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Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.
³ For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
    it speaks of the end
    and will not prove false.
Though it linger, wait for it;
    it will certainly come
    and will not delay.

Recently I read in a book – and I believe this is true – that many of us are carrying promises from God in our hearts. But, the author argued, it can take so long for the fulfillment to appear, that we may lose heart and start to think it’s not going to happen. However, he said, if the promise is from God it will come to pass,

For ourselves, though, we don’t like to spend too much time in the waiting room.

Verse 3 reads like this in ‘The Message’:

This vision-message is a witness
    pointing to what’s coming.
It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait!
    And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait.
    It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

The last sentence of verse 3 is paradoxical. It seems to say that even though, from our perspective, an answer may seem a long time in coming; from God’s point of view it will always be bang on time.

PRAYER: Lord help me to wait for you and not try to impose my timescale on your purposes.

 Then the Lord replied:

“Write down the revelation
    and make it plain on tablets
    so that a herald may run with it.

It is a good idea to write down the things you believe God is saying to you. It is a way to keep them, test them, and pass them on to others. You know you are not writing Scripture, but if you sense God might be speaking, then you will want to keep a personal record.

The Bible does not command us to journal, and some Christians just can’t get along with the idea. But many believers do find it helpful. I have kept a diary/journal for many years, and, for me, it is an important discipline. Last week, on 27th October, Jilly and I were visiting friends. During that day and into the next, I felt an urgent insistence to look at my journal entry for 27th October 2021. When I finally got round to looking, there were a couple of quotes I knew I needed to pass on to our friends.

This morning I ‘just happened’ to come across this paragraph as I leafed through a great book:

‘Of these hidden years of work and waiting little would have been known in detail but for the preservation of a number of brief journals whose very existence was unsuspected. Providentially brought to light while these pages were being written, they fill a gap hitherto passed over in silence. Here they lie upon the table, twelve thin paper-covered notebooks, worn with years, but not one of them missing. Beginning soon after Mr. Taylor’s medical degrees were taken, they covered a period of three years…Daily entries in his small clear writing fill the pages, which breathes a spirit words are poor to express’ (‘Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission: The growth of a work of God’, p.15: Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor).

I will stand at my watch

    and station myself on the ramparts;

I will look to see what he will say to me,

    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

‘God still speaks to the waiting soul.’ F.B.Meyer.

1. Receptivity:  Habakkuk may have a “complaint”, but he does believe God will have something to say to him on the subject. He is convinced that God speaks and he wants to hear. Indeed, he is committed to hearing;
2. Revelation: The language is fascinating. He expects to “see” what the Lord says to him. The entrance of God’s Word brings light. As Jeremiah 33:3 says, “Ask me and I will tell you remarkable secrets you do not know about things to come.” (New Living Translation). As we have seen, God answers with words as well as deeds, and frequently with both;
3. Resolution: You will see, I’m sure, the repetition of the words ‘I will.’ I think we can say that Habakkuk positions himself to hear from God. This is something we need to take into account for our own lives of discipleship. There isn’t a list of instructions to tell you exactly how to do this. Certainly, there are clues all over Scripture, but you have to work this out in your own walk with God. Find out how best you can place yourself to hear God’s voice. Of course, we can’t manufacture anything. We are not in charge of the process. We can’t determine if or when He will speak to us. But we can “station” ourselves to hear. This is about spiritual posture. (Let me just add that we must expect an almighty struggle once we do determine to wait on God. The devil hates prayer!)

‘Flee for a while from your tasks, hide yourself for a little space from the turmoil of your thoughts. Come, cast aside your burdensome cares, and put aside your laborious  pursuits. For a little while give your time to God, and rest in him for a little while. Enter into the inner chamber of your mind, shut out all things save God and whatever may aid you in seeking God; and having barred the door of your chamber, seek him.’ Anselm of Canterbury.

Prayer: Lord God, I want to hear your living word to my heart. I recognise that you will not say anything to me that contradicts your written Word, and everything must be tested by it. But I am convinced you do still speak to people today and I do not want to miss out. I pray earnestly for spiritual gifts, and especially for prophecy.

God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you?

    Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we?

God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work?

    Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?

But you can’t be serious!

    You can’t condone evil!

So why don’t you do something about this?

    Why are you silent now?

This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous

    and you stand around and watch!

* * *

14-16 You’re treating men and women

    as so many fish in the ocean,

Swimming without direction,

    swimming but not getting anywhere.

Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing.

    He pulls in a good catch.

He catches his limit and fills his bucket—

    a good day of fishing! He’s happy!

He praises his rod and reel,

    piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it!

It’s made his day,

    and he’s going to eat well tonight!

* * *

17 Are you going to let this go on and on?

    Will you let this Babylonian fisherman

Fish like a weekend angler,

    killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?

In today’s passage, Habakkuk expands on the difficulty he has with God using the Babylonians as instruments of judgment. (I’ve quoted from ‘The Message’ so it’s even more vivid).

Previously, in verse 7b, he has said:

“…they are a law to themselves

    and promote their own honour”;

Also, in verse 11b he has called them:

“…guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

In today’s reading there is an elaboration on this point, with the vivid word picture painted of the dominant Babylonian empire angling for nations, catching them, and then worshipping their own fishing tackle (16).

Habakkuk’s prayer concludes in (17) with a big question: will the Lord allow this to “go on and on?”

By the time we arrive at (3:16b) he is confident that this will not be allowed to continue, but he is still waiting for God to deal with the wicked empire.

I found a note in my journal for 1^st November 2021. It comes from John Mark Comer: “My Father has been a pastor for longer than I’ve been alive. On his desk is a little frame with one simple sentence, a daily reminder: Take the long view.”

‘Look at the nations and watch –

    and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days

    that you would not believe,

    even if you were told.

6 I am raising up the Babylonians,

    that ruthless and impetuous people,

who sweep across the whole earth

    to seize dwellings not their own.

7 They are a feared and dreaded people;

    they are a law to themselves

    and promote their own honour.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,

    fiercer than wolves at dusk.

Their cavalry gallops headlong;

    their horsemen come from afar.

They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;

9     they all come intent on violence.

Their hordes advance like a desert wind

    and gather prisoners like sand.

10 They mock kings

    and scoff at rulers.

They laugh at all fortified cities;

    by building earthen ramps they capture them.

11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on –

    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.’

Note first of all that answers to prayer can come in words (revelation, insight, pictures etc) or deeds – maybe both. God answered Habakkuk by telling him what he was going to do and then doing it. He answered in speech and action.

There may be a greater problem than unanswered prayer, and it is that of answered prayer, when the answer isn’t what you wanted or comes in a guise you didn’t expect (or possibly don’t even recognise).

Habakkuk had been praying about the state of his nation, wondering how long it would be before God did something. God said He was going to do something, but Habakkuk wouldn’t be able to believe it when he knew what it was.

Habakkuk could scarcely believe his ears. He got an ‘amazing answer to prayer’ but not in the sense in which we tend to use the expression. God told him that He was going to use the then dominant world superpower, Babylon, to invade and judge His own people. If the people of God were bad at this time (Habakkuk’s issue if you remember? See verses 1-4), the Babylonians were even badder!!

As we will see in chapter 3, when we pray we to be prepared to take the long view. Some answers may come quickly, but many are worked out over a period years. It’s like sowing prayer seed, but we do not know exactly when the harvest will appear. By the end of the book, the prophet has got to a place of deep faith and confidence in God. He knows things will ultimately turn out fine, but in the short term he makes the choice to worship God in circumstances which are less than ideal.

Prayer: Lord, when answers to my prayers are delayed, or are not to my taste, help me to go on believing. Cause my roots to sink deeper into you and your Word. Grow my faith in these hard times. Where I might fail to recognise your answers because I asked one way and you answered another, please give me eyes to see and understand

1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Habakkuk’s complaint

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help,

    but you do not listen?

Or cry out to you, ‘Violence!’

    but you do not save?

3 Why do you make me look at injustice?

    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?

Destruction and violence are before me;

    there is strife, and conflict abounds.

4 Therefore the law is paralysed,

    and justice never prevails.

The wicked hem in the righteous,

    so that justice is perverted.

It’s one of the great cries of the Old Testament: “How long, Lord…?”

It is also regularly one of the anguished heart cries of Christian experience.

But God’s timescale is His own and not ours.

Many years ago, when Alex Haley’s book, ‘Roots’, was turned into a highly acclaimed television series, he was asked by an interviewer, ‘What is the secret of your success?’ He replied that he didn’t really know, but he remembered what his old grandmother used to say, “You never know when the Lord is going to come, but He is always on time.”

The problem of unanswered prayer may be nothing other than the problem of a delayed answer to prayer – and we don’t like waiting.

As we will see, Habakkuk was to get his answer, but when it came he didn’t like it. It seemed to be worse than the problem he prayed about!

Prayer: Lord, help me to pray with prophetic insight – to turn what I see on the news into heartfelt prayer.

P.S. I apologise for moving away from 1 Corinthians so quickly, but I’ve written this week about the need to follow the Spirit’s leading, and I sense that I need to move in another direction. Thank you for bearing with me in this.

“If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
if he is thirsty, give him water to drink.
22 In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head,
and the Lord will reward you.
23 Like a north wind that brings unexpected rain
is a sly tongue – which provokes a horrified look.
24 Better to live on a corner of the roof than share a house with a quarrelsome wife.
25 Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land.
26 Like a muddied spring or a polluted well
are the righteous who give way to the wicked.
27 It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honourable to search out matters that are too deep
28 Like a city whose walls are broken through
is a person who lacks self-control.”
An older version of the NIV expresses verse 27 in this way:
“It is not good to eat too much honey, nor is it honourable to seek one’s own honour.”
It could, I think, be argued that the ‘selfie’ is a major metaphor for our times.
Jesus, however, calls us to a counter-cultural way: to the path of ‘downward mobility’ (See Phil.2:1-
11). He did not selfishly cling to His rights as God, but selflessly laid them down for others. He did not
seek His own honour, but look at the honour He was given.
“A great man is always willing to be little.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Acts 10:36-38:
“You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. 37 You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— 38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under
the power of the devil, because God was with him.”

“The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear it’s sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit”. (John 3:8).
Last Sunday morning, a lady I have known for years came up to me after church and said, ‘I pray for you every single day.’ She has told me this before, I believe, and I can’t express what a treasure it is.
Then she said, ‘God hasn’t finished with you yet. There’s more.’ But she went on to add, ‘You must listen to the Holy Spirit. Otherwise you could get pulled all over the place.’
Later that afternoon, Jilly and I read these words from Mark Buchanan’s book ‘The rest of God.’ (It is our ‘Sabbath’ book at the moment). He quoted Acts 10:38, then said:
‘So that’s it, the sum of Christ’s earthly vocation: he wandered and he blessed. He was a physician vagabond. He was the original doctor without borders. His purpose was crystallised, but his method
almost scatter-shot. “My whole life I have been complaining that my work was constantly
interrupted,” Henri Nouwen said near the end of his life, “until I discovered the interruptions were my work.” As Buchanan also writes:
‘Jesus was available – or not – according to some oblique logic of his own. He had an inner ear for the Father’s whispers, a third eye for the Spirit’s motions.’
Today I pray for myself, and for you, that we will experience the reality of keeping in step with the
Spirit, so that we may be a blessing wherever we go, and to all with whom we come in contact.
Thought: ‘ “I read in a book that a man called Christ went about doing good. It distresses me that I am so easily satisfied with just going about.” Toyohiko Kagawa

In a recent letter to pastors, entitled ‘Unforgettable’, retired pastor Lee Eclov included these
paragraphs:
“I saw a thread on Facebook asking people to name “Two pastors you can never forget because of the impact they made on your life.” There were over 155,000 posts in that one thread alone. A
handful of famous names were mentioned but what moved me was how many un-famous names
there are—Warren, Aaron, Mike, Leo, Judith, Isaiah, Sharon, Miles. People added comments like,
“He restored my life,” “Tremendous lasting impact on my spiritual formation,” “Taught me how to love and apply the Bible and how to share God’s Word with others.”
In exhorting believers to persevere in their faith, Hebrews says,
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. (Heb. 13:7)
Put that way, ministry is pretty basic. Whatever else we do—vision casting, programming,
hobnobbing—speaking the word of God and exemplifying the life of faith are our lasting legacies. It also reminds me that, as ordinary as we are, people do not easily forget their pastors’ influence.”
I share this because I read the piece just after hearing about the passing of John Lancaster in the early hours of 7th October. John was 97. He had lived a long and fruitful life. He was one of my heroes, and I miss him already.
I first encountered John when he visited my home church in Wigan in the early 1970’s. That year he had been elected to the honorary position of ‘President’ of the ‘Elim Pentecostal denomination, and he spent the year travelling around the country, visiting many churches. It was in that capacity that
he visited ours. I don’t remember too much about it, except that he was quite understated, he preached about Elijah, and my dad and mum bought his book.
Fast forward a few more years, and in 1975 I began to train for ministry at the ‘Elim’ Bible College in Surrey. Most Friday mornings during our first year, Pastor John Lancaster drove up from Eastbourne, where he had been a minister for many years, and delivered lectures in ‘Systematic Theology’. Really they were Bible Studies. They were anointed. Our souls were nourished. It was a privilege to sit at his feet.
John was one of the very best preachers/teachers I ever heard. But he was an even better man. The word ‘gracious’ has often been used to describe him. I remember how week after week, walking
through the corridor of the College building, on his way to coffee, he would pause repeatedly to greet students and ask, ‘How are you?’ He was genuinely interested.
Once, as I was walking down the college driveway, he pulled up alongside me in his car, wound down the window, and asked, ‘May I give you a lift anywhere? I was so awe struck that I declined! It’s one of life’s ironies that in later years he became a cherished
(but always revered) friend, regularly visiting our church in Boston Spa to speak God’s Word. I have even given him the occasional ride in my car!
A young man from our church in Leeds, who went to Bible College a number of years after I did, told me that the then Principal would say to the student body, ‘If you’re going to emulate anyone
emulate John Lancaster.’ John exemplified what it means to be a faithful pastor and a man of God.

Great preacher that he was, his life was his best sermon. Without this his words would not have carried the weight they did.
I am profoundly grateful to God for the life of this humble man who influenced so many. He has left a huge imprint on my soul. I learned some of the best things I know about being a pastor just from observing him.
God bless you dear John. It was an honour to know you. May you rest in peace and rise in glory.