WAITING ON A WORD FROM GOD

I will stand my watch And set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what He will say to me. Habakkuk 2:1

In the first chapter of the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk states that he is confused because God has not answered his prayers to stop evil Israelites from abusing other Israelites.

The Lord finally answers his prayer by telling him that He was preparing the Chaldeans to come and destroy the entire land of the Israelites. Habakkuk was more confused now and tells God He is wrong to raise up a pagan nation to destroy His own people.

At this point, Habakkuk says that he will stand his watch and set himself on the wall to see what God will say to him. It is a military picture of a soldier standing guard over a city. A serious-minded guard would be zealous to keep his eyes open constantly looking for any enemy activity.

Habakkuk’s passion to hear from God in such an attentive way is a vivid image for every believer when he needs a word from the Lord about some matter. It is an image of a pastor or Sunday school teacher needing a revelation from the Lord about a difficult passage of Scripture.

It is the portrait of any God-loving believer who is facing a serious decision that he must make. It is the portrait of a church facing a serious decision about the leadership of the Lord. The church knows that Jesus is the only decision maker for the church and it has no desire to express personal desires.

Christians, though, have an advantage over Habakkuk in receiving an answer from the Lord. We have been seated in the heavenlies with Christ and from that vantage point, we set our minds on things above waiting for a word from God (Colossians 3:1-3).