Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die.
— Habakkuk 1:12a, 15-16
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They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag;
Though the heathen seem to continually rage, God is eternal. The heathen will perish. They will not reign forever. The next truth Habakkuk states is the faithfulness of God to His covenant with Israel. The Lord God made a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3. He promised that He would make of Abraham a great nation and that in Abraham all the families of the earth would be blessed. The Lord also promises the land of Israel would belong to his seed in Genesis 15:1-21. In Genesis 17:7-8, this covenant is established to be an everlasting covenant. In Galatians 3:17, Paul writes that the covenant could not be made void. The covenant was further established to to Isaac (Genesis 28:13) and Jacob (Genesis 50:24). God IS FAITHFUL to His promises! The land of Israel WILL BELONG to the Jew. Israel WILL POSSESS the land. There will ALWAYS be a Jew! There are those who wish they were wiped off the planet, but they would have to go through God!
Habakkuk recognizes this. He knows these covenants. He knows the Jews can’t be wiped out completely. However, He watches the coming destruction of Judah at the hands of the Chaldeans and wonders how God could let a heathen nation destroy His people. He depicts Judah as weak fish caught in the powerful nets of the Babylonians. Judah is hopelessly gathered up in the net for slaughter which causes the Babylonians to rejoice and be glad. The Babylonians direct their glory in victory to the false gods they worship and “sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag.” He further says in verse 18, “shall they therefore empty their net?” Will the Chaldeans throw Judah completely away? Will the Jew be wiped off the face of the earth? Habakkuk wants to know!
Though Judah suffered great losses and was pitifully crushed, God preserved a remnant. Great men of faith like Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were able to shine as great lights in the midst of a heathen nation during this captivity. The remnant which returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel during the reign of the Persian king, Cyrus the Great, were Jews entering the land of Israel with a heart burning for the Lord. Habakkuk was so focused on the temporary time he was living in that he did not consider the thought that God’s covenant would still be kept even if Israel was destroyed. God is faithful.
God is faithful enough to preserve Israel throughout history even when all the nations of earth wanted her destroyed. Don’t you think God is faithful enough to keep the rest of His promises in His Word? Don’t focus on what’s happening in the world today. Though His people are persecuted – though His church suffers – though bad things happen to Born-Again Believers, God is faithful.
In my moments of fear
Through every pain and every tear
There’s a God who’s been faithful to me
When my strength was all gone
When my heart had no song
Still my God, He’s been faithful to me
Every word He has promised is true
And what I thought was impossible
I’ve seen my God do
—
He’s been faithful
Faithful to me
Looking back, his love and mercy I see
Though in my heart I have questioned-
Even failed to believe
Yet he’s been faithful
Faithful to me