How Long?

Rev. Brian Weinberger

NL Year 1 • Sermon • Submitted a year ago

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This week was a hard week in the world of news. I talked at length last Sunday about Ukraine, but we continue to hear reports of the devastation of the infrastructure causing power and heating outages across the country. We saw the shooting in Colorado at a LGBTQ+ club, we saw another shooting at a Walmart in Virginia. There were blasts that went off in Jerusalem by a bus stop, and the response to the protests in Iran seem to be getting more and more violent. Those are just the headlines from the morning I woke to write this message. That doesn’t include all of the other things that are happening in the world right now that just didn’t make the headline news.

So after seeing all of those headlines and reading a bit about each one, I came into church and re-read the opening to Habakkuk’s prophecy to write my message today, and the first thing that popped into my head as I read his opening lines was, “I’m right there with you brother”. I know that with the internet and news reporters around the world we see much more happening than was ever possible at any other point in the history of the world, but because we do hear about it, read about it and see it on TV, it’s hard not to look at what Habakkuk has to say and not be right there by his side crying out the exact same words that he does.

What we read today like any week is just snippets from the Bible, but the book of the prophet Habakkuk is very short so I feel it’s both easy and important to fill you in with what we don’t read. What comes next is probably not exactly how you would want God to respond to this complaint of violence, because what God essentially says is that things are going to get worse not better. Now, you may not remember, but last week when I was talking about the wars that were happening throughout history I ad-libbed and said that before Assyria was Babylon, but Babylon actually came after Assyria and this is the “how things are going to get worse” that God is talking about in Habakkuk. Just as it wasn’t something we would want as an answer to the news that we saw this last week, neither was it the response that Habakkuk wanted.

So Habakkuk says several things in response to God, including not liking God’s response, but ultimately ends with what we do read today which is that Habakkuk is going to be like a watchman and he is going to watch, wait, and see what God will do in response to his complaint. On the one hand it almost seems as if Habakkuk is just going to sit by and idly wait by while all of these things are going to happen around him, yet on the other hand it seems like he knows that God will do something and he wants to wait and see what it is. I think that is so incredible. Sure there is evil and violence in the world, but I know God is active in this world and so I am going to wait for that time when God does act, and I am going to be there to see it.

God takes his response of waiting one step further by telling him to keep waiting because it may take time before it happens but it is happening. That one step further is that God tells Habakkuk, “Don’t just stand there and wait, you need to write it down!” But God doesn’t just want him to write it down to take notes, God wants the thing written down so that anyone and everyone can read it. What I was thinking when I read this was what people tell you when you are in a class or at a conference. That is that if you have a question you should ask it because if you have that question there are probably others that do as well and they probably want to know the answer too. So now that Habakkuk has asked the question God wants the answer written down and in huge letters so that anyone can see it from near and far, and while they are passing or running by, like a giant billboard. I can’t say for certain but the I believe the part of the vision that God wants written down is the end of verse 4. The righteous live by their faith. In contrast to the the righteous God spends the rest of the vision sharing all the woes that the wicked will endure for their lack of faith.

Then in chapter 3 is what is called a prayer by Habakkuk and it speaks all about what God is like and what God has done for the people and the world. That then brings us to our final part of the reading which also happens to be the closing verses of the entire prophecy of Habakkuk. I really believe that these closing lines are incredibly powerful for us to hear and then take into context of everything that has happened in this prophecy. So, together, let’s look at what Habakkuk says: the fig tree does not produce figs, no grapes on the vines for either food or wine, the fields are desolate, there are no livestock left. Ok, basically what Habakkuk is describing is a famine. There’s no fruit, no meat, no grain. Yet, despite all of that and all the war and violence, and wickedness that is happening in the world and will happen in the future, Habakkuk has chose to rejoice in God, the God of my salvation. He goes on to proclaim God as his strength and that he can glide and dance along like that of a graceful deer.

Ok, so what just happened? Habakkuk never really got an answer to his complaint. In fact, his fears of the state of the world were actually made worse than when they started. Yet instead of continuing to complain or asking God for a firm answer; asking God when and how and why, Habakkuk rejoices in God. Without a firm answer Habakkuk has come to the realization, conclusion that even though things could get worse, even far worse, that God is there with him and with all the faithful people and that God is not inactive but is working on something, something better.

Today we begin the season of Advent where not only do we also see all the violence and wickedness in the world around us, but we, like Habakkuk also wait. Advent is a season of waiting, anticipation and preparation. We are anticipating that God is about to do something. We are in that same in-between time that Habakkuk was in. Now we can choose to focus on the terrible things that are happening in the world or we can choose to hold on to the hope that God is about to do something in our lives an in this world. We are in fact people who live by faith and so I am inviting you live into the life that Habakkuk lived. Watch and wait with anticipation for the inbreaking of God in this world through the promise of something better; the promise of a baby born into this world. At the same time don’t just wait, but make signs about what is about to happen, and rejoice and worship God especially when things seem at their darkest, because God is at work in this world and there is nothing stronger than the hope we hold onto and experience when God enters into this world and in our lives in small and big ways. So whether it is the simple comfort of a friend, or the birth of our savior, we know for certain that God is and will always be at work and we need to always be looking out for it. Amen.