Hope Springs

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

February 1, 2015

Hope Springs

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
    and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
    and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
    and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    and makes me tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk was a prophet in ancient Israel.

He was a contemporary of Jeremiah,

speaking God’s word to the Israelites

some 600 years before the birth of our Lord.

Habakkuk’s reputation, though,

certainly isn’t that of Jeremiah.

He’s been relegated to the minor leagues,

lumped in with the group called the “minor prophets,”    

to distinguish them from Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel.

Quite frankly, I wonder whether Habakkuk

even deserves to be grouped with

the likes of Jonah, Daniel, and Micah,

or whether there should be a third group,

one level down from the minor prophets,

a group called the “all-but-forgotten prophets”.

Yet Habukkuk’s words are included in the Bible

for their power and their faithfulness;

his words are included as well for their sheer audacity.

Read through his short book

and you’ll find that Habakkuk not only confronted

his brothers and sisters in faith with their hypocrisy,

their weakness, and their faithlessness;

Habakkuk also confronted God

with a determination and courage

 that set him apart from every other prophet.

As Habakkuk looked at the world around him

in the years immediately preceding

the Babylonian invasion,

he saw injustice everywhere:

economic injustice as the rich grew richer

and the poor grew poorer;

political injustice as those in power

used their positions to enrich themselves,

and keep themselves in power,

even as they showed little concern

for the common good;

and legal injustice:

those without power and influence

unable to find justice even in the courts.

Habakkuk was outraged,

not only at those who were guilty of

perpetrating the injustices he saw,

he was outraged at God

for allowing such things to happen.

His book begins with these words:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrongdoing
    and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous—
    therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

(Habakkuk 1:1-4)

Much like his contemporary Jeremiah,

Habukkuk wasn’t afraid to confront those who ruled:

the powerful and the wealthy.

But he also wasn’t afraid to direct his anger,

his outrage at God.

How was one supposed to keep faith and hope,

when God seemed distant, even absent,

unconcerned, uninvolved,

uncaring?

Who among us hasn’t felt that way from time to time,

wondering how to hang onto hope

when we feel that God either

doesn’t care,

or worse, God isn’t there?

Twenty-six hundred years later

we certainly see the same kinds of injustices

that troubled Habakkuk:

Injustices in the world;

injustices in our own country;

injustices in our own community,

and even injustices in our own lives.

How are we to hold onto hope

when God seems indifferent, unmoved?

It was the English poet Alexander Pope

who gave us the phrase “hope springs eternal”.

The words are found in his Essay on Man,

a work written almost 300 years ago,

Pope wrote his essay in an effort to do

much the same thing Habakkuk did so long ago:

try to make sense of a world

that so often seemed to Pope and Habakkuk

vicious, cruel, and chaotic;

out of sync with what God’s hope for humanity

seemed to be.

Pope wrote his essay to

“vindicate the ways of God to man,”

and certainly to himself as well.

Pope understood that it is only

“a part we see, and not a whole;”

that we don’t grasp the whole;

or as Job said, after he confronted God

with his own outrage,

“I have uttered what I did not understand.”

(Job 42:3)

God responded to Habakkuk,

letting the prophet know that he, God,

was fully aware of the injustices

that troubled Habakkuk so,

saying to him,

Look at the proud!

Their spirit is not right in them,

…Moreover, wealth is treacherous;

the arrogant do not endure.

(Habakkuk 2:4ff)

God was saying in effect

“I do see;

I do know.

Don’t slow your own efforts

to address injustices you see,

but trust that I’ll deal with them too –

in my time and in my way.

Remember: I am making all things new.”

Habukkuk finally understood what we all know,

but what we all struggle with:

we are called to “live by faith”

(Habakkuk 2:4),

trusting in God,

hoping in God.

We see injustice in the world,

and if we’d take a step back

we’d understand that injustice exists

not because God is absent or uncaring,

not because God allows it,

but because we allow it.

Economic injustice,

political injustice,

social injustice

injustice of any kind:

we are the ones who create injustice,

we are the ones who tolerate injustice,

we are the ones who turn a blind eye to injustice

when it’s to our advantage to do so,

or when it is just too much effort to deal with.

At the beginning of our service

we said these words from the Brief Statement of Faith:

“we rebel against God;

we ignore God’s commandments;

we violate the image of God

in others and in ourselves;

we accept lies as truth;

we exploit nature and neighbor

we threaten death to the planet

entrusted to our care….

Yet God acts with justice and mercy

to redeem creation”

And that’s what gives us hope:

God is always present

acting with justice

acting with mercy,

working for redemption –

ours and the world’s.

We live by faith, you and I;

we live in hope,

for God is with us,

never absent, never unconcerned,

never heedless, always caring,

saying to us as he said to Habukkuk

“I do see; I do care;

I am with you;

I am making all things new.”

Come to this Table to be renewed.

Come to this Table to be refreshed in faith and hope.

Here at this Table you will find

the bread of life and the cup of salvation,

food that will nourish and strengthen you

for the work you and I are called to do

by God through Christ addressing the injustices

we create, we allow.

Here at this Table you’ll find faith that is eternal.

and, yes, here at this Table you will find

hope that is eternal,

for here at this Table you’ll find God.

Though the fig tree does not blossom,
    and no fruit is on the vines;
though the produce of the olive fails,
    and the fields yield no food;
though the flock is cut off from the fold,
    and there is no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will exult in the God of my salvation.
God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    and makes me tread upon the heights.

AMEN