When God Makes No Sense

WHEN GOD MAKES NO SENSE

But the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Love for one’s country is a manifestation of God’s common grace. Patriotism is not wrong. Ethnocentrism is quite normal. And blind support of one’s nation is to be expected, though not wise. God has created peoples and given them both places (homelands) and characteristics (cultures) that are unique to them (Acts 17:26). Therefore, it is extremely difficult to accept two theological truths that often seem to conflict: God is sovereign and God always does what is right (Genesis 18:25).

The trouble comes when God chooses to turn against our nation (the good guys, our boys) in apparent favor of another nation (the bad guys, our enemies). Sure, America may be increasingly secular, but we’re not as godless as those Russian or Chinese Communists! Sure, the American Church is wordly, even in places apostate, but at least we don’t worship a false god and terrorize the earth like the Muslims! The thought of the Red flag flowing over Washington, D. C. or America becoming a nation under Shariah law is appalling. This is the stuff of nightmares.

Put yourself in the place of Habakkuk. He lived in a time when Israel and Judah had been afflicted by the pagan, violent and extremely cruel Assyrians. No doubt he lived to see the fall of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, in 612 B.C. And he would have experienced the death of godly King Josiah at the battle of Haran in 609 B.C., as well as the world-chang-ing battle of Carchemish in 605 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian Army crushed, for good, the Assyrian Empire. How shocking would be the news God would give him: Babylon’s next victim would be Judah and Jerusalem!

Habakkuk can’t believe it! Prophets, like people, do not always like God’s revelation; the difference is that they submit to it rather than resist it. But that is not to say they don’t argue with God. Habakkuk does. He presents to God a question: “Will God really let the wicked crush the righteous? Babylon capture Israel? Or, at the worst, the crass pagan victimize the backslidden saints?” God answers his heart-broken prophet: “Yep! That is exactly what I intend to do” (1:1-11).

So Habakkuk sets forth a second complaint: “Are you not the holy, righteous, covenant-keeping God and yet you intend to let the wicked slay the righteous and not punish the wicked for their evil?” God answers again: “In due time, I will punish all the wicked—the wickedness of My own people first and then the wickedness of the evil nations most severely” (1:12-2:5).

God calls Habakkuk to faith––“the righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4). At first things seem to be wrong (God using evil to punish the good?), but faith allows us to see things as they really are (God cannot confront the world about evil if He tolerates the same in His Church). Habakkuk’s message is stated more succinctly and more simply by the Apostle Peter. Please read 1 Peter 4:12-19.

What Habakkuk chose to ignore, out of love for his people, were these facts: Israel worshiped the Canaanite god Baal; they sacrificed their infant children to the god, Molech; they dedicated their horses to the sun god; their women prostituted themselves for the goddess Asherah; they broke the Sabbath; they ignored the law of God; and they violated the covenant codes of holiness in the Levitical system. They were saints who lived like pagans.

God had to clean house. Why? For the sake of Israel’s salvation and that of the whole world. Ultimately, their discipline was for Christ’s sake. Had God not judged Israel, then the baby Jesus would have been born into a system that may well have polluted Him as the Messiah of the nations. God preserved a monotheistic and scriptural incubator into which the Christ could be born, nurtured and developed into the Savior of the world. God knew what He was doing. What He did was right, holy and good. Men with eyes of faith can see this, as our friend, Habakkuk, came to see. Please read Hab. 3:17-18.

If God chooses to deal harshly with us, it will be for His good purposes and for the blessing of His world. He does what He does for the salvation of the nations. As he lived by faith, Habakkuk came to acknowledge this truth. May we do the same as we grow in faith as those righteous in Christ.

PRAYING FOR THE PCA

AC: Pray that the Holy Spirit will move powerfully through the men chosen to preach His Word in each of the three evening worship services of the Assembly: Paul D. Kooistra, W. Gregory Thompson; Martin Richard Ban. The focus of the worship services is around the theme of “Renewal.” Pray that every participant will worship the Most High God in spirit and in truth.

CTS: Pray for people around the world who are now considering training for ministry at Covenant Seminary, and that the Seminary’s Admissions staff will continue to minister effectively to prospective students and their families.

MTW: Thank God for those who support the missionaries and ministries of MTW, often sacrificially. Pray He will bless their stewardship and meet the needs of their own families.

RUM: Please pray for the new Campus Ministers who will begin working with RUF groups this fall. Pray that they will have a smooth transition from seminary or ministry positions to their campus work and for encouragement as they raise support over the summer months. Pray for their wives and young children as they transition to new lives.

RBI: The PCA Retirement Plan is one of the benefit plans available to PCA employees. Please pray for this plan to succeed in its purpose of providing retirement income for participants. Pray the financial markets will improve through 2009.