The Frozen Frontiersman

rocky mountain man

Do you ever go before God and feel as though He is an old man that either can’t hear you or doesn’t want to talk?  Folks in the Bible felt the same way.  David, for one, would ask the Lord to “wake up” and “do something.”  Here, in Habby 1, the prophet takes that usual tone that we take when we feel God isn’t paying attention–”HEY!  DO YOU SEE WHAT”S GOING ON DOWN HERE!”  ”How long shall I cry and You will not hear?”  Well, if we waited until the emotional moment passed by and we settled ourselves on what we know to be true about God, we could then rely on His sovereignty (the fact that He is in control) and omnipotence.  

This is yet another reason why we have to fall back on something solid; something that doesn’t waiver or crumble under duress.  God knows stuff we don’t know–DUH!  Seriously, as a little kid at church camp taught me, GOD IS SMART.  And He is.  

This is funny because God basically responds to Habby with a hey-dude-I-know-something-you-don’t comment.  ”Look among the heathen nations and watch–Be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.”  I want to be utterly astounded.  That sounds cool.  God’s outta the box baby!  Habakkuk had no clue that God was planning on using the Chaldeans to rebuke the nation of Israel.  And maybe if he did, he wouldn’t have come to the Lord in such a huff.  Hindsight is 20/20 guess.

So, next time the Lord sounds peculiarly silent, watch out, lift your eyes and expect something surprisingly divine to come through the back door.  Or maybe the side door or trap door or the window.  We need to be on our toes young Jedi.

Amen

FF

So, you ask, who is this Habakkuk guy? Good question; it always helps in studying Scripture to know who in the heaven wrote it (here using “who in the heaven” instead of “who in the hell” for obvious, yet playful reasons). Anyways…Habakkuk had a very unique and particular character in his little book of prophecy that greatly applies to me and my friends in “missionary music ministry.” This is for three reasons. One, because he was a Levite–set apart for the Temple service and selflessness “employment” of the one tribe that wasn’t allotted by God any land or possessions (we’ll discuss more on that later). Two, because he was a “musician.” We know this because the last chapter of the book of Habakkuk is primarily a song with a musical composition note at the beginning of it–a lot like one of the Psalms of David or Solomon. It was meant to be played and sung at Temple service. Third, and this is a no-brainer, he was a prophet. He was a messenger, a conduit, a funnel (if you will) of God’s divine words to His faithful people at this time.

With these characteristics in mind, we also need to notice that Mister Habby (as I sometimes call him) saw one of the most amazing O.T. manifestations of God’s glory on par with Isaiah and Moses. Now he has my whole and undivided attention. He was a Jew of the tribe of Levi serving in the house of the Lord. He had experience with leading, writing and performing music for and to God. AND he was a designated prophet of God speaking forth His words who actually SAW God Almighty, El Shaddai. Awesome.

Lastly, Habakkuk is the ONLY book in the whole of the Old Testament or “Tenach” in Hebrew, in which the entire account consisted of a dialogue between God and a human individual. Job and Jonah and other books have portions in which  we are given a fly-on-the-wall perspective of God talking to them, but Habby talks to God the whole time. This is, then, a spectacular view of the character of God. He does speak to us. His Word is good for today, alive and well. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m all ears to what this 2617 year old prophecy has to say to me and my friends.

Stay Tuned for Habby 1.

FF