12Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed them for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish. 13You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, 14and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things that have no ruler over them? 15He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad. 16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious and his food is good. 17Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
The blood test results are not as improved as we had hoped. The bank is now texting me on a daily basis about my overdraft. Our teenager just won’t communicate with me anymore. The church dispute is just wearing me down. Honestly, I just don’t deserve this!
If you’ve ever thought any of this, you’re not alone! Probably most people you know has been there, or are there right now. The prophet Habakkuk was there too. He watched the situation around him go downhill fast and at this point it just seems to be getting worse! Now he knew Israel had been disobedient and were being disciplined by God, but for goodness sake, God was using the wicked nation of Babylon to dish out the punishment. An even more wicked nation then they had been!
Habakkuk didn’t believe Israel deserved such a punishment, and certainly not from a nation that, in his eyes, were much worse and deserved judgement even more. “They’re much worse than us Lord, so why do we deserve this? Why are you letting them away with it”. Like so many of us in such a situation, Habakkuk asked God, “Why?”
God’s answer was probably once more not what Habakkuk wanted to hear. He says, whilst Israel may not have been as wicked as Babylon, they were far from spotless. God sent Babylon against Israel because they needed to experience the consequence for their sin. Wow, that’s tough love!
Now before you start feeling condemned, know that not everything bad that happens in our lives is a punishment for something we’ve done. But sometimes, if we’re honest with ourselves, the circumstances we face are the result of our own bad choices and disobedient decisions.
God loves us the way a perfect father does. He wants good things for His children. And sometimes, the most loving thing a father can do is allow us to experience the consequences of our actions so we’ll turn away from a lifestyle that’s not good and will only bring us harm.
Prayer:
Father thank you that you love me enough to sometimes discipline me or allow me to realise the consequences of my actions. But thank you that your grace is way bigger than my mistakes and bad choices. And thank you that forgiveness and restoration is only a prayer away. So I bring this situation to you.. (be honest)...and I ask, and receive, your loving forgiveness and mercy. In Jesus’ name. Amen.