God’s “Pro Tip”

In this series, we’re walking with a prophet that is little-known to most of us modern-day Christians.  Habakkuk lived in the last days of the southern kingdom of Judah, just before the Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem.  However, where the writings of most other Old Testament prophets were about God’s message to the people, what we find unique about the book of Habakkuk is that the prophet records his conversation with God on behalf of the people.

Initially, we heard Habakkuk confront God about the selfish, even down-right evil, actions his fellow countrymen were committing.  He was struggling to understand why God hadn’t stepped in to address the troubles in Judah.  Then, we read God’s response – He is planning on punishing/correcting Judah by allowing the Chaldeans (aka the Babylonians) to invade Judah.  Last time, we looked at how Habakkuk dealt with his frustration and shock over God’s plan.

This was God’s reply:

Habakkuk 2:2-4
The Lord answered me:

Write down this vision; clearly inscribe it on tablets so one may easily read it.
For the vision is yet for the appointed time;
it testifies about the end and will not lie.
Though it delays, wait for it, since it will certainly come and not be late.

Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity.
But the righteous one will live by his faith.

While the Babylonian oppressors are advancing to plunder and punish Judah, God is not blind to their inflated ego and lack of integrity.  In the following verses, God lays out five “Woes” to the Babylonians – five ways that their own transgressions will be their undoing.

For now, we need to stop here and recognize a significant truth in God’s reply. A “Pro Tip” is a useful piece of advice offered up by someone in the know. This is the “Pro Tip” God shares with Habakkuk:

But the righteous one will live by his faith.

Although Habakkuk protested at portion of the plan God revealed to him, God has set the course for history to follow.  However, He has not abandoned the Jews.  Their path through these upcoming troubled times will be to live by faith. 

To live by faith isn’t a simple phrase to make us feel warm and fuzzy when things get hard so we can go blindly ahead, telling ourselves everything will be ok.  Instead, living by faith is a confident trust in God to do what He has promised to do, despite the circumstances that come our way.  And if we haven’t seen God fulfill a particular promise yet, then living by faith is trusting His character that He will come through at a future moment in time.

This quote from God to Habakkuk echoes throughout the New Testament, as well.  Three times, it is quoted (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38).  All of the New Testament references are to trusting God to fulfill His promises when we are incapable of rescuing ourselves from our present circumstances.  The author of Hebrews continues in chapter 11, listing out Old Testament heroes who lived in difficult times but overcame by living a by faith lifestyle.  They were not defeated by hardship or difficulty because they trusted God to do what He said He would do.

So, even though Habakkuk and the nation of Judah was staring down the barrel of circumstances they did not want, God still shows them the way to live.  As evidence by the New Testament authors’ use of Habakkuk 2:4, that option is available to us, as well.

Are you, right now, living by faith?

Keep Pressing,
Ken

That wasn't the answer he expected

In this series, we’re walking with a prophet that is little-known to most of us modern-day Christians.  Habakkuk lived in the last days of the southern kingdom of Judah, just before the Babylonians invaded and destroyed Jerusalem.  However, where the writings of most other Old Testament prophets were about God’s message to the people, what we find unique about the book of Habakkuk is that the prophet records his conversation with God on behalf of the people.

Last time, we heard Habakkuk confront God about the selfish, even down-right evil, actions his fellow countrymen were committing.  He was struggling to understand why God hadn’t stepped in to address the troubles in Judah.

God did reply – but His response certainly wasn’t the solution Habakkuk was looking for:

Habakkuk 1:6-11
Look!  I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own. 
They are fierce and terrifying; their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves. 
Their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves of the night. 
Their horsemen charge ahead; their horsemen come from distant lands. 
They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.

All of them come to do violence; their faces are set in determination.
They gather prisoners like sand.
They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them.
They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through.
They are wind; their strength is their god.

The Chaldeans are not who Habakkuk was expecting when he petitioned God for a “rescuer” for his people.  In fact, these pagan foreigners are the complete opposite of who Habakkuk expected.

In Habakkuk’s situation, he asked for help…but God told him it’s going to get worse before it gets better.  This was necessary, even though it would be painful.

When looking back in our own lives, we often thank God for “unanswered prayers”, when we asked for blessings that we ultimately did not receive.  We thought the best thing for us would be to get “that job” we had applied for, or we wanted a romantic relationship with a specific person, or even safety when traveling.  Because if God had fulfilled our request and we had received what we wanted in the moment…life would have been so different that the relationships and blessings we have now would not have been experienced.

But sometimes, God’s answer to our requests is more than just a “No”.  Other times, He does allow the car accident, the cancer diagnosis, or other difficult situations to occur.  But if we’re honest, the motivation behind many our prayer requests has more to do with our immediate comfort than with our connectedness with God.

And that’s the bigger picture – both for us and for Habakkuk – going through hard times has the ability to strip away our selfishness and self-centeredness that keeps us from being who God made us to be.

If you’ve learned how to look into your past and thank God for what didn’t happen, the next step in maturity is to be able to thank God in the moment He denies our prayer request.

Keep Pressing,
Ken

What’s in the Old Testament?

We commonly refer to the Bible as a “book” – in fact, it is the best-selling book of all-time.  However, the Bible itself is a collection of 66 individual books.  These books were written over approximately 1500 years, by 40 different authors, and in 3 different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek).

Through the Holy Spirit, God inspired the authors to write His words and His message to humanity.  Each author brought their own experiences, concerns, and writing style…and as such, we have a variety of literature types within the Scriptures.  The major division of the Bible’s books is between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  For this blog post, we’ll look at what God has said in the Old Testament:

Old Testament – This is a collection of 39 books of ancient Hebrew literature, which begins with the story of Creation and the fall of humanity into sin, which separates all of us from God.  These texts continue through the establishment and history of the nation of Israel, which are broken down into 4 major categories:

Torah/Pentateuch – These are the 5 books of Moses.  Torah is Hebrew for “teaching” and Pentateuch simply means “five books”.  These books detail out how God created everything, but quickly focus in on the establishment of the nation of Israel.  The books include: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

History – These 12 books travel through Israel’s many ups and downs as they struggle between keeping in step with God and doing everything on their own.  Many of the familiar Old Testament stories are found in these books: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.

Poetry/Wisdom – This is a collection of some of the most interesting and beautiful poetry you’ve ever read.  Many common sayings we still use today trace their origins back to this section of the Bible.  These books include: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon.

Prophecy – God sent many prophets to Israel throughout the centuries.  Their writings are divided into what is call the “Major Prophets” and the “Minor Prophets”.  However, that distinction has nothing to do with the importance of their individual message, rather the prophets’ writings are divided up by size, with the Major Prophets having significantly bigger texts than the Minor Prophets:

Major Prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, and Ezekiel
Minor Prophets: Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi

After Malachi’s teaching, God did not send a prophet to speak to Israel for approximately 400 years.  Then everything changed with the arrival of Jesus. 

Some modern-day Christians have wondered if it’s worth our time to read and study the Old Testament.  After all, since Jesus came and saved us, wouldn’t His teachings be enough for us to focus on?

The Apostle Paul had to say this to the church he planted in Corinth, in reference to the events of the Old Testament:

1 Corinthians 10:11
These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our instruction

There are three ways to learn – by instruction, by example, or the hard way.  God has given us instruction and examples in the Old Testament so we don’t have to learn the hard way.  As such, it’s definitely worth our time to see what God has to say in those books.

Keep Pressing,
Ken