Year 2, Week 15, Day 4 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 15, Day 4

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Jeremiah 41, Habakkuk 3.

Today’s reading resumes the fourth segment of the Book of Jeremiah. This fourth segment (chapters 34-45) corresponds to the second segment (chapters 21-29) in that each segment contains messages and incidents that are historically oriented with dates and other historical markers. Jeremiah 41 reports some of the immediate aftermath from the fall of Jerusalem as it records the anarchy that began to unfold: “Now the cistern into which Ishmael had thrown all the bodies of the men whom he had struck down along with Gedaliah was the large cistern that King Asa had made for defense against Baasha king of Israel; Ishmael the son of Nethaniah filled it with the slain” (Jeremiah 41:9). The Babylonians placed Gedaliah over the region of Judah. Gedaliah had been warmed of a plot to take his life, but he did not take it seriously: “Now Johanan the son of Kareah and all the leaders of the forces in the open country came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them” (Jeremiah 40:13-14). Johanan, who had attempted to warn Gedaliah, continues a futile attempt to stabilize the region. Today’s reading also includes the closing chapter of the Book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk 3 expresses Habakkuk’s reliance on the LORD’s plans: “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:1-2).

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the stabilizing difference that the LORD makes in Habakkuk’s destabilized life: “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us” (Habakkuk 3:16). Habakkuk has expressed much despair in his book. At first Habakkuk is distressed over what he perceives as the LORD’s lack of intervention in the wicked ways unfolding in Judah: “Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted” (Habakkuk 1:3-4). Habakkuk’s distress increased to despair as he learned of the LORD’s plans of intervention entailing the Babylonians: “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?” (Habakkuk 1:12-13).

But as the LORD continues to explain His plans and purposes to Habakkuk, calling upon Habakkuk to trust Him, a change comes over Habakkuk. How Habakkuk sees God changes. The LORD reveals Himself to be a Warrior: “Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows…You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger” (Habakkuk 3:8-12). A Warrior who would save His people: “You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed” (Habakkuk 3:13a). A Warrior who would defeat the enemies of His people: “You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret” (Habakkuk 13b-14).

In grasping that the LORD would be his warrior, Habakkuk's heart changed. Habakkuk may still face the devastating realities that had invoked his distress and despair, but his heart would be quieted because of what the LORD revealed to him: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places” (Habakkuk 3:17-19). Nothing had circumstantially changed, but something in Habakkuk’s heart had changed. Habakkuk would rejoice in the LORD, finding joy in the God of his salvation. Although no timetable for circumstantial change was given, Habakkuk knew the LORD would come, and so He would already exult in the LORD's victory. Until such time, it would be the LORD Himself who would be Habakkuk’s strength, letting him walk on high places with the certainty of a deer. The LORD’s joy, strength, confidence, hope, and contentment is meant to quiet a heart of distress and despair.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe