Habakkuk 1:1-4
Over the last few years we have witnessed protest movements one after another: Occupy Wall Street, Don’t Shoot, Black Lives Count, and calls against Planned Parenthood. People are appalled and morally outraged, taking their frustrations to the streets, to the airwaves and social media. Where emotions run high and sentiments run deep, perhaps the real protests are directed at God, wondering why there is so much injustice. Habakkuk was one who wondered why God allowed the people of Judah to sin for so long, only to have Him punish them using the Babylonians, a nation more wicked than themselves. Habakkuk’s petitions to God resulted in his prayers changing him. His heart, his attitude and his perceptions became more aligned to God rather than his own understanding and desires. We must also allow God to be:
- Our Sovereign. God uses good and evil nations to accomplish His will. God told Israel that if they broke His Covenant, He would allow their enemies to rule over them. When we rebel against the Lord, doing shameful things, we can’t choose which enemy He should use to chastise us. We are a privileged people, but we lose our privileges when we become a perverted people. God is Lord of lords and King of kings, and our protests and petitions will be minimum when we allow the Lord to be our sovereign.
- Our Security. Because of sustained breaking of the Covenant with God, Judah was punished, losing her freedoms, city, wealth, Temple, population and status, everything which had mattered and upon which they relied. They lost sight that God was to be their security. Today, we see growing domestic and international atrocities, and repeated hacks of digital systems. As Christians, we must rely only in God, not power, money or institutions to provide our security in this world and in eternity.
- Our Saviour. God has saved and delivered His people throughout history, and we can take comfort He will do the same now and in the future.