I found these lines on a website regarding the topic of entitlement. “Our culture loves to foster these notions in us. During the 1970s, McDonald's restaurants built an entire ad campaign around the slogan, "You deserve a break today." In the 1980s, another ad campaign said, "Pamper yourself with Calgon." In the 1990s, it was "You owe it to yourself to buy a Mercedes Benz." Society continues to bombard us with the message that we are such fantastic people, we are entitled to an equally fantastic way of living.” I believe that it has gone much worse in the last 30 years!
Entitlement is defined as the right to something. As humans, on being created by God, we tend to feel that God owes us somethings, including a peaceful life and good health, access to what we desire, and even the right to do things that please us (if we believe those things don’t hurt others). If we have an incomplete understanding of what it means to be chosen by God and what it means to be His people, I think the attitude of entitlement just worsens!
The book of Habakkuk was likely written around 610 BC. This passage from the book talks about Habakkuk’s questions to God concerning the sins of Judah and why the sinful community is not yet reprimanded. At face value, questions expecting justice seem to come from a good heart. Considering that Habakkuk is a prophet, we believe that he must have led a life different from the ways of the community. So, in this passage, Habakkuk is asking God why (after being good) he has to go through the pain or the frustration of looking at evil happening around him. Let’s read Habakkuk’s question and God’s reply.
Hab 1:4-11 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong doing?Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. (The Lord replied) “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on guilty people, whose own strength is their god.” [Link to the passage in the Bible]
There underlie two assumptions in the questions of Habakkuk. Assumption 1: Habakkuk shouldn't be made to look at injustice. Assumption 2: God is tolerating wrongdoing! I think when one feels entitled and thinks they deserve more than what they deserve, it then inevitably follows with assuming God is lesser than who we think He ought to be. That is an approach that is Biblically untenable. As a result, I think that God replies that even if He were to tell what He is going to do, Habakkuk is in a mindset that will not accept it. Just imagine someone saying, ‘I keep the streets clean. Look, my neighbors are polluting it. Lord, why are you making me sit in a place where there is unbearable pollution? Why do you tolerate pollution?’. Imagine now that the answer is, ‘You are not gonna believe what I’m about to do! I am gonna settle people around you who pollute much more than your neighbors so that even your neighbors understand how bad it feels to be surrounded by what they would even consider unbearable pollution!’ To an entitled person, the answer is far from satisfactory!
How fitting that after a conversation with God, and after a change of heart, Habakkuk ends his book saying, ‘Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines (though things don’t work out), I will be joyful in God my Savior'. Let us remember that God’s promises are undeserved blessings and are not rights. A quote from Brene brown reads, "What separates privilege from entitlement is gratitude."
Let’s ponder if there is even a hint of entitlement in us. If so, would we stay in God’s presence and learn to be grateful in that area of our life?
Link to the previous article: If God is with us, then why has all of this happened to us? Link to the next article: Why do good things happen to bad people? (part 1)
Yorumlar