Sweeping Humanists...

5 “Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
    to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome;
    their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
9 They all come for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
    for they pile up earth and take it.
11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,    guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
(Habakkuk 1:5-11)
Habakkuk spoke in a very upsetting time. Israel was in moral decay. People were less and less concerned about pleasing God and were living very selfishly. This frustrated the prophet, so he talked to God about it. God's reply was shocking. God was going to humble Israel in a big way - through a Babylonian Empire which was heartless and relentless, powered by its own pride. They swept through the ancient world leaving fear, destruction and desperation. But God let him see beyond their sweeping power to this weekness: they trusted in themselves, in mankind.  They would seem to be "winning" for quite some time. But we need to remember that God does see, and wants us to see, what moves and motivates, and not give in to fear.  We know where trust in ourselves leads, and we don't want to go there.