The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Habakkuk 1:12-13,
"Lord, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them [the Babylonians] to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?"
The Lord tells Habakkuk he is going to send a more wicked people, the Babylonians, to destroy his own people, Judah, who have fallen into their own wickedness.
Habakkuk raises his perplexity with the Lord. It is based on what he knows of the Lord, and, given that, what he deduces the Lord would, or should do. While his knowledge of the Lord is without flaw, his deduction is.
In Habakkuk's mind, since the Lord is eternal and condemns evil, how could he possibly use a wicked people for his purposes, especially in judgment? How can he take a more wicked people to destroy a less wicked (but wicked nevertheless) people?
Habakkuk's perplexity arises from an error of deduction. I can identify with Habakkuk, I suspect many of us can. We know some things of the Lord as he has revealed himself in the pages of Scripture. However, as Habakkuk, we can deduce wrong things with our limited intelligence, knowledge and understanding - compared to that of the Lord.
We do it all the time today. Here is a fun example:
As Paul quotes psalms 14, 53 and Ecclesiastes 7, we read in Romans 3:10-12, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
From this quote in Romans 3, I have often heard the reasoning that since this is so, then no one who is not a believer has any interest in the things of God. Therefore, no one can respond to the gospel unless the Lord does something akin to dropping a "roofie" in their drink.
However, this is an error in deduction. While Paul's point is truthful, accurate and authoritative, he later goes on to say about his own unsaved (and without faith) countrymen, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." Romans 10:1-2.
The truth about mankind's lost condition lies somewhere between both Romans 3:10-12 and Romans 10:1-2. Unfortunately, errors in deduction from what we read in the Scriptures abound, so we really can't be too hard on Habakkuk. We do the same thing all the time.
Paul's concern should come to bear here, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"Lord, are you not from everlasting?
My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them [the Babylonians] to execute judgment;
you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked
swallow up those more righteous than themselves?"
The Lord tells Habakkuk he is going to send a more wicked people, the Babylonians, to destroy his own people, Judah, who have fallen into their own wickedness.
Habakkuk raises his perplexity with the Lord. It is based on what he knows of the Lord, and, given that, what he deduces the Lord would, or should do. While his knowledge of the Lord is without flaw, his deduction is.
In Habakkuk's mind, since the Lord is eternal and condemns evil, how could he possibly use a wicked people for his purposes, especially in judgment? How can he take a more wicked people to destroy a less wicked (but wicked nevertheless) people?
Habakkuk's perplexity arises from an error of deduction. I can identify with Habakkuk, I suspect many of us can. We know some things of the Lord as he has revealed himself in the pages of Scripture. However, as Habakkuk, we can deduce wrong things with our limited intelligence, knowledge and understanding - compared to that of the Lord.
We do it all the time today. Here is a fun example:
As Paul quotes psalms 14, 53 and Ecclesiastes 7, we read in Romans 3:10-12, "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
From this quote in Romans 3, I have often heard the reasoning that since this is so, then no one who is not a believer has any interest in the things of God. Therefore, no one can respond to the gospel unless the Lord does something akin to dropping a "roofie" in their drink.
However, this is an error in deduction. While Paul's point is truthful, accurate and authoritative, he later goes on to say about his own unsaved (and without faith) countrymen, "Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge." Romans 10:1-2.
The truth about mankind's lost condition lies somewhere between both Romans 3:10-12 and Romans 10:1-2. Unfortunately, errors in deduction from what we read in the Scriptures abound, so we really can't be too hard on Habakkuk. We do the same thing all the time.
Paul's concern should come to bear here, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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