“How long, O Lord?” “Why do you make me see iniquity?” “Why do you sit and let evil happen?” How often do we question the Lord in our own lives much like Habakkuk in our reading for this morning? How often do we wonder if the Lord really cares about us and what is happening in this world? Let me assure you this morning that it is okay to ask God questions. Certainly He is a big guy and He can take care of Himself. And much like our parents do not stop loving us when we ask questions, nor does our Lord stop loving us when we ask Him questions. As a matter of fact, our questioning the Lord is something of a show of faith. When we question the Lord, we acknowledge that He is the One in charge. But, I would be remiss if I did not say, let us be careful that in our questioning the Lord, we do not fall into the temptation to despair, to blame and despise Him, lest we lose faith and life.
As usual we being by looking at the other lessons and how they might tie in with our text. This morning both the Epistle and the Gospel lessons tie in somewhat as they speak about the struggles we have in life and the fact that God works through these struggles to strengthen and keep us in faith. And even more in the Gospel we have Jesus’ warning that we are not to be the person who is bringing struggles and temptations to others. He also warns us not to think more highly of ourselves especially concerning what we perceive to be our own good works, because more often than not, our good works are only what is our duty. Perhaps as we look at our own lives we might ask if our lives are encouraging or discouraging others in their faith and faith life.
Getting to our text we begin with Habakkuk’s complaint, verse one, “1The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. 2O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save? 3Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. 4So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted” (1:1-4). Habakkuk’s complaint is that there is violence throughout the land and it seems to him that the Lord is doing nothing about it. It seems to Habakkuk that the Lord is simply sitting idly by and watching from a distance.
Habakkuk’s observation is that the wicked have perverted justice so that might makes right, in other words, the one who wins the battle is right whether they are truly right or not. Habakkuk is troubled because it seems that God is tolerant of iniquity and wrong, things such as destruction, violence, strife, and contention and that He is doing nothing about it. The king of Judah cannot enforce God’s laws, and God is not enforcing His laws, so there truly is no justice.
Habakkuk questions when will God answer and bring justice? Habakkuk recognizes that even though the world is in chaos, God is still in charge, God is still in control and his desire is that God would step in and bring vindication, justice and peace, and that God would do so soon.
Our text continues with God’s response, verse one of chapter two, “2:1I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. 2And the Lord answered me: ‘Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith’” (2:1-4). Habakkuk begins by telling us that he will take his post and watch. He will be patient. He will pray to the Lord, offering his petitions and then he will sit and wait to see how the Lord will answer his prayer, take control of the situation and do what is right.
And the Lord answered Habakkuk and instructed him to write His words for all to read. The Lord is giving Habakkuk a vision and he is to write down the vision he is seeing. He is to write it so that any who read it will understand what is written.
Probably the most difficult part of the Lord’s message to Habakkuk is the fact that the fulfillment of the vision will happen in God’s time and God does not tell Habakkuk when that fulfillment will take place. This is not the first time we have God speaking, promising and letting His people know that His time is not their time. Yet, God’s timing is perfect timing so the events will work out when He knows it is best according to His good and gracious will which is always best.
It is in the last words of our text that the children of Israel and we get our encouragement. Know this, “the righteous will live by his faith.” How is it that the righteous will live by faith? Martin Luther thought these words meant that in order for a person to stand righteous in God’s presence he had to live a righteous life, which is why he struggled so much with his own sin and his constant need to confess every little sin he confessed. Martin Luther’s struggle was like all those in our world today who strive to be righteous by being obedient, by doing good works, by trying to please God. Yet, that is not what God is saying as Luther finally figured out. That “the righteous will live by his faith,” means that one is made righteous and given righteousness by God’s grace. It is God who makes us righteous and He does so by giving us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation.
Thus, that “the righteous will live by faith,” means that faith shows itself in its righteous living, in other words, because we have been given faith, because our sins have been paid for and are forgiven, because of all that God has done, does and will continue to do for us, because of God working in and through us we do live lives of faith, imperfect lives of faith as it may be.
So, what does this mean? As in Habakkuk’s day, so even today wickedness seems to have its way in our world. Just turn on the television, open a newspaper, read a magazine, listen to the radio, check out Facebook, twitter, Instagram, and all those other electronic media options and we hear story after story of the wickedness that seems to be running rampant in our world today. Nation is fighting against nation. There are earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires and so forth that are destroying cities and killing people. There are terrorist attacks. Idolatry, theft, sexual immorality, stealing, coveting, gossip, lying, and killing, are the order of the day throughout the world.
Just as Habakkuk noted in his day, so even today, sin abounds and it appears as if God is watching, “from a distance.” We might well ask, how can God allow for all the sinful perversions that are taking place in the world. How can God be tolerant of what is happening, especially to the treatment of His own people, to Christians around the world who are being persecuted and martyred for their faith.
As Christians we too cry for justice. We cry, “How long, O Lord?” We question God concerning the inequities of the world and yet, our questions are not blaming nor doubting, but are questions acknowledging that we know that God is God, that He is in charge, that He is in control, that all things are in His hands and that He and He alone is the one who can help us.
At the same time, we know that God, in His Word reminds us that He will have the last word, but we need to wait. God’s timing is perfect timing. Time and again we are reminded to stop and wait on the Lord. And yet, time and again we rush in and do it our way and then wonder why things got messed up. How difficult it is for us to wait especially when we believe God is not doing anything and that we know best. Certainly we have the best intentions and we want to help God out, as if God actually needs our help. Yet, we have God’s confident word, to wait.
I believe the most important words of our text for this morning are the words Luther himself struggled with, the reminder that “the just will live by faith.” Here again, as I said a few weeks ago, this teaching on justification is what sets us Missouri Synod Lutherans apart from all the other religions and denominations in the world. Just listen (well, really, don’t listen, but if you do) to the evangelical movement, to the TV preachers and so forth. They will tell you how you must live a just life, how you must be obedient, how and what you must do in order to be just in God’s eyes. They believe themselves to be doing what God commands, that they have been obedient, so they believe they have done all they believe needs to be done. They believe the Master will serve them rather than demand they serve Him since in their eyes they have done their duty. They so burden you with the law that you may end up feeling like Luther, in despair with no hope until you too realize that for “the just to live by faith,” means that we are made just and right by God, by His grace, His undeserved love for us, through the faith He gives. It comes from outside of us, not inside.
We are members of the family of God by grace through faith, given through the means of grace. At our baptism God put faith in our hearts. God gave us forgiveness of sins. God wrote our names in the book of life. We can remember our baptism, the fact that we have been baptized and know for certain that God got it right, that we are just and righteous in God’s eyes because He makes us that way. It is not about us and what we do. We do not look inside ourselves. It is all about God and what He has done. We look outside ourselves. We look to Jesus who paid the price for our sins. We look to God who has given us faith and who keeps us and strengthens us in our faith.
Ultimately, we live by faith, living as priests in the priesthood of all believers, yet this is not a have to but a want to, a get to, a response of faith that is given to us. As we live in our vocations, as we live lives as priests, offering our very lives as living sacrifices for the Lord, as we serve others so we are serving the Lord, as a response faith.
God is a just God, punishing sinners. We may not always see the punishment of sinners in this world, but we will see it on the last day. Yet, God is also a merciful God. God’s desire is that no one will perish. God is not slow in His return as some count slowness, but rather, He is patient in not wanting anyone to perish and so He is giving enough time for as many as possible to come to faith. And so, as He is patient, as He is waiting on us, so we are patient and we wait on the Lord. Yes, it may be difficult, more so at some time than at another, but we do wait and while we wait we live. We live in the joy of knowing that God has given us faith, forgiveness, life and salvation, that God has made us just and right in His own eyes and that He stirs in us to say, to God be the glory, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.