Habakkuk

INTRO: Have you ever finished watching the evening news with all the violence and injustice in the world and in frustration asked, Why isn’t God doing something? Why do the wicked and the dishonest people prosper? Why do they get elected to the White House? Well, that is not a new feeling. A prophet named Habakkuk felt that way around 620 B.C. and wrote a book about it.

§         Habakkuk’s name means to “embrace” or “wrestle.” As is usually the case, his name has something to do with the message of the book.

§         I think it relates to the fact that he was wrestling with a difficult issue. If God is good, then why is there evil in the world? And if there has to be evil, then why do the evil prosper? What is God doing in the world?

§         There is a similar thought coming from the Israelites in Zephaniah 1:12. They said God did not do good or evil. They thought God was not involved and so continued in their sin.

§         Habakkuk is one of the good guys. He fears God and does what is right, but it is getting him no where.

Warren Wiersbe entitles his book on Habakkuk as From Worry to Worship. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones calls his, “From Fear to Faith.” While Habakkuk begins by wondering or worrying about the world around him and God’s seeming indifference, he ends by worshipping God.[1] When he heard who was coming 3:16 says he trembled, but he certainly ends up expressing faith by the end of the book. What they are trying to capture in the titles of their books is the progression Habakkuk makes from questioning God to trusting God. So let’s look at how he made that progression.

1. Habakkuk’s Question  (1:2-4)

Habakkuk 1:2-4  O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! 3 Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. 4 Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth. 

A.      Habakkuk expresses the attitude that many righteous people have.

1.       He is outraged at the violence and injustice in his society.

2.       He lists six different problems. His list is repetitious, but it emphasizes just how bad things were.

3.       There was sin, wickedness, destruction and violence, no justice in the courts, and the wicked outnumbered the righteous. Does this sound like our society?

4.       In verse 4 he says, "the law is ignored." God's word was no longer the standard. It is now illegal to have the 10 commandments hang on the wall in a public school, so I think things are even worse in America.

5.       Habakkuk is preaching against it, but he is having little effect. Habakkuk raises a good question. Why does evil go unpunished? Why do the wicked prosper? Why doesn’t God do something?

6.       Look back to verse 2. Habakkuk has been praying. Evidently, he has been praying for a long time because he says, “How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And Thou wilt not hear?” He also thinks God is indifferent and inactive.

7.       Some people think that men of faith never question God. They just sit and wait faithfully and patiently. But one thing we can learn from Habakkuk is that this is a misconception. Those who trust in God can and do question God.

2. God’s Answer (1:5-11)

Habakkuk 1:5-11  Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. 6 For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.  7 They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.  8 Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.  9 They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.  10 And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. 11 Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

A.        God is doing something. He is raising up a foreign nation, the Babylonians, to come and destroy Judah.

B.        He tells Habakkuk, “You would not believe if you were told.”[2] Why? Because they are really wicked. They were worse than the Jews.[3]

C.        Verses 6-11 describe just how evil they are. The reason for this description is to show that they are so powerful, no one can stop them. They will certainly destroy Judah.

D.        We see in verse 11 that they will be held guilty for their wickedness, but God is going to use them anyway.

E.        Most of us have been praying for the evil in our society hoping for revival. What if God sent the Soviet Union or China to conquer America, to instill communism or a dictatorship, imprison all the Christians, etc. What would you think about that answer? Would you say God didn’t answer your prayer?

F.         This points us to another principle we can learn from Habakkuk. God doesn’t always give us the answers we want or expect. We usually have it in our mind how we want God to answer our prayers. When He does it differently, how do you respond?

G.        What is Habakkuk’s response to the answer?

3. Habakkuk’s Response  (1:12-2:1) 

Habakkuk 1:12-2:1  Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.  13 Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?  14 And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?  15 They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.  16 Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.  17 Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

A.      If all we did were read verses 12-13a, it would look like Habakkuk accepted the answer and was content. But 13bf shows that although he accepts the answer, he doesn’t like the answer.

B.      He began in verse 12 by claiming that God is eternal.

1.       I think the idea of immutability, that God does not change, is included here. The fact that God does not change is important because it means God keeps His promises and He has made promises to Israel. Habakkuk knows that God will not totally destroy Israel because of his covenantal promises. That is why he says, “We will not die.”

2.       So, he believes God and trusts God, but he still doesn’t fully understand the answer. In 13b Habakkuk knows God hates evil and is amazed that God would use a nation even more wicked than Judah to punish Judah. After all, even though Judah has her problems, she is still better than the Babylonians. (At least that was true from man’s perspective.

3.       If you remember Amos, the whole point of Amos was that Israel was worse than all the rest of the nations because she knew better. She had been given the law while the Gentiles had not. The same would apply to Judah here. They weren’t better in God’s eyes.) And God’s answer indicates that things are going to get worse, not better.

4.       Verse 16 When he says, they offer a sacrifice to their net. The "net" was the war machine or might of Babylon. The Babylonians thought it was their own strength, which allowed them to be so successful (cf. 1:11). They gave no credit to God. Habakkuk wonders how God would allow them to continue like this. And he asks the question in verse 17.

C. What can we learn from this section?

1.       When you are talking with someone who has just experienced a tragedy, don’t just tell them “God is good. He loves you and He will work things out for the best and quote Romans 8:28-29.”

2.       I think it is okay, maybe even necessary to cry with them, hurt with them, question with them. Help them work through the pain, not ignore it.

3.       Too often, Christians think the questioning part of the process is wrong. In fact Martin Lloyd-Jones makes that statement in his commentary on Habakkuk. He says, “There must be no querying, no questioning, no uncertainty about the goodness and the holiness and power of God.”[4] I disagree. This is an impossible statement. People have feelings and questions. You either suppress them or express them.

4.       There is a balance between self-pity, hopeless resignation and staying mad at God. As usual, the correct response is somewhere in the middle. I think it was Howard Hendricks whom I once heard say, “Humans only occasionally achieve balance as they are swinging from one extreme to the other.”

5.       Habakkuk has received one answer, and he had more questions. Now 2:1 says he is going to expectantly wait for another answer from God. He is searching for understanding.

4. God’s Answer (2:2-20)

Habakkuk 2:2-20  And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. 3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. 4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith. 5 Yea also, because he transgresseth by wine, he is a proud man, neither keepeth at home, who enlargeth his desire as hell, and is as death, and cannot be satisfied, but gathereth unto him all nations, and heapeth unto him all people:  6 Shall not all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, Woe to him that increaseth that which is not his! how long? and to him that ladeth himself with thick clay!  7 Shall they not rise up suddenly that shall bite thee, and awake that shall vex thee, and thou shalt be for booties unto them? 8 Because thou hast spoiled many nations, all the remnant of the people shall spoil thee; because of men’s blood, and for the violence of the land, of the city, and of all that dwell therein.  9 Woe to him that coveteth an evil covetousness to his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of evil!   10 Thou hast consulted shame to thy house by cutting off many people, and hast sinned against thy soul. 11 For the stone shall cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the timber shall answer it.   12 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and stablisheth a city by iniquity!  13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary themselves for very vanity?  14 For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.  15 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! 16 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.  17 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. 18 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?  19 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. 20 But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him. 

A.      Basically God's answer is this: Don't worry about the Babylonians, they will get theirs too.

1.       He tells Habakkuk to write this down. What is about to happen is so certain, he should go ahead and record it.[5] It may seem to tarry (vs 3) but it will happen.

2.       When justice tarries, we have the feeling that it will never come, but God promises that it will.

3.       It is faith in God, which makes us believe there is light at the end of the tunnel. It is “the light at the end of the tunnel” which helps us make it through.

4.       It is the pregnant lady’s knowledge that the pregnancy will finally end that helps her endure. It is the soldiers hope of escape or rescue that helps him endure as a prisoner of war. It is when there is no hope that people commit suicide.

5.       In 2:4 we have a much-quoted verse. God says, "the just will live by his faith."  Faith is what you believe. Faithfulness is acting according to what you believe. James deals with this principle in James 2.

B.      What is the faith? It is trusting God for life. We saw this explained in Hosea.

1.       What does faithfulness look like? It is faithfulness to God's law. It is following the moral standards of the 10 commandments, which we can summarize as “loving God” and “loving one’s neighbor.”

2.       There were still righteous people in Judah. There is always a remnant and God always preserves them in the midst of his judgment. We see this point repeated in several of the prophets. This verse tells them and Habakkuk what they need to do.

C.      Verse 2:5. Babylon is compared to a drunkard whose appetite for more wine is never satisfied. In fact, the Babylonians were famous for their drunkenness.

1.       It was during one of their drinking parties that the Cyrus and the Persians were able to sneak into the city and defeat the Babylonians.[6] The Babylonians were never content with the size of their empire. They tried to conquer more and more. Only a relationship with God can satisfy.

2.       I think there is an important concept to think about in verses 4-5. The proud person puts himself first and goes out using and abusing others. In contrast the righteous have humility and put others before self and do things for the good of others.

D.      Next, Habakkuk gives a series of "Woe" oracles to describe how bad Babylon is. But he doesn’t mention Babylon in these descriptions.

1.       He may have done that so that they would be taken more as a universal principle or description of evil. We can relate to many of the descriptions that he gives. There is a progression here. I think among the first four, one sin leads to the next.

·         Woe[7] to the Proud 2:4-5

·         Woe to the Greedy 2:6-8

·         Woe to the Dishonest 2:9-11

·         Woe to the Violent 2:12-14

·         Woe to the Sensual 2:15-17

·         Woe to the Idolater 2:18-20

2.       The proud person thinks they deserve better. They want more. They will do anything to get it.

3.       The Sensual person is searching for fulfillment through experiences - mainly sexual.

4.       The Idolater looks to everything else but God to make life work. These characteristics certainly apply to the 20th century.

5.       Verses 2:16-17 show that their time for judgment would come too.

5. Habakkuk's Prayer of Praise  (3:1-19)

Habakkuk 3:1-19  A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth.  2 O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.  4 And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.  5 Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet.  6 He stood, and measured the earth: he beheld, and drove asunder the nations; and the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual hills did bow: his ways are everlasting. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.   8 Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?  9 Thy bow was made quite naked, according to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers.  10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: the overflowing of the water passed by: the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear.  12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed; thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, by discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.  14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: they came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly.  15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.  16 When I heard, my belly trembled; my lips quivered at the voice: rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself, that I might rest in the day of trouble: when he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.  17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:  18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. 

A.      The Progression

1.       In chapter one Habakkuk was low. He was despairing because of the evil around him.

2.       In chapter two he goes up to the watchtower to wait for the second answer.

3.       Now, in chapter three, we see him praising God

4.       And the last phrase of the book is “and makes me walk on my high places.” The book is Habakkuk’s steady progression upwards (spiritually) towards God.

B. Habakkuk now understands and offers a prayer of praise because God is in control.

·         He pleads for mercy in the midst of the judgment (1-2).
He is afraid of what is coming. He knows it will be awful. Undoubtedly he will suffer too. Maybe personally, but at least through witnessing the death and destruction of those around him.

·         He praises God's majesty and power (3-15).

·         He promises to wait on the Lord (16-19).
What is coming is frightening, but he commits himself to wait and trust in God.

Closing : At the beginning of the book I mentioned that Habakkuk’s name meant “embrace” or “wrestle.” We’ve see him wrestle with the tough questions, but what is his final response? To embrace God and trust in Him.

PRINCIPLES:

(1)     God sometimes seems to be inactive, but He is involved. 1:12 showed that the Babylonians were under God’s control, and He was using them to achieve His purposes.

(2)     God is holy. In 1:13 Habakkuk said that God could not approve evil. This should be a sobering thought to us as we struggle with temptations, sins, bad habits (which is a euphemism for sins), etc.

(3)     God hears and answers prayers.

(4)     God sometimes gives unexpected answers to our prayers. When we pray, we usually have in our minds the way we want God to answer. When He answers differently, we think He hasn’t answered at all.

(5)     God is Just and God is Good. He will judge the wicked and he is concerned for the righteous.

(6)     The righteous live by faith and faithfulness. This means we really believe that God is Good and God is just. And we live accordingly. What are some situations where you might need to do that?

·         In your church? Instead of changing churches when things don’t go your way or there are problems, perhaps you need be faithful to that church and try to minister to them. That may not be the best option, but it needs to be considered.

·         In your Marriage? If a person is having troubles in marriage the current way of dealing with it is to get a divorce. But the righteous and correct way to deal with the problem is to remain faithful to the spouse and work it out. Even if it is never worked out, you remain faithful to the spouse. (Eg. Hosea.)

In summary, I think the message of Habakkuk is very comforting to us because we live in a wicked society. We can look back at what Habakkuk wrote, see that it came true, that God really is in control, that God did protect the righteous even though they went to Babylon (eg. Daniel, Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego) and He eventually brought them back to the land. Therefore, my faith in God can be bolstered by the prophecy and historical events that show God’s word is true.

Prophecy is not just gee whiz information designed to tell us what is going to happen in the future. It is good for my heart because it helps me see that God is in control and God is going to preserve His people. It brings comfort for now and hope for the future.