Thought from today’s Bible reading from Habakkuk 1-3.
The Lord was sending the Chaldeans (Babylonians) to punish the people of Judah. The Chaldeans were not chosen because they were a righteous people or because their works were approved by God. They were simply a tool that the Lord used to accomplish His work of punishing His people for their sins.
“For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves” (Habakkuk 1:6-7).
There are a few points we can take from these verses:
- God was the one behind the coming Chaldean aggression. We know this because He revealed this to the prophets (cf. Amos 3:7).
- The Chaldeans were a “fierce and impetuous people,” showing that God in His omniscience and omnipotence was able to use such a people for His own purposes.
- One of the crimes of the Chaldeans that was specifically stated was that they took property that rightfully belonged to others. The fact that this was done through the power structure of the Chaldean regime, rather than by individuals with no ties to civil government, did not change the fact that this was wrong. It was done by man’s authority, not by God’s.
- They were “dreaded and feared” for good reason. But the Lord was more powerful than they were and would eventually punish them for their wickedness (1:11; cf. Jeremiah 25:12-14).
- “Their justice and authority originate with themselves.” God used them to punish His people for their sins, but the Chaldeans did not come against the people of Judah because they recognized the authority of God over all men and that Judah was deserving of punishment. The Chaldeans ignored God. Instead, their strength was their god (1:11, 15-16). They believed their strength gave them the right to rule as they pleased. They did not consider how to make their rule appropriate under the authority of God and respecting the natural law that He gave to govern all men.
Those whose sense of justice is from their own thinking and who believe they have a right to do as they please without any regard for a higher law – whether they are within or outside of civil government – are not right before God. We must respect God’s authority and His perfect standard.
Tomorrow’s reading: Jeremiah 41-45
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
