Questioning with Habakkuk

April 30, 2023 – Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 – Questioning with Habakkuk

Everybody has a theological paradigm. What’s a theological paradigm? It’s a worldview. It’s the framework by which you understand God and the world you live in. You, along with everybody else in the world, have a framework of assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions that are used to interpret what you know about God, what you know about yourself, and what you know about God’s relationship to you and this world.

As I said, everybody has a theological paradigm. Even the atheist has a theological paradigm. The assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions of the atheist’s paradigm are a lot different than the assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions of the Christian’s paradigm, but both of them are using their paradigm to arrive at a perspective of God, themselves, and the world we live in.

Theological paradigms are supposed to be fluid. What I mean by this is that you’re supposed to always be improving the assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions that make up your paradigm. Whenever you learn some new truth, you need to fit this truth into your paradigm. Sometimes the new truth fits very well into your paradigm. When this happens, it validates the assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions that apply to that part of your paradigm. But other times, the new truth you learn does not fit into your paradigm. This has the effect of challenging whether some of the assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions of your paradigm are accurate, because if they are accurate, then you wouldn’t have trouble fitting new truth into your paradigm. So when conflicts, or tensions, or contradictions appear within your paradigm, you need to assess which of your assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions need to be improved. When you do this in light of God’s revealed truth, you improve your theological paradigm. You expand your paradigm. It becomes a more accurate framework through which you interpret what you know about God, what you know about yourself, and what you know about God’s relationship to you and this world.

But this is not as easy as it sounds. Knowing which of our assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions need improvement can be a difficult job. This requires work. It requires studying God’s word. And it requires us to identify principles from God’s word and make those the principles of our theological paradigms. That’s challenging. But sometimes the greatest challenge is our willingness to be honest with ourselves. Let me explain.

When we’re confronted by a truth that doesn’t fit into our paradigm, we understand that some of our assumptions, doctrines, theories, or opinions need to be modified to accommodate that truth. But we also understand that modifying certain parts of our paradigm will have additional implications that we may not be willing to face; additional implications that might be push us into some uncomfortable situations. So there’s a temptation to not be honest with ourselves. Instead of acknowledging the need to make the necessary improvement to our paradigm, we might try to reject the truth that’s exposing the weakness in our paradigm, or we might try to discredit the truth that’s exposing the weakness in our paradigm, or we might try to explain it away in some manner. Why? Because we don’t want to deal with the implications of changing one or more of our assumptions, doctrines, theories, or opinions.

For example, in Acts 7, when Stephen recounted to the Jews how their forefathers had persecuted the prophets of God and rebelled against the Lord, he concluded his speech by telling them that they’re doing the exact same thing. “You always resist the Holy Spirit,” Stephen asserted in verse 53. “As your fathers did, so do you.” Verse 54 says that when the Jews heard Stephen’s indictment, “they were cut to the heart.” Literally, verse 54 is saying they were “cut in two.” The Jews knew that Stephen had spoken truthfully about them because his indictment pierced them in their hearts, making their sinful deeds and attitudes known to them.

So what did the Jews do with this truth? It didn’t fit into their theological paradigms. The truth that Stephen had spoken revealed tension and contradiction within their paradigm, so they had to do something about it. So did they modify their assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions to accommodate the truth that had just cut them to their hearts? Or did they try to keep their theological paradigm intact by rejecting the truth through some form of intellectual and spiritual dishonesty? Acts 7:57 says they chose the latter. They stopped their ears so they could no longer hear what Stephen was saying and they stoned him to death. That, brothers and sisters, is what it means to be dishonest with ourselves. The Jews didn’t want to modify their theological paradigm because that would be too uncomfortable for them. Modifying their paradigm means they would have to humble themselves. They would have to admit they were wrong. And they would have to repent of resisting the Holy Spirit. So rather than dealing with these unpleasant consequences, they unrighteously suppressed the truth that exposed the weakness in their paradigm.

Brothers and sisters, this temptation to be dishonest with ourselves is a very strong temptation, and it’s especially strong when our pride is at stake. This is because our pride doesn’t want our sin to be exposed to others. Nor does our pride want our sin exposed to ourselves. Our sinful pride doesn’t want to admit that somebody else is right and we are wrong. Our sinful pride doesn’t want to admit that we’re fearful. And our sinful pride doesn’t want to admit that we’re insecure. Or that we’re vulnerable. Or that we’re doubting. Or that we’re hurting. Or that we’re anxious. Or that we’re in need of assistance. There are 1,001 reasons why we might be tempted to reject an element of truth, or suppress an element of truth, or ignore an element of truth, when that element of truth exposes a weakness in our theological paradigm that’s personally challenging to deal with. Do you know what I’m talking about, brothers and sisters? Have you been there? Have you experienced that temptation?

Here in Habakkuk chapter 1, Habakkuk is having a weakness exposed in his theological paradigm. What I want us to see in our sermon text is how Habakkuk responded to the challenge to his paradigm. He responded well. He did exactly what he should have done. And when we pay close attention to the steps he took in responding to his challenge, it serves as an exemplary model for how we can respond to our challenges.

To set the context for our sermon text, chapter 1 begins with Habakkuk groaning over the spiritual and moral depravity of the Jews who are living in the southern kingdom of Judah. So he does what all of us should do in that situation: he brings his lament to the Lord. We can discern the nature of Habakkuk’s lament from the six nouns he uses in verses 2 and 3. He describes the wickedness in Judah as (1) violence, (2) iniquity, (3) trouble, (4) plundering, (5) strife, and (6) contention. Then in verse 4, Habakkuk adds to his lament by explaining how God’s law has lost its power in Judah. The rulers and leaders of the southern kingdom don’t enforce God’s law anymore. They ignore it, so “justice never goes forth,” Habakkuk says. The wicked take advantage of the righteous, and the righteous have no recourse in the civil courts because only perverse judgement proceeds from the civil courts. So Habakkuk is bringing his lament to the heavenly court. His theological paradigm led him to the understanding that God is able to accomplish the correction that was needed in Judah.

The Psalms and Proverbs had been written more than 300 years before Habakkuk was having this conversation with God, so there’s no doubt the Psalms and Proverbs were the source of many of the doctrines that contributed to Habakkuk’s theological paradigm. Let me call your attention to three doctrines that are relevant to what Habakkuk is experiencing here in chapter 1.

The first doctrine has to do with God’s omniscience. Habakkuk knew that the Lord was seeing everything that was happening in Judah. He could have derived this from Psalm 33:13-15, which says, “13 The LORD looks from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of His dwelling He looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; 15 … He considers all their works.” So Habakkuk’s theological paradigm included the omniscience of God.

The second doctrine has to do with God’s faithfulness to His covenant people. In Psalm 89:3-4, God says, “I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn to My servant David: 4 ‘Your seed I will establish forever, and build up your throne to all generations.’” So Habakkuk’s theological paradigm included the knowledge that God had promised to David to establish his seed on the throne forever.

And a third doctrine that was part of Habakkuk’s theological paradigm has to do with God’s loving correction to His covenant people. Proverbs 3:12 says, “For whom the LORD loves He corrects, just as a father the son in whom he delights.” So when Habakkuk brought his lament to the Lord in verses 2-4, these three doctrines were helping form his expectation for how God would respond: (1) The Lord looks down from heaven and sees all the sons of men, so He obviously sees what’s happening in Judah. (2) For whom the Lord loves, He corrects. (3) And the Lord loves the people of Judah because they’re His covenant people.

So Habakkuk expected the Lord to bring fatherly correction to the people of Judah. Perhaps Habakkuk was thinking this correction would take the form of God raising up another righteous king who would bring reform to Judah, like Josiah did. Or maybe he was thinking along the lines of God bringing drought and famine upon Judah, like He had done in the northern kingdom of Israel. We don’t really know what Habakkuk was expecting, but we do know what he was not expecting. He was not expecting the Lord to send the fierce and wicked Babylonians into Judah. He was not expecting the Lord to say, “I’m going to send a violent world superpower into Judah and they’re going to gather captives like sand.”

That was a shocker to Habakkuk! It was a shocker because this revelation of God’s intent didn’t fit into Habakkuk’s theological paradigm. We know this because of Habakkuk’s response to the Lord in our sermon text. In his response, we see that Habakkuk is struggling to understand why the Lord would allow the people of Judah to be devoured from the land. You can sense the tension Habakkuk must have been experiencing with his knowledge that God had promised to establish the seed of David on the throne forever. And Habakkuk is struggling to understand why God would use a nation so excessively wicked to devour a nation that’s only partially wicked. How is that like the loving discipline of a father?

God knew that this was going to be shocker for Habakkuk to hear. He even said so back in verse 5. Before giving any of these details about what the Babylonians are going to do, the Lord said to Habakkuk, “Look among the nations and watch—Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.”

So the Lord knew that the truth He was about to reveal to Habakkuk was going to challenge his theological paradigm. What we’re seeing in our sermon text is Habakkuk’s response to having his paradigm challenged. And what I want you to notice is that Habakkuk responds righteously to this challenge. He doesn’t reject the element of truth that’s challenging his paradigm, nor does he try to suppress that element of truth, or ignore that element of truth; rather, he seeks correction from the Lord so he can improve his theological paradigm to accommodate the truth the Lord has revealed to him.

As we consider Habakkuk’s response in our sermon text, we can identify four steps he took in approaching his challenge. I submit to you that these four steps are a righteous pattern for dealing with any challenge we face. All of us will face difficult challenges in our lives. If you’re not facing a difficult challenge right now, then you will be soon. That’s because all of us sin, and all of us live in a fallen world that’s groaning under the curse of sin.

So some of us are challenged with difficult relationships within our family.

Some of us may have to deal with an unfaithful spouse.

Some of us may have to deal with rebellious children.

Some of are going to receive a serious diagnosis from our doctor.

Somebody might lose their job without any notice.

Somebody might experience prolonged financial troubles.

Somebody might have their identity solen and their bank account drained.

And all of us are going to suffer the death of our loved ones.

When you’re challenged by a difficult development in your life, you might have trouble reconciling that with your theological paradigm. Which means, you’ll probably be asking yourself some impassioned questions:

Why is God allowing this to happen to me? Doesn’t He love me?

Is God angry with me? Is He punishing me?

Has God forgotten about me? Has He turned His back on me?

Why won’t the Lord let me walk in His blessings?

Why doesn’t He deliver me from my pain and suffering?

Why this, Lord? Why that, Lord?

Habakkuk had similar questions. He found himself in a situation that he was having trouble understanding. So let’s look at the steps he took to approach his challenge righteously. And let’s consider how we can use these same steps for dealing righteously with our challenges.

The first step Habakkuk implemented is to do nothing until his emotions were under control. When confronted with a difficult and challenging situation, many people emote. Many people let their emotions take over and they begin to say things that ought not to be said. Ecclesiastes 5:2 warns, “Do not be rash with your mouth and let not your heart utter anything hastily before God. For God is in heaven, and you on earth; therefore let your words be few.”

A similar principle is found in the New Testament. James 1:19-20 says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”

So whether the emotion is wrath, or fear, or hatred, or bitterness, allowing your sinful emotions to have control over you does not produce the righteousness of God. When Habakkuk approached God in verse 12, he came as a person whose emotions are under control. In other words, he was not quick to speak. He was not rash with his mouth. He didn’t utter anything hastily before God. Rather, he approached the Lord in reverence and self-control.

The

The second step Habakkuk took is to identify what he knew to be true about the nature and character of God. Look at verses 12 and 13. Habakkuk starts by acknowledging the eternal and self-existent nature of God in verse 12, “Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God…” And then Habakkuk adds, “my Holy One?” So not only is Habakkuk identifying the eternal and self-existent nature of God, he’s also identifying the holy character of God. And don’t miss the possessive pronouns in this first sentence. Habakkuk says, “O Lord my God, my Holy One.” So in the first sentence in verse 12, Habakkuk has already identified three doctrines from his theological paradigm that he knows to be true. These are non-negotiables. These are things that Habakkuk knows to be true without a doubt. (1) He knows that God is eternal and everlasting because it says so in Psalm 90:2, “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.” And Habakkuk (2) knows that God is holy because it says so in Psalm 22:3, “But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.” And Habakkuk (3) knows that he has a relationship with the eternal and holy God. He’s able to say that God is his, just as David was able to say in Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.”

Dear friends, when you face the challenging situations in your life, start with the first step of bringing your emotions under control, and then proceed to this second step where you identify what you know to be true about the nature and character of God. Why? Because the nature and character of God are the foundation upon which all other truth is understood. Which means, organizing your thoughts upon the nature and character of God is going to guard you from straying into wild and unprofitable speculation.

Are you familiar with bowling bumpers? They’re the metal rails that pop up along to the sides of the bowling lane. They’re purpose is keep the bowling ball from going into the gutter. When the rails are in place, the bowling ball will never go in the gutter because the rails keep bumping it back into the lane. Your knowledge of the nature and character of God functions like bowling bumpers. It keeps you out of the gutter of wild and unprofitable speculation. It keeps you from dubious and sinful speculation about what God might be doing during the challenging episodes in your life.

For example, there’s a scene in the Fiddler on the Roof where Tevye’s horse sprains its leg right before the Sabbath is about to begin. Tevye still has some milk deliveries to make, but he doesn’t have a horse to pull the milk cart. So as Tevye is pushing his milk cart down a dirt road, he begins to speculate about what God is doing in his life. He says…

“Dear God, was that necessary? Did you have to make him lame just before the Sabbath? That wasn’t nice. It’s enough you pick on me. Bless me with five daughters, a life of poverty, that’s all right. But what have you got against my horse? Really, sometimes I think, when things are too quiet up there, you say to yourself, ‘Let’s see, what kind of mischief can I play on my friend, Tevye?’”

This scene is supposed to be funny, but it’s not. It’s not funny because the mere suggestion that God would act mischievously to break His boredom is an affront to God’s holiness. Had Tevye first identified what the Scriptures say about the holy character of God, then that would have acted like bowling bumpers; it would have kept his thoughts from falling into the gutter of sinful speculation.

Knowing that God is holy prevents you from speculating that God is up to something mischievous or sinister in your life.

Knowing that God is sovereign—that He upholds all things by the power of His word—prevents you from speculating that the circumstance you’re facing is outside of His control.

Knowing that God is omniscient—that He knows everything—prevents you from speculating that something happened to you that took Him by surprise.

Knowing that God is faithful—that He will never leave you or forsake you—prevents you from speculating that He has abandon you by turning His back on you.

Knowing that God is just—that He is completely righteous in all His judgments—prevents you from speculating that He’s punishing you for the sins that Jesus has already bore the punishment for.

Knowing that God is omnipotent—that He mighty and powerful over all things—prevents you from speculating that He doesn’t have the ability to help you in your time of trouble.

Knowing that God is compassionate prevents you from speculating that He doesn’t care about your suffering.

And knowing that God is love prevents you from speculating that you’re not valuable; that you’re loved; that your life has no worth or purpose.

Do you see the point I’m making here? Do you see the value of establishing all thought and contemplation upon the foundation of God’s nature and character?

Habakkuk goes on to identify more truths about God’s nature and character. In verse 12, he identifies the sovereignty of God, “O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.” He’s speaking of the people of Judah here. Habakkuk is acknowledging the truth that God has sovereignly ordained for His covenant people to receive the loving correction of their heavenly Father.

In verse 13, Habakkuk revisits the holiness of God, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.”

It’s only after he has laid out these relevant truths about God’s nature and character does Habakkuk begin to ask the “why” questions. The third step, therefore, is to begin asking the Lord questions about the things you’re having trouble reconciling with what you already know to be true about God. In other words, your questions should be designed to improve and expand your theological paradigm. You say, “I know this to be true about You Lord, but then how do I reconcile this other thing with that truth?”

Look how Habakkuk does this in verse 13, “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” In other words, Habakkuk is asking, “I know You are of holy, God. Your eyes are so holy that You cannot even look upon evil, but then how am I supposed to understand You being able to watch the wicked Babylonians devour Your people?” And then Habakkuk asks, “I know You are sovereign over all the affairs of this world. Nothing happens without Your approval. How is it, then, that You approve of Your people being made like the fish of the sea and captures in the net of the Babylonians?” And Habakkuk is asking, “I know You’re the one-and-only eternal and everlasting God. Why is it, then, that the Babylonians worship their nets and idols? Why do their nets and idols receive credit for the things that only You have done?”

Do you see what Habakkuk is doing in this third step? He’s taking what he knows about the nature and character of God, and then he’s asking the Lord, “How do I reconcile the things I’m witnessing and experiencing with what I know to be true about You?” Then he waits on God to provide the answer. That’s the fourth step; waiting on God to provide the answer. But you’ll notice from verse 1 of chapter 2 that waiting on God is not a passive thing. Habakkuk says, “I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me, and what I will answer when I am corrected.”

Some people think that waiting on God is just sitting around until He answers in some miraculous way. They’re waiting for a hand to write the answer to their problem on their living room wall. It’s evident when a person is passively waiting because they’ll complain about how long the Lord has been silent. You ask them what they’ve done about their challenging situation and they say, “I prayed to God about it.” And so you reply, “That’s a great start. Then what did you do?” And they stare back at you with an expression that says, “What do you mean? I told you, I prayed about and now I’m waiting for God to answer me, but He’s not answering me.”

Notice how Habakkuk is not passively waiting on God, rather, he actively waiting on God. He says that he will stand his watch by positioning himself on the watchtower. In the ancient times, the watchman on the watchtower was the person who actively scouted the area outside the city, ready to blow the trumpet if he saw an enemy army approaching. But the prophetic books of the Bible use the watchman on the watchtower in a metaphorical sense. For example, Jeremiah 6:17 uses the watchman as a metaphor for the prophets who had declared the warnings of God to the people of Judah. Speaking through Jeremiah, God says that He set watchmen over Judah, telling them to listen to the sound of the trumpet, but the people wouldn’t listen. The Lord says the same thing in Ezekiel 33:7, “So you, son of man: I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me.”

Prophetically speaking, the watchman is the person who hears a word from the mouth of the Lord. So when Habakkuk says that he takes his stand as a watchman on the watchtower, watching to see what the Lord will say to him, he’s describing the activity of searching for the Lord’s answers to his questions. And so it is for you and me. Praying to God, asking Him questions about the challenging situations in your life is a great start. But then you need to set yourself as a watchman on the watchtower. In other words, you need to actively be looking for God’s answers to your questions. And where should you be looking?

In the Bible. God speaks to us through His written word. It contains everything you need for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness, so you can be complete and thoroughly equipped for every good work. Or to put it slightly differently, the Bible contains everything you need to improve your theological paradigm. The Bible contains everything you need to bring fine tune your assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions so that they’re able to accommodate every aspect of God’s revealed truth.

Habakkuk was ready to improve his theological paradigm. He indicates at the end of verse 1 that he’s expecting to receive “correction” from God. Some English Bible translations use the word “reproof” or “rebuke.” I don’t think that’s the best translation because it implies that Habakkuk sinned in asking God the questions in chapter 1, but there’s no absolutely no indication anywhere else in the book of Habakkuk that God was displeased with Habakkuk’s questions. “Correction” is the better translation because it shows how Habakkuk sought the Lord for answers, and when the Lord responded to Habakkuk, he received answers to his questions. In that sense, Habakkuk was “corrected.” His theological paradigm was improved and expanded from what it was before.

Habakkuk has given us a model for dealing with the difficult and challenging circumstances in our lives. When you’re having difficulty reconciling something with the your theological paradigm, (1) pause to make sure your emotions are under control, (2) establish what you know to be true about the nature and character of God, (3) ask the Lord to help you understand the parts of the situation that you’re having trouble reconciling, and (4) then actively pursue His answers in the Scriptures. And beware of the temptation to not be honest with ourselves. Know that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Know that you can stop your ears from hearing the truths you don’t want to hear. Know that you can deceitfully preserve and protect those portions of your theological paradigm that need to be improved, but you fear it will be too uncomfortable improving them. Trust that the Lord’s grace is sufficient for whatever challenges and difficulties will arise as He brings your assumptions, doctrines, theories, and opinions into greater conformity to His truth. You should never resist the truth, brothers and sisters. Rather, we should always pursue the truth and submit ourselves to the truth, because the truth will set you free.