Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1950-06-01

kuk would seldom d.
have read any
thing good in them. Dr. FOREMAN
As for local news, it was all seam
dial. Murders, judges dispensing
injustice in the courts, good people
having very hard time of it /.
Abroad, things looked dark. The
giant nation Of Babylonia was on
the march westward, and it did not
look as if the nation of Judah had
what it would take to stop an in
vaSion.
Habakkuk, q deeply sensi-
tive man, could not brush II all
off. He could not say, "Oh well,
what can you expect?" or 81
see the boys are at II again."
He could not think of what was
going on around him as If 1t
were all story, q murder
mystery to be enjoyed in an
easy chair. He could not say
ut is fate" and let it go at
that.
He was desperate in his mind
about it all. Under mine eyes out
rage and injury go on" he said
Q:3, Moffatt's translation. He
dared to ask the question, Why?
Why does God permit such things?
Gods Terrible Answer
COD HAD AN ANSWER for Hab-
~ akkuk. but it did not satisfy
him at first; indeed it disturbed
him deeply, for the answer looked
worse than the original problem.
The essence of it was this (Hab.
2:5-lD: God had indeed seen the
wicked ways of the nation of Judah,
and was going to punish the whole
country by defeat in war. He was
bringing up against them the
Babylonians (Chaldeans), an ag-
gressive, fighting, ruthless nation.
Sooner or later Babylon and Judah
would clash. and then-Smash!
huR r t"at
The Prophet Still "s
Asks Questions
IABAKKuK KNEW very well
1 ! what the Babylonian armies
were like and what they had been
doing. But could it be true that
God would actually make use of
wicked nation like Babylonia? God
was "of purer eyes than to behold
evil" how then could a good God
use the cruel violence of goddess
armies, even for a righteous pur-
pose?
The BabylOnians were not
Gods peOple-they did not
worship him or know him. How
could God use his enemies to
punish his own people? Does
God justify the means by the
end? Does God do evil that
good may come?
Habakkuk, in short, was troubled
by exactly the same kind of ques-
lions that have always arisen when
men who believe in a righteous
God ponder the meaning of the
power of evil.
Faith Comes Through
TJABAKKUK never did get
= = complete, logical answer to
his doubts. What he did get was
something more valuable. 1t was
a two-fold answer. First, WAIT
AND SEE. (2:1.3) The crushing
OF Judah by P.hvlon would not be
the last chapler of history. God
has yet to settle his account with
Babylon. and God does settle all
his accounts in October"
The other part of the answer is:
THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY
The meaning here (2:D
is that there are two kinds Of life,
two types Of character. two sorts
OF men. One is the man of pride
and unfaith. the other is the man
Of faith. Unfaith kills, faith makes
alive. Unfaith trembles and falls,
faith endures.
So II is with men and ma
lions. At that time you might
have thought, Babylon will sur
vive, judah has no chance. But
In the light Of history, we know
1t was Babylon that persisted,
Judah that endured. Goddess
ness may have terrible power,
but since II Is gOdlessness, IL
has no final power against the
real God.
So Habskkuk who began by ask,
Ing questions, came out into glor.
ious faith. The great potm with
which his book closes IL a bold
confession Of faith. No longer COM
planning, he cries out. THE Lord
God is my strength"
tCepyright by the international council
OF Religious Education on behalf of 40
iP,rotestant denominations. Released by
WNU Festures.D