Habakkuk’s second complaint is that the LORD is overlooking the evil of Babylon as he metes out judgment through them. The answer is an oracle against Babylon which will be fulfilled in due time. Meanwhile, how does a righteous person live in a time when his own people are being judged for their sin? God’s righteous person lives by faith — confidence in the LORD regardless of the circumstances.
LORD, make us examples of your kind of person – the righteous who live by faith.
Habakkuk begins with a complaint from the author to God, and God’s response was totally not what was expected. It is like Habakkuk had put in an emergency phone call, and the reply was, “OK, I’ll send you an enemy army!” Wrong number? No, the prophet is learning to trust God to do what needs to be done his way. His ways are not our ways.
LORD, teach us to pray prayers which seek your solution to our problems, not to dictate to you what you must do. May your kingdom come, not ours.
In perfect hindsight, the community now looks back and sees all the joy and peace Jerusalem once had before the LORD judged them. They realize that they are bearing the consequences of their fathers sinning by rejecting the LORD and his covenant. They can only appeal to the LORD to restore them, unless it is too late, and he has utterly rejected them. That is how the book ends – with no promise, only a hope that God will act. Be grateful that the scriptures do not end here.
LORD, thank you for revealing our sad condition without you, and for giving us hope by revealing your plan for our future.
Jeremiah recounts the sorrow and pain of watching the holy city besieged and destroyed. He and others watched until they could see no longer. Help did not come. The leaders were ashamed to be seen, the mothers boiled their own children for food. No help came. Their end had come.
We are living in an age of grace, but God has not forgotten how to judge. When Jesus comes, the saints will be caught away with him, safe from God’s wrath. But those who are not his bride will face disaster. The good news we share today is that no one living needs to experience that wrath. Come to the LORD today. Don’t wait until he comes in anger. It will be too late then.
LORD, forgive us for hiding behind the message of grace, and failing to urge the lost to seek you while you may be found.
These are the words of a man who has seen great trouble and sorrow and acknowledges that although it was done by his enemies, it was allowed as judgment from the LORD for his sins. Yet, it is to this same LORD that this man turns for relief. The LORD who was faithful to afflict him will also be faithful to deliver him, because he has seen all the wrong done, and has heard his cries for help. The LORD is his portion.
LORD, forgive us for wandering. We turn to you, because only you can deliver us.
A broken wall stands as a lone symbol of the great city laid to waste by a violent enemy – because of the LORD’s judgment. The people gather at that wall and pour out their hearts to the God they had despised. The wall itself seems to have joined in the lament. As the people mourn over the loss of their great city, and their children, they finally gather together to approach the God they had wandered from. So it will be on judgment day. The dead, great and small, will stand before him, no longer able to deny his existence and power.
LORD, let your gospel of grace pour out of our hearts and mouths. Teach us how to rescue your people from your wrath.
Jeremiah expresses the grief felt by the city of Jerusalem as it has fallen from its prominence and joy as a princess to experience judgment, death and sorrow, like a widow. He knows that God has been just to bring the judgment, because of Judah’s terrible sin. Yet, that does not stop him from feeling their pain, and expressing his sorrow over them.
LORD, if you do give us a word of prophecy for this generation, may we be like Jeremiah, and proclaim it with tears in our eyes.
Jeremiah concludes his book by recounting some of the historical events, including the fall of Jerusalem and the deporting and deaths of many of its leaders. The book begs for a sequel, but we do not get one. The people of God must wait for the seventy years of exile to be completed, and trust that the LORD will make good his promises. Sometimes we do not get the happy ending we long for in this life. We can take comfort from the fact that our LORD has plans for us that will be fulfilled long after we die. Nothing can separate us from his love.
LORD, give us patience to wait with confidence.
Jeremiah sent these words to Babylon to be proclaimed there. He wanted to set the record straight among all those who had claimed that he had taken the side of Babylon. It took courage to do so, because he would be removing an illusion that might have preserved his life. He told those prideful Chaldeans that their nation would not live forever. It would be defeated by the Medes and other nations, and would sleep a perpetual sleep, to rise no more.
LORD, give us the courage of Jeremiah, to tell a rebellious world that their might cannot protect them from your judgment.
Babylon was so immersed in animism and idolatry that it was called a land of images. It’s judgment was so great that it would be made desolate. It became such a byword that the LORD used Babylon as a picture of all the ungodly and anti-God kingdoms, that will be utterly destroyed at the final judgment (Revelation 18). We live in a world of images, and many pay more attention to the images than reality itself. We need to learn the lesson that Jeremiah taught when he predicted the fall of Babylon. Lands and people who seek images instead of reality will ultimately be destroyed.
LORD, give us your truth, your reality. We choose to forsake the lying images.
Habakkuk 1:12-2:20
Habakkuk 1:1-11
Lamentations 5
Lamentations 4
Lamentations 3
Lamentations 2
Lamentations 1
Jeremiah 52
Jeremiah 51
Jeremiah 50
