When we were in college, on a rainy day my friend Tom returned to his house next door to me and my roommates and discovered thieves had stolen everything in his home. Weeks before, someone had first stolen my roommate’s pickup truck battery and then the pickup truck itself. Tom lay down on a cold floor with a blanket and pillow he borrowed from us (we offered for him to sleep on the sofa, but he said he wanted to experience the pain). During the night he heard metal scraping on the front porch of his home, and realized thieves were stealing his umbrella. In a Hemingway moment, he chased them down the street shouting, “Bring it back. It is all I have left!”
When all of live caves in, what then? Why do the evil prosper? Have you ever wondered? Habakkuk did. In fact, he asked God twice: as he saw corruption in his own country and then again as he realized God would use an evil country to discipline the people of Israel. In Habakkuk’s book, we see him move from wondering about sin to asking when God will do something, to worshiping God in spite of his own pain.
On 9/11 when the twin towers fell in New York, we had a prayer meeting at Tallowood. The old worship center was full of people. You may remember that the stock market plummeted the next week. It felt like we were reliving Habakkuk. An evil man named Osama Bin Laden had attacked our country with our own airplanes. Consequently, family and friends lost a lot of their retirement money in just a few days. That week I read 3:16-19 and heard Habakkuk’s heart. Even though he could not rejoice in his circumstances he still worshiped the Sovereign Lord as his Sustainer, Savior, and Strength.
Author Calvin Miller once told me about Bob, a Mennonite preacher friend of his in Nebraska, who read great works of literature with Calvin. When he began to lose his eyesight, the pastor asked Calvin if he would come and read books aloud to him. Finally, one day he told Calvin, don’t bring any other books. Just bring the Bible. Calvin says his friend confided in him one day as they were reading the Bible, “I love being blind. Before I was blind, I loved all the things of God. Now, all I love is God.” When all of life caves in, what then? Then love God. He is still there!
