Towers of Babel versus the Christian's Strong Tower -- The Striking Contrast Between the Proud and the Righteous (Part 4) -- Habakkuk Lesson 11

Looking back, I should have known I was in trouble. Have you ever said that to yourself? I was getting far too comfortable in my life. Though I would have defied anyone to tell me otherwise, I truly believed I trusted the Lord for my every need. But did I really even know what that looked like? I was about to get an object lesson to show me otherwise. That's what prison did for me. Yes, although it was mortifyingly humiliating and shameful to my flesh, I can look back and see how it was good for me spiritually.  I never want to get too comfortable in this world again! Coming face to face with my own depravity, finally realizing that I am nothing and He is everything was very good for me! I thank God for His mercy in dealing with me exactly as He knew I needed to mold me and shape me in the image of His Son, while at the same time orchestrating all things according to His providential hand.

Babylon's (the Chaldeans) origin goes all the way back to Babel. What was their great sin? They had gotten too comfortable in this world, too. They weren't singing, This World is Not My Home (I'm just a passin through) but Sweet Home Babylona (Lord I'm comin home to you)... 'Their comfort led to  delusion that the things they wanted to do (in making a great name for themselves) was no big deal, even if it was not in keeping with God's Word. After all, they rationalized, we just want to settle down and get some roots. What could possibly be wrong with that? What was wrong was that it is not what God specifically instructed them to do. Quite the contrary!

After Noah and his family walked out of the ark, God told them they were to be fruitful and multiply and to fill the earth (Genesis 9:1). Instead of obedience to this specific command, those with the intention of building the tower of Babel in the name of religion said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth" (Genesis 11:4). But God's will is always done on earth as it is in heaven.  The people knew they SHOULD scatter, they just didn't want to scatter. So, God scattered them, because it's not about what we want but what God wants (the Alpha and Omega Creator Father who only knows what is best for us). How dare we think we know better than He does!

First, they wanted to settle down and live comfortably by what their own created world could provide for them. Secondly, they wanted to make a name for themselves. All I can say about this is at least they admitted it! How many Christians want to make a name for themselves by becoming the next mega preacher-teacher for their era and try every means striving to make it happen? But it is God alone who exalts a man (or woman). I have learned this, too...the hard way! Today, I blog not because I believe I can teach anyone anything they don't already know but because I believe it honors God. I believe He allows me to blog for my good, and if it helps even one person, it is worth it. It is one way that keeps me in the Scripture allowing me to do something I love to do. Blogging is one way I guard my heart.

1 John 2:15-17 is a warning that has been echoed by John and many others down through the ages: Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. 

It is so easy to follow after the things of the world (what we can see) when we take our eyes off Christ (what we cannot see other than with the eyes of faith). Hebrews 13:14 says, "For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come." When we find ourselves getting entangled in the world, if even briefly, we need to remind ourselves of Peter's message: "It's all gonna burn!" (2 Peter 3:10-13).

We might see magnificent cities filled with all manner of opulent wealth. We may think of modern-day Dubai, Rodeo Drive, and all that accompanies the lifestyles of the rich and famous. When the earth is filled with God's glory, these things that represented the glorious on earth will crumble and appear as dung. 

If you have been a Christian for any length of time, you know that human nature never really changes or evolves. What has been written is for OUR instruction as much as for those of all ages. We can turn the pages of Scripture and say OUCH! with the best of them, and we hang our heads in shame and turn to our gracious Lord in repentance and beg for His help to live for His glory. We look at the wicked, not really to condemn anyone (they are already condemned by God, as we once were), but to take a deep look inside ourselves. 

Looking at the next two woes in Habakkuk 2, we see that the covetous who are puffed up by their own self-aggrandizement build their nests high in an attempt to secure themselves and thus avoid calamity. Let's look at it!

Habakkuk 2:9-13--"Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high, to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; so you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework. Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? 

The Chaldeans made a lot of enemies along the way in their attempts to get ahead, to be the great power in the world. The one thing they forgot (refused to believe) is that there is only one great power in the world. The Lord of Hosts, God Almighty is His name! In a fictitious world without God, perhaps they could have kept themselves safe from their enemies. In His world, however, He is the One forming light and creating darkness, causing well-being and creating calamity. He is THE LORD who does all these (Isaiah 45:7). What arrogance it is to think any mere human being can safely avoid the providence of God who controls calamity as well as blessing.  

Because they stole from their neighbors the things with which they wanted to build their luxury homes (stones and timbers), those very building materials would cry out against them! God commands that we love our neighbors as ourselves. The Chaldeans only loved themselves. Their world truly revolved around themselves.  No walls or nests built on high would keep out the God who created the universe! Word to the wise: plundering neighbors equals heaping guilt to the soul. Because God is God, cutting off other nations will result in their own judgment in the eventual cutting off of themselves as a nation. Pulpit Commentary says: The very means he took to secure his power shall prove his ruin. How often do we see this same principle throughout Scripture?

There are a lot of things I don't understand about politics, especially in light of not being able to trust our current-day news media, but I do know that power-hungry evil dictators, tyrants, and despots who grab for more and more power are nothing new under the sun. They will be dealt with as God has always dealt with them. They will not get away with their evil no matter what it looks like in this world. How do I know? God's Word is sure.

Here in verse 14 is that glimmer of hope that fills our hearts with gladness and great joy! Here's that glimmer of grace that sparkles even brighter on the backdrop of dark evil. No matter what situation we face today -- whether wars and rumors of wars or evil men who have no regard for their neighbors, there is a day coming, Beloved--a day of the Lord we must cling to with all our might because we cling tightly to God and His Word of truth.

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

As Christians, we want to live for God's glory. We want to see God glorified on the earth as He is in heaven. Here is a passage that affirms, like many others, that that day is coming when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Oh glorious day! Sometimes, we fail to live for God's glory as we get caught up in the things of the world. Thankfully, the Lord does not leave his own there without bringing them back to Himself through whatever means are necessary. 

As I have been studying the book of Kings, I have been comforted over and over again to see how God never changes and to see the surety of His Word through its fulfillment in history. Everything God does is in accordance with His Word. That should give us great hope and comfort, especially in especially-evil days. I will leave you with something one commentator says on the book of 1 Kings. After the kingdom has been divided, we read of one king after another in Israel who exceeded the previous king's evil wickedness in the sight of the Lord provoking Him to anger.  This commentator sees great hope in the writer recording this for us over and over again. How so, you say? This is for those Christians living in a war zone (like those in the Ukraine presently) to those who live with narcissistic bullies in their own homes. It is a word of hope, an anchor for our souls.

    "There may be times when you think Antichrist has moved on to your front porch.  Again, this passage (1 Kings 34) sustains us with its hope. (It doesn't say: 'This is the age of Ahab--when the word of God doesn't count.') Here is Yahweh's word describing the excruciating times through which Yahweh's people must live, which simply means that Yahweh always knows the peculiar circumstances his people are facing. He knows when the heat is turned up. Is this not the testimony of Revelation 2:13? Surely waves of comfort must have washed over the believers at Pergamum when they heard Jesus' words: 'I know where you dwell--where Satan's throne is.' The days are evil, the Lord says. And because he says this we know that He knows exactly what we are facing. 'I know where you dwell.'" 1 Kings -- The Wisdom and the Folly -- Dale Ralph Davis

The Lord knows! And He is on His throne directing history according to His Word!

Ancient Babylon was built upon foundations of iniquity in defiance of God and the blood of its victims. The coming judgment would make their cruelty and atrocities pale in comparison. What a blessing it is when God teaches us that we are never more secure than when we are hidden in Christ -- when He alone is our refuge, our fortress, and our strong tower (Psalm 46:1, 61:3; Proverbs 18:10). May He be honored and glorified this day across the globe as we await that great and awesome day of the Lord! Soli deo gloria!