God’s Love Lived Out – Habakkuk 1-2

A text – Habakkuk 1:1-4

1:1-4 1 The oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. ² O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
³ Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
⁴ So the law becomes slack, and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous; therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

2:1-4 2 I will stand at my watchpost and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me and what hewill answer concerning my complaint.
² Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.
³ For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end and does not lie.  If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.
⁴ Look at the proud!   Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faithfulness. 

A reflection:

Habakkuk is lamenting how unjust his nation is – he knows the rich and powerful are crafty and they pervert the law so justice is not done. He laments the suffering of the poor and unfairly treated. Does this ring any bells with us today? He waits and he waits for an answer from God, and God has him write down a vision that has not yet come but promises to come (the vision is described in terrifying terms in a later chapter). But in these verses God says it will truly come, it will not delay, and the proud whose spirits are not right in them will pay for their injustices.

God also says here at the end of this passage that the righteous live by their faithfulness. What does God mean by “the righteous” – are they some morally superior people? We don’t use that word much anymore unless it is to talk about someone being self-righteous, surely not a positive adjective. There are theologians who talk about righteous meaning right-ness – their relationship with God is right and straight, in touch rather than out-of-touch, living every day enveloped by their faith that God loves them and is with them, and they belong to God and do what God asks. So when Habakkuk’s words say that those who are right with God live by their faithfulness, he means they live out their faithful relationship with God in the way they attend to God and also treat other people.

God says there will be a reckoning, and those that have been unjust to God’s beloved children will pay for that bad behavior. We may not even see the day when that repayment happens, but if we are right with God, we can believe that for sure God will do it. In the meantime we can make sure the unjustly treated folks experience a little fairness, a little love, a little kindness along their way. We can make things a little better for them. If we will live by our faithfulness, their lives can also get a little better, because we are living out God’s love for all people.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for helping us know that you love all your children and that our lives of faith can make the lives of victims of injustice a little better, a little more right.  Help us to see opportunities to live out your love in the lives of others. Amen.