Embracing the Lord’s Hand in Faithful Obedience
“How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? …Why do you tolerate wrong?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3). In response to Habakkuk’s agonized questioning, God tells him that things are going to get worse! The Lord reveals to him that the “feared and dreaded” Babylonians will invade his nation, and that it is God himself who is sending them to punish. “Watch . . . be utterly astonished! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe” (Habakkuk 1:5). This is depressing and disheartening news to the watchful prophet.
Habakkuk is instructed to record a vision about the future and to exercise active, enduring faith as he waits for its fulfillment: “though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come” (Habakkuk 2:3). Then comes the bedrock statement of all Scripture, which is central in later New Testament teaching about faith. The Lord tells the prophet, “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). Here is the call for a lifestyle of faithful, lifelong obedience to God.
In Habakkuk 2 God describes for the prophet in great detail the wickedness and idolatry of those who are unfaithful to him—those who rob, plunder, and kill innocent people. Yet even with this depressing portrayal of depravity and cruel wickedness, Habakkuk declares, “the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). A clear example of Habakkuk’s faith and long-term vision bursts forth in the face of the promised cruel circumstances and oppressive violence that await his people.
In World Vision’s contexts and among its staff, this same kind of vision, faith, and obedience can be expressed directly in the face of suffering—especially when the fulfillment of the vision God has given seems to tarry.
We see one more expression of the prophet’s desire to obey the Lord and to see God’s glory and work manifest in the life of his people: “O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known” (Habakkuk 3:2). Habakkuk’s fervent plea is that God’s lasting work be revived, and hope in his deliverance sustained, during the long years of waiting and laboring for God’s kingdom that are ahead of him.
An application can clearly be made to the World Vision context. World Vision staff members devote much effort to developing 12-15 year ADP program plans for community development among the poor. When they are most faithful to their overall missions and callings, they seek God personally and corporately for a fresh and enduring vision. That vision must include a desire to discover how God is moving in hearts and communities so that his work is accomplished during the long years of ADP ministry.
In summary, to “embrace the hand of the Lord in obedience” in World Vision’s context, opportunities should be provided for staff to clarify their sense of vision and calling from the Lord. Second, it is important that they be encouraged to align their lives and their work with what they sense God is doing in the people and communities among whom they minister. “O Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known” (Habakkuk 3:2).
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