December 18: Of Vicious, Sinful and Imperfect Instruments

Habbakuk 1:1-3:19

Revelation 9:1-21

Psalm 137:1-9

Proverbs 30:10

One of the things dividing Christians today is a common thought, directed at different people.  On one side are those wondering how God could have kept an adulterer in the White House for 4 years; on the other, those wondering why God would install an abortion advocate for the next four.  What was/is God thinking?.  How could He elevate such a sinner to such a position of prominence and power?  How could He find use for such men?  Where was/is the justice?  

Habbakuk helps.  At the start of the book, the prophet is complaining to God that evil goes unpunished.  In His response, God acknowledges the evil, but doesn't enlist the service of the good and holy.  In fact, His answer is so unfathomable He tells Habbakuk "I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told."  What is God about to do?  He's about to use this "ruthless" people, "feared and dreaded", a "law unto themselves" - the Babylonians - as instruments of His purpose and His love for Israel.  

I think about this, and encouragement presents itself twice, in different ways.  In the first, it reminds us that even in our sinfulness and imperfection, God can still deem us fit for His service.  And when we see imperfection in our leaders, we can take comfort in the knowledge that God is able to use them as well, for His purposes, purposes that begin with His love for us.

Indeed, even if because of their leadership "the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines", "the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food", and there are neither sheep in the pen nor cattle in the stalls, Habbakuk reminds us God is in control, and still we can "rejoice in the Lord" and "be joyful in God [our] Savior."

Father, this pandemic has caused great disruption to many, and both our incumbent and prospective leadership are less inspirational, more worrying. Remind us You are in control, You love us, and You can use even the most sinful and vicious for the benefit of Your people.