Everywhere he
looked he saw violence and injustice. He was powerless to change it.
He was a
singer-songwriter, a musician, a prophet, a student of his culture. He was
deeply disturbed by the pervasive moral decay all around him. No one was able
to stem the tide of violence and corruption. The wicked outnumbered the
innocent. They intimidated the blameless, twisting the law, perverting justice.
Ironically, these were God’s people who so flagrantly violated God’s laws.
He cried out
to God, “How can you tolerate this? Why aren’t you doing something about this?”
God replied, “Watch
and see what I am about to do.” God would send a brutal, godless nation to
conquer and deport them. These warriors were a proud people who worshipped the
works of their own hands. They were a law to themselves, believing that their
cruelty was justified; their might made brutality right.
Confused, he
complained to God. “Why do you let the wicked destroy people who are better
than they? How can you condone this?”
God answered
him, assuring him that these brutal people, too, would be punished. The wicked,
never satisfied with what they gained, would bring about their own downfall and
death, their gains turning to ashes in their hands. But the righteous person
trusts God and lives! God’s justice would prevail and his glory would cover the
earth as the waters cover the sea.
Twice Habakkuk
asked God “why” and both times God answered with “who.” Habakkuk wrote down his
questions and God’s answers in the first two chapters of the book by his name. Then,
in the third chapter, Habakkuk modeled what trust in God looks like in a
morally corrupt society, one ripe for punishment.
From the album
“Apologia - Answers for Troubled Minds” this video is scrolling playback of music from the first two
chapters of Habakkuk. (Music from the third chapter here.)
Kathy
You can get
print (PDF) and/or digital (MusicXML™) sheet music for The Song of Habakkuk I-IV.
Click here for print sheet music (lead sheet format). |
Click here for digital sheet music for orchestra. (MusicXML™ is the standard open format for sharing digital sheet music. Check the help files in your music notation app for directions on importing MusicXML™ files.) |
Am just reading Habakkuk in my personal quiet time and noticed at the end the musical reference, so wondered whether anyone had set the book to music and found your work. It somehow helps, as with the Psalms, to realise that this scripture was framed lyrically. So thank you for helping me there. It would be good to hear your work as a choir piece.
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