August 1, 2020

And the LORD charged Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous and firm, for you shall bring the Israelites into the land which I sware to give them, and I will be with you.”

(Deuteronomy 31:23)

“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help… Why do You cause me to see perverseness and trouble? For destruction and violence are before me; and there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is slackened and justice and a righteous sentence never go forth, for the [hostility of the] wicked surrounds the [uncomprimisingly] righteous; therefore justice goes forth perverted.”

“Look around you, Habakkuk,” replied the LORD, “among the nations and see! And be astonished! Astounded! For I am putting into effect a work in your days [such] that you would not believe it if it were told you. For behold, I am rousing up the Chaldeans, that bitter and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to take possession of dwelling places that do not belong to them. [The Chaldeans] are terrible and dreadful; their justice and dignity proceed [only] from themselves. Their horses also are swifter than leopards and are fiercer than the evening wolves, and their horsemen spread themselves and press on proudly; yes, their horsemen came from afar; they fly like an eagle that hastens to devour. They all come for violence; their faces turn eagerly forward, and they gather prisoners together like sand. They scoff… they ridicule every stronghold… they load themselves with guilt [as do all men] whose own power is their god.”

“Are not You from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, O LORD. You have appointed [the Chaldean] to execute Your judgment, and You, O Rock, have established him for chastisement and correction…. I will (in my thinking) stand upon my post of observation and station myself on the tower or fortress, and will watch to see what He will say within me…”

And the LORD answered me and said, “Write the vision and engrave it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may (be able to) read [it easily and quickly] as he hastens by. For the vision is yet for an appointed time and it hastens to the end [fulfillment]; it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait [earnestly] for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day.”

(From Habakkuk 1-2:3)