“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. 2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.”
We introduced Habakkuk last week who complained to God about his nation of Judah living unrighteous lives. “What are you going to do about it, God?”
He was not prepared for the answer. God gives Habakkuk two instructions: Write down what I tell you and wait to see how God finishes what He has started. He knows their sin. He knows the sins of Babylon. He knows our secret sins and what is going on behind closed doors. But He tells the prophet to write and wait.
It is hard to wait when we are impatient. It’s hard to grasp the plan and purposes of God when we are too short-sighted in our temporary world. But now the Lord has something to pass on and instructs Habakkuk to write it big and bold. This prophecy will come, no doubt about it. It will not be on man’s schedule, but the Lords.
How well do we take warnings? It depends on who is giving the warning. In some homes, if the mother gives a warning to her children and they do not change their behavior, how is it different if the father gives the warning? Who carries out the warning? Kids learn who to listen to. If a nation or government gives a warning and nothing happens, its unlikely warnings don’t mean much. It is far different if God gives warnings. Sometimes those warnings are conditional. Other times He will carry through on His word, no doubt about it. I do not believe that Americans believe there will be a day of accounting, a day of reckoning to answer for her sin, and the sin of its individual people.
It has been over 2,000 years since Jesus promised to come again. We have lost confidence that Jesus is coming again to judge both the living and the dead. We have lost confidence that the wages of sin is death. We have lost the belief your sins will find you out. Yet, the Lord’s delay in bringing this judgment is positive proof of the love of God. His desire is that not one should perish but that all would come to the saving knowledge of Jesus as Lord and Savior. God is waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Out of divine love.
But there is a day coming soon and the prophecies are being fulfilled around us. “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Cor 6:2
Application: Don’t delay putting your complete trust in Christ and commit your life to Him.
Prayer: Father, forgive the sins of this nation both nationally and individually. We believe and rejoice in the hope of Your coming.
