Sermon Tone Analysis

Prayer

Intro

Please turn with me to the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.

If you're having a hard time finding it and turning through books like Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, or Nahum, just keep flipping the pages.

If you're seeing Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, or any New Testament Books, then back up some more.

'Worst case scenario, you can cheat by looking at the table of contents; No judgment here.

As you're turning there, however, it's worth noting that, undoubtedly, you will face situations where there seem to be no satisfactory answers to the hard questions life throws at you.

In a room this size, it's almost certain that more than a few here have wrestled with the question of "Why" at some point in their life.

Why me, why them, why now, why aren't you listening, why aren't you answering, why is it taking so long, why don't you do something, and many more questions beginning with the word "why," have most likely been asked at various times in so many of our lives.

Through the truths of Scripture, we know He has not forgotten or forsaken us, yet we still struggle with the reality of living in a fallen world.

Today, we begin a new series, and we will walk through the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.

The tagline to our series is "Loud Faith in Quiet Seasons."

There are times when God seems to be silent.

As we dig into the book, we will find that the prophet wrestled with the same questions we do.

While he wrote, most likely, around 600 BC, he saw violence all around and wondered when God was planning to do something about it.

He was unprepared for the answer he received, yet his faith in God allowed him to close the book with a beautiful hymn-like prayer.

I've heard it said that the book of Habakkuk begins with a question mark and ends with an exclamation point.

Let's look at the first eleven verses of this short book as we study the first complaint from Habakkuk and the response from God.

**CHANGE SLIDE**- Scriptures

**CHANGE SLIDE**- The Prophet Habakkuk

The Prophet Habakkuk

These eleven verses begin what we know as the minor prophet book of Habakkuk.

When talking about the Old Testament prophetic books, the words "Major" and "Minor" indicate the book's size, not its importance.

Habakkuk is a Minor prophet because it is only three chapters and a total of 56 verses.

Interestingly enough, this short but powerful book is written by a man we know almost nothing about.

Some of what's written in the book helps us to believe that Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah.

While the exact date of writing is not known for sure, there is good evidence to support a date between 609-598 BC, during the reign of Jehoiakim.

During his reign as king of Judah, the reforms made under King Josiah were forgotten, and pagan worship, rituals, and practices, as well as all sorts of wickedness and violence, were widespread throughout Judah and Jerusalem.

The prophet Jeremiah speaks of such things in chapters 7, 11, and 22 of his book.

All of this preceded the destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC and the ensuing Babylonian Captivity.

The iniquity and injustice rampant throughout Judah, and specifically Jerusalem, caused Habakkuk to lament, and it is what God was sovereignly working to punish.

**CHANGE SLIDE**- A Prayer of Lament (1:2-4)

A Prayer of Lament (1:2-4)

We can tell from the book that Habakkuk is a faithful man who loves the Lord and is broken over what is happening in his own nation.

Verse 1 tells us that this is an oracle that the prophet saw.

The word "Oracle" is often used to describe a prophecy of judgment against a foreign nation.

In Habakkuk, it's used to explain what's about to happen to Judah and then eventually Babylon.

Like many other Old Testament writers, Habakkuk uses the name Chaldeans (like in verse 6) as another name for the Babylonians.

In his lament, Habakkuk lays out some specific questions and complaints.

First, he questions how long he will have to cry out for help, yet God will not hear him.

The question "how long" is most often asked by God regarding his people, such as in Exodus 16:28, for instance, where God asks Moses: 'How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my laws?'

The question 'how long' is a cry of distress due to the inactivity and unresponsiveness of the one being spoken to.

The word for "Cry of despair" is the same one Jonah used when he cried out from the belly of the great fish.

Second, he wonders how long he will have to cry out about the violence he's seeing all around him, yet God isn't rescuing him.

Habakkuk is driving at the question: "How can God remain silent and inactive when such iniquity, destruction, violence, strife, and contention are occurring in Judah and Jerusalem?"

Third, he complains that because God isn't active, the law has become paralyzed, and justice is withheld.

The wicked have surrounded the righteous, and any justice that is going out is corrupt and twisted.

One commentator asks: Does this not remind us of Western society today?

The Word of God almost seems irrelevant to our situation, and it seems to have little impact on culture.

Indeed, there is even a conscious attempt to drive God's Word out of the public square.

It appears paralyzed!

Habakkuk uses strong words, but his lament seems to be a cry of faith.

Through his questions and complaints, he is trying to understand the character and actions of God.

Therefore, it should be understood that Habakkuk is not condemning God with critical judgment; instead, he is trying to understand God's ways.

While we may have some of the same questions as Habakkuk, we must be careful.

We may have questions or be concerned for God's justice, but we cannot slip into sin with how we question.

There is a difference between trying to understand what God is doing and accusing Him of wrongdoing.

As Habakkuk tried to make sense of what he saw happening around him, God responded.

**CHANGE SLIDE**- God's Response (1:5-11)

God's Response (1:5-11)

Amazingly, Habakkuk receives a response from God, and it comes with four rapid-fire imperatives or commands.

Interestingly, the imperatives God uses are all plural, meaning God is giving not just an answer for Habakkuk but all His people.

Let's quickly look at them.

First, God commands them to 'look.'

This simply means they are to open their eyes and truly see what is happening in the world.

We are never to put our heads in the sand; instead, God wants us to be aware of what is happening around us.

Second, God then tells them to 'see.'

This does not mean the same thing as 'look.'

Instead, the verbal stem in Hebrew means to give "a careful, sustained, and favorable contemplation'.

In other words, the Lord is telling his people not only to view the world properly but also to think about it.

In a time with such extreme busyness and activity, there seems to be such little time devoted to meditation and deliberation, self-examination, and developing a biblical worldview.

With all that's happening around us, are you being a thoughtful Christian?

Oswald Chambers once said, 'To think is an effort; to think rightly is a great effort; and to think as a Christian ought to think is the greatest effort of a human soul.' (Cited by J. Blanchard, The Complete Gathered Gold (Darlington: Evangelical Press, 2006), p.634.)

Third, God's people are commanded to 'wonder.'

In Hebrew, this verb is reflexive and bears the idea of a person being 'dumbfounded' or 'stunned.'

Genesis 43:33 used the same verb when Joseph's brothers were served a feast in Egypt, and their response was amazement.

Have you ever been so amazed by something that it left you speechless?

On our recent trip to see Mount Rainer, I could only let out a gasp as we came around a turn and saw the mountain seemingly glowing in the evening sunlight.

God's creation has a way of doing that to me.

I can't tell you how many times I've taken H-3 to Kaneohe, and I still can't get over that view as you pop out of the tunnel.

God allows us to see so many amazing things, amen?

He also calls us to watch the effects of His working in our lives, and our response is to be amazed or astounded.

The word "astounded" is the fourth imperative God gave His people in responding to Habakkuk and was intentionally used for emphasis.

It's actually the same verb as "wonder."

Therefore, the end of verse five, when translated literally, reads: 'Astound yourselves and be astounded!'

Why were the people of God to look, see, wonder, and be astounded?

God answers this question by declaring, 'I am doing a work in your days.'

Remember that Habakkuk has been questioning whether or not God is working because injustice and violence are rampant in Judah.

God is emphatically responding with 'Yes!

I am doing a work in your days, and you wouldn't believe it if it was told to you!"

This is important because by saying "in your days," it is not that God is telling Habakkuk that He has simply been working in the past (although that is true) or that he will work in the future (though that is also true), but that he is working now.

Habakkuk wondered if God was idle in the midst of his struggles, and now he knows the truth.

God has never stopped working.

God's response to Habakkuk is as powerful today as it was when Habakkuk recorded it.

Whether or not we have eyes to see or ears to hear, the reality is that God always has been, is currently, and will always be working in marvelous, wondrous ways.

As Christians, we need to find ways to find where God is working and look, see, wonder, and be astounded at what He is sovereignly bringing to pass.

**CHANGE SLIDE**- Title Slide

What Habakkuk couldn't have known on his own was that the providence of God had already been working to punish the rampant wickedness among His people.

He would accomplish it by raising a wicked nation that loved to do violence, seize property, pillage, and plunder, to judge His people.

He wasn't going to force the Babylonians to do evil but instead allow them to do their heart's desire, which was wickedness, and through it, accomplish His purpose.