Habakkuk 1:12-2:4: Trusting God When Life Doesn’t Make Sense

Introduction

Story of Adoniram Judson - Called to Burma - longed to see Burmese people come to faith. BUT… God did answer Judson’s prayers like Judson desired. Six years before seeing a convert - in the mean time, struggled to learn the language. His wife died. Three of his children died of disease.

Judson wrote: “If I had not felt certain that every additional trial was ordered by infinite love and mercy, I could not have survived my accumulated sufferings.” All he could do was trust God.

By the end of his life, 8,000 believers in Burma and over 100 churches.

God’s timing was different than Judson’s, but God’s plan through Judson’s life was fulfilled.

Judson’s story is a story of waiting, persevering, and trusting when life doesn’t make sense.

How often have you thought to yourself, “Life doesn’t make sense.” The injustice in our country doesn’t make sense. The personal struggles you endure don’t make sense.

It feels like we get two responses to many of our prayers: the silence of God or an answer we don’t want. E.g., Struggle of singleness - pray for a wife, and you get more years of singleness. Or, pray for healing of a disease, and your health gets worse. You pray for a relationship to be put back together, and it seems more broken.

How do you trust God when life doesn’t make sense? How do you respond when your prayers aren’t answered how you wanted them to be answered?

This morning, as we continue our journey through Habakkuk, I want to show you two ways to respond when life doesn’t make sense.

Wait with expectation.

Habakkuk the unique prophet - instead of a word from God, he brings a word to God - a word of lament.

The book opens with two questions that we’ve all asked: “How long?” and “Why?”

Habakkuk saw the injustices that were committed by his own people and wanted God to respond. If God is just, how could He let such injustice continue? How could God let His people profane His holy name?

God answered Habakkuk’s prayer. He would raise up Babylon as a tool of His judgment on Judah for their rebellion. God had warned about this in Deuteronomy 28:36.

God’s answer? Babylon. Not exactly what Habakkuk had in mind. The Babylonians were even worse than the people of Judah. They were even more unjust. They were even more idolatrous. God was going to use the wicked to judge the wicked? (How would we feel if God used North Korea as a tool of His judgment against America?)

From Habakkuk’s limited perspective, it didn’t seem consistent with the character of God. Notice that Habakkuk doesn’t bring the character of God into question, but He does ask how a holy God could allow the Babylonians to overtake Judah.

Have you ever heard anyone say, “If God is love, then He wouldn’t…” He wouldn’t allow tragedies like 9/11 or a war to continue on in Ukraine or Israel that has taken the lives of so many. If God is merciful, then why would He allow our nation to continue to experience such divisiveness?

For Habakkuk, God was his rock. You’ve felt that way. God has been your rock. In moments where everything around you was falling to pieces, you stood on your faith. But then, God doesn’t seem to be responding like you thought He would. Is He really a firm foundation on which stand?

Habakkuk knew that God was too pure to look on evil - so how could God tolerate the Babylonians and all their evil? Wasn’t there a better way to deal with Judah? You look at the evil of this world or the evil that someone you love has committed against you, and maybe you feel like God just allows it to continue.

Why are you silent? (vs. 13) Habakkuk hasn’t gotten the explanation from God that he wanted. It feels like God is silent towards him, and when you haven’t gotten the explanation you wanted, you’ve felt the same way.

Vs. 13-17 - Habakkuk knows the horror of Babylon. They will swallow up Judah - Doesn’t make sense that God’s plan to deal with Judah would be that one who was more wicked would swallow them up. Habakkuk takes the moral high ground: “Aren’t we better than Babylon? How can you use a nation that’s worse than us to judge over us?”

Habakkuk knew that the Babylonians weren’t coming with treatise and handshakes. They were coming with hooks and nets, hauling people in like fish. Judah would be dragged away like a bloody catch of the day.

Vs. 17 - How long will God let Babylon get away with the slaughter of the nations?

2:1 - You would think Habakkuk would walk away. Can you have faith in a God who doesn’t seem to make sense? Yet, Habakkuk wants a response from God. He wants more understanding. He’s a man wrestling. He doesn’t waiver in his convictions about God. When life is uncertain, he presses in. He asks more questions.

Like a solider, he takes his post on the lookout tower and waits for God. Habakkuk waits with expectation trusting that God will respond. That doesn’t mean that Habakkuk will get the answer that he wants to hear, but it does mean that he trusted that God would not stay silent.

Habakkuk doesn’t run away from God, deconstruct his faith, or call God unloving or unholy. Instead, He waits for God to reveal Himself.

Sometimes, all you can do is pray and wait. God doesn’t give quick fixes. He’s at work on His timetable, not yours. He answers according to His will, not yours.

Across the whole Bible, we’re challenged to wait on the Lord - at least 20 times in Psalms, we’re told to wait on the Lord. “Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him” (Psalm 37:7) Or, “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength (Isaiah 40:31).

As God is working out His plan, He does a work in us as we wait on Him. Often, your faith is formed in the waiting when life seems so unsettled and you have no other choice but to wait and trust.

Waiting is not idleness, it’s expecting. You don’t sit in neutral. You stay at your post, faithful in prayer, in service, in obedience. Like a soldier on guard duty, you don’t wander off until the Commander gives new orders. (God is at work in you in the waiting - He is not idle.)

Waiting is not looking to something else, it’s focusing more on God. You don’t chase distractions—politics, entertainment, or voices that pull you away from faith. You lean in. You spend more time in His Word, more time in prayer, more time with His people.

Waiting is not despairing, it’s rejoicing. You know God is at work. You know His timing is perfect. Waiting means you sing in the silence, you celebrate the victory that’s already certain in Christ.

Believe with endurance.

vs. 2 - “The Lord answered me…” a message/vision to God’s people - clearly inscribed on tablets - Think Ten Commands - visible for all the people. This message was visible too - God wanted the people of Judah to know exactly what He was going to do.

vs. 3 - “For the vision is yet for appointed time…” God’s answer to Habakkuk? Wait longer… The word to God’s people: wait more. In His time, according to His will, God would deal with both Judah and Babylon. God’s plan wasn’t for right now - it was for an appointed time. God works on His timetable, not ours.

“It testifies about the end…” The vision was that God would use Babylon as an instrument of judgment against Judah, but in the end, Babylon would be judged as well. The end of Babylon was certain, even if it didn’t seem like it.

Habakkuk’s question: “Where’s the justice?” It was coming. It was coming for Judah, and it was also coming for every nation that rejected God. Babylon was not going to get away with their rejection of God.

“Though it delays, wait for it…” The judgment of Babylon would feel slow. Judah would suffer, but God would fulfill His plan both for Judah and for Babylon. Ultimately God would fulfill His plan for us in the work of Christ. Wait for it - Every injustice will be undone, every evil nation will fall, every war will cease, every act of senseless violence will be done away with, every wrong will be made right… Wait for it.

vs. 4 - The centerpiece of the book - and quoted three times in the New Testament (Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 10:37-38).

Two ways to live: like the rebellious people of Judah and the Babylonians - prideful and without integrity. Thinking there is no need for God. OR - live by faith. The righteous shall live by faith - believing God and taking Him at His Word even when His Word is difficult to understand or doesn’t make sense.

Even when you can’t see all that God is doing, believe that He is at work in ways you cannot see. Keep trusting Him. Keep living for Him. Endure in your faith.

Who are the righteous? The people who endure in faith - who keep their eyes on God and trust Him to fulfill His plan.

The Hebrews a people in waiting… Gen. 3:15 - wait for a seed. Gen. 15:6 - Abraham counted righteous by faith - waiting on the Lord believing His promises. (Abraham a model of, “I don’t see it, I don’t get it, I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but I believe God is faithful.) “Look at the stars…” At 75 years old a promise of a child! For twenty-five years, Abe waited until he had a child at 100! Wait for a family - Exodus - Wait for a deliverer - Joshua - wait for the land - be patient, obey God, and see victory, David - Wait for an eternal son - Isaiah - wait for a child - BUT… in the waiting, God always faithful to His people. Doing a work in them while they waited - a work preparing them for the Messiah.

God to Israel: Wait in faith BUT the problem for Israel: they weren’t faithful - not models of faith.

God faithful to His only begotten Son. Jesus - believed the plan of His heavenly Father and patiently waited - for three years - endured this world, ministered to the least of these while enduring skeptics and religious elites. Jesus knew who He was and could have revealed His full glory at any moment, but He waited - He waited to reveal His glory at the cross - as He died for you and me, taking the punishment for our sin, only to rise again so our sins could be forgiven and we could be given life - so that WE could be counted righteous and so that WE could live by faith.

The righteous live by faith - Believing that God will deliver on His promise AND we live by faith because of the ONE who was faithful for us.

God is faithful but we are unfaithful - just like Judah. But God does not punish us by sending a nation to wipe us out. God lets us go free by allowing His Faithful One to die in our pace.

We are the righteous who live by faith in the ONE who was faithful to His Father on our behalf.

“For in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith” (Romans 1:17). In the Gospel, we see righteousness - God does not let sin go unpunished. In His time, according to His will, he brought justice at the cross, so all who trust Him by faith can live by having the righteousness of Christ applied to our lives. Have you placed your faith in the One who was faithful for you? This morning, will you repent and believe?

We are still a people waiting - waiting for our Messiah to return to set all things right.

God is calling you to faith - to believe that His plan is perfect and will be fulfilled - and ultimately, when Christ returns as our conquering King, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess, and sin and death will be done away with forever. That’s what we’re waiting for now. It may seem like there’s much injustice in this world and it may seem like your circumstances are unfair. It may seem like life doesn’t make sense, but believe… God is at work.

How do you endure in your faith?

Surrender your timeline. If God worked according to your timeline, what would you miss? All that God wanted to teach you in the hard moments? What are you rushing God for right now? And what might you be missing because you won’t slow down to trust His timing?

Walk by faith, not by sight. That means trusting God when you don’t understand. That means choosing obedience when it’s hard. That means asking in every situation, “What does faithfulness to God look like in this situation?”

Know where endurance comes from. You can endure because Jesus endured for you, and His Spirit is in you. In those moments of wrestling with God’s will and His timing, instead of starting your prayers with your struggles, what if you started with praise? What if you thanked Jesus for how He endured for you? Instead of, “I’m exhausted, I can’t do this…” “Lord Jesus, thank You that you endured the cross for me.” What if your prayers started with praise before problems? How would that reframe your faith in the waiting?