Help from Habakkuk

I was ill prepared for my Wednesday night session with the eight graders and had not picked out a bible reading for that night. So I went to some of my favorite lines in the Bible from Habakkuk.

I hear and my body trembles;
at the sound my lips quiver.
Decay invades my bones,
my legs tremble beneath me.
I await the day of distress
that will come upon the people who attack us.

For though the fig tree blossom not
nor the fruit be on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive fail
and the terraces produce no nourishment,
Though the flocks disappear from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
Yet will I rejoice in the Lord
and exult in my saving God.
God, my Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet swift as those of hinds
and enables me to go upon the heights.

Every day we are bombarded by bad news. The blossoms of prosperity on the tree that is our country are not to be seen. Thousands of jobs are lost every day. Homes are being lost by those no longer able to afford them.

For those fortunate enough to have a job it seems that we must work harder and little progress is made. The result of our labors diminishes as we expend more effort.

Many disappear from the fold as we continue to squander the gift of life and refuse to celebrate it and afford it the dignity it deserves.

Burdened by these ponderous realities, we can be frozen in action. We are distracted from the little human foibles Screwtape revels in and so take no action against them. Yet, if we take Habakkuk’s final thought to heart we can allow these ponderous realities to be handled by our saving God and in him can find the energy to go upon the heights, far above Screwtape’s and Wormwood’s machinations.