Just as God predicted, Habakkuk could not believe his ears. Yes, Israel was sinful, but they were still God’s people. How could God use such wicked tools to punish His people, the very people that He redeemed out of Egypt? This revelation from God must have hit Habakkuk like a battering ram to the chest. Habakkuk looked out from his point of view and could not imagine how God would use such a destructive plan for His glory; however, the beauty of retrospective viewing is that now we can see the glories of God being displayed through Israel’s Babylonian captivity.

Look among the nations, and see;wonder and be astounded.For I am doing a work in your daysthat you would not believe if told.
Habakkuk 1:5 ESV

We must carefully observe this verse within its context because many have taken it to mean something entirely different then what it originally meant. The thought that God is going to do something that is completely unbelievable is an appealing concept. When we find ourselves pleading along with Isaiah for God to rend open the heavens and come down, this verse seems to appear as an answer: God will do something incredible.
However, while prosperity preachers may proclaim this text joyfully from the conference stage, Habakkuk received this word with fear and trembling. This verse is the beginning of God’s answer to Habakkuk’s question of why God was allowing the Israelites to be so sinful. Habakkuk was looking for justice, and God answered. His answer came in the form of the Babylonians, a powerful and ruthless empire. God would soon use the wicked Babylonians to punish the backslidden Israel.
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Written by David S. Steele |
Thursday, July 6, 2023
The essential message of Psalm 2:1-5 is this: We enter the danger zone when we resist God’s rule and reign in our lives. How then, should people live before God? Psalm 2:6-12 provides an important answer. We will learn that rebels must recognize Christ’s right to rule and respond reverently to his kingly authority. Then and only then, will we find ourselves in the safety zone.

The opening verses of Psalm 2 unveil the rebels who resist the authority of God. This passage reveals the posture of rebels who are poised to dethrone God. These rebels rage against God and plot against him (v. 1). They oppose the LORD and his anointed (v. 2). These rebels make autonomy their ultimate goal (v. 3). They want to be free from God’s demands. They want to be free from God’s laws. And these recalcitrant rebels seek freedom from God’s reign and his rule.
Here’s the fascinating irony: Every rebel who searches for freedom apart from God is in bondage, and will, in the final analysis, be subjected to the almighty wrath of God. When you flee from Christ to be free from Christ you build a self-imposed prison around your life. Stated another way, when you submit to Christ’s lordship, you will rest securely in your newfound freedom.
The essential message of Psalm 2:1-5 is this: We enter the danger zone when we resist God’s rule and reign in our lives. How then, should people live before God? Psalm 2:6-12 provides an important answer. We will learn that rebels must recognize Christ’s right to rule and respond reverently to his kingly authority. Then and only then, will we find ourselves in the safety zone.
Recognize His Right to Rule
God possesses royal authority. He is a transcendent and majestic God who deserves our unhindered reverence and obedience. Notice several aspects of his kingly reign.
The Components of God’s Kingly Reign
First, the installation of the King (v. 6). There is a crucial distinction here between the Father and the Son: “As for me, I have set my King on Zion, on my holy hill.” Note the exalted status of his kingly reign. To set someone in a particular place suggests a unique position.
Christ is presented as his enemies’ King. C.H. Spurgeon says, “What are all the mighty men, the great, the honorable men of the earth to Jesus Christ? They are but like a little bubble in the water; for if all the nations, in comparison to God, be but as the drop in the bucket, or the dust in the balance (Isa. 40:25), how little they must be the kings of the earth!”1 Christ is presented as his saints’ King. Christ rules “over their wills, over their affections, over their judgments and understandings, and nobody hath anything to do here but Christ,” writes Spurgeon.2 Christ is presented as his Father’s King. Christ not only rules in the hearts of his people; he rules over a “providential kingdom, by which he rules the affairs of this world, and so he is the king of nations.”3
Psalm 99:1-5 emphasizes this reign. Indeed, his reign is righteous, sovereign, and omnipotent. His is a just and holy reign. This is the kind of King you would want to serve. This is the kind of King you would want to submit to. This is the kind of King you can find refuge in!
Second, we learn about the position of the King (v. 7). The Son speaks of a decree: “God’s decrees are the wise, free, and holy acts of the counsel of his will, whereby, from all eternity, he hath, for his own glory, unchangeably foreordained whatsoever comes to pass in time.”4
The decree tells of the eternal begetting of the Son. The Nicene Creed (revised in 381) confesses faith in “one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father before all time, Light from Light true God from true God, begotten not created.”
John Frame helps us understand the meaning of the term, begotten:
Among human beings, begetting normally occurs in a sexual relationship. It occurs in time so that a human being who did not exist at one time comes into existence at a later time. But eternal begetting is surely neither sexual nor temporal, nor does it bring into existence someone who otherwise would not have existed, for God is a necessary being, and all three divine persons share the attribute of necessary existence.5
Third, Psalm 2:8 describes the inheritance of the King: “As of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” The inheritance of Christ is absolutely comprehensive. There is nothing outside the scope of his sovereign control. That is, his kingly reign knows no bounds. He owns everything; he rules over everything and everyone. He is sovereign over the nations; he is sovereign over rulers; he is sovereign over our decisions; he is sovereign over our wills; he is sovereign over all. “For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory, forever. Amen” (Rom. 12:36). Abraham Kuyper rightly observes, “There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, ‘Mine!’”
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Knowing that God works in unsearchable ways may not satisfy our agitated hearts and troubled soul in the short term. However, it points us to a larger reality where our circumstances play only a small part.

You confess sound doctrine and know your Bible reasonably well. However, when reality confronts beliefs, there is a crisis. You want to be sure that God is wise, but everything around you seems to indicate the opposite. You are hesitant to admit it, but sometimes God’s wisdom does not make any sense to you. What is the point of a broken friendship in God’s plan? Or why would God allow a prodigal son? Does any good come from a dry marriage relationship? What about a severe medical diagnosis or financial bankruptcy? It does not make any sense, and you cannot see where your pointless situation leads you to a better place.
Some people find comfort from popular wisdom, such as “God writes straight with crooked lines.” But popular wisdom cannot take us very far. Sooner or later, popular wisdom will show its insufficiency, draining our hope and spiritual strength. But our experience does not need to be one of confusion. The solution is far superior to popular common sense (or should I say nonsense?).
Even when it does not make sense to you, I encourage you to revisit your faith and theology to find Someone who makes sense of everything. We can rely on theological truth that points us to a truly wise God who puts every detail of our lives in place. In God’s Word, we find the Redeemer of our troubled souls.
Therefore, consider the fertile ground where questions about God’s wisdom flourish—the gap between expectation and the reality of daily life. Then, reflect upon the wisdom of God in the truth of the gospel.
The Gap Between Expectation and Life Circumstances
Psalm 72 vividly describes a righteous King and His eternal kingdom. A righteous King “delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper,” and “has pity on the weak and the needy, and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight” (Ps. 72:12-14). And, in addition to that, Psalm 72 creates some expectations for the people of God: “May there be abundance of grain in the land; on the tops of the mountains may it wave; may its fruit be like Lebanon; and may people blossom in the cities like the grass of the field! May his name endure forever; his fame continue as long as the sun! May people be blessed in him; all nations call him blessed” (Ps. 72:16-17). The second book of Psalms ends with a theological expectation of blessedness under the wise ruling of the righteous King.
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