Rejoicing while waiting for justice (Habakkuk 3:16-19)
How do you respond when you face injustice and/or violence against yourself or loved ones? If you’re anything like me, part of you wants to fight back and take matters into your own hands. Or, if the enemy is too powerful, you may just feel overwhelmed with anger, bitterness and anxiety but not have power to do anything about it. But, as believers in the good news of Jesus Christ, we have, in the gospel, the resources to live joyfully amidst injustice. Habakkuk 3:16-19 teaches us what it looks like to live by faith amidst violence and injustice.
In response to Habakkuk’s cries to God for justice (which we have considered in previous devotions), God gave him a vision (2:2-2:20) in which the tables are turned and Babylon is justly judged. Habakkuk responds in prayer (3:1) and song, asking God to perform this work of judgment (3:2) and then sings of God’s unrivaled power (creation itself trembles) in overthrowing his enemies and saving his people (3:13). Today, we’ll consider Habakkuk’s response in 3:16-19.
First, notice how when Habakkuk hears of God’s justice, it causes him to tremble. “I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters my bones, my legs tremble beneath me” (3:16).God is much more powerful than his enemies – he will overthrow them with ease. If you’ve faced injustice, remember how powerful your God is.
Second, Habakkuk waits for justice. “Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us [Babylon].” In chapter 1, Habakkuk complained – how long, O Lord? Now, he is quiet. He will wait for the Lord to bring justice. What a sharp contrast to our culture that demands (sometimes violently) justice now. It is good to work towards addressing past and present injustices. That said, the Christian believer can do so with quiet confidence in God and healthy realism. The gospel liberates us from taking matters into our own hands. It also frees us to love our enemies and tell them the gospel. On the cross, Jesus bore the judgment that he did not deserve, so that all who repent and believe in him will be saved from God’s judgment that we do deserve. Knowing that God loved us while we were his enemies (Romans 5:6-8) and that He will deal just with our enemies (Romans 12:19), frees us to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).
Finally, notice that in spite of his circumstances, Habakkuk rejoices in the Lord (3:17-19). To put it into our context, even though I have no job, my refrigerator is bare, my significant other just broke up with me and I’m living amidst violence and injustice and corruption, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. In the beginning of the book, Habakkuk is complaining to God. At the end of the book, he is rejoicing in God. Nothing in Habakkuk’s circumstances changed. But through prayer and hearing God’s word, Habakkuk changed.
