The Burden of Habakkuk
“The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see” (Ha. 1:1; KJV). What is this burden the prophet “saw”? Other translations use “oracle,” meaning “a revelation from God.” How is it that revealing God’s will can be thought of as a burden?
It was Jeremiah’s burden as he revealed that God’s message was “like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it” (Je. 20:7). The apostle Paul felt the burden of God’s word too as he proclaimed, “For if I preach the gospel I have nothing to boast of, for I am under compulsion; for woe is to me if I do not preach the gospel” (1 Co. 9:16). The apostles did not want the troubles that came upon them, but replied to their accusers, “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Ac. 4:20). Like steam in a kettle, they could not hold the message only among themselves, but had to share it with others.
The burden laid upon us today is to share Christ’s salvation to the world. The gospel is of such a message that if we have it, we must share it! If we do not share it, then we never had it, because of what it is. Let us take up the burden of Habakkuk in proclaiming the word of the Lord.
-Dennis Doughty