Last week, Lorie Gorham, a pregnant medical school student was crossing the street in my city of Denver when she was struck by car. The driver drove away leaving the poor woman to die. Despite their best efforts, the medical crews were unable to save the unborn baby’s life. The mother didn’t die, but her life was dramatically altered.
The driver of the car still remains unidentified.
The woman’s story bothers me. How could someone drive away after hitting a defenseless woman? I mean, why doesn’t God do something? Where is God’s justice?
Please join me today as we discuss this in our daily Bible conversation.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD CAFÉ IS COMING SOON
In case you didn’t read it in Friday’s post, beginning January 1, the format of A Daily Bible Conversation is changing. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, you’re invited to join us for a cup of coffee and conversation at The Neighborhood Café: A Faithblog Community. The focus will be to explore, in creative ways, where faith meets life. Although every post will be a little different, they will all be undergirded by Scripture.
For those of you who would still like to read through the Bible in a year, we will keep last year’s posts online.
TODAY’S READING
Habakkuk 1:1-Zephaniah 1:1-3:20
Revelation 9:1-10:11
Psalm 137:1-138:8
Proverbs 30:10-14
INSIGHTS AND EXPLANATIONS
Habakkuk 1:1-Zephaniah 1:1-3:20. We don’t know much about the prophet Habakkuk except that he was a contemporary of Jeremiah at the end of King Josiah’s reign (around 609 B.C.).
Zephaniah was a man of considerable social standing. Because his ancestry lists him as a fourth generation descendent of King Hezekiah, he was also related to King David. He probably lived at the beginning of King Josiah’s reign, which means he appeared before Habakkuk. His portrayals of Judah’s impending judgment are the most graphic in Scripture.
Psalm 137:1-138:8. “Though the Lord is on high, he looks upon the lowly, but the proud he knows from afar” (Psalm 138:6). The lowly are not necessarily people who are poor, but people who are humble in spirit. Pride repels God, humility draws him closer.
If you’ve found A Daily Bible Conversation helpful, share it with your friends! Forward your daily email or send them a link to the website: http://www.bibleconversation.com.
THE WORD MADE FRESH
Habakkuk was mad at God. He was mad because evil was taking place in Judah and God wasn’t doing anything about it.
Do you ever feel that way? I do.
God then answered that he would deal with Judah by sending Babylon to invade them. This didn’t make sense to Habakkuk because Babylon was even more evil than Judah. “How can a just God use wicked Babylon to punish a people more righteous than themselves?” he asked. To what extent does God have control over evil people?
In the end, God told him that Babylonia would be punished as well.
Then God changes the focus of their conversation. All evil will be punished. Habakkuk didn’t understand it. We usually don’t.
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
This is a quote from Isaiah 11:9. God’s glory will eventually fill the earth. God’s justice will prevail.
Habakkuk concludes this book with these words:
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, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.
Habakkuk 3:17–18
One of the hardest lessons to learn is that life isn’t fair. Good people can be wronged and evil people can get away, literally, with murder. And in the end, we must trust that God will make things right. This is part and parcel with the life of faith, which brings God pleasure (see Hebrews 11:6). “The righteous will live by his faith,” God tells the prophet (Habakkuk 2:4).
So this adds to our definition of faith. Living by faith not only means trusting God for our provision, but also trusting that he his justice will prevail.
Always. Even when we don’t understand.
CONVERSATION STARTERS
- What spoke to you in today’s reading?
- To what extent do you struggle with believing that God’s justice will prevail?
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Michael co-pastors The Neighborhood Church with Eugene Scott in Littleton, Colorado.
The Neighborhood Café 