An obscure prophet, a holy dialogue, and hope for our new year
By Dean Collins
Usually a week or so before Christmas the media begins to look back at what happened in the year just ending. Certainly, we can all find positives as we close out the year, but I suspect many of us might confess that the year didn’t quite turn out as we had hoped and planned.
Wars, terrorism, earthquakes, cyclones, tornadoes, and floods all brought tragic deaths in many places around the world. Then add the chaos of politics as parties fight internally and across the aisle while we wait and hope that our politicians learn to work for common ground.
My prayer list grew longer and longer as many friends experienced serious health issues. Many of us said goodbye to loved ones. Some struggled economically due to job loss. Rising interest rates throughout the year created increasing challenges for many businesses. And while billions of dollars sit in donor-advised funds and savings accounts, many churches, missions, Christian colleges, and nonprofits struggled to find the resources they needed to fulfill their mission.
So maybe some are eager to tear the last page off of 2023 while we hope and pray for better times in 2024. And maybe in these last couple of days of the year we should have an honest and bold conversation with the Lord. At the end of this year, maybe we can find courage and hope from the three chapters of Habakkuk.
A dialogue with. God
This little book is unique in that the prophet Habakkuk doesn’t seem to have an audience for his prophetic work other than God. The three chapters of Habakkuk are a dialogue between the prophet and God. It seems like a fitting prayer for us as we reflect on what did and didn’t happen in 2023. Maybe you can relate to Habakkuk’s prayer;
“O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ And you will not save?”
The psalmist and other Bible characters also asked how long before God would send help and relief to their situations. It is certainly okay for us to bring our urgency and even our frustration to God in prayer.
God answered Habakkuk, but his answer was not exactly what the prophet had hoped to hear.
“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. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.“
God’s answer was that he was bringing judgment on the sins of Israel through those Habakkuk and others would have seen as themselves ungodly. Habakkuk pushes on in his honest prayer with another question of God:
”Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 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?“
In chapter 2 we find the prophet perched on a watchtower waiting on God to answer his question. And as he waits he gives us hope and reason to wait as well:
“ If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. “
And long before we have the writings of the apostles urging us to have faith, the prophet records this truth:
“…but the righteous shall live by his faith. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Habakkuk learned that even though he had concerns and even fears as he considered God working in unseen ways he did not understand, he had the courage to pray that God would both revive his work and have mercy on his children.
A prophet whose faith is an example
As we come to the end of this year and contemplate the coming year may we have the courage of Habakkuk and pray that God would come alive in all of our situations and circumstances. As hard as some days are, we can ask that God increase our faith to trust his answers and his ways as far better than ours.
As the prophet concluded his short book of prayer he declared to God that he would rejoice in the Lord in every season. Even if scarcity was all that could be seen, the prophet declared that God would renew his strength and revive his hope as he rejoiced in the salvation that God had promised.
Lord as we come to the end of another year, we admit that many things did not happen the way we had hoped. But we will rejoice in you! We declare that you are our salvation. We praise you as our God who is working out your redemption and restoration plan for everyone, even when we cannot see it. Strengthen our spirit to remain confident that you will soon come again in our situations and meet every need we have. And we with strong voices lift up our praise to you. You alone are worthy of all praise! Come, Lord Jesus, even today. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your time with God’s Word
Habakkuk 1:2, 5, 12-13; 2:1-4, 20; 3:2, 17-19 ESV
smshoot photo at istockphoto.com
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