Wait For The Vision

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with aviation. Well, one evening, when I was about ten-years-old, I was outside walking on the family farm; and off in the distance, I saw a hot air balloon about a mile away. I had high hopes that it would move towards the farm and land, but that was wishful thinking – maybe even childish thinking. The wind kept blowing it farther and farther away. And for a few years after that event, I kept looking to the sky, hoping I would see another balloon; but it seemed like it would never happen again. Over time, I let go of that dream.

Well, about ten years later, when I was home from college for the summer, something amazing happened! On a Friday evening, I looked towards the east and saw twenty-six hot air balloons in the sky! The dream was alive again! Why? Because they were headed straight towards the farm! However, one-by-one, they started landing off in the distance. Finally, they were all out of sight, and my heart sank. But then, I saw that last balloon pop up again, and it came straight over the treetops and landed on the farm! A childhood dream had come true at last!

I found out later, that the balloon that landed on the family farm had actually first set down on my uncle’s farm, which was about a half-a-mile away; but he wouldn’t allow it to land in his precious hay field. But here’s my point. I had a childhood dream that I didn’t think would ever come true; and so, I quit dreaming. But one day, it came true and caught me unaware. This morning, we’re not going to be looking at delayed dreams. We’re going to be focusing on delayed visions, and try to discover why it might be taking so long for a vision to manifest itself.

Visions That Are From the Lord (vv. 1-3)

1 I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected. 2 Then the LORD answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.”

Here, “the prophet [Habakkuk] saw himself as a watchman on the walls of Jerusalem, waiting for a message [or vision] from God that he could share with the people.”(1) The historical context of this prophecy is placed before the Babylonian exile, at around 608-598 B.C. It is an admonition to those who would one day become captive in the siege of Jerusalem, stating that when the people fell into captivity by Babylon that they should not give up hope on the vision of returning to their homeland, for the return would surely arrive at an appointed time. But, it would be difficult to maintain hope when the Babylonians would be seen thriving before their eyes.

In verse 1, we see that God will sometimes reveal His plans slowly. Habakkuk said, “I will stand my watch” (v. 1), which means that he would continue watching and waiting until he heard from the Lord. You see, we sometimes have to wait. Perhaps, it’s so we will continue relying on God; being diligent in seeking His face and being faithful in our devotion. We should “keep watch” at all times, in order to hear what the Lord will say; and we should also keep an eye out for the manifestation of what He has spoken, once we do hear from Him. If a vision is indeed from God, then it will one day become a reality, but only at His appointed time.

So, what does God ask us to do once we hear from Him? In verse 2, He says that our vision must be written down on “tablets” and displayed in public. The King James Version says, “Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables” (v. 2). Now, the word “tables” is not referring to a piece of furniture on which we eat our dinner. Another definition of “table” is a “written list,” as in a form that displays facts and figures. For example, we have “times-tables” to help us with our multiplication. The Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary says that this word refers to “boxwood tables covered with wax, on which national affairs were engraved with an iron pen, and then hung up in public, at the prophets own house, or at the temple, that those who passed might read them.”(2) It is a “writing table; that is, a tablet” – a wooden tablet or sign.(3)