Habakkuk

A. If you could have a sit-down with God and converse with Him one-on-one, what would you talk about it?

1. Would you talk to Him about your FAMILY, your JOB, your HEALTH PROBLEMS, your NEIGHBOR

down the street who has WILD PARTIES every Saturday night?

2. It could be that you’re hoping for some DIVINE insight into the NUMBERS of the next POWERBALL

JACKPOT.

3. Maybe you’d like to talk to Him about WORLD AFFAIRS: the rise of the Islamic Religion in the world,

the BRUTALITY of ISIS, the increased ATTACKS on Christianity.

4. And I think it’s safe to say that there would be a lot of QUESTIONS about the upcoming ELECTION and our CHOICES for PRESIDENT.

B. The Prophet Habakkuk got that SIT-DOWN with God, and he had a lot of things on his mind to talk about.

1. Unlike the other Minor Prophets who addressed the NATIONS on behalf of God, Habakkuk is

addressing God on behalf of the Nation of Judah.

COMMENT:

He is deeply concerned about the SPIRITUAL DECLINE and MORAL DECAY of the people of Judah. WICKEDNESS, IMMORALTY, CRUELTY, IDOLATRY are rampant throughout the nation, and especially in Jerusalem. All the PROPHETS before him poured their hearts out preaching

REPENTANCE, but no one seemed to listen.

Finally, Habakkuk has had it with the Nation of Judah and personally asks God what is He going to do about it? But when God tells him what His PLANS are, that concerns Habakkuk even more.

2. Habakkuk was written around 612-606 BC.

COMMENT:

He had just witnessed the FALL of the powerful nation of Assyria at the hands of the Babylonian army. And now the Chaldeans (Babylon) was gaining more strength as they started out on a CONQUEST to Western Asia, destroying nation after nation and taking its people CAPTIVE. Habakkuk is told by God they were also coming to PUNISH Judah for their WICKEDNESS, and this news greatly DISTURBED him. So Habakkuk has a back and forth CONVERSATION with God about his CONCERNS.

3. Habakkuk’s name means: “EMBRACED” (“One who takes another to his heart”)

1. Overwhelmingly, many Christians, if not most, feel like they are under ATTACK, even by our own

GOVERNMENT at times.

COMMENT:

I have read POSTS and SHARES in FACEBOOK from Christians all over America who are FRUSTRATED and ANGRY with the DIRECTION they perceive our COUNTRY as going, and they don’t understand why God seemingly sits back DOING NOTHING about it. Or, if this is God DOING SOMETHING about it, they certainly don’t LIKE IT and thinks He needs to do something DIFFERENT. (HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?)

2. Rewind 2600 years to the book of Habakkuk, and we realize those same FRUSTRATIONS were expressed even back then resulting in two common CONCERNS about God still prevalent today:

MESSAGE:

I. WHY ISN’T GOD DOING ANYTHING?

A. Have you ever asked that question before? “God are you going to do anything about this?”

1. Habakkuk certainly does in no uncertain terms- Habakkuk 1:2-4

Habakkuk 1:2–4 CSB

How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen or cry out to you about violence and you do not save? Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

a. I don’t think this is the first time the prophet has had this conversation with God.

COMMENT:

Undoubtedly he has lifted his NATION up in PRAYER many times. But instead of seeing the people of Judah getting BETTER, they have gotten WORSE. Instead of seeing them REPENT

and RETURN to God, they have turned FURTHER AWAY from Him.

b. I have PRAYED similar PRAYERS before, haven’t you?

COMMENT:

As I look at the decline of Christianity in America, my heart breaks. Unless God does something about it, my CHILDREN are going to grow up in an America that no longer RESPECTS God’s Word, an America who believes that there is no longer any ABSOLUTES, an America who is ASHAMED to even mention the name “Jesus Christ”. I PRAY often for this great COUNTRY of ours, and for the church of Jesus Christ to stand firm and contend for the faith.

2. What I really like about Habakkuk’s PRAYER is that he feels FREE to be HONEST with God and

just POUR out his heart before Him.

a. Family, God can handle our RAW EMOTIONS and our RAW THOUGHTS.

COMMENT:

It is okay to ask God what is going on. It is appropriate to turn to God in prayer and tell him that we do not understand. There are many events in my life that I could say, “God I don’t get this! I just don’t understand what’s happening.”

I love Psalms by King David. He did not hold back his feelings and expressed them in prayer and worship.

Psalm 28:1–2 CSB

Lord, I call to you; my rock, do not be deaf to me. If you remain silent to me, I will be like those going down to the Pit. Listen to the sound of my pleading when I cry to you for help, when I lift up my hands toward your holy sanctuary.

b. But there is an important aspect of Habakkuk’s faith and David’s lament that we must not overlook. Instead of WALKING AWAY from God because they didn’t like what’s going on, They talk to

Him about it.

COMMENT:

So often getting angry and leaving God is the response that occurs when TRIALS and DISAPPOINTMENT crush our lives. Rather than give up on God, TALK to Him. Tell Him what’s on your HEART. God already knows it all anyway, so just be HONEST with Him.

B. Habakkuk wants to know what God is going to do about the SPIRITUAL DECLINE of Judah, so God

tells him- Habakkuk 2:5

Habakkuk 2:5 CSB

Moreover, wine betrays; an arrogant man is never at rest. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and like Death he is never satisfied. He gathers all the nations to himself; he collects all the peoples for himself.

1. God says to Habakkuk, “You will be utterly amazed at what I’m planning to do, and you’ll see Me

at WORK answering your PRAYER in your LIFETIME.”

COMMENT:

It’s not easy to SEE what God is currently DOING around us. We can see God’s HAND in HISTORY, but have more difficulty SEEING what He is doing in the HERE and NOW. Yet, the fact is, God is WORKING among the NATIONS today and we don’t even REALIZE it! The things that CONCERN you and me . . . God is already ON IT!!

2. “God tells Habakkuk that He is preparing the FIERCE and RUTHLESS Babylonian Army under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar to come SWEEP through and PUNISH the Nation of Judah for their refusal to REPENT and RETURN to Him”

a. Now remember, God has been WARNING Judah for DECADES that this was going to happen

unless they REPENTED.

b. God doesn’t decide on a whim, “I feel like PUNISHING someone today! Let’s see . . . there’s

the people of Judah, I’ll just WHACK them!”

COMMENT:

God has been more than PATIENT with this NATION. He LOVES His people, and this is

the LAST thing He wants to do.

However, He knows that the Israel and the ETERNAL SOULS of future generations are at STAKE. So to preserve Israel and the ancestral line that leads to the coming Messiah, God will have to discipline Judah; even if He has to use a RUTHLESS nation like Babylon to do it!

II. I DON’T LIKE WHAT GOD IS DOING

A. Although Habakkuk wanted God to do something about the WICKED DIRECTION that Judah was

1. The prophet expresses both his DISMAY that God is planning to use Babylon against Judah and his

FAITH that God is in CONTROL- Habakkuk 1:12

Habakkuk 1:12 CSB

Are you not from eternity, Lord my God? My Holy One, you will not die. Lord, you appointed them to execute judgment; my Rock, you destined them to punish us.

a. Habakkuk acknowledges three infinite characteristics of God: He is “Eternal”. He is “God”.

And He is “Holy”.

COMMENT:

It’s for this reason that although the PROPHET doesn’t UNDERSTAND nor even AGREES with what God is planning to do, he knows that his “Lord” and his “Rock” will somehow protect

the RIGHTEOUS while still punishing the WICKED.

b. The prophet confidentially affirms that through it all, “WE WILL NOT DIE.”

2. Habakkuk knows that God is in CONTROL, but he just doesn’t understand why use Babylon that

God just described as being “RUTHLESS and FIERCE” in vv. 6-8 to carry out His PLAN.

a. Habakkuk 1:13

Habakkuk 1:13 CSB

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil, and you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. So why do you tolerate those who are treacherous? Why are you silent while one who is wicked swallows up one who is more righteous than himself?

COMMENT:

The prophet is asking, “God, how can you being PURE approve of such EVIL? How can you possibly use a NATION to deal so TREACHEROUSLY against a PEOPLE who are less

WICKED than they?”

b. Psalm 37:7

Psalm 37:7 CSB

Be silent before the Lord and wait expectantly for him; do not be agitated by one who prospers in his way, by the person who carries out evil plans.

ILLUSTRATION:

I get where Habakkuk is coming from, because I must confess to you . . . I don’t always

UNDERSTAND why God seemingly allows WICKEDNESS to prevail over RIGHTEOUSNESS.

I don’t know what God was doing on June 25, 1962 when the United States Supreme Court

ruled that schools could no longer lead PUBLIC PRAYER. (And we wonder why there are so

many problems in SCHOOLS today.)

What was God thinking when on January 22, 1973 He allowed the United States Supreme

Court to legalize ABORTION, which has resulted in the murder of 54 million unborn babies?

Was God not listening to the PLEADINGS of His people last year when on June 25th the US Supreme Court passed down the ruling that SAME-SEX MARRIAGE was now the law of the land; a practice that God’s Word describes as an “abomination”

B. God’s answer to Habakkuk’s concern is this: “The righteous will live by faith”- Habakkuk 2:4

Habakkuk 2:4 CSB

Look, his ego is inflated; he is without integrity. But the righteous one will live by his faith.

1. As SIMPLE as this sounds, this has always been the MEANS by which God’s PEOPLE has found

VICTORY over the most difficult of CIRCUMSTANCES.

Revelation 2:10 CSB

Don’t be afraid of what you are about to suffer. Look, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison to test you, and you will experience affliction for ten days. Be faithful to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.

2. Whatever happens, God is wanting Habakkuk to know that “those who are righteous will live by

their faith.”

COMMENT:

Whether the BABYLONIANS come or not. Whether the MORAL CLIMATE of the NATION improves or not. In all circumstances, good or bad, the righteous continue to live by faith. 4. God tells Habakkuk that even though Judah will be taken into CAPTIVITY by the RUTHLESS nation of Babylon, “the righteous will live by faith.” a. That is the same FAITH that we are to LIVE BY regardless of what we FACE in LIFE as INDIVIDUALS, as a CHURCH, or as a NATION.

COMMENT:

Our FAITH is not tied to PROSPERITY or POVERTY; SICKNESS or HEALTH; the MORALITY or LACK OF IT in others. Our FAITH is not reliant on whether a REPUBLICAN or DEMOCRAT gets in the WHITE HOUSE or on the RULINGS of the SUPREME COURT. It is SECURED in our God and His Word (Romans 10:17

Romans 10:17 CSB

So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

b. Whatever happens to our own NATION today, “the RIGHTEOUS will LIVE by FAITH!”

CONCLUSION:

A. Habakkuk closes his PROPHECY with a PRAYER of FAITH- chapter 3.

1. He still doesn’t UNDERSTAND nor even AGREES with what God is going to do to finally bring JUDAH to its knees and it FRIGHTENS him, but he has come to the conclusion that whatever God does it will be for the BEST.

He trusted God!

To: Jesus, Son of Joseph

Woodcrafter's Carpenter Shop

Nazareth 25922

From: Jordan Management Consultants

Dear Sir:

Thank you for submitting the resumes of the twelve men you have picked for managerial positions in your new organization. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

As part of our service, we make some general comments for your guidance, much as an auditor will include some general statements. This is given as a result of staff consultation, and comes without any additional fee.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew had been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau; James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings, and they both registered a high score on the manic-depressive scale.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, meets people well, has a keen business mind, and has contacts in high places. He is highly motivated, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory.

We wish you every success in your new venture.

Sincerely,

Jordan Management Consultants