“There is an answer to Habakkuk’s question. It is an answer, not in terms of thought, but in terms of events. God’s answer will happen, but it cannot be spelled out in words. The answer will surely come; ‘if it seem[s] slow, wait for it.’ True, the interim is hard to bear; the righteous one is horrified by what he sees. To this the great answer is given: ‘The righteous shall live by his faith.’ It is an answer, again not in terms of thought, but in terms of existence. Prophetic faith is trust in Him, in Whose presence stillness is a form of understanding.”—Abraham J. Heschel, The Prophets, p. 143.

“We must cherish and cultivate the faith of which prophets and apostles have testified—the faith that lays hold on the promises of God and waits for deliverance in His appointed time and way. The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time of waiting may seem long, the soul may be oppressed by discouraging circumstances, many in whom confidence has been placed may fall by the way; but with the prophet who endeavored to encourage Judah in a time of unparalleled apostasy, let us confidently declare, ‘The Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.’”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, pp. 387, 388.

Discussion Questions:

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Recently Joshua’s family moved from their country home into a new home in town.

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Joshua wondered how he could tell the children in his new neighborhood about his friend Jesus. When he heard that some children would be going from house to house collecting treats to celebrate Halloween, he wondered what he could do to turn this holiday that didn’t honor God into a chance to share God’s Love. Then he had an idea.

“My brother, Stephen, and I decided that we could make cookies and put a Bible verse with each cookie,” said Joshua. The boys knew that Halloween can be scary with its emphasis on witches and ghosts. So the boys chose Bible verses that talked about peace. They printed the Bible verses on the family computer and tied one to each cookie bag.

As darkness fell on October 31, children began arriving at the family’s door dressed as princesses, witches, dinosaurs, and super heroes. Joshua and Stephen greeted each child and dropped a bagged cookie into the waiting sacks. “There’s something special for you with your cookie,” they told each child. The children seemed happy to receive the home-baked cookies.

Joshua and Stephen decided to expand their cookie-giving to other times of the year. As Valentine’s Day approached, the boys baked more cookies and gave them to people in a nursing home and to shut-ins and neighbors who lived alone. “It was great to see the smiles on people’s faces when we stopped to visit them,” Joshua said.

But Joshua doesn’t limit his sharing God’s love to cookie-making. He helps people with their yard work, picks up trash, and rakes leaves. “We go to the nursing home to visit people who don’t get visitors,” he says. “That can be very lonely.”

Joshua has found many ways to tell others about Jesus. Sharing God’s love is more than quoting Bible verses to people,” he says. “Others should see Jesus in our kind acts and words. I want to be sure that others see Jesus in me.”

Sharing God’s love and supporting world mission with our offerings are important ways to spread God’s message to a love-starved world.

Joshua Wade lives in the United States. He loves to share God’s love with others and has found many ways to do it.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.  email:  info@adventistmission.org   website: www.adventistmission.org

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[Thought Questions for Trusting God's Goodness May 22, 2013]

1. Filled with God’s knowledge. Remember reading a few weeks ago about the time in the future when people will be gnashing their teeth for a lack of knowledge? Is it hard for us to imagine, as Habakkuk prophesies, a time when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God? How did Habakkuk feel about the reality of his prophecy?

2. Speaking to God. Do all of the Bible prophets speak to God? Or to the people? Or to both? Can you give examples of each means of communication? Why is Habakkuk so bewildered that God allows the spirit of evil to dominate His people? Have you ever wondered why God allows violence and law breaking when it goes against every aspect of His nature? What will it take to reach the point that God’s will reigns supreme?

3. Babylon will do it. Something was earnestly needed to shake up God’s people and turn them in the right direction. What path did God choose? How can God use the wicked country of Babylon to reach His own people, the people of His heart? How can a heathen nation properly punish God’s people? Do you suppose that God ever uses pagan or lawless people groups today to get our attention and turn us to the Lord?

4. Living by Faith. Wait a minute. Wicked though the children of God may have been, were they as wicked as the Babylonians? Instead of punishing His own people for coming short of His plan for Him, why didn’t God promise blessings to woo them back to His master plan? Or at least why didn’t God congratulate the Israelites for being as faithful as they were?

5. Justification by faith. Can you hear the words “The just shall live by their faith” echoing through the ages from Habakkuk 2:4 to the days of the Reformation and the establishment of faith-based Christian churches? Can you follow the Lord in faith and faith alone? Why is God concerned not only about the doctrines we accept but also about our behavior? Is it possible to be unbalanced by putting our hope in faith without works? Or the other way around? (work without faith?)

6. The poetry of justice. What do we miss when we read a poem such as the book of Habakkuk’s as a strictly historical account? How do parallel sentence structure, lists of three, images, and other techniques add to the mosaic of this prophet’s words? When your house is blown to smithereens by a strong tornado, don’t you have a right to become angry with God? Did you deserve to lose all of your possessions? Was it just for little children to die after being crushed by the force of the storm? How can we learn to trust in God no matter what happens?

7. Poetry set to music. In Habakkuk 3 we see notation calling for “stringed instruments” to accompany these beautiful verses of faith and hope. Why not take a few minutes to imagine violins, cellos, harps and other “stringed” instruments playing this harmonious and soul-touching music to accompany the prophets words of hope. How can these visions help keep us focused on the goodness and trustworthiness of God?

8. God our strength. Have you ever felt weary as you look forward to the coming of Jesus to take us home with Him? How long will it be? How can we tolerate this sinful world any longer? Do we really believe that God is good? That He always fulfills His promises? That He has enough love and salvation for all of us? How was Habakkuk able to have such a beautiful spiritual life in the midst of the apostasy of his fellow Israelites? How can we be true to God when we’re being led another direction by our friends or family?

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though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; . . . Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; he will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.” (Hab. 3:17-19, NKJV). What is so good about the prophet’s attitude here? How can we cultivate such an attitude for ourselves? See also Phil. 4:11.

The closing words in Habakkuk’s book (Hab. 3:16-19) express the prophet’s response to the revelation of God’s power and goodness. A fresh look on God’s saving acts sparks Habakkuk’s courage as he awaits the enemy attack. His fear stirs his innermost being as he waits for divine judgment to fall upon his nation. Invasion may result in the devastation of the fig and olive trees, so highly prized in Palestine along with the equally needed vines, grain, and cattle. But the prophet’s staunch faith remains untouched because he has had a vision of the living Lord.

Based on his past experiences, Habakkuk knew of God’s absolute faithfulness. That is why he resigned himself to God’s present purposes (Hab. 3:16-19). In spite of all the unfavorable circumstances, the prophet is determined to place his trust in the Lord and in His goodness no matter how hopeless his situation appears.

Habakkuk waits in faithful trust, even though there are no immediate signs of salvation. He is a prophet who, through dialogue, taunts, and a hymn of praise, has instructed the faithful over the ages to develop a deeper living faith in the Redeemer. By his own example, he encourages the godly to dialogue with God, to test their loyalty to Him in harsh times, to develop hope in the Lord, and also to praise Him.

Habakkuk closes his book with a beautifully expressed attitude of faith: regardless of how hard life may become, one can find joy and strength in God. The underlying message of his book points to the need to wait patiently for God’s salvation in a period of oppression that has no visible end. The theme of “waiting on the Lord” dominates Habakkuk’s book. How especially relevant that theme should be for us, as Seventh-day Adventists—we whose very name expresses our faith in the coming of Jesus.

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In my 47 years of being an Adventist I have observed something ironic. I have met people who have told me, that if I don’t believe that we can live without sinning, that I am not a real Adventist. Others tell me that if I do believe we can live without sinning then I am a heretic! So, I have two opposing groups telling me their version is what Adventism is all about. I have heard people argue till they are blue in the face, telling me their opinion is gospel truth and if I don’t agree with them, then I must not be a real Adventist. I have listened to other people tell me, we can be almost perfect, but not totally perfect because …..well … well…..we just can’t!

I have an idea. Let’s just fall totally in love with Jesus and not worry about it! I mean, whether we can be almost perfect, or totally perfect, let’s just let Jesus work it out. We agree God can “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.” Ephesians 3:30 NLT, so arguing just how perfect we can be won’t get us anywhere, because once we decide just how perfect we can be, Paul comes along and tells us the possibilities are infinitely more than we think.

Now, as you’re reading this, I know you have an opinion, and you just can’t wait to get to the part where I say exactly what you want me to say, so you can send this link to your friends who don’t have their theology all together like you do. Maybe if I don’t say what you want me to say, you will label me a heretic and not read my posts any more. Chances are you either want to hear me say, “We can live without sinning” or, if you are on the other extreme, you want to hear me say, “Jesus will forgive you no matter how many times you fall.”

Well guess what? Everybody is right and everybody is wrong! Each extreme has partial truth, which means they are also partially wrong. So what is the truth? Put both partial truths together and you have a whole truth. We can live without sinning, but Jesus will forgive us no matter how many times we fall.

Now before you go straight to the comment section so you can warn me that probation will close and there is a limit to God’s forbearance, which I well know, and don’t disagree with, take a deep breath and take a look with me at the big picture and what I’m saying. I have heard people say that the great controversy is over whether or not God’s law can be perfectly obeyed or not. While I agree that with God’s sustaining and practical grace, we can perfectly obey God’s law, I still have never read anything in the Bible or even the writings of our pioneers telling me that perfection is what the great controversy is all about. (Please just stay with me for a moment, before you hop on your Ellen White program so you can find all those quotes you need to send me to prove that you are right and I am wrong.)

Fact: In the five-volume set of the Conflict of the Ages series, the very first line in the very first volume is “God is love.” And the very last sentence in the very last volume reads, “God is love.” That, my friend, is what the conflict of the ages or great controversy is all about! It is about the character of God – whether or not God is love! So the great controversy is not really about if I can go a whole week without eating cheese, or better yet, a whole week without taking a second glance at the perfectly proportioned lady I see at the bus stop every day. If I just fall in love with Jesus, all those things will just work themselves out perfectly, but they are still not the goal. The goal is to love Jesus and let Him love others through us!

Fact: Heaven will be filled with people who believed just about everything while they were on earth. Heaven won’t include any who argued their case till they were blue in the face and to the point of bullying others out of the church or social circles for not thinking the same way they did.

Fact: While some debate whether or not we can be “perfect,” they often have a different definition of the word “perfect” (no pun intended for all you computer geeks) than the person they are debating, which makes for a pointless debate. Regardless as to how perfect we think we can become, I think we all agree the Holy Spirit is capable of overcoming our addictions and helping us love our enemies.

Since we all have our own idea of what “perfect” means, we must also have our own ideas as to what “sin” means.  For years we as Adventists have used 1 John 3:4 as our primary definition of sin, which is “transgression of the law.” How would things change if John 16:9 was the primary definition of sin, which is unbelief?

With 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition we have God kicking Adam and Eve out of the garden and punishing them with death because they ate one piece of fruit they were told not to. That is not unbiblical but it is only half of the story and, more importantly, half the picture of God’s character. With John 16:9 as our primary definition of sin we have Adam and Eve placing their trust in Satan’s lies and not believing in God’s word. Thus they themselves turn their backs on God and forfeit their home through unbelief, thus breaking their relationship with God in favor of the really cool serpent and fancy lies.

With 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition of sin we struggle with John 3:16 and wonder where works come in. With John 16:9 as our primary definition we see that God gave His son to die for us and show us the truth about God’s love. Thus as we believe in Him, we now turn our backs on Satan’s lies, our relationship is restored and we have the eternal life that was originally granted in the Garden of Eden. We are now free to obey God, and the secondary definition of sin in 1 John 3:4 is fulfilled because we now trust God and therefore we trust that His commandments are always good and only good. This removes the incentive for disobedience.

Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews is about the sanctuary and even the cleansing of the sanctuary.  In Hebrews 10:26 Paul writes, “For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” Now if we use 1 John 3:4 as the primary definition of sin we have people going to hell because they made one mistake after knowing the truth.

It is important to note that the entire book of Hebrews is explaining why Jesus has not returned yet and what He is doing in the sanctuary before His return. Paul admonishes the early believers not to give up their faith and stop assembling together – Christ will return. So it seems to me that the primary definition of sin in Hebrews 10:26 is the sin of unbelief. Paul is not saying that if you break the law after knowing the truth there is no more forgiveness. He is saying that if we sin in not believing in Jesus as the Son of God there will be no other sacrifice or Savior.

Now as we look at the cleansing of the sanctuary in Daniel 8:14, we see that while God can and does give complete victory over the sin defined in 1 John 3:4, that still is not the main focus or goal of the cleansing of the sanctuary. “Our characters are not to be weighed by smooth words and fair speeches manufactured for set times and occasions; but by the spirit and trend of the whole life.” (Review and Herald, August 16, 1892.) And “the character is revealed, not by occasional good deeds and occasional misdeeds, but by the tendency of the habitual words and acts.”  (Steps to Christ, p. 57)

If we take John 16:9 as the primary definition of sin in the cleansing of the sanctuary it changes things. In the cleansing of the Sanctuary our minds and hearts are cleansed from the lies mankind started believing in the Garden of Eden. We see the true character of God revealed on the Cross, and we believe in Him. When our minds are cleansed of Satan’s lies we can make intelligent choices and choose the One who has already accepted and chosen us all along.

This changes how we look at a popular passage in the Christ’s Object Lessons,  “Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own.”  (Christ Object Lessons, p. 69)  Traditionally  we have taken this passage to mean that once we get our act together and show the world God’s Word can be perfectly be obeyed without making one single mistake, then God will come back to take us home. It is true that, by God’s grace, we can have complete victory over every single sin. However that is not what the great controversy is all about. The great question in the great controversy is whether God is love or not. When God’s church perfectly reflects the character of God’s love, then the world can make an intelligent decision as to if they will believe in God’s love and accept His salvation or not.  God does not want us to be perfect so we can go to heaven. He wants to perfect our love so that we give Him proper representation in the judgment, where His character is on trial. When the church perfectly appreciates God’s love, the chasm that we ourselves created, by believing Satan’s lies, will be healed.

I believe that if we keep 1 John 3:4 as our primary definition of sin, we will always be legalists and never be able to deal with the sin problem defined in John  16:9 or 1 John 3:4. I believe if we use John 16:9 as the primary definition of sin, we can bypass the legalism, grasp the big picture of what sin really is and what the great controversy is all about, and allow grace to do its work in healing the sin problem defined in both John 16:9 and 1 John 3:4.

I think I would like to add my own chapter to the story of “The Good Samaritan.” After the priest and the Levite passed by the poor man dying in the ditch, they met up with each other and started arguing and debating over the law and perfection. Meanwhile the Samaritan, who was totally clueless as to what they were even talking about “came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him.Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.” Luke 10:33-34 NLT.

We already know which one was being a neighbor, but now, you tell me, which one of the three really had their theology together?

Now, go and do thou likewise.

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What is Habakkuk doing there, and why is that so important, especially given the tough circumstances and difficult questions he is facing?

Habakkuk expresses his acceptance of God’s ways in a prayer set to music (Hab. 3:19). Being fully aware of God’s power, he asks the Lord to remember His mercy when the judgment begins. The prophet reverently recalls reports of God’s great acts in the past and is praying to Him to bring redemption now. He seems to stand between the times. With one eye he looks back to the Exodus event, while with the other he looks ahead to the day of the Lord. He longs for a display of God’s power in his present situation.

The hymn from Habakkuk 3 poetically describes God’s deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage. What has happened at the time of the Exodus is a foreshadowing of the great judgment day. The godly should not be anxious about the day of the Lord, but they must wait, persevere, and rejoice in the hope that is theirs.

The hymn is also a celebration of the power, glory, and victorious nature of God. The Lord is described as sovereign over the whole earth. The revelation of His glory is comparable to the splendor of the sunrise (Hab. 3:4).

God judges the oppressive nations; yet, at the same time He brings about the redemption of His people in His “chariots of salvation” (Hab. 3:8). On the surface God’s power is not always visible, but the person of faith knows that God is there, no matter what.

Habakkuk calls us to look expectantly for the Lord’s salvation, when He will establish His righteousness on earth and fill the world with His glory. By singing praises to the Lord, the people of God encourage one another (Eph. 5:19-20, Col. 3:16) to meditate on God’s past acts and to hope for the glorious future. Habakkuk’s own example demonstrates how one can persevere by living with a vision.

Dwell upon God’s past leading in your life. How does this help you to learn to trust Him and His goodness, no matter what the immediate future brings? Why is it always so important to look to the ultimate and eternal future that awaits us?

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[Teaching plan for Trusting God's Goodness May 20, 2013]

1. Have a volunteer read Habakkuk 1:2-5

A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. How can we learn to trust in God’s goodness and justice when the world is so full of evil and injustice?
C. Personal Application: Is it helpful to question God or complain about things with others? What might be some positive or negative results? Share.
D. Case Study: One of your relatives states, “Are we supposed to just have faith and not question God, or should we question why such terrible things are going on against good people?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Habakkuk 2:1-4.

A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. Why does it say the proud will be destroyed? What’s wrong with having good self-esteem and self-confidence?
C. Personal Application: How can we protect ourselves from being forgetful on how completely dependent we are upon God for everything we have? Share your thoughts.
D. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Does our faith cause us to be declared righteous, or does living by faith help us become righteous? Can a person live by faith but not do what the Lord wants them to?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Habakkuk 3:12-16.

A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. If God is going to destroy people for their evil and wickedness, why has He waited so long? It seems like things can’t get much worse.
C. Personal Application: How can we be sure we have rest and hope in Christ in times of trouble when the world seems to offer nothing but sorrow? Share your thoughts.
D. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “Why would anyone want to be alive during the times of trouble and the seven last plagues? I think I’d rather be in the grave until the indignation is past, wouldn’t you?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Habakkuk 3:17-19.

A. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
B. How can the Lord sing and rejoice over us, considering the pathetic state we are in?
C. Personal Application: What can we do to become more cheerful and joyful in our interactions and relationships with others in the church? Share your thoughts.
D. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Note: “Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.” MH p. 149)

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No less than five woes (Hab. 2:6, 9, 12, 15, 19) affirm the message that Babylon’s doom is sealed. The punishment on the enemy will be in accordance with the “measure for measure” principle. What the wicked do to their victims will, in the end, be done to them. They will reap what they sow, because God cannot be mocked by proud human beings (Gal. 6:7).

In contrast to the oppressor, who is in the end judged by God, the righteous have the promise of eternal life in Christ, regardless of what happens to them here in this life. In describing the faithful remnant at the time of the end, the book of Revelation presents the expression “the patience of the saints” (Rev. 14:12). Indeed, the righteous are persistent in their wait for divine intervention, even if they see it only at the Second Coming.

Read Hebrews 11:1-13. How do these verses help us as we wrestle, in our own context, with the same questions with which Habakkuk struggled?

God’s ultimate answer to Habakkuk’s questions was the affirmation of His abiding presence. Trust in God’s presence and confidence in His judgment in spite of the appearances to the contrary; that is the message of Habakkuk’s book, as well as the message of all biblical revelation. Prophetic faith is trust in the Lord and His unchanging character.

“The faith that strengthened Habakkuk and all the holy and the just in those days of deep trial was the same faith that sustains God’s people today. In the darkest hours, under circumstances the most forbidding, the Christian believer may keep his soul stayed upon the source of all light and power. Day by day, through faith in God, his hope and courage may be renewed.”—Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 386, 387.

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can a righteous God use the wicked to punish those who are more righteous than they? Habakkuk’s question in verse 17 had to do with divine justice.

Habakkuk was puzzled, not only by the degeneration of his own people but also by the certainty that his country would be judged by another nation, one worse. The prophet was well aware of Judah’s sins but, by any standards, his people, particularly the righteous among them, were not as wicked as the pagan Babylonians.

Read Habakkuk 2:2-4. What hope is presented there?

Habakkuk 2:2-4 is one of the most important passages in the Bible. Habakkuk 2 Verse 4, in particular, expresses the essence of the gospel, the foundation of the verse that arguably started the Protestant Reformation. Through faith in Jesus Christ we receive God’s righteousness; we are credited with the righteousness of God Himself. His righteousness becomes ours. It is what is known asjustification by faith.

Verse 4 is a summary statement of the way of salvation and of the biblical teaching about justification by faith. How did the New Testament writers use this verse? Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, Heb. 10:38.

In the midst of all this turmoil and questions about evil, justice, and salvation, Habakkuk 2:4 presents a sharp contrast between the faithful and the proud. The conduct of each group determines its fate: the arrogant will fail while the righteous will live by faith. The original Hebrew word for faith (‘emuna) is best rendered as “faithfulness,” “constancy,” and “dependability.” While the one who lives by faith is not saved by his works, his works show that he lives by faith. His faith is revealed in his works and thus that person is promised life eternal.

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What are the questions that the prophet asks of God? Though his situation is, of course, different from ours, how often do we find ourselves asking these types of questions?

Habakkuk is unique among prophets because he did not speak for God to the people but rather spoke to God about the people. The prophet begins his struggle to understand God’s purposes with a cry of bewilderment: “How long, O Lord?” In the Bible, this question is typical of a lament (Ps. 13:1, Jer. 12:4). It implies a situation of crisis from which the speaker seeks deliverance.

The crisis about which Habakkuk calls for help is violence that permeated society. The original Hebrew word for “violence” is hamas, and it is used six times in Habakkuk’s book. The term implies acts of injury, both physical and moral, inflicted on others (Gen. 6:11).

Being a prophet, Habakkuk knows well how much God loves justice and hates oppression; so, he wants to know why God allows injustice to continue. All around he notices violence and law-breaking, and it seems that the wicked triumphs over the righteous. Justice is being perverted by the powerful, as it was in the time of Amos (Amos 2:6-8), and as it so often is today.

God’s answer reveals His future plans. The Lord will use the army of Babylon to punish the people. This announcement surprises the prophet. He did not anticipate that God would use such a ruthless army to discipline Judah. In verse 8 the Babylonian cavalry are compared to a leopard, wolf, and eagle—three predators whose speed and power bring violent death to their prey.

Babylon’s ruthless arrogance acknowledges no accountability, seeks no repentance, offers no reparations. It violates the most fundamental order of created life. Habakkuk is told that Babylon’s army will be used as a “rod of My [God’s] anger” (Isa. 10:5, NKJV). The punishment will take place during Habakkuk’s lifetime (Hab. 1:5). This whole situation raises even more difficult questions about divine justice.

How can we learn to trust in God’s goodness and justice when the world seems so full of badness and injustice? What is our only recourse?

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Memory Text: “‘For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea’” (Habakkuk 2:14, NASB).

Key Thought: We may not understand always why tragedy happens, but we can trust God, no matter what.May not understand always why tragedy happens, but we can trust God, no matter what.

After preaching about God’s abiding presence amid life’s adversities, a pastor was confronted by a woman who tearfully asked: “Pastor, where was God on the day when my only son died?” Reading a deep sorrow on her face the pastor kept silent then replied: “God was in the same place where He was on the day His only Son died to save us from the eternal death.”

Like us, Habakkuk witnessed injustice, violence, and evil. Even worse, God appeared to be silent amid it all, though He did ask Habakkuk to trust in His promises.

The prophet did not live to see the fulfillment of those promises; yet, he learned to trust in them anyway. His book begins with a complaint to God but ends with one of the most beautiful songs in the Bible. Like Habakkuk, we must wait in faith until the time when the world will be “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, May 25.

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I will never forget the day I heard her tell a caller that she didn’t have to forgive the person who had wronged her – that some things were just unforgivable. I guess I had never really thought about how I felt about forgiveness, but as soon as Dr. Laura told me what she believed, I knew that my belief was different.

I had a similar experience when I was teaching fourth graders. I was talking to the parents of one of my students and one of the parents said, “I’ve told Tommy that if anybody hits him, he’s to hit them back harder.” I don’t believe I had ever heard a parent make such a comment, and I’m not sure I was able to completely hide the shock I felt.

I realize I have led a sheltered life and it was good that my closed little mind was forced to expand to take in these other ways of looking and dealing with the world.

Given the opportunity to review my belief system alongside these other  philosophies, I still can’t fit either statement into the way I believe followers of Jesus Christ are supposed to live their lives.

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

You’re right, Micah doesn’t say the word “forgiveness” in that verse at all. But try to picture for a minute what a person who is godly, humble, merciful, and just would look and sound like. See if you can pick him out in this parable:

“Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt.

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“But that servant went out and found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii; and he laid hands on him and took him by the throat, saying, ‘Pay me what you owe!’ So his fellow servant fell down at his feet and begged him, saying, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ And he would not, but went and threw him into prison till he should pay the debt.” Matthew 18:23-30

Ellen White commented on this parable in the January 1, 1892 edition of Home Missionary.

“While we must depend so entirely upon the mercy of a sin-pardoning Saviour, shall our hearts remain hard and unsympathizing? Can any provocation authorize unkind feelings, or should it cause us to harbor resentment or seek revenge? Can we cast the first stone in condemnation of a brother, when God is extending his mercy to us, and forgiving our trespasses against him? Should God enter into judgment with us, our debt would be found to be immense, yet our heavenly Father forgives the debt. Men will be dealt with by God, not according to their opinion of themselves, not according to their self-confidence, but according to the spirit they reveal toward their erring brethren. We are not forgiven because we forgive, but as we forgive.” (Home Missionary January 1, 1892)

Is there anything that another human can do to us that we can, with good conscience, refuse to forgive?

Now that doesn’t mean I always feel like forgiving. I’m not at the place where letting go of hurt is easy. Knowing what is right and being willing to do right every time are two very different things.

A friend once defined forgiveness as “giving up the right to continue to punish someone for the wrong they have done us.” Using that definition, if someone has wronged us and we say that we have forgiven them, can we still go from person to person recounting the terrible thing they did to us? Can we still glare at them from across the room? Forgiving them says that we have decided not to punish them for what they’ve done.

Again, our example has to be Jesus. He has every right to punish each and every one of us, and yet he forgives us instead. He even goes a step farther and refuses to remember that we ever did anything wrong.

“He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:19

I read a great story this week that illustrates this text.

“One old father was reading Micah 7:19 about God’s putting away of our sins by throwing them into the depths of the ocean. He rejoiced over it and shouted, ‘Glory to God!’ His unbelieving son did not like it, so he brought a scientific encyclopedia for his father to read instead of the Bible. After some time, his son again heard his father shouting, ‘Glory to God!’ The son came and asked his father, ‘What do you read here that you are so excited about?’ The father replied, ‘I read that scientists, even with the best modern equipment, are sometimes unable to go deep enough to explore all the depths of the ocean. It means that our sins are buried there, and no one can dig them up!’¹

Jesus forgives us for the unforgivable every single day – He gives up the right to ever punish us for those actions. In light of that kind of mercy, how can we do any less than forgive anyone who has wronged us?

“How did the birth of Jesus change the world? Historian Rodney Stark argues that there was one huge factor that helped capture the attention of the ancient world—Christianity’s revolutionary emphasis on mercy. Stark writes:
In the midst of the squalor, misery, illness, and anonymity of ancient cities, Christianity provided an island of mercy and security ….. It started with Jesus ….

“In contrast, in the pagan world, and especially among the philosophers, mercy was regarded as a character defect and pity as a pathological emotion: because mercy involves providing unearned help or relief, it is contrary to justice …. [Thus] humans must learn ‘to curb the impulse [to show mercy]’; ‘the cry of the undeserving for mercy’ must go ‘unanswered.’ ‘[Showing mercy] was a defect of character unworthy of the wise and excusable only in those who have not yet grown up.’

“This was the moral climate in which Christianity taught that … a merciful God requires humans to be merciful.”²

Micah summed it up well when he wrote, “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8

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