The nations

“I never thought about what the rest of the world was doing during the time of the Bible.”

As we were traveling down the road, my mom was telling me about a timeline at the beginning of her Bible that she had looked at that morning. This timeline was for both the events recorded in Scripture and for the other events occurring around the world during the corresponding time period.

Neither she nor I had given a lot of thought to anything else that was happening in the world during Bible times. Yet, we were both shocked to discover that there were people—another nation, one we’d heard about throughout school in our history classes—who had made their way into the land we now live in today.

That nation? The Native Americans! Apparently, while Jacob was dressing up as Esau and stealing his brother's birthright in Israel, across the world, the Native Americans were making their way into America for the very first time. Crazy!

After she told me, I pondered this in my heart and said something like, “We had no idea the Native Americans were coming to America during that time, but God did."

But I didn't mean this in the classic "He's God and is so big and knows everything" kind of way. Rather, this is what I was getting out: He knew when the Native Americans were coming to this land, because from the very beginning it was His glorious plan to draw the Native Americans—along with every nation, tribe, and tongue—to Himself through His Son, Jesus Christ!

I love the nations. I love them more and more. They remind me of how far-surpassing and immeasurably more God’s love is. He did not just give Israel His heart nor just want Israel to give Him theirs, but His heart was for the whole WORLD—a poor and needy people—to be saved and given true, abundant life in Him! And He died to make a way for the nations to have just that.

I thought about the nations some more the other day as I was reading Habakkuk. The man who wrote this book was having a hard time. There was sin all around him, and the nations were the guilty party. He felt like God wasn’t attending to all the brokenness he was seeing, so he lifted up his voice with his complaints in an effort to get God’s attention.

Habakkuk shares both his prayers and the Lord’s response back to him, and I started noticing two things: 

1. Words relating to sight, like “see,” “look,” or “vision,” were used 15 times.

2. Words like “the peoples,” “all who dwell,” and “the nations,” were said 17 times. 

That’s a lot for just three short chapters! I’ve learned that God repeats Himself when He wants to get our attention. 

So I started thinking and praying, trying to discern what He wanted to communicate, and a few key verses made it clear. 

The Lord says this in Habakkuk 2:2-3:

“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

For still the vision awaits its appointed time

it hastens to the end – it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it; 

it will surely come; it will not delay.”

What is that vision we are to see, even despite our short line of sight? Spoiler alert: His glory among the nations! (I'll tell you more in a little bit)

But too often, we get wrapped up in our own glory and not the Lord’s. We are puffed up and striving after the wind. 

“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,”

- Habakkuk 2:4

But a verse after says it's not supposed to be this way:

“Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts

that peoples labor merely for fire,

and nations weary themselves for nothing?

- Habakkuk 2:13

We weren’t made to solely labor for things that are here today and gone tomorrow. That little league trophy you got as a kid is just gathering dust in your attic. The money you saved and saved and saved will do you no good beyond the grave. And the money you did spend on materialistic gains will soon fade away.

“Do not toil to acquire wealth; be discerning enough to desist. When your eyes light on it, it is gone, for suddenly it sprouts wings flying like an eagle toward heaven.”

- Proverbs 23:4-5

That which our eyes can see in this life is susceptible to thieves breaking in and stealing, and moths coming and destroying. What a miserable life if you think about it! No purpose. Just aimless striving, striving, striving after the wind. And for what? To have more money in our bank accounts? To be seen as successful and receive praise? Again, it’s all here today and gone tomorrow. So, what then is there to do?

The answer to that question (what I alluded to above) comes in the following verse:

“For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD

as the waters cover the sea.”

- Habakkuk 2:14

God has given us a task—a worthwhile one, one that bears lasting fruit, one that reaps an eternal harvest—to make His Name and His glory known among the nations!

May our eyes not look to the things that sprout wings and fly away like eagles. May they instead look to Christ, who makes us to soar on wings like eagles! To Him who makes us walk and not grow weary, and to run and not grow faint.

We were created to run: 

“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.”

Not to just sit and store up treasures on earth. This image from Proverbs strikes me, and it’s because it’s such a grotesque description of our world today with our overconsumption of wealth and material:

“The sluggard buries his hand in the dish;

it wears him out to bring it back to his mouth.”

- Proverbs 26:15

Don’t you, like me, want more purpose in this life than just burying your hand in the dish and stuffing more and more into your mouth? As women’s-conference-cliché as it sounds, we were created for more! Don’t you want to cross the finish line of life out of breath and hear the words “Well done, good and faithful servant”? 

So see this vision. Hear this heart cry from the Lord: “I want all to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”(1 Timothy 2:3–4) What is that truth? That the Lord reigns and His glory fills the earth!

Did you know that there are three billion people in the world who have never even HEARD the name of Jesus, let alone know about God's glory? That number sounds large, but is easy to move past because it is hard to comprehend, so let me try to give us a visual: The So-Fi stadium in LA is one of the largest stadiums in the US and can hold up to 100,000 people.

You would need over 30,000 full stadiums to hold 3 billion people.

Again, we have been given a worthwhile job! One that requires us to work with ALL OF HEARTS to reach the nations that God sees and loves.

This job, while awesome and full of purpose, can feel overwhelming at times. It can feel like we are hardly making a dent as we look around and see all of the darkness that permeates our world. 

That’s where faith comes in. “But the righteous shall live by faith.” - Habakkuk 2:4 

Our faith spurs us on because it’s not based on what we can see but on what we cannot see.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord; 

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.”

- Habakkuk 3:17-19

As I started piecing it all together, it made sense. The book seemed to be communicating that while it all may seem depressing as you look around, we should have faith, put our hands to the plow, and reach the nations! Because bringing the nations to Himself was and is and continues to be the Lord’s glorious plan!

So, let’s walk in step with His heart to bring ALL THE NATIONS to Himself! And let’s do it together, for...

“The Great Commission is too big for anyone to accomplish alone and too important not to do it together.” – Steve Moore 

And may we not grow weary, for in due season we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.