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Friday of the Third Week of Advent
Habakkuk 2:1-5, 3:16-19 (NRSV)

I will stand at my watch tower,
    and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
    and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Then the Lord answered me and said:
Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so that a runner may read it.

For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
    it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
    it will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud!
    Their spirit is not right in them,
    but the righteous live by their faith.

Moreover, wealth is treacherous;
    the arrogant do not endure.
They open their throats wide as Sheol;
    like Death they never have enough.
They gather all nations for themselves,
    and collect all peoples as their own.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
    and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
    and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
    and there is no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    and makes me tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets who lived 600 years before Christ.  He, like Job, asks God the question that has plagued humanity.  How can God tolerate injustice among his people?  He asks God why he does not take action.  How long will God hear the cry of the people?  Even as we cry out to God, “Violence!” he does not take action against the evil and protect the righteous.  Habakkuk asks, “why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he?”  The one tool for atheists to convince people not to believe in God is to focus on evil and seemingly God’s inaction in the face of it.  The reading that goes along with today ornament is Habakkuk stands at his watch tower waiting for God to respond, which he does in today’s reading.  God directs Habakkuk to see the difference between those who do evil and the righteous.  The proud do not have the right spirit, they love wealth, which is dangerous, and in the end they do not endure.  Then Habakkuk expresses his ultimate faith in God even if he does not fully understand.  Even if they are poor and hungry, even if the tree does not blossom, even if there is no animal in the stall, he will still rejoice in God and will remain faithful.  In terrible, suffering times, when nothing is good in his life, Habakkuk will remain faithful to God.  It is so easy for people of faith to love God and be faithful when things are great, but when a bit of suffering and hardship comes, it is just as easy to question, blame and turn from God for not doing something about it.  Christ will come and experience the greatest injustice and he will remain faithful to his Father in heaven.  Our call is to do the same.

Habakkuk was a good man who saw things that were wrong.  He turned to God to ask why there are bad things in the world and why God allows them to happen.  God responded that he is still faithful and is working among the people even if we cannot understand it or see it happening right away.  Habakkuk is asked to be faithful and to trust God, which he does in saying that even if bad things should happen to him, he will remain faithful to God and love him.

Discuss why there is evil in the world and what the Christian response is to evil.  How do we understand the presence of evil with a belief in an all knowing, loving and powerful God?  Everyone faces this question either personally by experiencing evil or intellectually when discussing with non-believers.  Explore times in our lives when God was working without our being conscious of it. Talk about the call to trust God in all times and his statement to look what happens to evil in the end.