55 years have this land seen come and go since so called independence
55 winters have passed (as the eskimos or other cultures or civilisations call it)
2 score and more of "independence"
vexed am i and the land
vexed too are the people, man woman and child
young and old, the brave and the bold
yea, e'en the timid and the meek
vexed day and night by the wicked
wicked leaders, wicked judges
wicked keepers of the peace and those sworn to uphold it
who dispense travesties of justice, injustice instead of justice
who say white is black and black is white
who deny the orphans and widows and fatherless their due rights
who say right is wrong and wrong is right
who do so for filthy lucre
who lay awake on their beds to plan the next snare, pit or trap for the righteous
who sharpen their weapons and rush to shed the blood of innocents
but the Living God sees and knows
these very same shall be caught in their own snares and traps
shall be pierced by their own weapons
our mentors and teachers teach us it is wrong to question God
but do we not question our mentors, our parents, our friends even?
thus, why not our Heavenly Father who is also our Best Friend, Confidante and Mentor?
we question not in arrogance nor anger but in anguish
we question not in self righteousness (for our righteousness are like filthy rags before the Holy One of Israel)
but in spirit vexed
and thus, in the book of Habakkuk of the Old Testament
answers are found
answers that strengthen and uplift the tired and downtrodden spirit
answers that give hope and tell us not to give up
answers that tell us to wait patiently for the deserved end to fall upon the wicked ... thusly
Simple English http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Habakkuk+1&version=NIV , http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Habakkuk+2&version=NIV , http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Habakkuk+3&version=NIV
Chapter 1
| 1 | The burden which Habak'kuk the prophet did see. |
| 2 | ¶ O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! |
| 3 | Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. |
| 4 | Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. |
The Chaldeans Will Punish Judah |
| 5 | ¶ Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. Acts 13.41 |
| 6 | For, lo, I raise up the Chalde'ans, 2 Kgs. 24.2 that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. |
| 7 | They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. |
| 8 | Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. |
| 9 | They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. |
| 10 | And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. |
| 11 | Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. |
Habakkuk Remonstrates with the LORD |
| 12 | ¶ Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. |
| 13 | Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureththe man that is more righteous than he? |
| 14 | and makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? |
| 15 | They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad. |
| 16 | Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. |
| 17 | Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?
Chapter 2
| 1 | I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. |
| 2 | And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. |
| 3 | For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Heb. 10.37 |
| 4 | Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. Rom. 1.17 · Gal. 3.11 · Heb. 10.38 |
| 5 | Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people. |
Woes on the Unrighteous |
| 6 | ¶ Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay! |
| 7 | Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? |
| 8 | Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. |
| 9 | ¶ Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil! |
| 10 | Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned againstthy soul. |
| 11 | For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it. |
| 12 | ¶ Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and establisheth a city by iniquity! |
| 13 | Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labor in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity? |
| 14 | For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. Is. 11.9 |
| 15 | ¶ Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest himdrunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness! |
| 16 | Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD's right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory. |
| 17 | For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men's blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein. |
| 18 | ¶ What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? |
| 19 | Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it. |
| 20 | ¶ But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
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And so, woe it is ... woe unto the wicked of this land
Your time shall come soon ... it will not be delayed as we understand it
But arrive it shall at the right time
