Life is no straight line

 

READ Nahum1–3 and Habakkuk 1–3

Today is a mixture. My sister’s birthday. She died January 2020, just before Covid hit, almost a year before her beloved grandson was killed in an accident. I miss her so much. Yet I’m still rejoicing at yesterday’s hour-long conversation with our son about the evil in the world and the assurance that God is sovereign. Today is my hubby’s eighth day with Covid. He is not improving yet. It is -25C with a wind chill and a few inches of fresh snow. I need to get groceries. My emotions are running like rabbits in the headlights.

I just read about Jonah reluctantly preaching repentance in Nineveh and the people responded and were spared. Today I read how Nahum, a century later, preached a second time and Nineveh would not repent. That city eventually destroyed Israel’s northern kingdom but shortly after Nahum’s warning, Nineveh fell to Babylon as well. OT history is a yo-yo, like my emotions today. Nahum adds to the good news/sad news:

The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. (Nahum 1:7–8)

His last words to this doomed nation: “Your shepherds are asleep, O king of Assyria; your nobles slumber. Your people are scattered on the mountains with none to gather them. There is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?” (3:18–19)

The next reading is Habakkuk, with even more emotional distress as this prophet realizes God is going to use a wicked nation for His purposes. Even though Babylon would eventually be judged, they would “surround the righteous” and justice would seem to be perverted. (Habakkuk 1:4)

God says to him, “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.” (Habakkuk 1:5–6)

The prophet is shocked. He cannot understand how God could do such a thing and says to Him:

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? (1:13)

As he protests, at least his words rise to God rather than complaining to anyone else. He wants to understand, to realize the reasons for this distressing revelation . . .

I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. (2:1)

As God speaks and as the prophet thinks of who God is, he finally says:

But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him . . . . 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 . . . . 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. (2:20; 3:2; 3:16)

As I read this, I think of all the corruption in the world. People struggle to do right, but sin and selfishness mock their intentions. Good news happens, but the media almost always reports that which distresses and causes fear or anguish. New life happens, but death is relentless. There are days when even the most ordinary duties seem a gigantic challenge. Health, weather, my body and mind do not cooperate. Yet Habakkuk reminds me of vital truth. He says, “the righteous shall live by faith” (2:4) and then his prayer in the end . . .

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 . . . . (3:17–19)

Jesus, You are my joy, my strength, the One who lifts me up over the rocky places and helps me hear music even when You are silent. The days are easy, then hard. The nights are gentle, then restless. The news is hopeful then filled with horror. But You are always the same, always here, always sharing Your great heart so that I can take joy in You, the God of my salvation.