Habakkuk's Journey: Day 5

Habakkuk’s Journey: Day 5
(Habakkuk 3, 2 Peter 3:9)

God is love. God is also holy, though, and can’t stand sin. We have a different view of God today than someone would’ve had 3,000 years ago. Today we view God as the God who sent His only begotten son to earth to become a man so that He could be the sacrifice for our sins. His love for us is so deep that we have trouble even comprehending it. Because of that immense love we often forget that God is also still the God that we read about in the “Old Testament”. He’s not different – He hasn’t changed – He’s just done something which made us understand how much He really loved us, and we have trouble seeing past it, sometimes. All through the Bible (Old and New Testaments) we read that we are called to not sin, the biggest difference now is that, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to live that sin-free life (2 Thes 2:13.)

Personal Reflection Questions:

1. What is the overarching theme of this chapter?

Unlike the previous chapters, this one is a prayer for God to be merciful, and a remembrance of how God has been merciful in the past. We see descriptions of God’s great works and His saving grace. In the beginning of the book Habakkuk was calling for judgment on the nation but when God delivered His answer, and Habakkuk was shown the judgment to come, he started asking for mercy, and for the judgment of Israel’s captors. This shouldn’t be seen as being wishy-washy; Habakkuk was shown the judgment, realized God’s hatred of iniquity, and cried for mercy because of its extremity.

2. What is the significance of “selah” and how should we respond to it?

A ”selah” was used as a pause in the music. In this instance it can be a pause of reflection of all that came before and a time to get ready for all that is about to come. Likewise, we should take time to reflect on our attitude toward all that is going on around us. There is so much chaos in the world that it’s easy to cry out to the Father for judgment. When we get wrapped up in thinking like that it’s good to “selah” and remember the love God showed us when He sent his Son. In fact in verse 13 of this chapter we read of a remembrance when God went forth for His people. And then it says “For salvation with Your anointed.” The name “Jesus” (Yeshua) means salvation and the word “Christ” (Meshiach) means anointed. Habakkuk is not only calling back to a time when God went forth before His people (probably when leading them out of Egypt) but he was also looking forward to a time when God would Anoint His Yeshua to save His people. So we should always remember that while God is holy and can’t stand unholiness, He has already sent salvation to us and we should do our best to call have mercy in mind toward those around us so that they can find His salvation.

3. Thinking back to the overarching theme: What is Habakkuk trying to communicate to the reader?

Habakkuk begs us to strive for holiness in our lives but to also forgive those who are not holy, just as we would want God to forgive us if we were the offenders.

4. How do we take this into our present world and apply it to our daily lives?

There is so much sin and immorality all around us and it’s easy to condemn everyone and everything, but God does not want that any should perish. When the world around you gets all broken, don’t forget that the person in front of you needs salvation just like you did/do. We don’t need to ask for their judgment. If they continue in the way they’re going then it will surely come. But God is longsuffering so that all can come to repentance, and find their Yeshua.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2Pe 3:9 ESV)

(Day One, Day Two, Day Three, Day Four)