I will keep watch.

Habakkuk 1:1-2:1, The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and Thou wilt not hear? I cry out to Thee, “Violence!” yet Thou dost not save. Why dost Thou make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. Therefore, the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted. “Look among the nations! Observe! Be Astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared. Their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings, and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress, and heap up rubble to capture it. Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their god.” Art Thou not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Thou, O LORD, hast appointed them to judge; and Thou, O Rock, hast established them to correct. Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor. Why dost Thou look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why art Thou silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? Why hast Thou made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore, they rejoice and are glad. Therefore, they offer a sacrifice to their net. And burn incense to their fishing net; because through these things their catch is large, and their food is plentiful. Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing? I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved.

One of my favorite teachers likes to ask “What will you say when you run into Habakkuk in glory?” and he asks, “Say, how’d you like my book?” Most of us haven’t read it. He addresses the question, “Can a Holy God use an evil nation to turn a seemingly religious yet non-practicing nation from idolatry to faith in the living God?” Might we be seeing this in action today? Are we able to stand on our guard post, as did Habakkuk, to keep watch?

Lord, I want to keep watch, as did Habakkuk: to see what You will speak to me and how I may reply when I am reproved.