What about me?

What about me!

A week or so ago I was reading Habakkuk, and in my bible there are these headings, it starts off with Habakkuk’s Complaint, then there’s the “Lords Answers” from, vs 5 then in vs 12 There is “Habakkuk’s Second Complaint”. 

Habakkuk 1:1-2:4  (NIV)

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. Habakkuk’s Complaint

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,    but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, “Violence!”    but you do not save?

3 Why do you make me look at injustice?    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;    there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralysed,    and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous,

   so that justice is perverted.

So he asks God these questions, how long must I call out for help? Why do you tolerate all this wrong doing?  He cries out to God about the injustice and violence, and the justice that is perverted by the wicked that surrounds him!

And I thought wow that sound familiar, the way of our God is just so disrespected everywhere! In America it is illegal to have the Ten Commandments on a wall in a public school! We pray for healing and revival of our nation, breaking down the strongholds of evil, we come against all that is evil in our families and our cities and I have said just like Habakkuk “ how long, Lord, must I call for help,  but you do not listen”?

“Have you been praying for loved ones, wanting to see God change them and reach their lives, and nothing happens? This is the problem of apparently unanswered prayer. It is a great problem and it troubles Habakkuk as well.”

So when I got to the section that was headed “The Lords answer” I was particularly interested!

Habakkuk 1:5-11  (NIV)  The Lord’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—    and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days  that you would not believe,  even if you were told.

6 I am raising up the Babylonians  that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth  to seize dwellings not their own.7 They are a feared and dreaded people;  they are a law to themselves  and promote their own honor.8 Their horses are swifter than leopards  fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong;   their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;9  they all come intent on violence. Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind  and gather prisoners like sand.10 They mock kings  and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities;  by building earthen ramps they capture them.11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—  guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

Do you know I just could not get this answer? I said to myself, Lord what question are you answering? I don’t get the answer! I just can’t see it and I went over the questions again!

It seems God you are raising up an evil nation that’s going to create even more havoc! 

That was Habakkuk I thought, but  what about me and all my prayers and petitions , surely You want revival in our nation, in our families, you want healing, you want Your name lifted up amongst the peoples, you want us to live by Your word??!! And I was reminded of that song “What about me…   (Shannon Noll)

What about me? It isn't fair

I've had enough, now I want my share

Can't you see, I want to live….

I just couldn’t get it, Habakkuk’s answer was not the answer I wanted  nor what I was expecting! I even asked myself was it an answer to the question at all? So I went on…

Habakkuk 1:12-13  (NIV) Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?

  My God, my Holy One, we will never die.

You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;

 you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.


One could almost picture Habakkuk thinking about this before answering, 

You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

And that song “What about me.. “ kept going around in my mind! It’s hard to understand, but God is raising up an evil nation that will vs 11” sweep past like the wind and go on- guilty men whose own strength is their god”! It’s like raising up an evil dictator to take over Australia to answer some of our prayers! Like bringing in a Saddam Hussein on steroids to destroy what we have now, persecute Christians and bring in worship of other gods- unbelievable!! And we worry about answer to prayer! This is what happened! Did God answer prayer? He did, but it was not what Habakkuk wanted, and many times God does not answer prayer in the way we would want… not at all! 

Habakkuk does not understand this so he asks the obvious(?) question  in vs 13

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;

    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.

Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?

    Why are you silent while the wicked

    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

Then there is a great response Ch2 v1

Habakkuk 2:1  (NIV)

2 I will stand at my watch

  and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,

 and what answer I am to give to this complaint

Or in

Habakkuk 2:1 Living Bible (TLB) 2 I will climb my watchtower now and wait to see what answer God will give to my complaint.

God then replies….

Habakkuk 2:3 New International Version (NIV)

[Then the Lord says…] 2 Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that the herald may run with it… 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;

….Though it linger, wait for it;    it[a] will certainly come…

And what came next  and that answer and the result, as difficult as it was to accept, would change the course of history as we know it. It would literally take us out of the middle ages! It would determine how we worship to day! How we think today No exaggeration!!

But before we come to that look at the pattern of how Habakkuk deals with this apparent disaster, to what to some would seem “unanswered” prayer.( God has shaken nations throughout history in the same way!)

Hab 1:12 LORD, are you not from everlasting?

    My God, my Holy One, we will not die.

When the word "Lord" is all in capital letters as it is here, it is a translation of the Hebrew word for Jehovah. Jehovah means "I am who I am."  (Ex 3) The present the continuous the future!

"We shall not die." What does he mean? He is thinking of the fact that God has made a covenant with Abraham. God promised Abraham that he would raise up a nation that would forever be his people and that he would never allow them to be eliminated from the earth. Yes Jerusalem may fall and the Chaldeans may destroy that which is precious to us but God has a covenant with his people as He has with us  and He says “Do not fear… Cliff for I am your shield your very great reward” (Genesis),  and in Isaiah, I have formed you ..Cliff, I have created you… fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name and you are mine”!!

vs 12….You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;

    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

Habakkuk 2:1 2 I will stand at my watch  and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me,

We stand in our watchtower and wait

Psalm 18:2-6 same pattern by David

2 The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

    my God is my rock, in which I take refuge,

    my shield[a] and the horn[b] of my salvation, my stronghold.

3 I called to the LORD, who is worthy of praise,

    and I have been saved from my enemies.

4 The cords of death entangled me;

    the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

5 The cords of the grave coiled around me;

    the snares of death confronted me.

6 In my distress I called to the LORD;

    I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice;

    my cry came before him, into his ears.

But let’s get back to the verse that’s changed the world! That literally moved us out of the middle ages into the modern era. It is quoted three times in the New Testament, Romans, Galatians and Hebrews.

Habakkuk 2:4  (NIV)

4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; [proud and arrogant his strength is his god]

 his desires are not upright—

 but the righteous person will live by faith”

Romans 1:17  (NIV)

17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith


Martin Luther was born in the 1400’s, born into the Roman Catholic Church, he was set to become a lawyer, but after nearly been struck by lightning and praying to the saints he became a monk. After sometime he came across this text “The righteous will live by faith" which got him thinking about what it meant. Keep in mind that “along with other Roman Catholics, Luther had been taught that God was so holy that he could only be approached through the saints. His trust was not in the Saviour, but in saints and angels, good works, doing penance, and trying to pay for his own sins” All authority was in the Church which was entwined with the state. Church ministers were seen as intermediaries to God and had immense power. In the majority they alone had access to the Latin biblical texts available so they appeared to have this direct line to God, and so life and death were in their hands, and they were not afraid to use that power! They held a firm grip on people and finances. When Luther came across that text the problem was this; how could he live by faith if he was not righteous? But he turned it around and said that faith is gift of God, so that through the righteousness of God we are made righteous, and we live by this gift, that is faith.

The church now lost its hold and dominion over people, by faith alone you can become “right with God, it’s a free gift! The Pope lost his power over purgatory, praying to the Saints was not necessary, paying money to get to heaven lost all its power/ authority. The clergy preached, “Once the coin into the coffer clings, a soul from purgatory heavenward springs!” That was shown for what it was. This was the reformation and a cultural and intellectual freedom resulted, giving us people like Bach and Reuben’s, Universities flourished

As Luther said at the time:  “I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open”. 

Salvation came by grace alone through faith alone. Not by deeds or duties circumstances or by observations or by reasoning, but by faith in God alone.

Colossians 1:22  (NIV)

22 But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation—

Righteous through faith!

Wow, who could have imagined that God’s answer to Habakkuk’s prayer and the invasion by the evil Chaldeans would result in some of the biggest changes to society the world has seen! And yet there is one thing that stands out for me, when Habakkuk is faced with this looming disaster he has this awakening in his soul he has this epiphany where he brushes aside the circumstances of the world and that which is upon him saying in Hab 3:16

Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity

    to come on the nation invading us.

And then he lays out this amazing foundation of faith that simply says that no matter what our circumstance God is my strength, my joy, my help, the one who lifts me up..

Habakkuk 3:17-19  (NIV)

17 Though the fig tree does not bud

    and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

    and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

    and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

    I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

    he enables me to tread on the heights.

I started off by saying how I was reminded of the song “What about me”. By the end of Habakkuk I couldn’t help thinking how shallow and self-centered I was in thinking like this, unlike Joseph Scriven…

Irish born Joseph M. Scriven (1819-1896) was 25 years old, in love and to be married. The day before his wedding his fiancée died in a tragic drowning accident. Heartbroken, Joseph sailed from his homeland to start a new life in Canada. While in Canada working as a teacher, he fell in love again and became engaged to Eliza Roche, a relative of one of his students. Once again, Joseph’s hopes and dreams were shattered when Eliza contracted tuberculosis and died before the wedding could take place. Around the same time that Eliza died, Joseph received word from Ireland that his mother was ill. He could not afford to return to Ireland to be with her, so he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed one of his many poems entitled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

Many years later a friend was sitting with Joseph, as he was very ill. During this visit, the friend was very impressed when he ran across Scriven’s poems. As a result of this visit, almost 30 years after his letter of comfort to his mother, Joseph’s poems were published in a book called Hymns and Other Verses. “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”

What a friend we have in Jesus,

all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,

O what needless pain we bear,

all because we do not carry

everything to God in prayer.

Jesus loves you and He calls you by name!

Amen