July 25, 2021 Prophets – Zechariah

 

Zechariah 3

Before we read our first Bible reading from the prophet Zechariah its good to know a bit about its background.  Zechariah was a prophet who was active at the same time as the prophet Haggai, who we talked about last week.  Like Haggai, Zechariah’s message is to the Jews who have returned from exile in Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem.  Unfortunately that rebuilding was not going well.  Haggai and Zechariah don’t mention each other in their own writings, but other historical books of the time say they were acquaintances.

            Haggai’s message was that the temple needed to be rebuilt.  Haggai was critical because over a decade had passed since they were allowed to return to Jerusalem.  Little progress had been made.  Instead of building the temple people were focused on doing their own thing and building their own houses.  Zechariah’s message is about rebuilding too, but he’s more interested in building human the resources.  It turns out that was just as challenging as physical construction!

            In the years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians the nation had dwindled to almost nothing.  By the time the Babylonians finally destroy Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. the population was only a few thousand.  Most of them were deported to Babylon.  But at the time of Zechariah’s prophesy -seventy years later- those returning numbered only a few hundred.  Yes, there were more Jews than that.  Many decided to stay in Babylon.  Many lived in Egypt.  But those who decided to return were few.  Remember these people are one or two generations removed from those who actually lived in Jerusalem. 

How were they to do anything?  The former prophets often talked about a remnant that would return, but this tiny a remnant!?!  Who would be the leaders?  Were there skilled laborers, like masons and carpenters?  Were there people interesting in farming or shepherding to grow food?  What about a legal/justice system?  How about soldiers & guards?  You can see that there’s barely enough people to form a society.

            It is into this almost impossible situation that Zechariah’s prophesy comes.  Unlike most of the previous prophets we’ve looked at Zechariah writes on a cosmic scale.  Zechariah reads like the book of Revelation.  In fact the book Revelation in the New Testament seems to have developed many of its characteristics from Zechariah.  There might be a tiny remnant but God is up to something big -something universal- with them!  Like Revelation, Zechariah uses a lot of symbols and strange images.  To make it worse the images are not consistent; which we’ll hear in a moment.

            In the chapter we’re about to read we are going to meet several beings.  There is Yahweh; also the angel of Yahweh, but they are used interchangeably and you may wonder who is who. 

There is also Joshua.  This is a different Joshua from the more famous one who took over after Moses died and conquered the Promised Land.  This is Joshua the High Priest.  He is a real historical flesh and blood person.  How he came to be designated as the High Priest we do not know.  From what we’re about to read in Zechariah though, we’re going to learn that he may not be a perfect person.  In fact, he might not be well suited for the job of high priest at all.  We’ll talk more about that later.

We’re going to meet a future person simply called the “Branch”.  This is the person who will become king and the true leader.  More about that person later too.

And finally we’re going to meet “The Satan.”  I say “The Satan” because there is no one consistent character in the Bible called Satan.  In the New Testament Satan is evil.  In the Old Testament The Satan is an accuser and an examiner.  Think of this being as like the prosecution in a trial.  With that background let’s read the text.

Read Zechariah 3

How would it feel if God were to somehow give us the clear message that wanted to use us, the couple hundred members of St. John’s Lutheran Church, to be the center, or the beginning, of a world-wide faith renewal?  It sounds flattering for a few seconds, but then you immediately start to wonder how?  How can so few do so much?  How can we handle the responsibility?  How can we lay claim to such credibility?  And how are we going to come up with the resources for marketing and advertising and ministries and programs? 

Yet that is largely the message of Zechariah to the few Jews who had returned to Jerusalem!  They were hopelessly unprepared and incapable of what was ahead.  In Zechariah it is as if the Satan character is pointing out this reality.  Not only are there few, they are not clean enough, or pure enough for the task.

The image of Joshua the High Priest taking off his old filthy clothes and putting on clean new ones is variously interpreted.  It could mean that Joshua himself is not worthy of the role.  Or it could mean the whole nation – few as they are – are not good enough for what needs to be done. 

But God says let it be done.  Notice the description of Joshua’s new clothes.  They are not described as regal or authoritative.  They are described as “festal apparel”.  In other words, these are party clothes.  God is creating a celebration with these few and broken people.

We need to always take God’s power and authority seriously.  But we have to remember that God does not want to be known as serious and dour.  God wants to celebrate life and the creation along with us.  Life is to be a joyful partnership with God.  That’s the way things were set up with Adam and Eve in the garden.  The high priest’s attire is to be festal clothing.

Verse 8 of the chapter we read has intrigued people for centuries.  God says, “I am going to bring my servant the Branch.”

Who is this unnamed future Branch?  The branch image is developed further in the chapters that follow.  Our verses are just the introduction to it.  Some have said the Branch refers to Zerubbabel.  He was a leader of those who had returned to Jerusalem.  Apparently he was a descendant of David and therefore potentially a new king.  Others say that if Zerubbabel was meant Zechariah would have just named him.  He named Joshua as high priest after all.  These say this must refer to some future king that God would bring about; and Joshua would be subject to that king.

We remember that according to the laws of the time the kings were anointed by God and supreme leaders of the nation.  Everyone was subject to the king.  That was believed to be God’s way.  The message here is that God would be restoring all things.  Very importantly for Zechariah’s message, God alone could bring about the restoration.  God alone could clean up the mess.  God alone could bring about the righteousness that is envisioned.

I don’t believe it was in Zechariah’s mind as he wrote the prophesy, but I’m sure you know well that this unnamed Branch – whoever that person would be – has been taken to mean Jesus in Christian thought.  Indeed Jesus does fit the bill – a new leader, an ultimate leader, who brings about a new sense of righteousness.  Jesus removes the guilt of all and cleans them.  He makes those whose lives are filthy rags fit to be with God.  Jesus reveals a new form of relationship with God.  This form of relationship is not only for the Jews but for everyone.  As Zechariah envisions God acting on a cosmic scale, we do have that in Jesus.

So lets tie all this together.  As Christians we say Jesus is the Branch predicted by Zechariah.  Jesus is the ultimate king.  He ushers in a new age for all the world.  We also have Joshua, a man called to a position of leadership but certainly not perfect for the job.  There had to have been something about him that the image describes him in dirty clothes – and then fresh clothes from God.  In Zechariah’s prophesy Joshua is subject to the authority of the Branch.

As Christians we realize that we are subject to the Brach, Jesus.  And like Joshua we are not perfect for the job.  In fact we may be downright filthy, unqualified, and completely ill-equipped for the work ahead.  Yet like Joshua God chooses us anyway.

Remember, God chooses Joshua.  The Satan points out that he is unfit.  Yet despite this obvious objection, God chooses him anyway.  Joshua will be the High Priest.  Joshua will represent God in religious matters.  Joshua will do the important holy work of running the temple.  And despite our unworthiness God chooses us anyway.  God makes us clean, fresh, and new.  God give us important holy work to do too.  That work may not be in a holy place like a temple, but remember that through Jesus God considers the whole world to be a holy place.  We do holy work in whatever we do.  We rejoice in that, and we take that with responsibility.

Zechariah is a fascinating prophet who realizes that God is up to something big in the world.  God will get it done.  And God will choose people to partner in the work.  This theme comes up over and over again in the Bible.  It is God’s way of doing things.  In that we can truly rejoice!

July 18, 2021 Prophets – Haggai Haggai 1

How well do you know what you know?  I admit that is a very vague question.  Certainly there are things that we know and we know them very well.  You know without any doubt whatsoever that if you put your hand on a hot stove you will be injured.  And there are also lots of things that we know we don’t know well at all.  We know that sunlight provides the energy that plants need to grow but unless we are biologists we probably can’t describe the chemical processes of photosynthesis with any detail.  Most of us, by some mix of education and experience, are highly skilled and experts in some things but we rely on the expertise of others in order to make our modern lives work. 

When we interact with the world around us we have general knowledge of a lot of things that we think we know – so does everyone else around us, and it works pretty well.  I’m going to call that general knowledge “common sense.”  It’s a logical, constructive, reasonably disciplined way of approaching things.

The problem is, how much to we really know?  And do we, along with everyone around us, have common assumptions that may not be true; however, because we all have that common assumption we are able to make it appear true for us?

I know that is a mind twister of a statement so let me explain.  The modern western world is built largely on a mix of Christian theology and Greek philosophy.  There are fundamental assumptions that are made and then lived into.  These assumptions aren’t necessarily right or wrong, but we need to recognize them as the assumptions that they are.  If you’ve ever done a lot of international traveling, especially into Africa and southern Asia, you know that societies there run under vastly different philosophies from our own.

In his book, A Reasonable Faith, theologian and speaker Tony Campolo points out that most modern western thinkers accept Darwin’s theory of evolution as a scientific fact.  Life has become more and more complex and species have evolved into higher and higher forms.  Species evolve to flourish and survive in the environment in which they find themselves.  Those individuals of a species whose genetic characteristics enable them to flourish best pass on their genetics to future generations.  And conversely, those whose genetics aren’t well suited to the environment die out over time.  While there are genetic variations among all species, random genetic mutations happen all the time, and some of those mutations can create new characteristics that are beneficial.  On the whole we call it “survival of the fittest.”

There are countless research studies and published results that prove these ideas of the 19^th century biologist Charles Darwin to be true.  To go against them is to be considered a ignoramus.

But, as Campolo points out, are they true?

I’m not suggesting that people should jump into the camp of biblical literalism.  That would be both foolish and improper Bible interpretation.  But how much do we really know about evolutionary theory and how much do we just think we know because others have told us?

Campolo points out that there were numerous theories of evolution floating around in the 19^th century.  Darwin’s became the dominant one in the western world.  He suggests Darwin’s became the dominant one because it indeed does fit observable data, but also because the idea of survival of the fittest fit well into the background societal assumptions based on Greek philosophy.

By contrast consider the evolutionary theory of French naturalist, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck 1744-1829.  His work predates Darwin’s by some decades.  Lamark’s thoughts aren’t so much on survival of the fittest, but on survival of those species which show the greatest degree of cooperation among the members of a species.  Think community: ants, bees, pack and herd animals; and of course, humans.

Think about it, what makes humans so successful as a species is not survival of the fittest.  It is cooperation on a scale no species has ever had.  As Campolo points out, survival of the fittest leads to racism in countless forms; not to mention genocide campaigns – think WW2 Germany.  Do you see how we can use a philosophical framework to shape and apply science?

How would our society be different if instead of living by survival of the fittest we lived by survival of the most cooperative and integrated?  What if instead of focusing on individual lives we focused on ever greater cooperation and community?

This is a very long introduction to getting into the prophet Haggai.  Haggai is a concise book, and unlike most of the writings of the Bible we can date it precisely.  It is the year 520 B.C.E.  The Persians have conquered the Babylonians who had destroyed Jerusalem in 587 BCE.  The Jews who had been hauled into exile in Babylon by the Babylonians had been freed and allowed to return home some 16 years earlier.  They were free to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple.

Except that wasn’t happening.

While some Jews did decide to stay in Babylon – life was easier there after all – some did decide to return.  They built houses for themselves and started to rebuild their lives.  However, work on the temple was happening in fits and starts, and was basically going nowhere.  Haggai 1, which we had as our first reading, is a message from God to the returned exiles that they had their priorities all wrong.  They were living as individuals, trying to build their own wealth, rather than working together to rebuild the temple to God’s glory.  God tells them their work will not flourish until they get their priorities straight.

Perhaps in our scientifically critical minds we may question whether God really did cause their crops to be lackluster and their efforts to fail because they didn’t focus on the temple.  But if the theories of Lamark are correct, until they worked cooperatively they would not flourish.  They needed to first build that which would give them a common identity, a sense of community, a center of faith – the temple – before they could do anything else.

Prophets like Haggai and Zechariah (who we will look at next week) along with leaders like Ezra and Nehemiah (who also have books of the Bible written by/for them) pushed hard to get the temple rebuilt.  And indeed Jewish society did not begin to flourish until the temple was rebuilt. 

I said earlier that modern western society is built on a mix of Christian theology and Greek philosophy.  I believe that is indeed the case.  But we have to remember that in many places the Bible stands against Greek philosophy.  Greek culture led to all sorts of abuses and distortions.  It led to individualism and hierarchies which put people determined by society to be less able people permanently on the bottom while elevating others to the top.  Christianity rejected that vehemently.  Insisting instead that all are made in the image of God.  All are sinners and fall short of that.  All are equally in need of God’s grace.  All have an essential role to play.  We see that in what we read from Paul in our second Bible reading.

I’m no expert on the theories of Lamark.  I know enough of them to know that in time they have been shown to have some scientific flaws.  But on the whole, I believe his theories reflect a much more Christian understanding of the ordering of life than do Darwin’s.

Christian leaders have long criticized our society’s love of rugged individuality.  Yes, we have to be strong as individuals.  But it is cooperation that makes things happen.

When I am in a hospital praying for someone about to have surgery I do not pray for God to bring about a miracle.  Yes, I certainly want God to watch over that person during the hours ahead.  But I am more interested in God guiding the hands of the surgeon, giving wisdom to the anesthesiologist, directing the alertness of the assistants, attendants, and nurses.  Thanking God for the people who made the machines and the medicines.  And even praying for the janitors who keep the operating room surgically clean.  If anyone, anyone, in that system messes up the results can be disastrous.  While the surgeon is the star, he or she is useless without a complex interconnected community.

We are individually known by God.  But we are collectively God’s people.  Haggai called on the people of his day to build the temple.  They should make it a priority.  In so doing they would build much more than a building.  They would build a community.  The community is what would make each of them strong.  The same goes for our lives centuries later in a different nation and a different part of the world.  Those who cooperate and work together thrive.  Those who live to themselves die out.

July 11, 2021 Prophets – Zephaniah Zephaniah 1

             Most everyone has a price at which they can be bought.  For many that price is indeed money.  Give them enough money and you can get them to do just about anything; regardless of the morality.  But there is more than just money. 

Some people can be leveraged with a promise of fame or power. 

Even highly selfless people can be pushed to twist their principles if told it is “for the greater good”. 

            And of course there is also using pain as coercion.  You can threaten a person with pain - torture.  You can keep increasing a person’s pain until they give in.  Or you can threaten the lives of people they love.  What parent wouldn’t do almost anything if the life of one of their children was threatened?

            What does it take to make someone compromise their principles; their beliefs; their values?

            The prophet Zephaniah rips into the people of his age for many things.  Like the prophets Amos and Micah, Zephaniah sees widespread corruption and exploitation of the poor by the rich.  He speaks against it sharply.  But Zephaniah takes on other things as well.

            It is helpful to set Zephaniah’s prophesy in its context.  Zephaniah is active early in the reign of King Josiah.  Josiah reigned from 640 to 609 B.C.E.  He became king at the age of 8 when his father was assassinated.  He was hardly prepared to rule as a young boy.  Little is recorded about the early years of his reign.  But it was an opportune time for a king of Judah.

            The Assyrian Empire had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel in the year 722 B.C.E.  They did not ever manage to destroy the southern kingdom of Judah.  However they did make it a vassal state.  They required heavy payments of tribute to keep from attacking.  They forced the Judeans to accept many Assyrian ways.  And very importantly for understanding the message of Zephaniah, they forced the Jews to worship their gods: Baal and Milcom.

            What should the Jews have done?  The very existence of their nation was on the line.  Should the people have fought back and been annihilated?  Should the kings have refused to pay tribute?  Should they have not allowed the worship of the other gods?

            According to Zephaniah they should not. 

However, it is good to understand the complexity of their situation.  Sometimes people have the best of intentions but not follow through on them because they feel forced to do something.  Perhaps we won’t outright compromise our core principles but we all know that “right” and “wrong” can become very grey.

            Young King Josiah came to power at an opportune time.  Over a century had passed since the days of the Assyrian Empire’s rapid growth.  By the year 640 its power was seriously waning.  Its vassal states could start to flex their muscles and act with greater independence. 

            Ten years into his reign, at the age of eighteen, King Josiah launched what is perhaps the greatest reform campaign in the history of Judah.  He instituted many economic reforms; stamping out manipulation and exploitation.  He instituted political reforms which reduced corruption.  He raised armies and began expanding the nation’s borders.  He recovered a great deal of territory lost to Assyria in the previous century.  And most significantly, he instituted major religious reforms.  During repairs and renovations to the temple a scroll of the Law of Moses was discovered.  Scholars today think this scroll was most likely the book of Deuteronomy.  Josiah immediately set to work re-establishing that religious order.  He expected citizens to follow the religious laws outlined there.  He executed the priests of other religions, destroyed their worship sites, and burned their idols.

            These days we might look upon King Josiah with shock as we see him forcibly destroying every religion but his own.  But to the Jews of the day it was the overthrow of their long time oppressors.

            Zephaniah’s prophesy appears to have been made before King Josiah’s began reforming things.  Who knows what Zephaniah would have written if he had been during or after the reform? 

Were Josiah’s reforms enough?  Surely things weren’t perfect.  Would Zephaniah have felt called to continue the harsh rebuke? 

            Like the other prophets Zephaniah ends with a promise of God’s everlasting love and forgiveness.  There is always a promise that a remnant will be left.  From that remnant God will rebuild the people.

            Zephaniah’s prophesy gives us a real challenge.  Is there ever a reason to compromise faithfulness?  Zephaniah would probably say no.  He proclaims that the punishment for unfaithfulness will be done by God’s own hand.  We didn’t read the whole book, but similar to other prophets Zephaniah uses the concept of the “Day of the Lord.”  This day will be a judgment day.  It will be a day of justice for the oppressed and wrath for the oppressors.  It will be a day when God sets all things right.

            Life is complex.  We all make compromises and concessions every day.  Zephaniah would probably challenge us on them.  His words show that our trust should be in God and God alone.  That trust should be absolute.  And if that trust is absolute then we shouldn’t fear any threat, for God will protect.  Even if the present falls apart and everything we’ve ever worked for is destroyed – even if we are killed in the process – the ultimate future is still completely in God’s hands.  We should live for that.

            Over the centuries many people have taken themes from prophets like Zephaniah to heart.  The results have been disastrous.  They can lead to religious zealotry – absolutely uncompromising commitment to laws.  These zealots believe that even the slightest compromise on anything risks religious corruption.  Governments run by religious laws begin to act with oppressive rigidity.

            Is that what Zephaniah had in mind?  Probably not.  That was probably not the design of Josiah’s reforms either.

            Deep commitment to religious beliefs can be disastrous.  It has been in many times and places.

The core of Christianity, even when zealously applied, should never lead to such disasters.  While many nations over the years have claimed to be acting according to Christian principles, an examination of their actions shows they were really using Christianity to justify their own self-interests.  While the core of our faith will not allow it, we do well to remember that our faith can be twisted by those who wish to do so.

Uncompromising Christian faith means ultimate trust in God.  St. Paul says the greatest of all things are faith, hope, and love.  And the greatest of those three is love.  Love is God’s ultimate nature and God’s ultimate power.  God’s love can be ferocious and tenacious.  It is not always nice and sweet.  But as we see in the cross of Christ, God’s self-emptying love will stop at nothing.

In the prayers and actions of Jesus in Gethsemane we see uncompromising faithfulness in action.  Jesus would not be deterred no matter what.  He set aside all logic and all instincts of survival.  He stayed faithful.

Our faith is not as perfect as Jesus’.  Our commitment to God probably falls short of what Zephaniah calls for.  The good news for us is that God is indeed loving.  God forgives.  God restores.  The ancient Israelites failed God over and over again.  God stayed with them.  God will stay with us.

We should strive endlessly to meet the ideals people like Zephaniah proclaim.  We do not want to exploit God’s grace or become complacent.  And yet we also live in relief knowing that God’s grace truly is the final word.

July 4, 2021 Prophets – Habakkuk Habakkuk 2

The Old Testament prophets can easily make us feel guilty as 21^st Century Americans.  Amos and Micah are especially hard hitting.  The dynamics of our own lives is very similar to the dynamics they strongly condemn.  We do well to listen to them and take their words to heart.  Habakkuk is also a hard hitting prophet, but more so he takes us into a deep struggles that all people of faith have.  That is, injustice occurs in the world but God doesn’t seem to do anything about it.  And suffering people cry out to God but God does not seem to reply.

            Let’s put Habakkuk in context.  It’s impossible to date the book precisely but internal clues strongly suggest it was written near the end of the 7^th century B.C.E. or early in the 6^th century.  The prophets we have looked at to this point were from the 8^th century B.C.E.  They were mostly interested in the threats posed by the Assyrian Empire.  You’ll remember that the Assyrians did indeed conquer the northern kingdom of Israel and they seriously threatened the southern kingdom of Judah.

            Over a century has gone by and the Assyrian Empire is waning.  A new threat was appearing on the horizon – the Babylonians, or Chaldeans as Habakkuk calls them.  The Babylonian Empire was vast.  It was growing quickly.  It seemed to be gobbling up everything around it.  I’m hardly an expert in these ancient empires, but at that time I believe Babylon was one of the most powerful and fasting growing empires to ever develop.

            Recognizing this threat, the weakening Assyrian Empire joined forces with the Egyptian Empire to try to hold off the Babylonians in a great battle at Charchemish in 605 B.C.E.  The combined forces of both empires were not enough to hold off the Babylonians.  The Egyptians were able to retreat and hopefully fight another day.  The Assyrian Empire was effectively ended.  That left Babylon on the doorstep of Judah.  Weak and small, Judah didn’t stand a chance against the rampaging Babylonians.  It would only be a matter of time before they were eliminated, in what would probably be (for the Babylonians) a whimper of a battle.

            That is the world prophets like Habakkuk, Zephaniah (who we’ll look at next week), and Jeremiah give messages to.  These three prophets all have the same basic message.  Destruction is sure.  They will not be able to remain independent for long.  And why?  Why would God abandon the chosen people?  Why would God go back on promises made ages before?  Was God really so weak?  Did God not care?

            These prophets all give the answer: the Babylonians are God’s instruments to punish them for their misdeeds and unfaithfulness.  These prophets proclaim that God’s chosen people have become so hopelessly twisted, unfaithful, and corrupt that God’s patience has run out.  They’re gonna get it.  And perhaps worse, they deserve it!

            That’s not a nice message to have to deliver to your own people.  These prophets were not popular in their day! 

While Habakkuk has that as the background to his message he takes it a different direction.  That different direction is to ask God why?

We didn’t read it, but Habakkuk 1 starts off with the prophet crying out to God with this, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not listen?  Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save?  Why do you make me see wrongdoing and look at trouble?  Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.  So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails.  The wicked surround the righteous – therefore judgment comes forth perverted.”  Thus is Habakkuk’s question to God.  How come there is so much injustice among his own people?  What is God going to do about it?

Then God replies!  As we move through chapter 1 God says that the coming invasion by the Babylonians is God’s way of executing justice against the corruption among his own people.

But Habakkuk questions again.  How can God, or perhaps how dare God, use an evil enemy of his own people as the instrument of punishment? 

That takes us through chapter 1 and to the chapter we read today.  Habakkuk says, “I will stand at my watchpost, and station myself on the rampart; I will keep watch to see what he will say to me, and what he will answer concerning my complaint.”

And God answers again!  “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it.  For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie.  If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay.  Look at the proud!  Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous will live by their faith.”

No one’s exactly sure what is meant by, write the vision; make it plain on tables so that a runner may read it:  But we can easily get the gist.  Make the message big, easy to read, and enduring.  The message is a powerful one.  It is a message we Christians know well, but we don’t like to hear it. 

The message is 2:3, “For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie.  If is seems to tarry, wait for it…”   Or in words I often say, the future belongs to God.  The future is solidly and securely held in God’s hands.  There is nothing to fear no matter how bad the present is and the future looks.  God’s got this!

In the midst of suffering those aren’t easy words to hear.  We want to have answers!  We want solutions!  We want a path, a plan, to move forward with.  I often tell people who are recovering from an injury or undergoing physical therapy that if I put myself in their shoes I think I’d be okay with the pain – no matter how bad the pain was – as long as it was leading to improvement down the road.  What I don’t say, but is very true, is that I think I’d become discouraged if I didn’t see improvement for my efforts.

And so the message that God holds the future securely sounds all fine and good, but what happens when things keep getting worse?  What about when things seem to have no hope?  That is why Habakkuk is told to make the message plain on tablets – big, bold, enduring.  NO MATTER HOW BAD THINGS ARE, God still has the future!  Don’t doubt it.  Live in faith of it.

Indeed we see that exact message in 2:4, “…the righteous live by their faith.”

St. Paul picks this up multiple times in his letters.  It shows up in Hebrews as well.  Let’s make sure we understand.  “The righteous live by their faith,” does not mean that you hold intellectual belief in the truth of a doctrine or the historicity of a Bible story.  The righteous live by their faith must be kept in the context that Habakkuk originally wrote it.  This is a gritty, stubborn, not-very-pretty sort of faith.  This is the enduring faith that God sees and knows what is going on, and that God will eventually act.

I always want to encourage people to pray.  Pray authentically to God for everything you need.  Give prayers of joy.  Give prayers of need.  Give prayers of anger and frustration.  Be brutally honest with God!  And be persistent!  Never quit.  Don’t give up.

But also don’t be surprised if you don’t get what you asked for.  In the children’s sermon we talked about God not giving you things that are harmful to you, even if you want them very badly.  That is true.  Sometimes people take a more sophisticated approach and say God didn’t answer a prayer because it didn’t fit with God’s will.  That can be true too.  However, lets keep in mind Habakkuk’s message. 

Habakkuk’s message is for all the people.  It’s for the community.  It is not just for individuals.

Sometimes it feels like people think life is a one on one journey with God.  Indeed God does know us and interact with us as individuals.  But the main message from the Bible is that God works with communities – with the chosen people, or with the larger church.

Yes, when there seems to be no hope live in faith.  Trust that God holds the future secure.  But know that you aren’t alone in that belief.  You don’t hold that as an individual.  You hold it as part of a community.

God does have the future in hand.  But the future is not about you as an individual.  It is about the whole of humanity.  God is not in the business of customizing individual lives for us.  God is in the business of saving the world.  And we are invited to be part of it.  So, unanswered prayer may be because it isn’t God’s will.  But remember God’s will is at a grand and universal scale.  Ultimately that is best for us as individuals as well.