Daily Devotions

Habakkuk 2:2-20 - Live by Faith We left Habakkuk waiting for God’s reply to his ‘complaint’ (2:1). Obviously, the Lord God is not answerable to Habakkuk. Nonetheless, God does graciously give him a reply in chapter 2, verses 2-20. God contrasts those who are “puffed up” and “arrogant” (2:4-5) with those who are righteous because they ‘live by faith’. In verses 5 and then 6-19, it is clearly the Chaldeans that God has in mind as the ones in the former category. (Although it is interesting to contemplate whether Habakkuk may have felt some twinge of guilt for his own arrogance and failure to trust God.) God clearly understands the nature of the Babylonians—they are arrogantly doing what really only God is entitled to do (‘gather for himself all nations’). And as we will see, there is woe to come upon them, and so relief for God’s people. But this will happen according to God’s good timing (v. 3), and it may even feel slow in coming. But “it will surely come; it will ...

Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 - Letter of Complaint At the start of the chapter we heard Habakkuk’s first ‘complaint’ and God’s surprising response. When questioned by Habakkuk about what he was going to do about the mess in Judah, God said he was “raising up” the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to come and punish Judah’s sin and rebellion, just as he said he would. 2 Kings 24:2-4 gives us this commentary on those events (as they eventually took place): "And the Lord sent against [Jehoiakim] bands of the Chaldeans and bands of the Syrians and bands of the Moabites and bands of the Ammonites, and sent them against Judah to destroy it, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servants the prophets. Surely this came upon Judah at the command of the Lord, to remove them out of his sight, for the sins of Manasseh, according to all that he had done, and also for the innocent blood that he had shed. For he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord would not pardon." In fact, th...

Habakkuk 1:1-11 - The Unbelievable God (part 2) The “law” (v. 4) is the ‘Torah’—that is, God’s laws spelling out how his nation is to be holy amongst all the nations, and how his people are to treat each other. It is therefore God’s word to the Israelites and the means by which God rules and establishes justice and righteousness amongst his people. So when Habakkuk says that the law is “paralysed”, and “justice never goes forth”, or at least only goes forth “perverted” (v. 4), and that the wicked now “surround the righteous”, you know there is a serious problem. God’s word is being thwarted and so God’s authority and honour are in question. Some see these opening verses (v2-4), and Habakkuk’s second ‘complaint’ in 1:12-2:1, as a model of how believers can call out to God in times of great personal difficulty, revealing their hearts and raw emotions to him. As to whether Habakkuk is indeed humbly wrestling with his experience and how it relates to his relationship with God, or whet...

Habakkuk 1:1-11 - The Unbelievable God (part 1) How do you relate to the sovereign God when you face challenges in life? It might be serious sickness in the family or even the death of a loved one; chronic unemployment; a traumatic accident or natural disaster that suddenly delivers a major setback to what you thought your life would be like; or any number of other things that happen in this fallen world. Do you blame God? Does your attitude to him change? Do you voice your complaint in prayer? Should you? Habakkuk is writing at a time of considerable anxiety for someone who is concerned about the nation of Judah, God’s chosen people. For a start, it is a time of lamentable moral and religious decay, probably under the flawed kingship of Jehoiakim. But to make matters worse, there is a threatening new ‘superpower’ in the region—the nation of Babylon—which is sweeping all before it in its evil conquests. So Habakkuk brings his anxiety to God, which begins a fascinating dialogue that h...

Habakkuk Introduction Habakkuk is one of the smaller books of the Bible—just three chapters (56 verses) in total. But it punches above its weight among the writings of God’s Old Testament prophets. Not only is the book of Habakkuk verse-for-verse one of the most quoted in the New Testament; it also helpfully addresses some of the same themes of relating to God in times of suffering as the much larger and more complex book of Job. Habakkuk is also somewhat unusual as a form of prophecy. Rather than simply declaring a message from God to the people like all the other prophets do, Habakkuk comes to God with personal questions—which God answers for him. Then in chapter 3, as Habakkuk reflects on what God has told him, he gives us a song that could very easily slot into the book of Psalms and which contains some of the most beautiful words of faith ever written. It doesn’t take long for Habakkuk to get to the point either. After the simple but somewhat intriguing opening statement in vers...

Malachi 4 - The future (part 2) In 1 and 2 Kings, Elijah the prophet called the people back to their covenant with God. The ‘new’ Elijah referred to in Malachi 4:5 was to fulfil the same role. By calling them back, he would prepare them for the judgement day. The new Elijah was the first ray of the dawn of the new age. Jesus told us in Matthew 11 that this new Elijah, the messenger who was to come, was none other than John the Baptist. John fulfilled the prophecies of both Malachi and Isaiah. He knew his task—to announce the coming of the Lord, his kingdom and his judgement, and to call for repentance. John’s baptism recognised repentance, but, just as being a physical descendant of Abraham wasn’t enough to belong to Israel, so being baptised wasn’t enough to find forgiveness. People were to repent and turn back to the faith that their father Abraham had. So how did they receive God’s messenger? John the Baptist’s task was the same as Elijah’s—to turn people back to the faith of Abra...

Malachi 4 - The future (part 1) When life is going well, it’s hard to look forward to heaven. Those who live in prosperous and peaceful societies may wonder why we would want anything else. But for those who know oppression, injustice and hardship, the promise of a better future is met with eager anticipation. As we have seen, this was Malachi’s experience. He longed for the day of prosperity that the prophets had proclaimed. The eager expectation of that day is evident in the powerful imagery of the last chapter of Malachi. Some people live for the present. They keep right up to date with the trends and fads of culture, always changing to meet the latest expectation. Others pursue the future, consulting astrologers and mediums (even economists!) to try to find out what is in store, or to change what is in store. Christians need to be people of the past. This doesn’t mean we must be old-fashioned or frightened of change; it simply means that God has already revealed in the past what...

Malachi 2:17-3:18 - Justice Injustice is frustrating; it is unbearable, it is tiresome. When aid money for war-torn countries is redirected into ammunition, or corrupt billionaires milk further wealth out of the poor with dubious schemes, or a criminal escapes conviction through some legal technicality, we can be overwhelmed with a sense of futility. Will the perpetrators of evil never be brought to justice? Will the cycle of oppression never be broken? The Israelites may have felt a similar sense of futility after their return from exile in Babylon. They had returned to Jerusalem with high hopes, only to be frustrated by poverty, famine, injustice and oppression. The people of Judah were weary, so they complained to God. As we shall see, it turned out that God had the greater right to be weary. The Israelites complained that the ungodly always seemed to triumph. Yet the reason that the blessings had not eventuated was their own behaviour. They were meant to bring the first 10 per ce...