Habukkah 1

Today is Memorial Day. It is a day set aside to give tribute to those who have fought for our freedom. It should also be a day to remember our victories as well as our failures as a nation and pray for change. We are in a unique time of history, for the first time, we can be a truly united nation. United as a people….rich or poor, male or female, black, white, red or yellow we can accomplish God's plan for us. Can we stand together and make America the way God desires her to be? For what does God require of us? He require us to practice equality, exercise mercy
and to walk humbly without pride and arrogance in our life here on earth. God will not be mocked….we need to be doers and not just hearers of His word. We need to
love God with all our heart, mind and spirit and to love each other as much as we do ourselves. God loves all His creation.

1 The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.

The Prophet's Question

2 O Lord, how long shall I cry,

And You will not hear?

Even cry out to You, "Violence!"

And You will not save.

3 Why do You show me iniquity,

And cause me to see trouble?

For plundering and violence are before me;

There is strife, and contention arises.

5 "Look among the nations and watch—

Be utterly astounded!

For I will work a work in your days

Which you would not believe, though it were told you.

6 For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans,

A bitter and hasty nation

Which marches through the breadth of the earth,

To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.

7 They are terrible and dreadful;

Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.

13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,

And cannot look on wickedness.

Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,

And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours

A person more righteous than he?

15 They take up all of them with a hook,

They catch them in their net,

And gather them in their dragnet.

Therefore they rejoice and are glad.

16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net,

And burn incense to their dragnet;

Because by them
their share is sumptuous

And their food plentiful.

17 Shall they therefore empty their net,

And continue to slay nations without pity?

The NKJV says this: The deterioration of society had become a cause of frustration and disappointment for the godly. Abuse of power, acts of injustice, and oppressive deeds were common in Judah. The people of Judah argued with each other and were involved in destructive litigation. The revelation of God given at Mt. Sinai had little impact on the hearts of people whose lives were focused on material success. These people had little interest in living by God's definition of what is fair and humane. God's chosen people committed and tolerated heinous acts through corruption of the courts. There were always people who were faithful to the Lord, a righteous remnant. Here the godly were restricted in what they could say and do because of the evil that surrounded them. The powerful people of Israel corrupted justice. God controls the nations for His own purposes (see Dan. 2:21), sometimes indirectly and at other times directly. Far from being humane, the Babylonians prided themselves on their arrogant use of raw power. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves: The Babylonian system of law and order had no regard for other legal systems.