The Dark Nights of the Soul - Job 24:1, 9-12, 19-25

The Dark Nights of the Soul

Job 24:1, 9-12, 19-25

Lesson Setting

Job sits amongst his friends as they “comfort” him in his misery.  He listens attentively to their speeches which seek a confession from Job that will enable his restoration.  As he listens to his friends’ self-righteous babble, Job reaches a boiling point of frustration.  Then, he unleashes a barrage of righteous indignation thereby exemplifying the anger and agony of many disciples as they feel their circumstances eclipse God’s kindness and power.

Lesson Outline

I.                 Job 24:1 – Looking in Vain for God to Act

II.            Job 24:9-12 – Why Does God Allow Wrongdoing?

III.        Job 24:19- 22 – The Wicked are Forgotten

IV.         Job 24:23-25 – Who Can Prove Me Wrong?

Unifying Principle

Sometimes it seems as though the wicked people in the world get all breaks and cannot be stopped from doing terrible things.  How can this picture be changed?  Job 24 complains that God support the evil ones, but only for a while; however, Job 5 and the psalmist affirm that, even so, God saves the needy and gives the poor hope in the battles they are waging.

Introduction

“Wait patiently on the Lord!”  This spiritual exhortation echoes loudly between the ears of any disciple living through the dark nights of the soul.  Chances are he has repeated those very words to someone else during a time of considerable adversity and angst.  As he lives with more painstaking questions than comforting answers, he must take his own advice.  Yet, a most practical and even penetrating question remains, “How does a disciple experiencing a hard time wait patiently on the Lord?”

Anyone attempting to mail a letter or parcel via the U S Postal Service must wait patiently in a long line as postal workers sporadically leave for coffee breaks and lunch.  Usually, they disappear as the line becomes longer and people have multiple needs.  Nevertheless, citizens remain in the line until their turn as leaving only extends the time, compounds the energy and increases the expense of completing such a mundane albeit necessary task.  Additionally, waiting for an appointment with a physician to begin is just as frustrating, time consuming and expensive.  It stands to reason that illness, the need of medication or the practice of preventive disease health and wellness are among the myriad causes for a doctor’s appointment.  A patient seeks a most favorable outcome and thus will wait for it however irritating it may be.  Similarly, in the spiritual realm, waiting for the emergence of God’s favor, redemption and salvation can be equally aggravating and agonizing.

There is yet another disturbing dimension to waiting on God.  It is particularly difficult to do so when you observe others around receiving bountiful blessings as you wait for yours.  A pastor of a small local church deals with as many relational, administrative and programmatic challenges as his ministerial colleague who is the pastor of an adjacent mega-church with a large staff.  The former clergyperson ponders whether the weekly offering plates will yield sufficient funds for payroll.  The latter one complains about overcrowding attendance at the third service on Sundays.  In some instances, the pastor of the mainline local church with an average congregation of less than two hundred adults may actually achieve righteousness and integrity in daily living and service.  His counterpart may adhere to an entirely different lifestyle which may be morally and ethically questionable.  Yet, an even starker and perhaps unfair contrast exists in their standard and quality of living as the local pastor maintains an austere life and his colleague enjoys affluence.  As the local pastor waits for God’s favor, it must be very difficult for him to observe a colleague who flourishes despite his morally and ethically ambiguous ways. 

Further, it really leaves a taste of gall and bitterness in the mind and heart of a disciple as he watches unbelievers and non-Christians reap harvests of unimaginable financial gain and material acquisition as he struggles to live within his means.  Imagine driving through your neighborhood on the way to church in a car you have owned for more than a decade and you notice your neighbors washing and waxing their brand new luxury cars.  Have you had the experience of seeing a adolescent talking on the latest model cell phone or watching a video on the most current tablet both of which you do not own even though you work daily?  Waiting on God, as He blesses other people particularly persons whom we characterize as unbelievers, is very difficult for faithful disciples.  In today’s lesson, Job perfectly articulates the frustration that many such disciples feel.

This week’s passage reiterates the myriad ways in which Job and the Psalmist genuinely rely upon Almighty God in times of trouble.  They find great comfort in knowing they can always seek God’s comfort and hope.  Their example reminds us that we also can turn to the Lord during hard times.  However, Job and the Psalmist are not mindless and Pollyannaish.  Forthrightly and sternly, they state their complaints about the time of God’s judgment.  They do not mince words about their feelings relating to the manner in which God judges.  It greatly distresses them to observe just how slowly God appears to act as wickedness thrives.  They wonder whether it is worthwhile to prepare for God’s judgment through deeds of righteousness and faithfulness in belief.  The appearance that God affords evil and wicked people a free pass as it pertains to His judgment creates a major faith crisis for Job.  What an incredible irony!  The wicked enjoy life with impunity while the righteous receive God’s chastening rod.  Assuredly, many modern disciples, as they glance the globe and consider the increase of terrorism and other dastardly deeds perpetrated in God’s name, share Job’s righteous indignation.  Yet, Job appreciates the central and incontrovertible fact that although the timing of God’s judgment is often inexplicable to us, His justice certainly and eventually comes. 

Finally, we have the challenge of determining ways in which we serve as God’s instruments to create a more just and equitable society.  In his compelling book, Raging with Compassion: Pastoral Responses to the Problem of Evil, John Swinton suggests that congregations collectively battle wickedness and the social structures that produce injustice as they care for victims and advocate for those who cannot speak for themselves.  Instead of polishing social, economic and political problems with incessant talking and public relations protests, disciples have an obligation to transform society to enable all children of God to actualize their divine talents, personal potential and natural endowments. 

Exposition

Point I – Job 24:1 – Looking in Vain for God to Act

Do those of us who expect the Lord’s wrath and judgment upon evildoers look in vain for its emergence?  We understand biblically that vengeance and punishment belong to the Lord because only He can adjudicate perfectly as He is the only one with complete knowledge of any predicament.  All five major world religious systems espouse some idea of karma and reciprocal justice.  In Christianity, we often recite Paul’s immortal words in Galatians, “Be not deceived, God shall not be mocked.  Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”  Although we forgive perpetrators of past offenses and crimes and learn from the experiences, we still wait for God to coerce the persons who harmed us to face the consequences of their choices.  But, do we do so in vain as our perpetrators seem to thrive in their daily affairs? 

Job asks why God makes the victims wait so long for truth and justice.  Consider a victim of rape who waits for years before a random traffic stop leads to the arrest and incarceration of his rapist.  Think of the sleepless nights and countless nightmares such a woman experiences as she fears the possible return of her rapist.  What if he rapes someone else?  How can God sit idly and permit another woman to experience such a debilitating trauma?  There are faithful disciples who are victims unsuspecting of infidelity and betrayal by persons whom they love and trust.  People are terminated wrongfully from jobs each day because someone does not like them.  Husbands have abandoned lovingly loyal wives and children for young mistresses.  Doctoral students, after several years of an investment in their degree programs, are dismissed summarily and disrespectfully because their advisors no longer wish to work with them.  They have no legal recourse as courts will not intervene in such interpersonal conflicts and universities will protect their employees to avoid financial and other liabilities.  In all these instances, deeply wounded people seek divine recourse which does not appear to come.

This question is one of faith.  Job inquires essentially about the character of Almighty God.  In pleasant times of plenty wealth and health, it is easy to expound eloquently and excessively about the favorable attributes of God.  It is equally easy to exhort others to trust in the goodness of God.  We hear during each contemporary worship service, “God is good.  All the time!  All the time, God is good.”  Albeit theologically sound and biblically justifiable, this saying is a church cliché which disciples recite automatically.  However, what happens in difficult times such as the season affliction and adversity Job experiences?  Is God still good all the time?  As one author posits, “The spiritual life is not a theory.”  In its most practical sense, genuine spirituality emerges with the furnace of affliction in daily living.  Tribulations and tests most reliably burn the dross of self-centered fears, self-seeking motives and egotistical self-aggrandizement away from the characters of maturing disciples.  A person cannot acquire these divine attributes by reading a library filled with the great tomes of theology and philosophy.  It is very possible for a person to hold an earned doctorate in systematic theology and not have any authentic, experiential knowledge of Almighty God.  In contrast, Job asks about the character of God as Job lingers in the worst predicament of his life.  Is God really who He reveals Himself to be?  Will He execute justice and righteousness as He says?  Will He make righteous persons wait hopelessly as He is unable to accomplish this feat?

The second component of Job’s question is very personal.  For people who know Him, God’s inertia is particularly disturbing and revolting.  Is it unreasonable to presume your relationship with God would afford certain exemptions from laws and protections from danger?  Moreover, would not God eagerly want to deliver justice on behalf of his beloved children who faithfully serve Him and worthily magnify His holy Name?  Job suffers immeasurable angst relating to this dilemma as he relies steadfastly upon his enduring relationship with God.  What happened?  Job’s bewilderment defies description and explanation.  It is troubling that Job waits for God to redeem his personal predicament inclusive of Job’s wholesale loss of everyone whom he loves dearly and everything he owns.  Adding insult to injury, Almighty God makes Job wait for societal redemption as Job watches the wicked prosper and laugh.  As God appears to linger in dispensing justice and equity, He also seems to betray the people who truly trust Him.

Point II – Job 24:9-12 – Why Does God Allow Wrongdoing?

Why does God allow wrongdoing?  This is simplistic wording for an enduring, complex and possibly irresolvable theological dilemma, the problem of prevalent evil in the world although disciples affirm faith in Almighty God whose four fundamental attributes (ever-present, all-knowing, all-powerful and all-kind) oppose wickedness.  Furthermore, Job agonizes over God’s willingness to permit the suffering of His chosen people and subject them to the dastardly deeds of wicked people.  As Job languishes in physical pain and colossal financial and material loss, he is not theorizing about this contradiction.  He is not sitting at the table of graduate school seminar about theodicy, is God the agent of evil given He permits it.  His personal perplexity and perusal of social injustices encourage Job to conclude that Almighty God actually creates ad utilizes evil to accomplish His purposes in contrast with His previous revelation of being the Lord is faithfully loving, gracious and merciful.

Fiercely, Job attacks God for sitting idly by as evil permeates society.  Let’s examine closely Job’s vivid depiction of wickedness throughout the world.  Fatherless infants are ripped from their mother’s breasts possibly to allow the babies of rich people to nurse.  The infants of poor people are taken from them as collateral to remit for outstanding debt.  A lifetime of physical slavery and emotional bondage awaits these innocent and undeserving babies.  Although the poor carry sheaves, they remain hungry as they still need the next meal.  Additionally, they are naked and lacking clothes to shield them from the natural elements and all types of diseases and danger.  Like the modern day poor people in New York City and other urban areas who pilfer garbage on the sidewalks in search of recyclable aluminum cans, the biblical poor press olives on the terraces of people’s dwellings for cooking oil and light.  Even as they press grapes in the winepress, they are still hungry as the meager amounts do not suffice.  Summarily, the lamentations and mourning of the dying resound loudly in the city; and the screams and pain of the wounded vehemently call for help.  Nonetheless, Job sees “God charges no one with wrongdoing.”

How can God appear indifferent to such pervasive and paralyzing evil that robs His children of their divine heritage and cripples their ability to actualize their purpose?  Personally, Job asks how God could allow such evil to overtake and destroy Job’s life.   What benefit is there to serving God if He fails to protect His children from evil?  Honestly, many disciples ask similar questions throughout the world as they strive to incorporate their faith into daily living.  The contradictions are blatant and glaring.  God’s inertia is bewildering.  Further, it is unjust.  Accordingly, it causes disciples to feel He does not possess inherent and infinite abilities, power or goodness.  Erstwhile, He would proactively prevent the occurrence of evil or intervene zealously to blunt its affects and effects upon His chosen people.

In her classic African American novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston begins a chapter with an enduringly profound spiritual maxim, “There are years for questions and there are years for answers.”  Job’s example greatly encourages and empowers disciples as they grapple with difficult and complex questions of faith.  Like Job, they dismiss memorable clichés and boldly state their objections concerning the inconsistency between God’s revelation and covenantal promises and their daily realities.  Today, we live with the ironic and longsuffering question, “Why does God allow wrongdoing?”

Point III – Job 24:19-22 – The Wicked are Forgotten

As the embers of Job’s emotions finally cease burning, he calmly balances his perspective of God’s character with reflections and images of divine retribution.  Essentially, the wicked will die and be forgotten as chaff, husks and shells blowing aimlessly in the wind.  Their longstanding rule and power will prove futile to protect them from divine wrath and justice.    As the wicked who were wealthy as a result of their deceptive and oppressive deeds invested in earthly riches and material acquisition instead of the eternal treasures such as truth, love, mercy and justice, their memories will fade into oblivion as dust in the wind.  Job graphically annihilates their legacy with vivid natural images of demise and decay.  He parallels the desert’s effect on snow with the graves consumption of the wicked.  Even the wombs through which they came forget them leaving worms to devour their rotting flesh.  These predators of infertile woman and oppressors of widows do not deserve recognition after death.  Like a broken tree, no one will recall anything about them.  They cannot rely upon their earthly economic and political power as God shall surely wipe them away in accordance with His righteousness and equity.

These few verses remind us of how heightened emotions become in the midst of a faith crisis.  Intrepid in his righteous anger as he lingers in pain and misery, Job understandably doubts God’s character and abilities.  As his feelings rise, his rhetoric indicting God for passivity although He is the Creator of the Universe and ends of the Earth culminates in exaggeration.   Job sounds as if he is intoxicated with anger and resentment.  As Job calms down and reassesses his life, he realizes that God justice albeit glacial at times assuredly emerges in the course of human history.  These sober reflections provide encouragement and healing for Job.  They equally supply contemporary disciples with the will to persevere through the treachery and tribulations of personal adversity, natural disasters, terrorism and geopolitical dilemmas.

Summarily, Job remembers the Lord’s righteousness and realizes that God maintains justice and equity for His people.  The wicked will reap what they have sown.  The Lord is the Heavenly Father to the fatherless.  He cares for widows and orphans.  He defends the poor downtrodden against the wiles of oppressors and predators.  As a result, God dispenses perfect judgment and punishment.  Only those people who willingly serve as God’s agents of love, truth, justice and mercy will enjoy a posterity and legacy.

Point IV – Job 24:23-25 – Who Can Prove Me Wrong?

Job challenges his listeners and friends to defy his words.  “Who can prove me wrong and reduce my words to nothing?”  Job will not accept theoretical propositions as he languishes in distress and misery.  Quoting a good book on religion, philosophy, psychology and self-help will not suffice.  Job relies upon the certainty of his personal experience to defend his questions and position.  Exhibiting defiant faithfulness, Job dismisses simple answers to tough questions.  He insists upon asking the hard questions of faith in difficult times. 

To persuade Job that he is wrong, his friends would need to demonstrate practical and pragmatic methods of resolving Job’s dilemma.  As a parent of teenagers, far too often, I am bewildered as I attempt to impart fundamental life lessons regarding love, relationships, work ethic, study, discipline, consideration of others, and personal responsibility.  Periodically, I feel as if I more greatly desire my children’s dreams and goals than they do for themselves.  I do not understand their indifference to the importance of high academic achievement and its significance relating to college choices and eventual professional options.  Humbly, I sought the advice and counsel of friends, siblings, colleagues and professionals who deal with adolescents.  To my considerable chagrin, I received feedback on my need to improve my parenting skills.  To the person, no one had any helpful, plausible and effective hints for resolving my dilemma and empowering my children with tools, skills and strategies to help them maximize their talents, time and temperaments.  As I reflect on these conversations, some of which I paid handsomely, I relate to Job’s impatience and dismissive of his friends clichés and facile replies.  Criticizing my approach to parenting without offering anything constructive and workable recommendations is not helpful.  As a result, I resolve my approach is just fine.  I ask “Who can prove me wrong?” 

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

1.     Recall an experience in which you lived through any number of dark nights of your soul.  How were you able to maintain your faith and sanity?

2.   Have you ever felt that God is indifferent to evil and suffering in the world?

3.   Where was God on 11 September 2011? 

4.   If someone renounced their faith because of 11 September 2011, would you understand?  What would you suggest to him or her?

5.    Do you have any suggestions for waiting patiently and faithfully for God’s justice to unfold?

Dark Nights of the Soul - Job 19:1-7, 23-29

Dark Nights of the Soul

Job 19:1-7, 23-29

Lesson Setting

Not surprising, a scholarly debate endures about dating this most important book of the Bible.  Adherents to the school of higher biblical criticism posit the book was written years after the patriarchal period coinciding with the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  In contrast, scholars who favor an inerrant perspective on scripture argue internal evidence in the book suggests that Job lived one hundred and forty-two (142) years following his return to prosperity and restoration to health (Job 42:16).  Were his life to span hundreds of years, then he most appropriately lived during a historical period similar to the longevity of the patriarchs.

Lesson Outline

I.                 Job 19:1-4 – Shameless and Pious Attacks

II.            Job 19:5-7 – “God has wronged me”

III.        Job 19:23-24 – “Oh, that my words were recorded!”

IV.        Job 19-25-27 – A Grand Statement of Faith

Unifying Principle

Even when people admit their shortcomings, they are often ostracized by others and receive no justice.  Where can they get strength and reassurance?  Job and the Psalter proclaim – no matter what happens – God, the Redeemer, lives and constantly send forth steadfast love to all people.

Introduction

Who demonstrates greater faith, Abraham or Job?  Known as the “Father of faith” and the recipient of the covenant with Israel (Genesis 12), Abraham trusts Almighty God four hundred and fifty years before the Law is written down and obeys His will by relinquishing a pagan and polytheistic lifestyle.  As a result, God pledges forever faithfully to provide and protect Abraham and his descendants who will equate the number of stars in the night sky and grains of sand on the seashore.  Abraham’s simple yet significant act of faith resembles the dawn of the creation.  His trust and obedience yields the great religion of Judaism inclusive of monotheism, the Law, the Prophets and the blessings of the Covenant for anyone who believes and obeys.  In the “fullness of time,” Abraham’s obedience yields the “New Covenant” of God’s gift of salvation to humankind through the shed blood and atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  Within good and challenges times, Abraham maintains an unwavering faith in God.  Even as Abraham waits patiently for an heir, Isaac, he does not waver in faith but believes God is indeed able to fulfill the promise of a son.  Scripture and history greatly applauds Abraham for his faith.  We admire the blessings he receives as a consequence of his belief in the One, True God, Creator of the Universe.

In stark contrast, Job begins life as a very wealthy man until the Lord permits a major faith crisis in Job’s life.  With the colossal lost of his ten children and entire fortune inclusive of all financial acquisitions, material wealth and real estate.  The question arises as to whether Job will persevere in faith in God considering the depth of agony and lost.  Strikingly, Job articulates a genuine faith that seems to surpass his religiosity and ritualism prior to the devastation of his life.  Job personalizes the dark night of the soul.  What do we do in the midst of a faith crisis and it feels as if God abandons us to our dreadful circumstances?  Job’s example teaches us the necessity of steadfastness and meekness regardless of daily challenges. 

Recently, I read an amazingly quote.  “The young, new and innovative Christians of today will become the Pharisees of the next generation.”  As traditions solidify in thinking and practice, people rely more considerably upon their longstanding rituals, creeds, doctrines and customs than they do the Word of God and the vibrancy of the Holy Spirit.  Initially, the Pharisees prioritized the Law as a means of understanding God’s holiness and righteousness.  They taught Israel and Judah to obey the Law as the surest method of rightly relating themselves to God.  In time, their commentary on the Law, the Talmud, and their lengthier expository notes, the Midrash, superseded the actual Law itself not to mention God’s holy character and presence.  The Pharisees began to impose a yoke of slavery upon the people as they demanded greater allegiance to their interpretations and commentary than the Law itself.  When the Lord appears on the scene proclaiming the “New Law of Love” in a simplistic yet significant manner enabling the common person to grasp the message of the Father’s love, the Pharisees forcefully fight Him and seek His death and destruction.  Job’s friends resemble the Pharisees as they do not understand how a man can remain steadfastly righteous and experience the wholesale loss of wealth, health and good fortune that Job does.  Job demonstrates that righteousness does not exempt believing disciples from hardships and tribulations.

In this week’s lesson, we explore several key aspects of faith from Job’s perspective, a devout and God-fearing man who loses all of his children, his health and every material possession he owns in a very short period time.  Job aids us in developing compassion and sensitivity towards persons who feel “God has wronged me.”  How do we encourage fellow disciples who resolve “there is no justice” in faithfully serving Almighty God?  He permits tragedy and colossal loss to befall his righteous sons and daughters?  What difference does it make to devote your life to His service if He fails to protect and shield you from such danger?  Perhaps, God utilizes pain and misfortune to burn the dross of hidden sin, pride, arrogance and self-righteousness in the character of sons like Job.  His friends certainly offer this idea as a valid explanation for the sudden, unexpected albeit seemingly unfair turn of events in Job’s life.  Let’s explore in great detail Job’s reply to his friends who also are his main accusers. 

Still, Job exemplifies an unwavering belief in God’s redemption power specifically as it relates to his suffering.  How is it possible for Job to affirm boldly, defiantly and proactively, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last He will stand upon the earth?”  Job’s example proves God’s unfailing love for disciples who suffer much without yielding to the temptation of abandoning the faith.  Job’s life acknowledges the myriad and mysterious ways in which God demonstrates His patience and love and blesses His hurting children in times of trouble.  This most significant book of the Bible is a missionary text that informs readers that the Redeemer lives regardless of the circumstances of their lives.

Exposition

Point I – Job 19:1-4 – Shameless and Pious Attacks

With friends like Job’s, who needs enemies?  If your friends vociferously criticize you, do you need the scorn of adversaries?  Job’s friends who visit to comfort him actually spew forth incessant sanctimonious and pious accusations.  Convinced Job is hiding some deep unconfessed sin, they forthrightly recommend that he admit what he has been doing.  “He needs to come clean.”  Allowing Job repents and reveals his previously undisclosed sin, his dire circumstances will reverse.  As Job insists he has not done anything wrong and his previous blessings were divine rewards for his obedience and faithfulness, his friends contend he is being defiant.  They straightforwardly indict Job’s claims to righteousness.  Ironically, they hear of his misfortune and come to support him but in so doing they forcefully accuse him of hypocrisy and arrogance.  Imagine Job’s predicament as his friends “console” him with such character assassination.

Job’s friends raise a prevalent and troubling theological issue in many church circles.  What if any correlation exists between physical illness and disease and sin and rebellion?  Is sickness a matter of reaping what a person has shown?  A clergy colleague of mine shares a story of a startling hospital visit to a stalwart member of his church in which he finds another congregant severely castigating the patient.  As he enters the room, he overhears these words, “You’ve fooled all of us for a long time.  The devil has got you now as you deserve to be sick like you are.  You are finally getting what was coming to you.”  Regrettably, those frightening words of that parishioner are held sacrosanct by countless disciples.  Possibly, Job’s friends would agree readily with that idea.  Nevertheless, this prominent church teaching that God uses sickness, diseases and financial misfortune to punish sin rests upon a few very faulty premises which negate the biblically revealed character of Almighty God.  If human sin necessarily yields illness and disease, then human choices actually limit God’s abilities and redefine His sovereign prerogative.  Additionally, this idea concludes sadistic impulses lie in the character of God.  As the all-kind Heavenly Father, God does not visit pain, punishment and judgment upon humankind with any gleefulness.  His mercy actually withholds His justice and punishment.  Whereas He permits us to face the consequences of our choices, He still redeems our pain and leads us toward a greater purpose in living as a result of our mistakes.  He does not delight in destruction, depression and devastation amongst His people.

Oftentimes, during a difficult season of bereavement for congregants as we plan the “Service of Witness to the Resurrection,” I strongly suggest to hurting and grieving families that they wisely select those persons who will offer tributes and words of condolence at the service.  People, however well-intentioned, do not always say the most helpful things.  Some of them automatically and uncritically recite petrified church clichés which lack biblical foundation and reason.  Yet, they firmly and relentlessly recite these words believing their bereaved congregants will find comfort and consolation in them.  Remarkably, a sister will tell a widow that she knows how she feels as she leaves with her husband.  Persons who have never lost a child will tell heartbroken and bitterly weeping parents something similar.  In this passage, Job’s friends are just as dreadful in their actions and words although they are well intentioned.

Sadly, his friends barrage him with accusations to such an extent that Job pleads for mercy and relief.  He asks them how long they will continue to exacerbate his agony with their sanctimonious and pious attacks.  His equates their destructive sayings with the crushing of rocks.  It is as if Job feels he is being stoned to death.  Repeatedly, they reproach him definitely believing that they are helping him.  Misguidedly, these “smart bombs” usually result in more extensive damage than those persons launching them anticipate.  Job’s friends seek to destroy his spiritual pride thereby causing his repentance and thus yielding God’s mercy.  In their campaign to coerce Job’s confession, they inadvertently indict the character of Almighty God who appears to possess a sadistic streak in contrast to His previous revelations of Himself.

Vehemently chastising his friends for their shameless attacks, Job reminds them that any sin or errors he commits remain a private and personal matter between God and Job.  Job’s friends lapse into judging Job for his hidden and sin.  As a consequence, they imply their spiritual superiority to Job.  They may also cloak a measure of jealousy as they relish Job’s reversal of fortune and health considering is spiritual inferiority to them.  Possibly, they feel that they are more deserving of the bounty Job previously enjoyed.  A self-reliant piety grounded in external religious practice and mores usually results in the harmful and shameless attacks exhibited by Job’s friends.

Point II – Job 19:5-7 – “God has wronged me”

After castigating his friends for their lengthy humiliation of him and thus exalting themselves above him, Job offers a provocative statement of faith.  Job declares “God has wronged me.”  To his listeners and perhaps many contemporary disciples, Job’s bold statement sounds arrogant and sacrilegious.  However, were his friends able to listen with an open mind and willingly try to understand Job’s perspective, they may agree that his words albeit angry and volatile are appropriate for a man living in the dark nights of the soul.  As there is not external and reliable evidence to prove any wrongdoing on Job’s behalf, his righteous indignation is warranted.

In these few verses, Job delves deeply into the morass and treacherous emotions of someone who feels that God has betrayed him.  This emotional gall is very symptomatic of someone who spends sleepless nights during a bleak spiritual and personal period.  The parents of a fourteen year-old daughter who was killed in the crossfire of a gang initiation ritual as she sat on a New York City Transit bus can relate wholeheartedly to Job’s feelings.  A mother of four-month old baby who lost a most valiant fight for life after being born prematurely may offer a similar cry.  Any of the mothers of the first grade students who were massacred at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut could understandably make this claim.  The residents of Moore, Oklahoma who experienced two devastating tornadoes within fourteen years can additionally share these heartfelt and bitter sentiments.  Conceivably, any of these mothers may suspect that Almighty God actually sneered on the day their children were born.  In His infinite foreknowledge, He knew the pain and irreparable heartbreak that lay ahead of them.  Considering He is ever-present and all-powerful, what explains His failure to prevent their personal disasters?  Did He enjoy any sadistic pleasure and maniacal humor at their expense on the day when their worst nightmares began?  Job, many centuries prior to these twenty-first century tragedies, succinctly and sourly embeds these and similar questions in his ironic statement of faith, “God has wronged me.”

In fact, Job accuses God of drawing a net around him.  As a disciple experiences dark nights of the soul, it appears that his circumstances forcefully eclipse God.  Dread and depression are so overwhelming that they seemingly eliminate God’s presence.  When anger and angst combine, they produce feelings of abandonment.  Eventually, the mental hysteria leads a disciple to believe that God shockingly creates the conditions of his misery.  Job’s words depict a caged animal waiting for slaughter.  How could Almighty God betray me in such a fundamental and monumental way considering my faithful service to Him?

Reminiscent of his pious and sanctimonious friends, many contemporary disciples may characterize Job’s indictment of God as sacrilegious and inappropriate.  Equally justifiably, Job’s words are the desperate plea of a genuine disciple who refuses to accept simple answers to complex problems.  Job will not settle for clichés and simple-minded formulas.  He forcefully, angrily, bitterly yet sincerely asks His God to explain the onset and duration of Job’s current loss of health, wealth and good fortune.  Should the Lord’s grace, love and mercy fail to respond, the Job concludes his assumption that God has wronged him is correct.

Point III – Job 19:23-25 - “Oh, that my words were recorded!”

These verses hint to the thoroughness of the oral culture in which Job lives.  They also reflect his adamancy in his position.  Job believes so firmly in the correctness of his interpretation of God’s violation of His covenant with Job, personally, and anyone who believes in God, generally, that Job demands that someone record his petition for redress.  Fortunately, Job’s words were recorded eventually as a means of encouraging and empowering contemporary and all future generations of disciples as they experience dark nights of the soul.  The Book of Job teaches us how to persevere in genuine faith during difficult seasons.  Although Job issues several very harsh critiques of God, Job never considers his wife’s recommendation to curse God and die.  Moreover, Job does not abandon his faith and relationship with God solely because he loses his fortune health, children and material possessions.  Job’s example demonstrates faith’s essence is internal and spiritual not external and empirical.  Mostly, Job shows us that genuine faith centers upon a vibrant and developing relationship with God.

Point IV – Job 19:25-27 - A Grand Statement of Faith

Let’s join Job and sit with him.  Take a moment and survey the boils that afflict his entire body.  Can you smell the putrid fluids that emerge from His cells?  Look at Job’s unkempt face.  Can you imagine how awful Job’s hair smells?  Chances are you will not sit close to him as his clothes smell.  I imagine the furniture is most austere and the surroundings are very meager. Shockingly, in the midst of this bizarre, impoverished and dreadful setting, Job boldly declares a grand statement of faith.  “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.”

This great statement of faith is not recitation of a longstanding religious dogma or ecclesiastical creed.  Rather, it is a very personal appeal for vindication by the God whom Job knows and serves.  These words portray a deep intimacy between Job and God.  Earlier, Job called for a mediator between God and Job.  He seeks someone to advocate his cause as God appears to ignore Job’s pleas relating to rewards and righteousness and exemption from pain and punishment.  In possibly the best known and most cited verses in the Book of Job, he finally awakens to the reality Almighty God whom Job indicts actually is His Advocate and Redeemer.  Job affirms His faith in God and God’s unquestionable faithfulness thereby testifying to Job’s genuine reliance upon God and wholehearted certainty that God will transform Job’s adversity and tragedy whether Job lives or not.  Practically speaking, Job believes Almighty God will have the final word relating to Job’s predicament.  Job hopes fiercely and waits patiently for God’s redemption never wavering in his resolve that it will materialize.

Job’s grand declaration of faith serves two other purposes.  First, Job articulates his belief in life after death.  He believes he will see God on the other side of his pain and agony.  Although Job’s belief in the afterlife does not equate the formal system of thought that Paul details in 1 Corinthians 15, Job discovers hope in an eventual face-to-face conversation with Almighty God in order to understand completely God’s previously hidden mysteries and ironies as it pertains to redemptive suffering and other types of injustice.  Interestingly, the life’s furnace of affliction best burns away the dross of inadequate religious beliefs.  The pure gold of an intellectually respectable faith in God usually emerges in daily experiential learning rather than theoretical and formulaic knowledge.  A textbook faith hardly suffices during extended periods of trial and tribulations. 

Second, Job’s faith statement hints toward the coming of the Messiah.  As a messianic prophecy, Job alludes to the birth of Jesus Christ, who as “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” and the atoning sacrifice and propitiation for humankind, is the Righteous Advocate for all disciples.  In the example of the crucifixion, Christ demonstrates the essence of redemptive suffering as His life, death and resurrection demonstrate this divine possibility for anyone who suffers.  A religious scholar and victim of domestic violence who cannot teach, lecture or write for a year finds new life in the example of the cross.  A mother who loses here one and only son to the dreadful disease of alcoholism and drunk driving finds resurrection in starting MADD, Mother Against Drunk Driving, and saves countless other lives.  An infertile couple finds resurrection in parenting through the process and gift of adoption.  It is impossible to exhaust the examples and enumerate instances of redemptive pain and subsequent triumph that innumerable disciples experience during dark nights of the soul.  As they read the Book of Job, they grasp a concrete, personal and perfect example of a man of genuine faith who unswervingly holds his belief in God’s righteousness, truth and justice.

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

·        Who do you believe has greater faith Abraham or Job? 

·        Do you think anything that Job’s friend say has any merit?

·        Has God ever wronged you?  If yes, how did you respond to feeling betrayed by God?

·        Are you comfortable enough in your prayer life to be frank and straightforward with God?

·       Share an encouraging word from a time when you lived in the dark nights of the soul.

Dark Nights of the Soul - Habakkuk 2:1-5 & 3:17-19

Dark Nights of the Soul

Habakkuk 2:1-5 & 3:17-19

Lesson Setting

Named after its author, the book of Habakkuk in its purpose fulfills the prophet’s mission as a book recording the striking words of a poet who embraces his people with a message of God’s justice.  The prophet pronounces his sayings in the pre-exilic era.  References to the Chaldeans (Neo-Babylonians) and Nabopolassar, a Neo-Babylonian monarch who ruled from 627 to 605 BCE, offers an approximate date for the book.  However, biblical scholars agree that it is impossible to date this book with precision.  Moreover, Habakkuk’s oracles were God’s means of warning Israel and Judah many years in advance of the coming destruction resulting in captivity and exile if they continued digressing in wickedness and rebellion.  Habakkuk calls for justice, truth and righteousness in the midst of utter hopeless and darkness in Israelite and Judean society.

Lesson Outline

Point I – Habakkuk 2:1 – Waiting for an Answer from God

Point II – Habakkuk 2:2-3 – Write Down the Revelation

Point III – Habakkuk 2:4-5 – Faithfulness is the Key

Point IV – Habakkuk 3:17-19 – “I Will Trust in the Lord!”

Unifying Principle

Some people experience so many difficulties in life they lose all hope for the future.  Where can they turn for direction when things get really bad?  Job, the Psalter and Habakkuk all affirm that no matter what calamities might come their way, they will trust God; rejoice in God’s presence in their lives; and praise God for strength to carry on.

Introduction

Most regrettably, a very commercial, profitable and fashionable theology, “The Gospel of Wealth and Health,” receives widespread uncritical acceptance throughout Christendom.  Even in developing countries, pejoratively characterized as “Third World nations,” pastors, preachers and evangelists insist that following their facile formulas yields incontrovertibly limitless wealth and lifelong health and exemption from sickness and disease.  Actually, some of these “teachers of the Word of God” posit your righteousness equates with your financial gain and material acquisition.  The more you have in turn more greatly reveals God’s approval of you and your life.  Proof texting by finding a few verses in the Bible that lend themselves to these facile and one dimensional interpretations, these celebrity clergypersons exploit millions of disciples into supporting their lavish lifestyles.  However, the “Gospel of Wealth and Health” melts like wax when disciples periodically find themselves in the furnace of affliction.

In this second unit of lessons, we will explore biblical passages offering encouragement and empowerment to disciples as they live through the “Dark Nights of the Soul.”  From our Lord’s pitiable state in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of His betrayal to Charles Spurgeon’s long-term depression to Harry Emerson Fosdick’s nervous breakdown to Martin Luther King’s questioning God in his kitchen one morning to Mother Teresa confiding her doubt to her private journal, all genuinely spiritual persons travel through this mystical valley of doubt, despair, depression and existential death.  This rite of passage is unavoidable for anyone seeking authentically to become a clear channel of God’s love, grace, mercy and peace.  As “pain is the touchstone of all spiritual progress,” it stands to reason that hard times will emerge in the life of any committed disciple.  The history of the Church negates the prevalent, erroneous and wayward teaching that Almighty God exempts faithful disciples from hardships and adversities.  Actually, in the “Sermon on the Mount,” the Lord Jesus Christ declares “the rain falls on the just and unjust alike.”  For persons desiring to live justly, demonstrate mercy and walk humbly with God, trials and tribulations forge personal character and yield spiritual development.  Ironically, the darkness of daily living more greatly reveals God’s light.  As disciples embrace rather than shun “Dark Nights of the Soul, they attain more genuine spiritual progress.

This week’s lesson in Habakkuk, along with appropriate references in Psalms and Job, will enable us to discover practical and pragmatic ways of trusting unwaveringly in God’s faithfulness although bad things happen to us.  As we utilize the spiritual discipline of self-examination, we will define character traits that are resources as we face difficulties.  We will learn how to respond to obstacles by genuinely relying upon God’s presence and praising Him for strength to persevere and triumph.  Habakkuk’s story of maintaining hope and a faithful attitude despite his challenges serves as an ideal case study.  His example reflects the Lord’s empowerment of His people in the times of trouble.  Our analysis of his story will produce creative expressions and affirmation of hope in God notwithstanding bleak circumstances. 

Most specifically, God demands patience and trust that He will provide justice and victory. He does not want us to sulk as we await the fulfillment of His promises to intervene favorably in our affairs.  Thus, we need to rejoice in Him; practically speaking, to rejoice means to feel exuberance even when your circumstances would depress you.  We spin in ecstasy as we expect the manifestation of divine promises.  Praise and worship songs often equip us to remain joyous, happy and free during difficult times.  Essentially, Habakkuk teaches us how to develop the habit of handling hardships by trusting unwaveringly in the goodness and faithfulness of Almighty God.

Exposition

Point I – Habakkuk 2:1 – Waiting for an Answer from God

Many traffic accidents occur because people hate to wait.  It seems every driver believes his time is more important than the countless other motorists on the nation’s highways, parkways and streets.  Regrettably, driver’s hatred of waiting results in very serious collisions and sometimes fatalities.  In a milder way, being in the line in the post office or waiting for a doctor’s appointment are equally frustrating.  Inevitably, you conclude your time is being wasted as you could be doing some other more worthwhile task.  As we upon Almighty God, it is easy to suspect that He is delaying and thereby wasting our time.  Interestingly, waiting is one of the three replies He makes to our prayers.

In the first chapter, Habakkuk offers two stern complaints to the Lord.  In so doing, Habakkuk demonstrates the frankness and forthrightness that is often necessary in prayer.  A sanctimonious and pitifully piteous position is not a prerequisite for effective prayer.  In contrast, God appreciates and desires our honesty and openness.  As He knows the intents of hearts and thoughts of our minds, He knows exactly what we feel and think.  In an effort to cultivate a vibrant and maturing relationship with Him, frank communication is a non-negotiable aspect of relating rightly with Almighty God.  Accordingly, Habakkuk details the injustice, wickedness, oppression and rebellion he observes in Judean society amongst God’s chosen people.  Without mincing any words, the prophet inquires about the Lord’s patience and acquiescence of such social inequalities.  How can God tolerate wanton violence and cruelty, injustice and utter indifference toward the Law?  How long will God make Habakkuk cry aloud to Him for relief and intervention?

The Lord answers Habakkuk by foretelling the coming of the Babylonian captivity to commence in approximately twenty years of Judah refuses to repent from her wickedness and return to the Lord.  In His formal answer, Habakkuk 1:5-11, the Lord says that He will raise up the Babylonians for use as a rod of correction upon both Israel and Judah.  Since His people will not heed His Law, He will use their enemies against them.  The failure to cultivate and employ self-discipline means you will submit to some other authority. 

Interestingly, the Lord’s reply startles Habakkuk who offers a second and even more combative complaint.  The prophet indicts the Lord for looking disinterestedly upon the evil that permeates the nation.  The wicked no longer fear the Lord.  They snicker and laugh whenever anyone speaks of justice and righteousness.  Is not the God of Israel the everlasting Lord who has no beginning or end?  Does not He possess the power to eradicate this pervasive evil?  Perhaps, His character lacks the compassion for the poor and oppressed that Habakkuk previously believed it had?  Essentially, the prophet desires to understand how God can be so indifferent to treachery and iniquity?

As the Sovereign Lord of the Universe, God answers Habakkuk when He so chooses and on His terms.  However, Habakkuk experiences extreme difficulty waiting for God’s answer.  Similar to the examples above, he can create unimaginable trouble for himself and others if he allows his anger to control his attitude and approach as he waits for God’s answer to the two complaints.  Accordingly, Habakkuk errs on the side of precaution and vigilance.  He stations himself on the ramparts, a protective and defensive position where he can avoid surprise attack and injury.  Then, he steadfastly waits for God’s answer to ascertain whether His response will be declarative, interrogative and exhortative.  In fact, one biblical commentator suggests that Habakkuk prepares himself for an extended discussion with God about Habakkuk’s second complaint.

A practical and spiritual application of Habakkuk’s posture and approach to waiting for a revelation from the Lord is finding refuge in the Lord’s faithfulness and past kindnesses.  Deuteronomy posits memory as a form of prayer.  When we reflect upon the Lord’s enduring goodness and His countless past blessings, we obtain present reassurances of His continual goodwill toward us.  As we wait, we do the next right thing as the Lord leads.  The cumulative effect of our obedience will be a greater revelation of God’s will and purpose for us.  It is important to note that revelation emerges within relationship.  God does not squander His knowledge and divine purposes upon persons who do not establish and maintain a vibrant relationship with Him.  Habakkuk appeals to Almighty God on the basis of such a vibrant and perpetual rapport with God.  Nonetheless, in order to receive any divine knowledge, a disciple must be willing to wait.

Point II – Habakkuk 2:3-4 – Write Down the Revelation!

True to His faithful character, the Lord reveals His will to Habakkuk.  He does so after He orchestrates perfectly each detail of the vision.  Hence, He says the vision unfolds at its exact and perfect moment.  God does not leave any stones unturned nor does He neglect any aspects of revelation.  He intervenes into the minutia of our lives.  Thus, we take courage in realizing God’s favor relating to jobs, finances, relationships and other significant components of daily living because He mysteriously and majestically crafts each detail toward a positive outcome.

As the revelation materializes, the Lord instructs Habakkuk to write it down.  Life coaches contrasts dreams and goals by insisting that the latter be put in writing with a deadline.  A dream may remain as a good mental and heartfelt idea throughout a person’s life.  In comparison, a goal possesses a specific purpose and timeframe and means of attainment.  Applied spiritually, it is important to maintain a written prayer journal to record God’s faithfulness in your life.  Particularly, when the Lord reveals His will to you, you should put in writing including the date, time and place as soon as possible!  Otherwise, you will forget assuredly some aspect of His revealed will for you.  As a consequence, confusion, frustration and depression will fill the empty space in your mind and heart.  Originally, the Word of the Lord was transmitted orally as people in the Ancient Near East lived with a stalwart oral culture.  The printing press was not developed until the sixteenth century.  Though biblical peoples had papyri, dried and hardened animals skins used to make scrolls, they were very time consuming to complete and expensive to maintain.  Communities of people listened to wise teachers and memorized what they taught.  From the epics of Beowulf and The Odyssey to the Old and New Testaments, stories and truth were shared orally in successive generations.  In time, memories fade and people cannot resist the temptation to embellish stories with their won details.  Thereby, the original truth and meanings are lost and marred.  To prevent this erosion of main ideas, writing preserves the original words which offer the best opportunity to later generations to receive the primary lessons of the stories.  Summarily, the Lord answers Habakkuk’s complaint but directs the prophet to write it down to prevent any later confusion about the revelation.

Also, Habakkuk is told to make it plain so that a herald could run with it.  In addition to the use of simplicity in wording thus enabling anyone who reads the tablets to memorize the saying, Habakkuk is supposed to write the revelation in large letters.  In contemporary technological terms, he uses a font size that allows someone driving on the interstate and passing his billboard to read and retain this revelation with ease.  In Habakkuk’s historical setting, messages were often transmitted by runners who memorized the story and details and ran to its recipients.  These runners were known as heralds who shouted the message as they maintained the pace and distance of a marathon runner.  Various Old Testament passages record the transmission of battle reports through runners.  King David awaits the arrival of a runner to learn whether his beloved son, Absalom, has fallen in battle.  The runner arrives to reassure the king that his enemies are dead and have not triumphed in their attempt to dethrone him.  But, David has one primary question, “Is the young man, Absalom, still alive?”  The runner repeats his words thereby informing the king that his eldest son has fallen to the sword and been consumed by his own hubris.  Similarly, Habakkuk writes God’s revelation so that any runner at the time can pronounce it to the nation.

Oftentimes, God answers our prayers by saying, “Wait.”  Albeit an annoying reply especially when you are excited about pursuing an opportunity and you seek divine provision and protection to do so, waiting is necessary as the Lord rearranges aspects of your life to enable you to maximize this break.  We are also made to wait because we are not yet internally ready to receive the blessing.  Ninety-percent of people who win a lottery drawing are bankrupt within five years of their lucky day.  Millions and sometimes hundreds of millions of dollar flow through their hands and they do not know what to do with them.  They squander a blessing of a lifetime because they lack the knowledge, wisdom and character to utilize their overflow wisely.  Hence, God’s revelation unfolds when we are emotionally, physically, psychologically, mentally and spiritually prepared to receive it, obey His direction and follow His guidance. 

The appointed time equates with kairos time, the perfect present tense of divine action and intention, rather than chronos time, the progressive course of human history and current earthly events.  The Danish theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, characterizes the Incarnation of Christ in human form and His Advent amongst humankind as an act of eternity uniquely intervening in human affairs.  Eternity stops chronology and redefines its meaning.  Hence, we date Church history from the birth of Christ which begins the chronology of God’s actions to save humankind through the gift of His “One and Only Begotten Son.”  As disciples individually, privately and rightly relate to Almighty God, He graciously reveals His “good, pleasing and perfect will” for their personal lives.  Such direct and private revelations redefine a disciple’s mission, purpose and service.  They equip him with clarity and comprehensive plans for achieving God’s will.  In order to preserve the revelation’s intent and lucidity, it is necessary to write it down.

When God tells us to wait, we often presume that He has forgotten us.  Impatience is a definite challenge for contemporary disciples as we live in a scientifically advancing and rapidly technologically oriented civilization inclusive seemingly of information traveling at the speed of light.  From microwaveable meals to same-day postal delivery to video phone calls traversing oceans and continents, we rarely have to wait for anyone or anything.  Misguidedly, we may demand the same instantaneous responses of God.  In stark contrast, God through Habakkuk says the revelation will unfold in accordance with His perfect timing.  Though it may seem that it lingers as we languish in agitation, irritation and possibly depression, divine revelation assuredly emerges in our lives.  Simply, we must wait as the revelation will come and not prove false.  As “it speaks of the end,” the revelation will yield total knowledge and practical direction to encourage and empower disciples to fulfill the will of God.

Point III – Habakkuk – 2:4-5 – Faithfulness is the Key

Soberly, Habakkuk warns Judah about the coming wrath of God as He will allow the Babylonians to punish His chosen people because of their longstanding disobedience and infidelity toward Him.  Referring to Babylonian in the third person singular, Habakkuk characterizes the nation as an arrogant, “puffed up,” man who trample upon anyone in his way.  At that time, an emerging superpower in the Ancient Near East, Babylon, the inheritors of the Chaldeans, extract seemingly limitless taxes and duties from weaker and vulnerable neighboring countries.  This was an occasion of a strong nation preying upon a weak one solely because economic, political and military might permitted them to do so.  Hence, the king of Babylon unjustly and insatiably demanded these monies from Israel and Judah.  No other country had the wherewithal to stop these incessant and unfair tactics.  Politically, there were no national or regional alliances in which countries collaborated to protect each other from a mutual adversary.  Each nation was responsible for its own defense.  Exacerbating Israel’s and Judah’s predicament was the divided kingdom among the Jews and their disdain for anything Gentile.  More frustratingly, they face the hard fact that their God who made a covenant with them now decides to leave them to these dire circumstances.  He threatens to withhold His protective hand as certain doom coalesces.

The fourth and fifth verses of this second chapter of Habakkuk depict a treacherous future enemy for Israel and Judah.  Babylon has an insatiable appetite for the wealth and resources of weaker nations.  Habakkuk describes the nation as “greedy as the grave” and “like death is never satisfied.”  What an eloquent yet frightening image of a future opponent!  Perhaps, Habakkuk’s literary and poetic flourish partially hides the utter devastation the nation will experience if they do not heed this divine warning.  When the prophecy is fulfilled in the next generation, Habakkuk’s words concretize in the colossal loss of the history, religion, literature and culture of Israel and Judah.  The Babylonians leave nothing in place.  They even subjugate the learned and most talented persons in the both the Northern and Southern kingdoms and transport them to Babylon to enrich their country and civilization.  Ultimately, Babylon determines she will rule the world and will take each nation captive until her total reign over the nations of the earth is complete.

Understandably, many persons in Israel and Judah received Habakkuk’s word with deep regret as they spiritually understood what lay ahead for their posterity and civilization.  His prophecy catapulted them into the dark night of the soul as they struggle to accept this divine sentence when they simultaneously recall the Lord’s faithfulness to His people.  They might ask, “How could God permit such a tragedy in the lives of His people?”  Also, they wonder about the indifference of their countrymen to God’s decrees and teachings.  If only they would follow the covenant, then Almighty God would avert the forthcoming destruction.  How did the excesses of society become the normal standard of behavior?  Why is the message of God powerless to transform the minds, hearts and behavior of their fellow citizens?  Is there still time to repent and avoid the coming divine wrath? 

Habakkuk actually considers and comforts his fellow Judeans who ask these penetrating and perplexing questions.  Yes, just and divine punishment will devastate the nation through the chosen instrument of Babylon but the “righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”  Practically speaking, the persons in Israel and Judah who persevere in their faith in God through a right relationship with Him need not fear any aspects of the forthcoming doom and gloom.  God shall remain their protector and provider though He justly judges the nation where they reside.  The authentically chosen people of God are the persons who have dedicated their hearts to Him.  Their stalwart faith in the Lord and His faithfulness assures His provision and safety regardless of society’s insanity.  God will preserve His remnant wherever they may be.  The stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Job and even Habakkuk reveals God’s faithfulness in shielding His remnant of genuine believers from the forces of nature, politics, economics, war and religion.  Righteous people, persons who genuinely rely upon God’s righteousness through their unwavering faith in His faithfulness, will live either on earth or in eternity.

Point IV – Habakkuk 3:17-19 – “I Will Trust in the Lord!”

Habakkuk ends his brief yet penetratingly powerful book of prophecy with a profound prayer.  Initially, he appeals to God’s “fame” as Habakkuk recounts the mighty deeds of Almighty God that he heard from his forbears.  He cites the Lord incredible and limitless power over natural forces.  As the author of the Universe, the Lord establishes natural law; thereby He can choose freely to suspend it to further His sovereign purposes.  The Lord reveals Himself as inherently kind and good to anyone who faithfully serves Him.  Thus, Habakkuk details the many ways in which God continually demonstrates His unfailing love and inexhaustible grace to His people.  Specifically, the prophet references God’s deliverance and salvation of His people in the midst of natural disasters and military and political calamity.  As a consequence, Habakkuk, although his heart pounds, lips quiver, legs tremble and bones decay, waits patiently for the deliverance and salvation of the Lord which certainly will materialize.

In the three final verses of the book, Habakkuk’s poetic flourish rises to a crescendo as he vividly depicts the necessity of rejoicing in God’s faithfulness regardless of the surrounding circumstances.  In the seventeenth verse, he paints potentially one of the harshest possibilities for an agricultural people who are very dependent upon the land for basic existence and livelihood.  The absence of figs and produce foreshadows a famine.  The lack of olives means the lack of oil for cooking, heat and light.  The loss of sheep and cattle results in a lack of meat, protein, clothing and other by-products.  He verbally draws a canvass depicting the aftermath of utter destitution.  This very staunch and bleak mosaic prefigures the actual Babylonian captivity.  Nevertheless, Habakkuk boldly affirms in the next verse that he will “rejoice in the Lord” and be “joyful in God my Savior.”  What an incredulous and radical statement of faith!  Though wickedness within the nation permeates every corner of the land and attack from a foreign enemy nears the city gate without, Habakkuk affirms unwaveringly his trust in the Lord.

Habakkuk finishes his recorded prophecy with lyrics for a song of faith to encourage and empower the remnant when trials and tribulations emerge.  The nineteenth verse is the final stanza of this praise and worship song reminiscent of the Psalms.  Habakkuk declares the Sovereign Lord is his strength.  His prophecy reveals the fallacy in trusting in military might and natural resources.  God will be as kind to the prophet and other faithful believers as He is to deer in the wild that imminently face the loss of their lives at the craftiness of a predator.  God will grant them His favor equating to the feet of a deer thereby lifting them above the dire circumstances and bountifully blessing them in the midst of tragedy.

The Lesson Applied

Let’s Talk About It

·        If you were counseling the victims of the most tragic tornado in Moore, Oklahoma in May of last year, what would you suggest to them if they were having a crisis of faith in God?

·        Do you have a favorite hymn or praise song that you sing in difficult times?

·        Have you had a recent experience of a dark night for your soul?  Would you share your experience with the class?

·        What are some practical and pragmatic ways to respond to tragedies such a death, termination, divorce, loss of health, etc?

Describe what life was like for Habakkuk and his family as he proclaims this message of God’s forthcoming wrath so many years before it occurs?