God NO MATTER WHAT. The word THOUGH is his key to peace.
He writes in the third chapter of his prophecy/lament,
"Though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen,
Though the apples are worm-eaten
and the wheat fields stunted,
Though the sheep pens are sheepless
and the cattle barns empty,
I'm singing joyful praise to God.
I'm turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God.
Counting on God's Rule to prevail,
I take heart and gain strength.
I run like a deer.
I feel like I'm king of the mountain!"
Though...things stink
Though...bank accounts shrink
Though...tomorrow forecasts as grayer than gray.
The amazing thing here is that God hasn't answered him, hasn't charmed his way back into Habakkuk's dreams and plans, hasn't spashed him with rainbows and puppies. But the prophet gets it at this point. He gets that the past is gone, but God holds the future in his hand. He simply affirms his trust of a God who sometimes IS silent.
But If we hold our love and our trust away from God UNTIL He does something, what good is our faith at all?
We attended an ecumenical Thanksgiving service last night, Mary and I, and the Baptist preacher talked about how Paul felt in his letter to Timothy.
Paul wrote, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus.
15 This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all."
Though I have sinned,
Though I was a blasphemer
though I was insolent
Though I persecuted his people.......
God had mercy. God heard. God acted or perhaps he didn't even act, but I understand anyway.
The two books of the Bible have several things in common, but the word THOUGH is first and foremost. Both men realize that their job is to praise God, THOUGH, things are not good. Paul realizes that he was the worst of sinners, THOUGH, God still loved him, saved him, rescued him. Habakkuk realizes that his circumstances can never dictate his response to God.
We live in a terribly evil world that is getting no better, only worse.
Though our leaders don't lead,
though our pensions are gone,
though our health insurance won't pay for even a doctor bill,
though our grandchildren live 55 and 150 miles away,
though our house isn't our house any longer,
though our paycheck barely pays for the bills each month,
though our bodies are wearing out and full of pain,
though our eyesight and our memories are fading,
still we will wait on him and praise our God for he forgave us, he saved us, he rescured us from the muck and the mire we had created, giving us mercy and grace we didn't deserve.
That is trust. Sometimes it is all we have. Always it is all we need.
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