Of Purer Eyes
Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil and canst not look on wrong. (Habakkuk 1:13)
Hab. 1:1-13; Rom. 5:1; I John 7-9
What Is God Saying?
Habakkuk saw his nation falling apart. The defeat was almost certain. Israel had succumbed, and Judah was ripe for the plucking by the Chaldeans. It was just a matter of time. Why didn't God do something to stop this outrage? Judah was wicked. Jehoiachim, as a king, rivaled the worst. The sins of Judah deserved God's punishment, but why should Judah become the target of a nation whose wickedness was incomparably worse? Habakkuk complained that it didn't make sense, but he discovered God was rousing the Chaldeans for a purpose. "I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told." (1:5) God is saying, "I will use them, but I will not lose to them." In this perspective, Habakkuk sees that "God has established them for chastisement." The Prophet does not lose his trust that God is of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look upon or tolerate wrong. (1:13) God will triumph. "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea." (2:14) According to Habakkuk's great prayer in chapter 3, "In wrath (God) will remember mercy." God's people will yet rejoice in the Lord and the Lord is their strength (3:18, 19), their true strength, and their true joy.
How Does This Apply To Us?
As God is God, so evil is evil. Anyone with light thoughts about sin cannot have great thoughts about God. Because we are forgiven in God's mercy, he does not and cannot see the sins and failures that marred our lives in the past. He sees us in Christ for what we are becoming. Jesus was "put to death for our sins and raised for our justification." (Rom. 5:25) Let us live that joy and pray with that confidence. The slate is forever clean. We are free to move on in His perfect design for our lives. We are unhampered by the guilt and freed from the burden of sin. Looking at us through Christ, He doesn't even see it.
Pray With Me
O God, your ways are higher than ours. Today I want to know your will and do it. That is my supreme goal. Today is your gift. I want to give it back. Show me through your Holy Spirit that the eyes of the Lord are blind to evil. You are too pure to condone one willful step to impurity and sin. Yet you are too faithful and just not to forgive your children the sins they confess.
You are blind to that evil which ruled my heart before I knelt to receive forgiveness through the mighty love of the Cross. That evil is canceled, removed, burned, and forgotten. While it seems impossible for the human mind to be blind to the evil that has been pardoned, I thank you for your blindness to sins forgiven. All my transgress10ns are burned in the sea of your forgetfulness. Looking on me only through the righteousness of Your Son, O Lord, you are blind to me as a failure. Instead, you see me as joyous and liberated, a triumph of your grace.
You are blind to my sin, but always looking on me so that I may find the way home to Christ, life, and peace.
Through Jesus Christ, my Lord. Amen.
Moving On In The Life of Prayer
God cannot look on evil, but evil can look on us. We need daily forgiveness and cleansing. This comes from God and gives meaning and power to our prayers. He looks through the sin confessed and blesses the sinner confessing. The function of prayer is to face each new day with the joy of a friendship renewed, a relationship restored, and the peace of His pardon.
