The Park Forum

Links for today’s readings:

May 13  Read: Habakkuk 3 Listen: (2:59) Read: Luke 4 Listen: (5:27)

Scripture Focus: Habakkuk 3:5-6, 16

Read more: No, Not Like That

We must trust God when he chooses to address evil, whether it is in our hearts, in our institutions, or in our countries.

Read more: He Became a Servant

Habakkuk’s psalm longs for the Lord to make himself known…What Habakkuk waited for, we have seen in Jesus.

Links for today’s readings:

May 12 Read:  Habakkuk 2 Listen: (3:20) Read: Luke 3 Listen: (5:24)

Scripture Focus: Habakkuk 2.15-17

15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, 
pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, 
so that he can gaze on their naked bodies! 
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. 
Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! 
The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, 
and disgrace will cover your glory. 
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, 
and your destruction of animals will terrify you. 
For you have shed human blood; 
you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

From John: When we first published this devotional in 2022, we had no idea that today there would be even more evidence of powerful people taking sexual advantage of others, including children. We wouldn’t have imagined that so little action would be taken by the authorities. We couldn’t imagine that some leaders would be encouraging us to “get over it.” May we redouble our prayers, as described in the conclusion of this devotional, that truth would be exposed, justice would fall on wrongdoers, and victims would be comforted.

Reflection: Woe to Abusers and Victimizers

By John Tillman

Habakkuk describes the host of a party who betrays his neighbors by getting them drunk and then taking sexual advantage of them. This story has a chillingly familiar ring. 

The details could be copied from today’s headlines. It is similar to reports of heinous actions exposed during the #MeToo era. The betrayal goes beyond the sexual element. These people were neighbors who trusted their host and accepted drinks poured by his hand. Only afterward did they realize the person they thought was friendly was victimizing them. What seemed like generosity was selfishness and what seemed like hospitality was making them hostages to the host’s lust.

No era has ever been without sexual abuse and sin. However, this description by Habakkuk is metaphorical. The scene he paints is about a larger, worldwide pattern of abuse. The host in this metaphor is Babylon. Nations who allied themselves politically with Babylon bought into the hype of Babylon’s greatness and superiority. They thought they were guests at this party enjoying the wealth and spoils of Babylon’s reign, but actually, they were just victims lured into a trap. They were eventually despoiled and humiliated.

When we sip from the cup of empires, we will be dominated and controlled by them. It’s easy for us to be suckered and find ourselves victims of those who at first seem to be on our side. Whenever and wherever we live there are and will be those who will seek to take advantage of us.

Babylon, like Nineveh, was a city built on bloodshed and humiliation. Habakkuk proclaimed that exactly what was done by Babylon to others would be done to them in return. God will bring justice to victimizers and abusers. All the wickedness they think they have gotten away with will be exposed. They will be the ones naked and exposed and shamed. Let us pray for that day.

Let us pray that all victims, nations, groups, and individuals will see justice fall on their abusers and victimizers. Let us pray that abusers’ defenses and excuses and denials will be stripped from them. Let us pray that all victims would find shelter, acceptance, care, and healing in the arms of the church. 

And finally, let us pray that we will be wise and discerning, not easily falling into the traps set by those who would take sexual, spiritual, or political advantage of us.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Request for Presence

Show us the light of your countenance, O God, and come to us. — Psalm 67.1

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: Beyond Consent

Our culture has groomed many of us to accept the idea that the “freedom” of unlimited sexual experiences is harmless

Read more: A Rebellion of Repentance

John’s teaching had barbs of uncomfortable truth but also had hope…the world was full of snakes but the snake-crusher was coming.

Links for today’s readings:

May 11 Read:  Habakkuk 1 Listen: (2:39) Read: Luke 2 Listen: (6:11)

Scripture Focus: Habakkuk 1.2-4

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 paralyzed, 
and justice never prevails. 
The wicked hem in the righteous, 
so that justice is perverted.

Reflection: Getting the Foxes Out

By John Tillman

Habakkuk complained to the Lord about the injustice, violence, and rampant moral decay of his country.

Habakkuk watched in shock as the legal system failed to deliver justice. He witnessed the righteous hemmed in by the wicked. He watched justice perverted in the hands of greedy, corrupt wrongdoers. The foxes were in charge of the henhouses.

Habakkuk wanted God to do something about the foxes in the henhouse, but he didn’t expect God would send ravenous wolves to do it. The Babylonians were God’s instrument that punished Judah’s rulers with the exact sins they were committing.

Judah chose to worship harsh and unholy false gods. So God sent people who followed such gods to conquer them and enslave them to the types of gods they chose over him. The calloused leaders would be ravaged by ruthless rulers. The corrupt officials would be terrorized by  impetuous invaders. (Hab 1.6) The unjust judges would face judgments by those with no respect for the law. (Hab 1.7)

God turned them over to their sins. The Babylonians physically devastated the land that was already devastated spiritually and socially.

Like Habakkuk, we have probably seen “foxes” in many different “henhouses,” including industries, faith communities, and political and legal systems. We have probably all watched in shock as legal systems failed, injustices mounted, and abuses of power proliferated.

Take these complaints to God. Ask God to get the foxes out. But be prepared for unexpected answers. (Especially if we are responsible for letting in the foxes in the first place. Song of Songs 2.15) In God’s economy, waking us up to repent of our sins is worth temporary pain.

On white-water rafting expeditions, everyone from staff to tourists wears extra-buoyant life vests. When a passenger falls out of the raft, the first thing staff do is not pull them up—they push them under the water hard. Then, when the life vest pops them back up, they use that momentum to pull the passenger back into the raft.

Sometimes things must get much worse before they can get better. Sometimes reaching rock bottom is the only way to get momentum to rise back up.

In Judah’s case, their entire society, government, and religious practice had to be destroyed to completely start over. Pray that in our individual lives and our other areas of influence, we will wake up sooner and repent faster.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons

This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. — Psalm 118.23

– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle

Read more: God, Can You Hear Me?

We confuse the patience of God as the endorsement of evil…In the end…praise God and trust that God is still good…may our faith sustain us as we trust in his timing.

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