The Prophet Worrying

Intro

Over the next three weeks, we are going to work through the beautiful book of Habakkuk.

Now, if you have ever read Habakkuk, you may be wondering why we are even going to deal with it. It is short, it is depressing, and to be honest, you may think Habakkuk spoke to God in a way that you wouldn’t.

However, Habakkuk is one of the 66 great books of Scripture, and as such, it deserves attention.

More so than that, it is beautiful. There are great principles to draw out from this text.

As we work through this text, you are going to see some wrestling between God and Man. You are going to see confusion, worry, and fear.

Through the next 3 weeks, you are going to see great truths, greatest of them all is that “The Just Shall Live By Faith”

Before we go further, we have to know a little about Habakkuk. The Prophet who was deeply worrying.

A Little About Habakkuk

Habakkuk is the 35th book in Scripture, nestled close to the end of the Old Testament.

He prophesied around the same time as Nahum, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah.

In this time, Nebuchadnezzar was king in Babylon, this book refers to them as the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans had just defeated Egypt and were headed to Judah to destroy Jerusalem and the temple and send the nation into exile. This ends up happening.

Habakkuk was not okay with this! His very name means “to embrace” or “to wrestle” and we see both happening in this text.

Be Amazed Habakkuk in His Time

He wrestles with God concerning the problem of how a holy God could use a wicked nation like Babylon to chasten the people of Judah, and then by faith, he embraces God and clings to His promises. Habakkuk also wrestles with the spiritual decline of the nation and why God wasn’t doing something about it. Habakkuk wanted to see the people revived (3:2), but God wasn’t answering his prayers.

The prophet’s statement “The just shall live by his faith” (2:4) is quoted three times in the New Testament (

As we go into this text we are going to see how Habakkuk sees God initially, as the three weeks progress, you will see that mindset shift. Today though, Habakkuk first believes that God is indifferent.

God Is Indifferent

Habakkuk 1:1–4 “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! Even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence are before me: And there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: For the wicked doth compass about the righteous; Therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.”

Remember, the nation is close to disaster, as far as Habakkuk is concerned, they are heading for extinction. He calls God out as an indifferent God to their issues.

I believe, just like with Jonah, that we can see ourselves in each of the prophets found in Scripture. So I wonder, do you ever see your circumstances but refuse to see God in them?

Rather, you see God as indifferent to your issues and cause.

This is where Habakkuk is.

Habakkuk cries out to God with his pain and concern, the first word for “cry” in verse 2 indicates a “call for help” but the second use of the word means “to scream, to cry with a loud voice, to cry with a disturbed heart.”

He was crying out to God with all that he had, “Why are you allowing this to happen in the lives of those you promised to love?”

So, why was this happening? Why were the people of God about to be obliterated?

Because they would not obey God’s law.

And it is that simple.

Church, we cry out to God with our injustices, fears, and worries often. And, we should!

But, I wonder how often, when we cry out to God, that we examine ourselves first and realize just how far from God that we truly are?

Exodus 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”

God desires His people. God desired the nation of Israel and He desires YOU and your devotion to Him.

The Israelites forgot this, and we often do too.

God heard Habakkuk’s cry and responded.

God’s Reply

Habakkuk 1:5–11 “Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: For I will work a work in your days, Which ye will not believe, though it be told you. For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, Which shall march through the breadth of the land, To possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: Their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, And are more fierce than the evening wolves: And their horsemen shall spread themselves, And their horsemen shall come from far; They shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: Their faces shall sup up as the east wind, And they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, And the princes shall be a scorn unto them: They shall deride every strong hold; For they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, Imputing this his power unto his god.”

Simply, “I am working, why don’t you see that?”

Be Amazed 1. “Why Is God so Indifferent?” (Hab. 1:2–11)

God answered His servant and assured him that He was at work among the nations even though Habakkuk couldn’t see it. God gave Habakkuk a revelation, not an explanation, for what we always need in times of doubt is a new view of God. The Lord doesn’t owe us any explanations, but He does graciously reveal Himself and His work to those who seek Him.

God was working in a way that His prophet did not understand.

He was moving in a way that His prophet did not like.

But, God does not owe us explanation. We simply owe Him devotion.

God was planning on using the enemy to punish His people.

And, this enemy sounds familiar to me!

Be Amazed 1. “Why Is God so Indifferent?” (Hab. 1:2–11)

The Babylonians had no respect for authority, whether kings or generals. (One of their practices was to put captured kings in cages and exhibit them, like animals.) They laughed at gates and walls as they built their siege ramps and captured fortified cities. They worshiped the god of power and depended wholly on their own strength.

Do you not see our culture in this description?

Do you not see yourself at times in this description?

I do not think that culture in Habakkuk’s times differed all to much from our culture when it comes to their relationship with power and God.

God doesn’t sugar coat this stuff either church. Habakkuk is wondering “why are you doing this to us?” And God simple tells him the truth. You are a sinful nation, and you will be disciplined for it.

Be Amazed 1. “Why Is God so Indifferent?” (Hab. 1:2–11)

They had tried God’s long-suffering long enough and it was time for God to act.

God is Inconsistent

Habakkuk doesn’t like this response. So, he wrongly sees inconsistencies in God.

Habakkuk 1:12–17 “Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; And, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction. Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, And canst not look on iniquity: Wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, And holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, As the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle, They catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; Because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, And not spare continually to slay the nations?”

Be Amazed 2. “How Could God Be so Inconsistent?” (Hab. 1:12–17)

How could a holy God use a wicked nation to punish His own special people?

He questions God’s character as Jonah did in Jonah 4:2 “And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”

Be Amazed 2. “How Could God Be so Inconsistent?” (Hab. 1:12–17)

Men of faith are always the men who have to confront problems,” wrote G. Campbell Morgan, for if you believe in God, you sometimes wonder why He allows certain things to happen. But keep in mind that there’s a difference between doubt and unbelief. Like Habakkuk, the doubter questions God and may even debate with God, but the doubter doesn’t abandon God. But unbelief is rebellion against God, a refusal to accept what He says and does. Unbelief is an act of the will, while doubt is born out of a troubled mind and a broken heart.

Habakkuk tells God, “Oh God, don’t you know that we are more righteous than the Chaldeans?” Which is a totally false understanding of righteousness.

The point of living for Christ is not living better than your neighbor, simply better than you used to with the help of the Spirit of God.

Habakkuk could not grasp why God would allow this to happen to them.

But here is the reality. God has used other methods to chasten His people over the generations, and they still wouldn’t listen.

And, I like how Warren Wiersbe puts it,

Be Amazed 2. “How Could God Be so Inconsistent?” (Hab. 1:12–17)

the greater the light, the greater the responsibility. Yes, the Babylonians were wicked sinners, but they were idolaters who didn’t know the true and living God. This didn’t excuse their sins, but it did explain their conduct. The Jews claimed to know the Lord and yet they were sinning against the very law they claimed to believe! Sin in the life of a believer is far worse than sin in the life of an unbeliever. When God’s people deliberately disobey Him, they sin against a flood of light and an ocean of love.

Habakkuk didn’t see this in the moment.

He was face to face with a seemingly inactive and inconsistent God and didn’t know what to do about it. This was a great problem to Habakkuk, not just one for the nation, but a personal problem between he and God.

His personal walk with God was being affected.

Sometimes, our circumstances affect our personal walk with the Lord. But, let me challenge you with this thought: That is the point!

Be Amazed 2. “How Could God Be so Inconsistent?” (Hab. 1:12–17)

wrestling with these challenges is the only way for our “faith muscles” to grow. To avoid tough questions, or to settle for half-truths and superficial pat answers it to remain immature, but to face questions honestly and talk them through with the Lord is to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ

2 Peter 3:18 “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.”

So often, we hold to the blindly optimistic mindset that “God would never allow that to happen to me” I am too good!

Just like Habakkuk, that is a false understanding of righteousness and it is full of pride!

For 40 years, Jeremiah prophesied to Judah and warned them of this very thing, begging them to turn back to God, yet they didn not listen.

We are often warned that our behavior is going to cause us to stray from God or even cause us to experience divine discipline, yet we are so surprised when it happens.

Habakkuk then reminds God of the terror and evil of the enemy nation, as if God did not know.

He was wrestling with God.

He finished his defense and waited for God’s reply, which will come in chapter 2.

SONG

This morning, examine your hearts. Before we hear God’s encouraging response in chapter 2, ask yourself, am I fully yielding to God and His will? Am I like that Israelites who disobeyed God to the point of being exiled? Am I like Habakkuk who, though I know the truth, am in denial to God’s holiness? Or, am I like the Chaldeans, full of evil, separated from God entirely.

Conclusion

Do you think God is indifferent or inconsistent this morning?

Do you see your circumstances and forget that God is holy and just and will work out your issues for good?

Are you like Habakkuk this morning?

Do you forget about God? Do you forget about His ways? Are you neglecting God this morning?

Are you like the Israelites?

Do you hate God? Do you actively live in disobedience to His ways and His word? Are you an enemy of the cross?

Are you like the Chaldeans this morning?

Come lay your life down at the feet of Jesus.

Come lay your circumstances down at the feet of Jesus.

Come lay your disobedience down at the feet of Jesus.

Come receive repentance!

Are you questioning God this morning? Talk to Him and listen for a response. Model Habakkuk and be honest with God. Trust Him for an honest answer.

He is faithful, He is just, He is good.

The Just Shall Live By Faith. Trust Him this morning.

Romans 11:33–36 “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counseller? Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.”