Martin Luther, the great reformer and a man of great faith, struggled with bouts of depression (“battles with the devil” he called them).
It was the worst of times–1527–one of the most trying years of Luther’s life. It is hard to imagine he had the energy or spirit to compose one of Christendom’s most memorable hymns. On April 22, a dizzy spell forced Luther to stop preaching in the middle of his sermon. For ten years, since publishing his 95 Theses against the abuse indulgences, Luther had been buffeted by political and theological storms; at times his life had been in danger. Then, on July 6, as friends arrived for dinner, Luther felt an intense buzzing in his left ear. He went to lie down, when suddenly he called, ‘Water… or I’ll die!’ He became cold, and he was convinced he had seen his last night. In a loud prayer, he surrendered himself to God’s will.
…Meanwhile, in August, the plague had erupted in Wittenberg. As fear spread, so did many of the townspeople. But Luther considered it his duty to remain and care for the sick. Even though his wife was pregnant, Luther’s house was transformed into a hospital, and he watched many friends die. Then his son became ill. Not until late November did the epidemic abate and the ill begin to recover.
During that horrific year, Luther took time to remember the tenth anniversary of his publication against indulgences, noting the deeper meaning of his trials: ‘The only comfort against raging Satan is that we have God’s Word to save the souls of believers.’ Sometime that year, Luther expanded that thought into the hymn he is most famous for: ‘A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.’ This verse, translated by Frederick Hedge in 1853, comes from one of more than sixty English versions:
“And though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim? We tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo! his doom is sure. One little Word shall fell him.’”[i]
Many saints have come to a place called “the dark night of the soul.” It is a time of great testing, struggle, and doubt. Others refer to it as a Gethsemane experience, from Jesus’ agony experienced in the garden before His crucifixion, where He asked his disciples to pray, but they fell asleep. It was at Gethsemane that Jesus agonized over his impending death. The dark night of the soul is a place where we feel abandoned. We wrestle with what is going on in our lives. So, when life isn’t working, when things don’t make sense, when what is happening seems in conflict with what you believe about God, what then?
One man decided to confront God and God gave him some rather interesting answers. The man was struggling with the problem of injustice. Seven centuries before Christ’s birth, a prophet by the name of Habakkuk was struggling with what was happening in his world. Evil was prevailing. Sin was rampant. Violence was unchecked. The righteous were suffering at the hands of the wicked. As we look into the times that Habakkuk was speaking into, we find some incredible parallels to our own day. When it seems that doing right does not seem to matter, how can we find hope in those moments of despair and perplexity?
In this tiny book of just three chapters, we find an incredible dialogue between Habakkuk and God regarding the issue of injustice in our lives. How do we handle life when life is not fair? In the book we find two complaints followed by an expression of gratitude flowing from the prophet’s lips. These three communications with God show us a progression in Habakkuk’s journey of faith.
THE FIRST COMMUNICATION REVEALS THE CONDITION OF THE TIMES
It was a time of great despair. The prophet complained to God about the seemingly unjust conditions. It was stated as a complaint. God seemed to be allowing incredible injustices to be perpetrated in the land of Judah. Habakkuk begins by bringing the situation to God’s attention. You will notice the terms used to describe the situation. Violence, injustice, toleration of wrong, destruction, strife, and conflict. What compounded the problem in Habakkuk’s mind was that God did not seem to be listening to his cry.
A. He had prayed and prayed, but there seemed to be no answer.
How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.[ii]
What is the result? The law of God seemed to have no clout or power.
Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.[iii]
We find that when the wicked prevail, the law is cast aside, and all restraints are destroyed. Justice is perverted. Job observed this trend as well in his time.
When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it?[iv]
What does all this mean? When society embraces evil, even the law supports it. We are witnessing that very thing in our day. Laws being rewritten to support the evils of our day.
B. God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer is that He is about to do something.
He’s about to judge the injustices in the land, but in a way that will startle the prophet. It is incomprehensible to the prophet how God is going to answer. God’s answer to the problem seemed to Habakkuk to be worse than the initial problems. Here is God’s answer.
Look at the nations–and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on–guilty men, whose own strength is their god.[v]
God was about to raise up an ungodly nation and allow it to have the military power to punish His people for their sins. But after using them to bring judgment on His own people for their sins, God would destroy the Babylonian power and punish them for their sins.
We often ask why God allows evil, but we rarely ask the question, why God allows war? Why does God allow such devastation on the human race? How could God allow dictators like Hitler or Stalin to come to power? Yet this little book gives us insight into the ways of God with sinful humanity. Sin will be judged. Death is always the result, which leads to the second complaint.
THE SECOND COMMUNICATION WAS THAT HABAKKUK COULD NOT GRASP GOD’S RESPONSE TO HIS FIRST COMPLAINT
How could God allow a more sinful nation to punish a more righteous people? How can God tolerate that? The Bible states that God’s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. How He addresses issues is often very different than how we would deal with a problem. Habakkuk was struggling with God’s solution to his first complaint.
A. God’s shocking response to the prophet’s complaint.
He was shocked that God was about to address injustice and ungodliness by allowing evil to overcome them. God would bring judgment upon their nation through an unrighteous nation.
Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?[vi]
During the days of the American Civil war, the United States was not only divided politically, economically, and philosophically but also theologically.
Three of the nation’s leading Protestant denominations–the Presbyterians, Methodists, and Baptists–all divided over slavery or related issues. …On the whole, though clergy of the North and South found scriptural grounds for ardently supporting their respective causes. Both North and South believed that God was on their side. Yet as the war progressed, an unusual insight arose from none other than Abraham Lincoln, the President of the United States. ‘The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war, it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party–and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose. I am almost ready to say this is probably true–that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.’
Like a figure from Israel’s ancient history, Lincoln was arguing with God. But it was no longer a domesticated deity, an American God, but the ruler of the nations. The truth had begun to dawn to Lincoln that this God was not at the nation’s beck and call, but the nation at his.
In his second inaugural address, Lincoln shares his conviction that the reason for the war was God’s judgment on the nation for two hundred and fifty years of slavery. ‘If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope–fervently do we pray–that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bondman’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, “the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.”’[vii]
What was Lincoln saying? That the war was a judgment of God upon the United States for her institution of slavery. The nation’s abuse of these slaves was now being paid in full, in the loss of incredible life and economics in the land.
B. Waiting upon God for the answer.
It is interesting how Habakkuk addresses his personal struggle. He decides to wait for God’s answer. One of the most difficult things for us to do in times of crisis and difficulty is to wait for God’s answer, yet that is the most important thing that we can do.
In Nouwen Then, author Luci Shaw writes: I’m an impatient, restless person. Slowing down and waiting seems like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition. Henri Nouwen said, ‘Waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting.’ Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of Romans 8:22-25 resonates with Nouwen: ‘Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting.’ (The Message). During a time of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us.[viii]
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[ix]
God’s answer is one that has brought hope to millions throughout the ages in times of great despair and perplexity; when we just can’t seem to understand what God is doing.
C. God’s answer to the distressed.
What sustains us in our hour of crisis is simply our quiet confidence in God. The righteous person will live by his faithfulness or faith. We know that this is the major theme of the Scriptures. ‘the just have to live by faith, and not by sight’. God would punish this ungodly nation, but in the meanwhile, the people of God are called upon to trust Him. Here in verse four is a thought which is fundamental to all of our lives. It is what gives us hope in times of trouble, and despair.
Then the LORD replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright– but the righteous will live by his faithfulness [or faith] indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.[x]
In these opening verses of chapter two, the question is raised by the prophet. How long must this go on? God then reveals His heart against the sins in the land of Judah. The sins that would bring about captivity in Babylon. Those same sins bring about our captivity. How many are trapped in addictive behavior today, desiring to be free, but unable to break the chains of bondage?
Here God states five conditions or activities that bring about captivity to our soul.
1. Woe to those who are greedy.
Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’[xi]
2. Woe to those who are using unethical means to acquire earthly wealth.
Woe to him who builds his house [realm] by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin![xii]
3. Woe to who resort to violence to accomplish their aims.
Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice [crime!][xiii]
Notice the progression. What started as a wrong heart motive, to trust in earthly resources diminishes the capacity to exercise sound judgment. Now the greedy are using violent means to acquire ill-gotten gain.
4. From violence we move to seduction.
Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.[xiv]
5. The final woe reveals where their trust and worship had degenerated. Idolatry is the result.
Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.[xv]
The apostle Paul summarizes these evils lurking in our sinful nature and calls it out for what it truly is: false worship.
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.[xvi]
D. Many times we struggle in our walk of faith.
One reason for this struggle is we that we do not see or understand the purposes of God. Another man who went through a time of darkness and deep despair was Job. He struggled with what was happening in his life, but listen to his incredible declaration to his friends in the darkest hour of trial.
Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. Oh, that my words were recorded, that they were written on a scroll, that they were inscribed with an iron tool on lead, or engraved in rock forever! I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes–I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me![xvii]
THE FINAL COMMUNICATION OF THE PROPHET IS ONE OF PRAYER AND INCREDIBLE FAITH
Habakkuk’s response to God is one of awe. He realizes that God is just. So, he now appeals to God based on God’s nature. He knows that God is compassionate and merciful.
A. He prays for spiritual transformation to come upon the land.
He asks that God’s people repent and turn to God for God’s mercies to be poured out.
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.[xviii]
Kenneth Barker explains the ground upon which the prophet was praying. He remembers the nation’s history.
Israel based its religion on the work of God rather than any mystical experience. The prophet based both his confidence and his petition on the work of God in the past. God’s leading the people of Israel out of Egypt provided hope and instilled confidence that God would continue to work in the future. Seeing the Egyptians dead on the seashore provided conclusive evidence of the protection of God. Israel could never have escaped from Egypt. Only God’s intervention saved Israel. Habakkuk does not present a desire to return to the ‘good old days,’ however. He knows that ‘the best is yet to come.’[xix]
What can we do in times of great injustice and ungodliness? Pray for God’s mercy upon us. When we turn to God and away from sin, we can ultimately anticipate His mercy.
B. Despite personal fears, the prophet awaits the judgment of his nation, and eventually upon the destroyer as well.
I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.[xx]
Habakkuk leaves the justice issue in the hands of God. He knows that God will address the issues in His own way and time. This judgment was meant as a correction and discipline, not total destruction.
C. Here we come to the confidence in the prophet’s cry.
In a time of great despair, Habakkuk received God’s answer of hope. It is found in trusting God regardless of the outward circumstances in life. In this last paragraph is one of the most powerful and moving expressions of faith. It is a testimony of trust and hope in a time of despair and perplexity.
Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.[xxi]
What is he declaring? That though things are difficult, he would worship God regardless. God would see them through this season. So, God will see all of His people through the distressful and perplexing times in their lives.
Margaret Sangster Phippen wrote that in the mid-1950s her father, British minister W. E. Sangster, began to notice some uneasiness in his throat and a dragging in his leg. When he went to the doctor, he found that he had an incurable disease that caused progressive muscular atrophy. His muscles would gradually waste away, his voice would fail, his throat would soon become unable to swallow.
Sangster threw himself into his work in British home missions, figuring he could still write and he would have even more time for prayer. ‘Let me stay in the struggle Lord,’ he pleaded. ‘I don’t mind if I can no longer be a general but give me just a regiment to lead.’ He wrote articles and books, and helped organize prayer cells throughout England. ‘I’m only in the kindergarten of suffering,’ he told people who pitied him.
Gradually Sangster’s legs became useless. His voice went completely. But he could still hold a pen, shakily. On Easter morning, just a few weeks before he died, he wrote a letter to his daughter. In it, he said, ‘It is terrible to wake up on Easter morning and have no voice to shout, “He is risen!”–but it would be still more terrible to have a voice and not want to shout.’[xxii]</SPAN>
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[i] Mark Galli, Christian History Magazine, “The Weak Man Behind A Mighty Fortress,” Issue 39, 19.
[ii] Hab 1:2-3, The New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan, 2011.
[iii] Hab 1:4.
[iv] Job 9:24.
[v] Hab 1:5-11.
[vi] Hab 1:13.
[vii] Mark Noll, Christian History, The Puzzling Faith of Abraham Lincoln, Issue #33, 12. (Adapted, cf. 2, 38-39).
[viii] Luci Shaw in Nouwen Then, edited by Christopher de Vinck (Zondervan, 1999).
[ix] Hab 2:1.
[x] Hab 2:2-5.
[xi] Hab 2:6.
[xii] Hab 2:9.
[xiii] Hab 2:12.
[xiv] Hab 2:15.
[xv] Hab 2:19-20.
[xvi] Col 3:5.
[xvii] Job 13:15, 23-27.
[xviii] Hab 3:2.
[xix] Kenneth L. Barker, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Vol. 20, (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999), 355).
[xx] Hab 3:16.
[xxi] Hab 3:17-19.
[xxii] Vernon Grounds, Denver, Colorado. Leadership, Vol. 8, no. 1.
