Habakkuk 2:15

Habakkuk 2:15 says, Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their nakedness!  Habakkuk continues to speak of the woe that is coming to those who take advantage of their neighbors.  Here he speaks of getting the neighbor drunk in order to take advantage of them.  We cannot prevent people from getting drunk, but we can make certain that we are not the ones to cause them to be that way and also make certain that we don't take advantage of them when they are.  Verse sixteen adds, Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD’s right hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing shall be on thy glory.  Habakkuk said that those who caused others to be drunk, to profit from or enjoy their drunkenness, would someday suffer the same fate when confronted with God's judgment.  All pretence of power will be laid bare and become a shameful spewing instead of the glory that it was thought to bring.  Verse seventeen continues, For the violence of Lebanon shall cover thee, and the spoil of beasts, which made them afraid, because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.  Though Babylon, which had imprisoned Israel, may have been proud of their military might, it was going to fail them.  There was a great violence coming and they would be very afraid..  No matter what we put our faith in today, in the coming judgment of God, those who are not His will be very afraid.  Verse eighteen asks, What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols?  Just as military might would fail, so would manmade gods, or idols.  Not only was their military to fail them, but their idols, their manmade gods, were to especially fail them.  God asked, through Habakkuk, what was the profit in these idols for those who made them.  We today need to ask what the profit is in worshipping anything in the world and placing it above our relationship to God.  Verse nineteen adds, Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach!Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.  No matter how beautiful an idols may be, Habakkuk warned that there was no real power in them.  No matter how enticing an idol may be today, and it does not have to be a graven image, it is without saving power.  Anything that comes between God and us becomes an idol to us.  Verse twenty continues, But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.  No matter how good or bad things may be in our lives, we need to acknowledge that God is in charge.  We can keep silent in our complaints, but we should be bold in our witnessing for God.