Living in a Complex World

News

When you open up the news paper, it can sometimes feel like you need to prepare yourself to get upset. This world is not as it should be.

People do horrible things to one another. Rarely do we seem to hear stories of people cooperating with one another. More frequently it is people tearing each other apart. Our political system seems to be designed to rip your opponents to shreds.

Greed is everywhere. There’s been lots of news lately about the cost of living. Now I’m no economists and I don’t pretend to have a good understanding of all the forces and factors relating to the rise in living costs, but I certainly suspect somewhere in the middle of it all are the greedy desires of powerful people.

And then there is what seems to be an ever increasing reports of sexual assault. A number of high profile cases seem to be a constant feature in the news. But it’s not just those big cases. They’re everywhere.

Domestic violence continues to be one of the most hideous parts of society. You can try to ignore it, but you don’t have to talk to too many people before you speak with someone who either is currently dealing with matters of domestic abuse, or it has been a part of their life.

This is not a pretty world in which we live. I could of course go on for much longer - but somehow I don’t think you need convincing that this world is messed up.

And so we cry - “How long, Lord”.

It’s a cry that we share with many of the Psalmists - and it’s a cry we share with the prophet that we’re going to be looking at today.

This morning I want to look at the idea that we live in a complex world - and what we’re going to find is that sometimes the thing that is needed to come and resolve a situation actually just makes the situation even messier. This world isn’t that simple place - rather its confusing and difficult to get our heads around it.

And so I want to ask the question - how do we live in this complex world? How do we manage all the difference factors which don’t always seem to add up.

Well, Habakkuk seems equally confused, so let’s look at how he navigates matters, and we’ll find the perhaps surprising place that he ends up.

Context

But first we need our context.

The first verse simply tells us that this is the prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.

Now, you might have noticed that as we’ve gone through the various so-called minor prophets, we often don’t know much about the prophet apart from what we get in the prophecy itself, and often that is not much. Well, today, it’s like we’ve got even less information. The other prophets usually at least tell us that he is the son of such-and-such, or that he comes from so-and-so town. Here, he is simply called Habakkuk the prophet - and that’s about all we know.

Time

He also doesn’t explicitly tell us the time in which it is written, however, we can have a pretty good guess given the context of the events that he talks about.

As we’ll see fairly soon, the Babylonian invasion is soon to take place. There were a series of invasions each taking a few exiles, before the final lot of exiles that were eventually taken in 586 BC.

And so we’re somewhere in the vicinity of 600BC.

And to put that in the bigger picture. This might be say 50 years or so after Nahum who we looked at last week.

You might remember, Nahum concerned the downfall of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. Assyria of course being the world super power that saw the demise of the North Kingdom. Assyria’s downfall, as it turns out, was at the hands of the Babylonians - the very ones that feature in the prophecy we’re looking at today.

The first complaint

Okay, so as we get into the prophecy, we’re actually going to see a bit of interaction between Habakkuk and God, and it’s this interaction which is going to highlight the complexity of the situation that we’ve been speaking of.

The interaction essentially comes in the form of two complaints. After each complaint, we get God answering.

So the first complaint is similar in some ways to what I was doing in the introduction.

That is, Habakkuk complains about the violence… the injustice… the wrong doing.

The context seems to imply that he’s talking about the injustice that is plainly evident in Judah - as opposed to the violence and wrong doing of the surrounding nations on Israel.

You see, this is essentially the same sort of injustice that was in focus for the prophets like Micah and Amos which we looked at in previous weeks. And it’s the same sort of injustice and wrong doing that is so prevalent in our society.

And it leaves Habakkuk crying - “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?”

It has the ring of one of the Psalms. Quite possibly, it’s also got the ring of our complaint when we look at the world - what is going on? How long do we have to put up with the rubbish of this world?

God’s response

Well, in answer to Habakkuk complaint - God says - well actually, I am going to do something. I don’t like what I’ve been seeing, and something will be done.

And so this first bit is reminiscent of when we looked at, say, Amos, or perhaps Hosea or even Micah.

For Amos and Hosea, the injustice and wrong doing being carried out was to be dealt with by the Assyrians. In Habakkuk, we have a new player, but it’s the same principle.

In verse 6, God says: “I am raising up the Babylonians”

This new player on the world scene is going to now be the instrument God uses. The instrument that God uses to deal with the injustice that has become so prevalent in Judah.

But in these words of God, we find words which are essentially form the basis of Habakkuk’s second complaint.

You see, after God says that he will raise up the Babylonians, he describes them as that ruthless and impetuous people.

You see, these Babylonians are not exactly nice people - in fact - they’re horrible!

Habakkuk’s second complaint

So as I mentioned, this does lead to his second complaint.

Just look at verse 13: “Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves.”

In other words, Habakkuk’s essentially going - wait a second, I wanted you to deal with the injustice in our nation - but you, God, have gone and created a problem of a whole new level. What gives?

And so where Habakkuk asked in the first complaint: “How long?”… he’s now left wondering in verse 17: is this new evil nation just going to keep on going and going and going… destroying nation after nation without any mercy.

What Habakkuk is drawing to our attention is a new layer of complexity to this world.

It was complex enough for Habakkuk to look at the injustice of his own people - just as it is when we look around and see the violence, and cheating, and extortion of our own people.

But then when you add another nation where some of the most hideous crimes seem like to par for the course, but yet God chooses to use this far more hideous nation to deal with your problems - well, how do we try to make sense of that?

Well, in chapter 2 verse 1, Habakkuk is essentially saying - okay God, I actually want an answer. This is not just a rhetorical question. He wants to know how God is going to answer his complaint.

God’s response

And so from verse 2 of chapter 2, it’s almost like God is saying - okay, I will answer.

I’m going to give you an answer - but it’s an answer that speaks of a future time.

Wait

In verse 3 he says: “though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay”

What’s about to become evident is that Babylon will come to an end, just like Assyria did, but not just yet.

You see, even before this is made clear, we’re told: ‘look, it’s going to come, but you need to be patient’.

Now I partly looked at this last week - but we can still ask, why? Why do we have to wait?

This week, inherent in this whole prophecy we get another answer.

You see, if you have to ask why, then perhaps refer to Habakkuk’s first complaint. That is there are those other injustices that need to be dealt with.

In this way, even though it is almost barbaric in the way it’s carried out, there is a sense in which justice is being carried out where it’s needed.

Now, to our modern ears, that might sound harsh. In a world where smacking a child is seen as abuse we can sometimes recoil from this kind of response. Or from a Christian perspective we might even wonder where the grace-filled God we meet in the New Testament.

Now, while acknowledging that perhaps there is more nuance to explore in this, but the reality is, when a wrong is done, something needs to be done to right that wrong. And while we need to be careful not to take this into our own hands, but when God arranges a reckoning for our wrong doing, sometimes we just need to accept that we need to wait and go through it.

Though it is hard, but when God says “though it linger, wait for it”, sometimes we just need to accept that.

The Woes

Now, take note that I’m about to skip over verse 4 - but I will come back to it.

What I’m rather going to do is show that God is about to pronounce five woes on Babylon.

There’s a lot of details that I’m going to fly over here, but what I want you to pay attention to, is that fact that God does not remain unaware that the people that he is using as his instrument for divine judgement are in fact very wicked themselves.

So let me just name the woes.

The first one in verse 6 is a woe on extortion carried out by the wealthy.

The second woe in verse 9 goes even further and considers the systematic fashion in which this extortion takes place

The third woe in verse 12 is on the promoter of violence.

Fourth woe in verse 15 is for leading people into debauchery.

And finally the fifth woe is for idolatry.

Now, there is actually a lot we could learn from those woes - but it’s verse 20 where we really get the perspective we need. It says:

Habakkuk 2:20 NIV 2011

The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.

In some ways, it is this verse that really helps us to make sense of everything. You see, life is complicated. There is injustice in our own community. And sometimes the thing that comes to correct our misguided path is actually more unjust then our community.

But God sits in the place where he can take charge. He sees what is going on. And he holds it all before him.

It might remain complicated, but there is a God who is over it all, and that is enough.

How do we live

Okay, well that might give us a better perspective. As I said, it might remain complex, but at least we know that we have a God who has it all in hand.

But we still need to live in the complex world - so how do we do that?

Well, let go back to that verse I skipped a moment ago - verse 4.

It is here that we actually find a phrase that gets quoted a number of times in the New Testament.

So we’ll look at this verse now and then consider how it might help us to live in the complex world.

The verse starts by describing the enemy as being puffed up. Being puffed up becomes a big problem. Because being puffed up essentially is putting yourself before God. And in doing so, we lose sight of what is right.

But the verse continues. You see, while the enemy are puffed up, the righteous person by contrast, are said to live by faith.

And I’m going to put forward that faith is the important key factor in all of this.

It is faith that will enable us to live right. And it is faith that will get us through this complex world.

Faith

So what do we mean by faith? Of course, this is one of those words that we as Christians love to say. But sometimes the familiarity of it can mean that it loses some of it meaning.

You see, faith needs to have an object. In other words, faith is not some nebulous state of being. It’s the thing that connects us to God. Faith essentially becomes the act of putting God where he belong.

It’s the thing that enables us in the midst of a messy and complex world to see God who sits enthroned in his holy temple, in complete control of the world.

It’s not blind faith because there is strong evidence for it - but it calls for us to step out even when we don’t have all of the answers.

I call this the key because it is what helps us going from despair at a world that doesn’t make sense, to being in a place where we can actually take the time to see a different perspective - and then we start to grasp what God is doing.

It is by faith, that we will be in a position to start living how God wants us to live. In fact, without faith, the thing that will take our focus is our self.

So how do you work on your faith?

Well I want to suggest you work on your faith by keeping God in focus.

Habakkuk’s prayer

And in some ways, we find Habakkuk doing this when we go to chapter 3. This third chapter wouldn’t look out of place in the Psalms. In fact, it has some of the musical terms that we find in the Psalms.

In verses 2 to 15, we find a reflection on God. It is this kind of reflection that will serve to strengthen our faith.

When we reflect on God, we can do it both by reflecting on the stories in the Bible - which is basically what Habakkuk is doing here. But we can also reflect on how God has worked in our own lives, or the lives of our friends.

A new outlook

But Habakkuk’s prayer actually reveals something truly amazing.

You see, in the second half of this prayer, after his reflection on God, the most amazing transformation comes over him.

Now remember, Habakkuk started his whole prophecy with two complaints. He started out confused in this complex world where injustice seems to reign supreme.

Well, having gone through that turmoil, in verse 16 of chapter 3, we find him at a point where his heart is pounding. His lips are quivering. His bones are decaying and his legs are trembling. In other words - things aren’t particularly good.

But yet he waits patiently - and this is where the change comes on.

You see, verse 17 says: “Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls”… in other words - though it all seems very dire...

Verse 18: “Yet i will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour”.

Did you see that transformation? Habakkuk has gone from a complaining man, to someone who takes joy in his God. It’s not joy in the fact that everything has turned out all fine and dandy - in fact seems remain bleak - but it’s joy in a God that is above all, and who sees all, and has the power to change - and will make a change.

You can’t come to that sort of point with out faith.

Verse 19 then concludes: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights”.

Conclusion

So how do we live in a complex world?

Well, it’s not in pretending that its not complicated. Habakkuk doesn’t unravel all of the complexities. Sure in this prophecy we begin to see how some of it makes sense. That is, God will sometimes uses forces of this world to put an end to wrong doing - but as Habakkuk’s second complaint reminds us, this doesn’t completely make sense of things because all things in this world are tainted by sin.

But rather than trying to unravel to complexity, we can do something different.

By faith, we turn our gaze to God above. The one who is in his holy temple. The one who understands fully and has power to change. The one who will bring change at the appointed time.

And as our gaze in faith turns to this God, we realised we can live in this complex world. And not only can we live in it, we can take joy in our Lord, even when everything is falling apart around us.

Just like Habakkuk, we can move from a point of despair at this world around us - to a point of joy in the Lord who is above all things.

So let me pray...