From the Pulpit...

When you face catastrophe of some sort, always go back to these truths: God is eternal, God is holy, and God should be trusted completely. He is not making some terrible mistake when He allows His people to suffer. Because of this, Habakkuk knows that God has not appointed the Babylonians to destroy Judah, but for judgement and correction of Judah. This is in the last half of verse 12. They are going to be used to punish and reprove Judah for its sins. Every Christian today is in effect a watchman. You may feel like you do not have frequent occasion to exercise that office, but in your family you do; in your community you do; you should look for more occasions to exercise it. You know the enemy of sin and the Savior from sin, and other people are clueless. Whether you know all the philosophical or theological explanations for it, the fact remains: people are sinners; sinners die; sinners die and are punished; Christ is coming again; Christ will judge all people; but also Christ died for sinners; and if any sinner believes in Christ, he will be saved from judgement.