by Wally Fry

Wednesday, March 13

The People Who Took Judah Captive

Habakkuk 1:1-17

“For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not their’s. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves,” Habbakuk 1:6, 7.

At the time of this prophecy by Habbakuk, history was turning quickly. The kingdom of Judah was at a low point. Sin, idolatry and lawlessness were the norms in the land, and God was about to exercise judgment on the nation. Parts of the judgment against Israel had seemingly already started. The Chaldeans (Babylonians) were rising to their position as the preeminent world power, and the prophecy was that they would be God’s tool and means of judgment on Judah.

The question seems logical: why would God be using a godless people to judge God’s people? In fact, Habakkuk had a dialogue with his Lord concerning that very issue. Today, Christians feel similar pressure. We often feel as if we are beset from every direction by those who do not acknowledge the Creator of the universe. Clearly, we are much like those in the time of Judah. Sin, idolatry and lawlessness are the norms today among many of God’s own. God has not changed His mind about these things, and He will judge them eventually. Why would He use the heathen to accomplish this then, and why now?

This is a two-part answer. On the most basic level, God is God and is fully entitled to accomplish His will in any fashion He chooses. Maybe, it is also because God’s people simply have ceased to listen. If His own will not hear Him, then perhaps the use of the godless is the only way to make us hear?

JUST A THOUGHT: When we stop listening, God may have to speak more loudly.

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