What Will Keep Us Alive?
The whole world was a bubbling cauldron and fierce Babylonians were marching to Jerusalem. Alliances with foreign powers had failed and the only thing that stood between Israel (Judah) and the marauding armies was the distance they had to come. And God! Well yes there was always God. Surely he would keep the invaders from ripping Israel to pieces like wild dogs rip a sheep. Of course he will. If the people are just faithful God will bury Babylon the way he had buried Sennacherib a couple of generations earlier.
But what made the whole experience unbearable was that God wasn't on the city walls along with them he was coming at the head of the invading army. He wasn't to be identified with the gallant fire fighters and rescuers at the foot of falling buildings he was to be seen in the death-bringing foreigners whose battering-rams slammed against the city walls. He was the leader and commander of the invaders and every time the huge ram thudded against the sagging wall it was his voice they heard saying "Yes, and once more!".
But can this really be Yahweh who entered into a covenant with them and swore he wouldn't be faithless to that commitment? How can this be divine faithfulness? Is it not blasphemy to lay it to God's account? On the contrary, is it not blasphemy to look God in the eye and deny he is doing it when he says, "It is I." (See Deuteronomy 32:23,27.)
And what is it he calls for then? To admit it is his work? Yes, but more than that. The true challenge in all this was for these heartsick people to say, "It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him." The real call is not to admit it is God at work but to insist that in it he is acting faithfully.
This is easier done when we're reading ancient texts about an ancient generation whose pain isn't felt by us but the book of Habakkuk wasn't written only for Habakkuk and his generation. This may be easier done when we're looking at the agony of our own nation and time though we ourselves are not hurting in the sore time. What are we to do when the challenge is taken off a national and international stage and brought home to our own houses? What then?
How easy it is to understand challenging truths when they affect someone else and how difficult it becomes to understand those very same truths when they make their demands of us. What will keep us alive in the face of great calamities? What is it that enables us to reject the God-denying look of the world at such times?
"The righteous will live by his faith."
No comments:
Post a Comment