For students of history, and you can’t be future-ready until you understand it, the 20th Century was the most change-filled and crisis-riddled in history. There were two world wars that killed 10s of millions and completely altered the world order. In-between these two world wars was a Spanish flu pandemic that killed more people that the Great War. The Great Depression was possibly history’s greatest economic downturn to date. After World War II, the Cold War came on the scene, posed some ominous threats, and then quietly ended without a shot.
While the world heaved a sigh of relief, there were more shakings to come. The 21st Century began with the greatest terrorist attack on United States soil: September 11th. Hurricane Katrina was one of the greatest storms in history, virtually destroying the city of New Orleans. Then in 2008 came the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), where the world economy had a heart attack and there was no donor heart for the transplant.
In 2020, nations were reeling due to multiple challenges. Australia suffered from repeated drought, than widespread bush fires, then the Covid-19 lockdown. The United States was hit hard by Covid-19 and the lockdown, economic downturn with high unemployment, and followed by riots in various cities (partially related to the lock downs).
Many of these events can be described as a meltdown. And we need to ask the question why are these things happening? Is it the ‘judgement of God?’ ‘Is it merely a chastening? Is it an attack by Satan? Is it all or none of the above?
In any case, we need a ‘word from the Lord.’ And in Habakkuk, we’ve got it!
This singular prophet lived through the tempestuous transition from the fierce, warlike Assyrian empire to ascendancy of the Babylonian Empire in the late 7th Century BC. His day was arguably more challenging than our own. In his own nation of Judah, there was a torrent of godlessness. This backslidden nation practiced immorality, corruption, and lowered standards. He was amazed that Almighty God, Whom he served, was so patient in the face of this brazen flaunting of His holy standards.
The prophet is so grieved and incensed at the spiritual laxness of his people that He sought the Lord for answers. While shocked and scandalised by God’s response, Habakkuk comes in for Round Two of questions. Why are you using that nation to punish Judah? God’s response, chronicled in Chapter 2, has changed history.
Habakkuk is the forerunner of the entire gospel of Jesus Christ: proud, unjust, unrighteous, condemned humanity can be made just and righteous through faith in the living God.
Yet there is more. During the 16th Century, a Catholic monk tried valiantly but in vain to drive out his sin. No matter what he did…be it prayers, fasting, asceticism, good works, religious ritual … nothing worked. Nothing. Then one day his eyes landed upon these seven words:
…the just shall live by his faith (2:4)
Once he read this verse, the monk discovered the answer that eluded him for may months and years. No longer was the Christian life a matter of ‘trying’ but of ‘trusting.’ He was a free man. So central is this tenet that Habakkuk 2:4 is repeated three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; and Hebrews 10:38).
The monk’s name was Martin Luther. The gentle breeze of Habakkuk 2:4, which blew like a mighty wind in the New Testament era, now became a tsunami called ‘The Protestant Reformation.’ Habakkuk, a ‘minor prophet,’ turned out to have a ‘major effect’ on church and human history.
Begin to walk by faith and not by sight (II Corinthians 5:7) and watch those mountains move!
This passage is truly the key regarding the needful transition from meltdown to mountaintop. If you can take hold and apply what is being offered here, you will never be glued to a valley bottom again.
TO BE CONTINUED
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