The Power of "Yet" --Kinnamon Bible Study #4

Dear DJAN Friends,

Our reading for today speaks powerfully in this time of public protest. The opening verses from the book of the prophet Habakkuk reflect the cry we have been hearing in the streets. The vehemence of the angry lament in these opening verses is what makes the closing verses, also included below, so astonishing.

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 

(Habakkuk 1:2-4a).

Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines;

through 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 (Habakkuk 3:17-18).

Habukkuk lived in Judah, the area around Jerusalem, in the closing years of the 7th century BCE, a time of rampant corruption, violence (especially against the poor), and social decline. It shouldn't be surprising, therefore, that this book contains the longest argument between a human and God in the entire Bible. "Why do you look on the treacherous, and are silent when the wicked swallow those more righteous than they?" (1:13). But notice the key word in the closing verses: yet. Though the fig tree does not blossom, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. It is not wrong, scripture shows us, to question God, to protest the state of the world God has created. But even our protest is an acknowledgment that life is a divine gift we hold precious. Though racism is deep-rooted, justice is too often perverted, the gap between rich and poor is truly obscene, and violence haunts our society, yet will we rejoice in the Lord–because to do so is to declare that violence and injustice do not have the final word. Protest and joyful thanksgiving go hand in hand.

May God grant us understanding and commitment.

—Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon