It’s been a month — maybe two — since it all started going south.
The debt was manageable in the beginning. There was one pile of student loans, the car payments, and the credit card bills you swore were “emergencies.” But then came the medical bills you weren’t expecting, and the tuition bill that was twice what you thought it would be.
The pile got bigger, overwhelming you. You, who didn’t deserve this. You, who hadn’t done anything wrong. You, who the world was coming down on for really no reason at all.
We’ve all been there (or a version of there). Habakkuk was there, too.
Habakkuk watched as God set out to punish Israel using the wicked nation of Babylon. He didn’t believe Israel deserved such a punishment, yet they were taken by a nation that, in Habakkuk’s eyes, deserved it more.
And like many of us, Habakkuk asked God, “Why?”
God’s answer likely was not what Habakkuk wanted to hear. While Israel may not have been as wicked as Babylon, they were far from innocent. God sent Babylon against Israel because they needed to experience the consequence for their sin.
Not everything that happens in our lives is a punishment for something we’ve done. But sometimes, if we’re honest with ourselves, the circumstances we face are the result of our own bad decisions.
God loves us the way a perfect father does. He wants good things for His children. And sometimes, the most loving thing a father can do is allow us to experience the consequences of our actions so we’ll turn away from a life that’s not good.