Yet I Will Rejoice

October 5, 2014 Background Scripture: Job 1; Psalm 56; Habakkuk 1 – 3 Lesson Passage: Habakkuk 2:1 – 5, 3:17 – 19 Perseverance; that’s what comes to mind when one sees the title of this lesson. Perseverance is not unavoidable longsuffering. That has more to do with pity and pouting. Nor is perseverance struggling to hold on in the face of impending doom. That disposition is a matter of bracing for disaster. Perseverance speaks of the absolute will to survive with no other options or Plan B to resort to. Perseverance says “When the dust settles, I will still be standing.” Habakkuk’s extensive prayer dialog with God provides the means whereby we can receive a deeper understanding of the strange intermingling of God’s grace with His divine judgment. People know how to emulate one or the other. We can be merciful to those who deserve our worse or we can insist that people suffer the consequences due to them. Contrary to mankind, God’s personality allows the coexistence of grace and judgment to abound in all situations. We look to Habakkuk’s experience with God to aid us in our quest for understanding. Habakkuk does not appear to have doubted that God is supremely holy. Nor does it appear that Habakkuk doubted that God detests evil. How then would God allow evil to persist in the midst of His people who He commanded to be holy even as He is holy? Habakkuk sought to comprehend God’s patience with evil in light of His divine holiness. Was God more tolerant of sin and evil than previously suspected? Everyone did not openly practice evil but they were all mixed in together. Why would God not destroy the evil and justify the righteous? When God revealed His plan to Habakkuk, it led to more questions than answers. God was going to use an ungodly nation to punish Israel. Why would God use evil to bring about righteousness? Without trying to justify Israel’s iniquity, the question Habakkuk posed was “How can a holy God punish His people—who should be holy—by using a nation that is more morally corrupt than they are?” From Habakkuk’s viewpoint, God should punish Israel Himself. Then the only thing left to do with the evil and corrupt Chaldeans would be to destroy them. But God was doing something very different than what Habakkuk had in mind. Habakkuk made up his mind that he would wait and watch to see what God would do about the iniquity of Israel. God answered him that Israel would indeed be punished for her iniquity but those who He would use to punish Israel will also be punished. Moreover, Habakkuk gained a new insight: The hope of God’s people lies beyond punishment not in it. There was hope for Israel beyond the punishment because God already had a plan for Israel. There was no need to worry about the evil nation that would be used by God because their deeds that will be manifest as punishment for Israel would also be their undoing with God. God was going to destroy that nation after Israel’s punishment was complete. There was a lesson to be learned by God’s people. God’s punishment of His people by any means is never an end but always a means to a more righteous position. In spite of the punishment sent by God, which is deserved, yet we should rejoice in the promises of God beyond the punishment. Robert C. Hudson September 25, 2014