I am His, Part 1
In his very famous book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankyl commented that “there are people who do not interpret their own lives merely in terms of a task assigned to them but also in terms of the taskmaster who has assigned it to them.” In other words, there are some for whom the question “who am I?” is more deeply rooted in the answer to the question “whose am I?”. This ought to be true of us, who have been chosen by God, called out of darkness into his marvelous light, and made to be his children.
The truth that we are His is the centerpiece of many truths. So when we say it is true that we belong to God, we can and should find ourselves with a great many things to do. This two part article focuses on Habakkuk’s application of the reality that we are His. He comes face to face with this truth in the third chapter of his little book and it changes everything. If you have been following me for any period of time you know that I’ve been keeping my lamp burning with the disoriented and panicky prophet Habakkuk. With Habakkuk, I have been humbled. I have learned once again to fear the Lord, and He has added a fresh pour of oil to my lamp. Are you in need of some oil? If you are, you’re in the right place.
So how did Habakkuk go from being disillusioned, disoriented, and panicky to calm, confident, and even rejoicing? How can we do the same? Very simply put, he remembered that he could say of himself: “I am His.” And the implications of this changed his entire perspective. Remember what is true, and what to do…
I am His, and He is Angry When Something Harms Me
Habakkuk remembered that God has proven His faithfulness and mercy over and over again in history, that God is angry at those who harm His people, and that He uses His might for the salvation of His people. In Habakkuk 3:3-15 he talks about historical victories that God had had over powerful nations for the sake of His covenant people. These weren’t just random battles God felt like fighting because He was in a bad mood. These were battles that God engaged in against nations that were harming and oppressing His precious, covenant people, and the language in this passage is clear— God was not happy. You can’t read Habakkuk 3:12 and tell me that anger in and of itself is sin. God is on an angry mission here. You could say he is on a rampage. It says “You [of God] marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger.” This is high emotion. This is passion. This is anger. On behalf of the ones He loves. I don’t know about you, but I take incredible comfort in considering God, red in the face with fury at the impact of the Fall on my daughters’ lives. I take comfort in knowing that “the anger of the Lord is kindled” when mania is torturing His nine year old child with uncontrollable obsessions and rage, and wreaking havoc on our family in the meantime. I find solace when I see the rage in my own heart mirrored in the heart of my God towards the impact of disability on our family, toward the trauma my youngest has faced and is now suffering with. My friends, take comfort in the fact that the fists of God are balled at the brokenness in your life, and his anger is ignited toward those things that cause you harm.
But there’s more. The thing that Habakkuk emphasizes here in chapter 3 is that through history, God has been angry at those who have harmed and oppressed His people, and in His time (an operative and difficult phrase here), He has used His power to deliver them from trouble.
I am His, and He is Willing and Able to Avenge Me
Habakkuk makes a point to demonstrate God’s power over the waters, the light, and the mountains. All significant! The Babylonians believed that all things emanated from two pre-existent primordial waters, so the reference to water is likely here to draw the readers mind to the supremacy of God’s power. Those things that you see that you have no power to defeat, no power to dissuade or curb— He “tramples them with his mighty horses”. There is nothing you can do to stop water when it is on a mission. Whether it be rushing water, pooling water, dripping water— it is an uncontrollable force. You can patch a hole, or construct a dam, but in the end, water wins. If you ever had a bathroom leak, or a flooding basement, you know this. But here Habakkuk acknowledges that God tramples the sea. I can’t control a puddle in my basement, but the Lord has trampled the sea. There is nothing that can defeat Him, and there is nothing that He cannot defeat.
And for what purpose does God use this power? For those who are His. Habakkuk 3:13 says “You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your annointed. For those that are His, He crushed the head of the house of the wicked.” For those that were His, He turned the weapon of their enemies around on them and used it for their destruction. Centuries later He continued His mighty, furious rampage for those that are His. He crushed the head of the ultimate enemy just like He said He would all the way back in Genesis 3:15. God used death, the death of His own Son, to conquer death, thereby using the enemy’s most devastating weapon to defeat him. And if He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32). Remembrance builds confidence.
This right here, this process of remembrance, is how Habakkuk went from being disillusioned, disoriented, and panicky, to calm, confident, and even rejoicing. His circumstances hadn’t changed. He was still terrified, to the point of having physical symptoms of panic and anxiety (see vs. 16). But He went back to the stories of old, the stories of how God had treated His people in the past and saw His long track record of faithfully using his power on their behalf. And in so doing, his fear of the Lord trumped all of his other fears. And we can do the same. We can remember.
I am His, and I will Remember What that Means for Me and My Family
We, too, have the Bible to return to over and over again in bleak and hopeless times. To remember the unchanging character of God. To see that God’s people in times past had to wait, but that God has always come through on His promises. To remember we are not unique in what we are suffering. To remember the works of God. To remember where we fit in to all of this.
While I have spent a lot of time since my daughter’s various diagnoses, experiencing grief, anger and loneliness, I have also spent an incredible amount of time experiencing confusion, and because of that confusion, insecurity. I have prayed a lot of prayers that sound very much like those of Habakkuk earlier on in the book, and like those of Job, although mine have not been in the least bit poetic. Asking questions like “Why aren’t You helping me?” Or ”Why would you create a human being just to live a life of suffering?” And still more like “Why do you hate me?”
If you are here it is likely because you are touched by developmental or psychiatric disability, which is not only heartbreaking, exhausting, and lonely, but is also completely incongruent with God’s created order. To add insult to injury, disability is seldom talked about in the church, which makes living a life impacted by it feel like a wasteland of confusion and pain. I am confident that if you live in this broken world, you too have a story that simply doesn’t make sense in the light of God’s goodness and love. But let us remember who He is and what He has done, and of even more significance, that you are His.
We have to choose this day who we will trust when the way is long. We have to choose this day who or what we trust for deliverance when the night is still dark. The choice is not ambiguous, it is very binary. Will you choose to trust in the God Habakkuk reminds us of, or in more immediate but shallow salvation? Alcohol. Pornography. Shopping. Scrolling endlessly on your phone. Food. Netflix. Reading. Romantasy. Looking like you have it all together. Your own fortress that you’ve built. Your own plans. Your own ways of thinking. Refusal to submit to the tenets of scripture. Bitterness towards others. Choose with me this day to trust and serve God. The one who has proven in actual events of history that He will crush the head of the wicked for the sake of those who have aligned themselves with Him. That He will prevail over the enemies of those who have landed on his side, and have trusted in his ultimate, albeit slow, salvation. Will you place your trust in and serve this God?
Habakkuk did. He quietly resolved to quietly wait for the Lord’s salvation. And in doing so, he found the space to rejoice despite the fact that everything around him was bleak and hopeless.