Let's Look a Little Closer to Home...

5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor,
    an arrogant man who is never at rest.
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
    like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations

    and collects as his own all peoples.”

6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
    for how long?—
    and loads himself with pledges!”
7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
    and those awake who will make you tremble?
    Then you will be spoil for them.
8 Because you have plundered many nations,
    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

(Habakkuk 2)

As you'll recall, Habakkuk was shocked at how God was going to handle his complaint about how bad things were morally and spiritually in his own country of Israel - God was going to send Babylon to Chastize them. Habakkuk reminded God of how much more wicked Babylon was than they.  God takes note of pride as the core issue, then points out symptoms of pride. As we look at these woes the next few days let us not look at others before looking at ourselves. These invaders will be building up debts - collecting things and peoples who really do not belong to them.  The same thing was going on in Israel, and is going on here today. We are building up debt, so that today we can have all the comforts and all the experiences we want. It will come back to haunt us, just as it came back to haunt Babylon. They lost it all, when the nations came back to "collect" from them.  While God is predicting and promising what will happen in the future to Babylon, he is also reminding Habakkuk of how similar - even if "less" visible - our own selfishness and selling our souls to stuff is.  Let's deal with that now, and let Him take care of the future.