“See, the enemy is puffed up;
his desires are not upright—
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”
Habakkuk 2:4 NIV
Puffed Up
According to an online article from the BBC “Canadian niceness is pure … and abundant. Canada is to niceness as Saudi Arabia is to oil. It’s awash in the stuff, and it’s about time, I say, the rest of the world imported some. (France, Russia and the UK topped one recent list of rude countries as perceived by travellers.) Researchers have yet to analyse Canadian niceness empirically, but studies have found that Canadians, perhaps in an effort not to offend, use an overabundance of “hedge words”, such as “could be” and “not bad”.
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The prophet Habakkuk was called to speak for God in some tumultuous times in the history of Israel. Babylon and Assyria are on the warpath and evil was rampant in Judah. God used Babylon to execute justice on a nation that should have been godly but that had turned its back on their God. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that in Habakkuk 2:4 he wrote, “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright – but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” Babylon was a nation with political and military power in those days. Meanwhile, Judah was wallowing in its sin and depravity. Babylon came “puffed up” to use the prophet’s words here. Habakkuk knew that only those faithful to the Yahweh God were going to be blessed. When the captivity came, this would prove to be true. The likes of Daniel and his friends stood tall for God in the midst of the challenges of captivity. Our day is so much like the day in which Habakkuk called for a life of faithfulness. Be faithful to God in your world today.
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley