Habakkuk 2:2-20
This is a passage considering the difference between relying on God or relying on ourselves, and our theme centred on the concept of living as a righteous person by faith. An edited version of our sermon, split in two sections in the service on July 22nd 2018.
In the Old Testament righteousness always means ‘right with God’ and a person who lived righteously by faith was right with God. It isn’t about human perfection versus human failure. After all men who were counted righteous in the bible such as Abraham or Moses or King David had their flaws as well. God is broken hearted by those and for those who can’t or won’t live righteously. These people are motivated by their own internal systems that determine they don’t need anyone or anything else.
In verse 2:5 there is a more specific reference to the Babylonian king, and addiction to drink. Before you think you have to give up the booze, the Babylonians were well known for their love of strong drink and the trouble it got them in. Just go and read Daniel 5 - the story of King Belshazzar who, through drink, further desecrates temple items, and sees the hand writing on the wall. Nevertheless the Babylonians were not only drunk on alcohol but drunk on power. They were a powerful nation, with a powerful army, who destroyed nations and took the spoils of war. They thought nothing or no one could overpower them, and the more success they had, the more vain they became.
Yet that is not unique - it is simply reflective of the human need to conquer and control. We might not wage war on nations, but we can wage war against a colleague in order to get the status we think we deserve more, we can be controlling in relationships in order to get our own way, we can manipulate relationships in organisations in order to get praise or pedestals, and so on. Often we try and control God in a similar fashion - using him for our own ends, and dumping him when we don’t think we need him or when we don’t get our own way.
Living a righteous life, that is led on the premise of God-sufficiency doesn’t feel the need to control or conquer. As a loved child of God, allowing him to meet our needs we are blessed with a status that no one can top or take away. We don’t need to find our status by being the best or top dog, although our God given potential will encourage us to strive to be the best.
The concept of woe to him used in the passage is actually in the tone of deep sadness and lamentation, rather than doom and denunciation. It isn’t the finger wagging of your Grannie. The first two woes refer to gain by violence, and the second two to rule by violence. Although, fairly specific to the situation at the time, we can see reflections of current situations throughout the world reflected in them. Then we have the bottom line - idols. And boy, do we still like idols. Idols were a huge part of culture - we prefer our gods to be tangible and visible. It is in an inbuilt part of human nature to worship (whether we like that or not). We worship football players, musicians, iphones, playstations, George Clooney... We put people on pedestals because we feel they are better than us somehow, or in order to sook up to them. We might not build our idols from wood or stone, but our idols still tell lies, claim our trust and give revelations that supplant God.
We often make idols of our families or our children, putting their needs before all others. Even Jesus warns us of this in the Gospels. It is not about abandoning them, but if we let them supplant God then we have made them into idols. Their needs, their desires, our expectations of what they should be doing all distract and steal our time and focus. And often, if we have to give something up, it will be time with God in some shape or form.
Habakkuk learns a very valuable lesson in this exchange - the Babylonians are no worse than Israelites in the sight of God. Habakkuk determines that the Babylonians are worse, but to God, they are all the same. God is a holy God, and sin is sin. Whether it is believing we are self-sufficient arrogant taker of all, or supplanting God with idols - celebrity or family - we all fall under the judgement of God. For Habakkuk that was a mind-blowing moment.
And so we end with the verse: (Habakkuk 2:20)
The Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth be silent before him.
This is a drop the mic moment - there is no verbal response, for God is on his throne, and still in charge, no matter what it looks like.
Habakkuk 2:4
Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail,
but the righteous shall live by his faith. (RSV)
The key verse in this passage is this fourth verse. It is the central truth upon which of the rest is vivid and dramatic commentary. And it is this message that God wants made plain up and down the land. Prior to social media and printed news, messages were found on community boards. Similar then, wooden boards were up where community notices and messages were put. Habakkuk was to make the message plain, large and legible, a message to be passed on for it wasn’t for a specific time or place or person. Tablets hints of Moses and so the message looks back to the giving of the law and forward to the coming of the Gospel. A message for all people.
As we said last week, God’s time is not the same as our time, and in the waiting and watching we grow in faith. As righteous people, we might have to wait for the turning around that will happen. The text is quite subversive, showing that one day those who conquer and pillage, will find the tables turned. If anything, this is what the incarnation of Christ did, and we can reflect on this through the eyes of the New Testament.
The challenge we face is standing firm in the face of those who would crush us, or the circumstances that overwhelm us. Remember how Habakkuk worried in the first chapter about the Babylonians swallowing up the Israelites. God shows him how the righteous live by faith, and won’t be swallowed up but will flourish. Faith strips us of arrogance and relies wholly on God. The author of Hebrews reminds us that ‘faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.’. Jesus said to Thomas ‘Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe’.
When people look at you, at me, at those who stand professing the Christ as Saviour, do they see righteous people living by faith? Or do they see self-sufficient people, who place God clearly in the backseat? Are we right with God?
To be honest it is a big question and there is a quick answer, and then there is the truth. There is no doubt that God loves you, that Jesus died for you, and that you are wanted as a child of God. But this relationship is between you and a holy God, who can do so much in your life, and in your life to come.
I suppose, are you like Habakkuk pushing to find out more, confident in your relationship with God to be honest with him, and in awe of him enough that when he speaks you are silenced in wonder and faith?
Often in the Christian faith we can try and put God as a priority - a priority is the most important thing in our lives. God, however, is more than a priority, He is a way of life. That is the key message of that verse. This isn’t about how much time you spend reading the Bible, or studying the word, or in prayer, or even in Church. God isn’t a task on a list, a good habit to have but actually our faith is a way of life. Our faith impacts on how we live - how we prioritise our life around family, friends, work, health, learning, community involvement, global compassion, you name it. When we make choices about what to do, where to live, how to act, behave, speak - all of these are influenced, if not ultimately determined by our faith.
Many were taught as young people according to the Catechism, that ‘man’s chief aim is to glorify God and worship him forever’. In order to do that we need to nurture a relationship with God, and that is what we need to prioritise until such time as it is simple second nature, or we join him in the heavenly realms. Habakkuk knows this, and is what he is lamenting that the Jews have forgotten. And that is the message to be shared - and that is the message of the Gospel. The Christian faith is not primarily about the must do’s and don’ts - it is about our relationship with God. And that is the priority until such time as it is a way of life.
See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright –
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.
Or to put it another way: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength and with all your mind. And love your neighbour as you love yourself.
Next week we look at just how this kind of living can actually impact positively on our perception of life, especially in troubled times, as we finish Habakkuk.
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