Habakkuk 2:12-14 You’re bellyaching about doughnuts?

We’re all familiar with the poem The Nail. 

For want of a nail, the shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe the horse was lost,
for want of a horse the knight was lost,
for want of a knight the battle was lost.
So it was a kingdom was lost - all for want of a nail. 

Priorities, people!!!!

While it’s true that sometimes the smallest things can make a big difference, some people will whine and complain about something as inconsequential as a nail, or a doughnut, or whatever when their refusal to repent of their sins when they’ve been pointed out is the problem they really need to address.  For instance, in the passage we’re going to look at in Habakkuk, the sinfulness of the Babylonians is evident, but so is their stubborn heart which refuses to repent. 

Observe with me the manner in which these Babylonians go about their conquest.  In Habakkuk 2:12, we’re told the tools of their trade are “blood” and “iniquity”.  The Babylonian army was violent, as we saw when we studied Habakkuk 1:5-11.  They killed without pity and were savage in their treatment of the survivors.  In fact, they dehumanized them in many ways, but in particular in verse 13 we notice they enslaved them.  A worker earns his wages.  A slave is lucky to get anything at all.  They treated them no better than a rake or a mule.   

That’s not how God intended for people to treat one another.  If someone works for you, you should pay them.  We don’t “own” any other person.  God created each of us as individuals and we are accountable for how we treat one another.  In contrast to how the Babylonians enslave, kill, rob, and mistreat people, in Habakkuk 2:14, we read that God, Who is in control of everything, will ultimately be glorified.  No matter how awful things are on this earth, regardless of how we treat each other, and no matter the pains and sorrows we experience, we can trust and know that God is sovereign over time, history, and all of creation.  He will be glorified in all things, even in the midst of our pain, and He will be known even by those who reject Him.