“Is it not from the Lord of Armies that the peoples labor only to fuel the fire and countries exhaust themselves for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory, as the water covers the sea.”
(Habakkuk 2:13-14 CSB)
It’s no secret that most of what people pursue in life on this planet is futile. After using all his energy to pursue pleasure and meaning in life, King Solomon’s conclusion was that everything was futile. (See Eccl. 1:1-2, 12-14.) The word futile means, “like a breath.” All of life is fleeting and impermanent and, ultimately, meaningless.
According to the verses above from the book of Habakkuk, most of the work that people produce is really only fuel for the fire. He writes that “…countries exhaust themselves for nothing.” That fact is not in question here. The thirteenth verse poses a question, but the question is not whether or not this futility is real. The question is: Isn’t it God’s design that this is the case? Most if not all of the work done on the earth is completely futile. So much of our efforts are invested in products that are meant to burn. But the implication of the writer’s question is that this futility comes from God. It is part of His plan. And this planned meaningless is meant to drive us toward something.
Verse fourteen shows us the reason for this plan. The first word is “for.” “Because.” Because…the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory. As the water covers the sea. We will get to that qualifier in a moment. For now, the reason given behind God’s design that all things are ultimately futile is that the knowledge of His glory is what is meant to fill the earth. This is the purpose for which the earth was created. To give glory to God. We have the ability to see it everywhere. His glory is all around us. In the natural beauty and order of the processes of nature around us alone it is apparent all day every day. Isaiah saw the Lord seated on a throne, lofty and exalted, with just the train of His robe filling the whole temple. Just the end of His garment filled the space of the temple. The six-winged Seraphim above Him cried out, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts!” And what else did they say? “The earth is full of His glory.”
But Habakkuk here uses a different tense. Same truth. Different tense. And he adds one additional modifying phrase. “The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory.” The earth is filled now with His glory. But it is not quite filled with the knowledge of the Lord’s glory.
The wonder and majesty of God is all around us. Do we see it? Do we ascribe it to God? Do we let it point to HIM?
So many people, many of them around us from day to day, do not yet know this glory.
Paul writes in his second letter to the Corinthians chapter four that God, the One who spoke and made light shine out of darkness, has turned on a light for us as believers in Christ. This light is described as “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2Cor. 4:6) We can truly see and know the glory of God, in all its fullness, only in knowing Jesus. We know Jesus through hearing and believing the gospel. There is a glory that is both received and displayed through a person coming to know the Lord Jesus and being filled with His Spirit.
Someday the earth will be filled with people who know and follow Jesus as Lord.
The qualifier that is given in the verses in Habakkuk are that the knowledge of the glory of the Lord will fill the earth “as the water covers the sea.” How does the water cover the sea? It is comprehensive. The sea is not quite the sea without the water.
The vision we are given in Habakkuk is that there will be a time on earth when it is filled with so many people knowing and enjoying the glory of God that it looks like heaven. It is this picture that heaven celebrates. It is this purpose that the resources of heaven are poured-out for.
And it is this picture which can give meaning to our existence.
How can we apply these truths?
Strive to see and know the glory of God.
Be a person who has this knowledge of the glory of God. Treasure this knowledge. We access this knowledge through the person of Jesus. We should familiarize ourselves with His life and His teaching, obey Him, and enjoy His presence now in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Growing in the knowledge of God enables us to experience and propagate this glory. This takes effort. As God is invisible it takes intentionality to know Him. But He promises that if we seek Him with all of our hearts we will find Him.
We should strive to know God.
We should watch for and celebrate the expressions of His glory all around us.
And we should guard our hearts from becoming casual about this glory.
Glorify God in all that we do.
We should seek to bring glory to God in everything we do. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.” (1Cor. 10:31) If Habakkuk tells us that to not seek this glory is to pursue meaninglessness, then to seek God’s glory is the most direct way to enjoy meaning in all that we do.
Can we somehow use our faculties to give more glory to God? This probably deserves much more attention than I am able to give here but the short answer is “yes.” Psalm 50 gives us one very clear way. The Lord is quoted as saying: “Call on Me in a day of trouble; I will rescue you, and you will honor (or “glorify”) Me.” (Psalm 50:15) To pray and to give God a chance to work and to demonstrate His power is one very clear way to bring Him glory.
Paul writes that Abraham gave glory to God when he chose to trust God’s ability to fulfill His promises even in the face of impossible challenges. (Rom. 4:20-21)
Help others see and know the glory.
We should proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others see and know the glory of God. This is meant to spread. The power of the seed is enjoyed when it is sown.
We should also continue to stir one another up to see and enjoy this glory. Because we live in a world that exalts things that are meaningless, we need to be in communities that seek to know and glorify God and, even more importantly, to contribute to these communities for these purposes. And we are given every resource we need to accomplish this. (See 2Thess. 1:11-12 and 2Cor. 3:18, 2Cor. 4:6-7, etc.)
Remember that there is way more glory coming.
All of us as believers are told to set our hope completely on the glory that is to come. (See 1:Peter 1:13.) Everything that the human heart truly longs for is on the horizon and will arrive in its fullness at the Coming of Christ. It is after this Day that we will truly see the glory of God.
And for those of us who invest large amounts of time and energy into the task of propagating the glory of God all over the earth we should remember this promise. We are given a picture of the future. We have the ability to partner with God in bringing this picture into reality.
Once again, the picture of the end-state of all things is that the earth will be comprehensively filled with people who know the glory of Glory.
This is what all of human history is ultimately marching towards.
We can be part of creating this picture as we yield our lives in faith to Jesus and spread the knowledge of this glory all over the earth.
This is a cause worth exhausting ourselves for.
Blessing Nations 
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