The Grands Letter

Dear Grands,

Habakkuk 1:1-5, “The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet, You do not save.
3 Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises.
4 Therefore, the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.
5 “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days– you would not believe if you were told.
6 “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.
7 “They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves.”

It’s hardly a stretch to say that you and I have questioned the LORD regarding our day as precisely as Habakkuk did regarding his day. Have we not prayed for things that have yet to appear? Habakkuk was concerned for his people. He prayed, calling on the LORD for help; yet, the LORD had not come to his assistance. Violence raged in the streets, yet the LORD did not deliver the innocent from the harm of the guilty. Why did He not?

Laws were in place, but they were ignored. Justice had long before abandoned its people. The “wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.” Does that sound familiar in our own day? Do not morning news reports announce that perversion is rageing in our midst? What are we to do?

This is precisely what Habakkuk faced! Yet, in His own time and in His own way, the LORD announced His intention. “Look out among the nations!” He said. “I am doing something… you would not believe, if you were told.” Then the LORD revealed to his servant that He is using the Chaldeans to march throughout the earth to confiscate things that are not theirs. He has literally turned them loose to avert justice and all authority. After all, He says, their justice and authority “originate with themselves.”

While we abhor the thought of perverse, unjust people raging thoroughout our land; still, what we are reaping is traceable to our lazy lack of concern for the LORD and His Holy Name. The LORD permits evil to abound when His own people refuse to renounce their sin and earnestly appeal to Him for forgiveness. Does that apply to you?

Heartily in Christ Jesus,

(Dado III)

Gene L. Jeffries, Th.D.
Springdale, Arkansas 72764
United States of America

“We never know that Christ is all we need until He becomes all that we have.” – Corrie ten Boom