Simply teaching the Bible, simply

In chapter one, Habakkuk begins by crying out to God regarding the violence, oppression and immorality that filled Judah, that God was seemingly not dealing with. “How long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear!” (Hab 1:”) The iniquity that filled the land was overwhelming to this righteous and God-fearing man. God’s response was that He was not going to let it continue. As we see time and again in the Bible, God will only allow things to go on for so long before bringing judgment. That, in itself, was good news to Habakkuk, but then God tells him something startling: “For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs” (Hab 1:6). Yes, God’s method of judgment on Judah was to let the Babylonians loose on them! “But how can you use the Babylonians?” Habakkuk asks, “They are worse than we are!”. In Habakkuk chapter 2, God explains that Israel’s sin is great so is deserving of great judgment, nevertheless, Babylon’s pride would be their undoing. God was raising them up as His instrument of judgment, but they would go far beyond their remit, and under Nebuchadnezzar they would, at times, resemble the Assyrians that God allowed to be destroyed for their cruelty. As a result, God would judge the pride of Babylon, exposing their deceit and treachery by which they intoxicated their enemies with lies before overthrowing them. Though, no doubt, still somewhat bemused, in chapter 3, Habakkuk breaks out into a song of praise. He might not fully understand what God is doing, and even why He would uses Israel’s enemies to bring them to repentance, but Habakkuk knows enough by now to know that God is God. He calls us to trust Him through what we do understand, and through what we don’t.