Contemplative Bible Reading

Habakkuk 2:8 (New Living Translation)

8 Because you have plundered many nations,
now all the survivors will plunder you.

This is part of a conversation between God and the prophet Habakkuk. God was telling the prophet about using the nation of Babylon to punish a sinful people. The Babylonians would sweep through and conquer in a swift and horrible manner. The people will admit their sins, but cry out to God for relief. And, by the way, the people will cry out for God’s vengeance on the Babylonians. Those Babylonians would do God’s work, but they didn’t have to do it so swiftly with such horrible cruelty. I mean, punishment is one thing, but really.

In the verse above, God is addressing the future of the Babylonians. They plundered, but one day the survivors will do the same to them.

You did wrong; I will do wrong to you. You did bad things; I will do bad things to you. Bad will even out bad. We will go on and on doing bad back and forth till the end of time.

Who wants to live like this? Who wants bad repaid with bad repaid with bad repaid with bad?

Who will end history? Who will stop the cycles of bad on bad?

Jesus.

Awful and complex question—a one-word and simple answer.

Surely there is more to this than a one-word answer. Nope. Jesus is the answer. Plain and simple, well, maybe not so simple as I have to figure out a way that this gets complicated and their are vexing problems and the world needs a genius like me to untangle everything and make it right and I am the only one who can do this and…

Nope. Jesus is the answer. Sometimes Jesus is a misunderstood answer. Sometimes Jesus is an unwanted answer. Still, Jesus is the answer.