Is God Idly Watching?

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I love the book of Habakkuk. Years ago the Holy Spirit spoke to me so strongly through this book that it has been a major part of my spiritual life. It is one of those books that opens up for me more and more as I study it. It is a book about waiting and trusting in God through the working out of difficult situations. It's a book about living by faith.

In this book, the prophet Habakkuk has a questioning dialogue with God. During the time Habakkuk lived, Assyria had ruled in Judah for many, many years yet another ruler was coming, Babylon. Habakkuk was troubled by sin, and also by the seeming inactivity of God to intervene. He was also troubled by God using nations that were more evil than the evil being done in Judah to bring the solution. Habakkuk is trying to understand what was going on. He was trying to make sense of what he saw and he wondered why a just God was allowing it.

Habakkuk 1:3 "Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?" Habakkuk asks God.

Habakkuk 1:5 "Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." God answers.

Habakkuk 1:13 "You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?" Habakuk asks of God.

...and regarding the cruel actions and situations that Habakkuk sees...

Habakkuk 1:17 "Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?" Habakkuk asks.

...and then...

Habakkuk declares that he will "take his stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he (God) will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint" Habakkuk 2:1. Habakkuk is determined to get an answer from God to his questions regarding the injustice he sees all around him.

As is recounted in the book of Job, there is no easy answer to suffering, yet God is sovereign, this we know. The ways of God in the lives of His people are mysterious. Yet in the midst of turmoil, instead of detailing all the steps and motivations painstakingly to Habakkuk, God tells him basically to wait, and have faith.

That's not what we often want to hear. Yet it is a major component of the Christian life, even though some false teachers and preachers would have you believe otherwise. They would have you believe that you have some inherent power within you to declare and proclaim things into existence, usually regarding the things you want. They take a piece of truth and stretch it unrecognizably into a doctrine of self-gratification. Yet this pursuit of self is contrary to the process of God in His way of purifying His people. It is very mysterious, and it is hard, but the very thing we seek to avoid, suffering, is the very thing that we are asked to go through in faith that God's purposes will ultimately prevail.

There are many scriptures in the New Testament regarding faith. Hebrews chapter 11, a primary study for those interested in doing further readings on faith and what it truly is. It is not the sugar-coated constructions of those wanting to draw followers after themselves.

This may seem impossibly bleak. It is not. The joy and peace you receive from God in following Him and trusting in Him and having faith in Him (not in your ability to have enough faith) far exceeds any earthly attainments.

And so I end this as Habakkuk ended his book...

"Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places."

Habakkuk 3:17-19