Nov 18 2006
Do You Wrestle With God?
(Also posted at Solid Rocks)
How frequently do you wrestle with God? Is it a daily thing or don’t you bother anymore? Are we supposed to wrestle with Him or should we just sit back and wait for the blessings to flow over us?
We just finished a study of the Minor Prophets and I was struck by how frequently the prophets went toe to toe with the Almighty because things didn’t make sense. Habakkuk is great example. He ministered and wrote in the late 600s BC, probably 609-598-ish, during the reign of Jehoiakim. The dominant player on the military-political scene was the rising Babylonian empire. These bad boys were particularly vicious, but it was clear from the word of the Lord spoken through other prophets that this Evil Empire was a tool in the hands of an angry God.
Judah repeatedly turned their back on God so the Lord decided it was time to exact judgment. God started by using Babylon to wipe out the Assyrian empire, which had taken the Northern Kingdom of Israel into captivity about a hundred years earlier. Once Assyria was taken care of, Babylon turned to Judah.
Here’s where Habakkuk comes in. The book is in the form of two arguments with God and a prayer. In the first argument (Hab 1), the prophet yells at God for allowing violence and destruction.
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 wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. (Hab 1:2-3)
God responds by saying that He’s about to bring justice on the violent:
I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. (Hab 1:6)
The second argument asks why God would use the ungodly (the Babylonians) to judge the slightly less ungodly. God responds:
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 faith - But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.” (Hab 2:2,3,20)
Suddenly the light goes on for the prophet and he utters an incredible prayer:
LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.
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 go on the heights. (Hab 3:2-4, 17-19)
There’s an Aha! moment when, after wrestling with the Lord, Habakkuk realizes Who he is dealing with. I don’t think the prophet could have uttered the prayer in chapter three if he hadn’t wrestled and argued in the first two chapters. The Lord wants us to contend with Him, not to put ourselves in His place, but to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, just as Paul says in Philippians 2:12.
