This week for the Re-Entry Chronicles, I am staying focused on this week in November 2016, which will surely go down in history as a watershed moment in the US. The election results are in, and the people have spoken. My candidate was not chosen. This election will surely stir up a cauldron of emotions across the country today. I've been wrestling with those emotions myself:
I'm tempted to be despondent.
I'm tempted to be enraged.
I'm tempted to fear.
I'm tempted to blame.
I'm tempted to curse.
None of these things are from God, and I'm asking the Holy Spirit for the strength to fight these emotions.
I'm asking instead for hope.
I'm asking instead for love.
I'm asking instead for trust in God.
I'm asking instead for compassion.
I'm asking instead for blessing.
It's no secret that this election was fanned by anger at the status quo: most people did not vote FOR a candidate, but AGAINST the other. They are not happy with the way things are, and they want change (even if that change is to harken back to an earlier era in our nation's history). The prophet Habakkuk in the Old Testament was also angry at the status quo of his day, and implored God for a response:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous.
(Habakkuk 1: 2-4)
In chapter 2, after more lament at the sad state of the world, Habakkuk receives a response from God.
I will stand at my watchpost,
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.
(Habakkuk 2: 1-4)
The Chinese verb 看 (kan) means "watch, look for." I love this verb, because it is the character of a hand over the character for an eye, which is exactly the body posture we make when we gaze intently at something in front of us. Like Habakkuk, I am looking to God, with my hand over my eye, for response. I am looking to discover God working in the midst of a country burning with rage. May I also burn, but may I burn with the love of Christ.
God continues speaking in Habakkuk chapter two by highlighting the woes of the wicked: alas for you who heap up what is not your own. Alas for you who get evil gain for your house. Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed, who make your neighbors drink. God also 看, and God promises justice.
Yet who are the wicked that God is describing in chapter two? Who gets to point fingers and judge? Habakkuk chapter two ends with these haunting and humbling words:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! (Habakkuk 2:20).
I cannot judge, I cannot point fingers, I cannot blame. God calls me to silence.
I'll leave you today, dear reader, with an ancient song based on the words of Habakkuk 2:20.* Today is a day for silence before the throne of God.
*For an especially beautiful visual rendition of this song, check out this Vimeo link.
I'm tempted to be despondent.
I'm tempted to be enraged.
I'm tempted to fear.
I'm tempted to blame.
I'm tempted to curse.
None of these things are from God, and I'm asking the Holy Spirit for the strength to fight these emotions.
I'm asking instead for hope.
I'm asking instead for love.
I'm asking instead for trust in God.
I'm asking instead for compassion.
I'm asking instead for blessing.
It's no secret that this election was fanned by anger at the status quo: most people did not vote FOR a candidate, but AGAINST the other. They are not happy with the way things are, and they want change (even if that change is to harken back to an earlier era in our nation's history). The prophet Habakkuk in the Old Testament was also angry at the status quo of his day, and implored God for a response:
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous.
(Habakkuk 1: 2-4)
In chapter 2, after more lament at the sad state of the world, Habakkuk receives a response from God.
I will stand at my watchpost,
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.
(Habakkuk 2: 1-4)
The Chinese verb 看 (kan) means "watch, look for." I love this verb, because it is the character of a hand over the character for an eye, which is exactly the body posture we make when we gaze intently at something in front of us. Like Habakkuk, I am looking to God, with my hand over my eye, for response. I am looking to discover God working in the midst of a country burning with rage. May I also burn, but may I burn with the love of Christ.
God continues speaking in Habakkuk chapter two by highlighting the woes of the wicked: alas for you who heap up what is not your own. Alas for you who get evil gain for your house. Alas for you who build a town by bloodshed, who make your neighbors drink. God also 看, and God promises justice.
Yet who are the wicked that God is describing in chapter two? Who gets to point fingers and judge? Habakkuk chapter two ends with these haunting and humbling words:
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him! (Habakkuk 2:20).
I cannot judge, I cannot point fingers, I cannot blame. God calls me to silence.
I'll leave you today, dear reader, with an ancient song based on the words of Habakkuk 2:20.* Today is a day for silence before the throne of God.
*For an especially beautiful visual rendition of this song, check out this Vimeo link.