Sermon Tone Analysis

Scripture Reading:

Introduction

What would you think if God said He was raising up someone to deal with the problems in your nation?

Would you celebrate?

What if He said the one He was raising up was not some sort of godly leader, but a bloodthirsty hoard who worshipped their own military strength?

Would you still celebrate?

Or would you question how a righteous God could allow a more wicked nation to swallow up your nation?

If the latter, then you know how Habakkuk felt.

begins a little bit different than some of the other minor prophets.

We are not given a definitive timeframe.

We don’t know what king of Judah was reigning and we are not told anything about Habakkuk.

But from what we do see within the book, we see that Habakkuk prophesied during the time that Judah was all alone.

The northern kingdom has been taken into captivity by Assyria because of their unwillingness to turn back to the LORD, and God says within the book that He is bringing the Chaldeans - the Babylonians against Judah.

So this would place Habakkuk anytime after the reign of Hezekiah when Babylon is growing in it’s power until the captivity.

This book also is different than many of the other minor prophets in how the prophecies of judgment are given by the LORD.

So far in our studies of the Minor Prophets, we have observed that from the beginning of each book we have God give His thoughts and share His dissatisfactions to the people through the preaching of the prophets.

In Habakkuk, this pattern is reversed.

Habakkuk begins by Habakkuk calling out to God about what he sees within the nation, and then we have God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer, saying what He is going to do to Judah.

kuk 1 - Habakkuk Questions God

1. Habakkuk’s Prayer of Frustration (1:2-4)

This happens twice within this book.

Habakkuk prays to God twice.

After each prayer he receives an answer from God.

Then the book ends with a final prayer of Habakkuk.

Let’s begin by reading Habakkuk’s first prayer in 1:2-4.

This is a prayer that we can often relate to:

“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.”

(, CSB)

Habakkuk laments over all of the wickedness and violence among his people.

This seems to be something that he had been doing for some time now.

Injustice is all around him.

He cannot get away from it.

It is in every direction that he looks, and he wants to know, “God, when are you going to do something about it?

When are you going to bring it to an end?

When are you going to bring justice for the righteous who are being oppressed?”

May this be a question that you and I have asked of God before?

As you see all of the evil around us in our country, or even as we see physical suffering among God’s people, have you ever thought to yourself or have prayed to the Lord, “When is this going to end? When, Lord, are you going to turn things around?”

Honestly, this should be the response of one who is seeking the Lord.

It pains them to see injustice and oppression.

They don’t like to see sin all around them.

They don’t like to see people suffering.

They want God to be active and working.

They want justice to come.

The longer God’s people see sin and its effects, they desire God to get involved in history and to do something about it all.

And often,

hus far in our studies in the Minor Prophets, we have observed God’s thoughts and dissatisfaction being communicated to the people through the preaching of the prophets.

In Habakkuk, this pattern is reversed.

Habakkuk calls out to God

It may be possible that this is how Habakkuk was thinking at this point.

We don’t know for sure what was going through his mind.

But may it be the case that he wanted to see things improve for God’s people.

He wanted to see God bring change among the people - that they would turn to the LORD and seek Him.

If this is what he was thinking as he offered such a prayer, this is certainly not how the LORD responds...

2. God’s Answer to Habakkuk (1:5-11)

“Look at the nations and observe— be utterly astounded!

For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.”

(, CSB)

I am doing something.

I am busy.

I am active.

If I told you about it, you wouldn’t believe it Habakkuk… And what is He doing?

God is at work even though we may not see anything happening.

And what is He doing?

“Look!

I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth’s open spaces to seize territories not its own.

They are fierce and terrifying; their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves.

Their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves of the night.

Their horsemen charge ahead; their horsemen come from distant lands.

They fly like eagles, swooping to devour.

All of them come to do violence; their faces are set in determination.

They gather prisoners like sand.

They mock kings, and rulers are a joke to them.

They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it.

Then they sweep by like the wind and pass through.

They are guilty; their strength is their god.”

(, CSB)

God is going to do something about the injustice in Judah… And it is not what one would expect… He is bringing a wicked nation - the Babylonians into Judah to destroy Judah and to clean up the mess.

And God knows that even as they come to administer His judgment on Judah, they are not going to look at it as though they are an instrument of the LORD.

They are going to glorify themselves.

They are going to worship their own power.

They are going to be unjust and oppressive and violent.

Our hope usually whenever we may ask God to do something about all of the sin and injustice may

This surely would not be what we expect if we as Americans prayed for God to make things right and to remove the sin and injustice and suffering that we are surrounded with.

Our prayers for America may incorrectly assume that the only good response that the Lord could give to our prayer and that the only thing that is God’s just and holy will is that the nation would have a revival, come to repentance and make the laws be in line with God’s will, and that all suffering that we see would end in this life.

This is what we desire God to bring, but we don’t consider that God may have something entirely different in mind.

His way to take care of a wicked nation may be to bring another nation that is just as wicked to judge it and destroy it because of its sin.

His will may be to judge the injustice, to not stop the pain or suffering.

Sometimes things get worse before they get better, and we struggle to understand why… We don’t understand why God gave Satan permission to afflict Job as He did.

We don’t understand why the Apostle Paul had to suffer so much for the Gospel.

We don’t understand why God called His people to surrender to Babylon when they came to destroy Jerusalem.

What seems right to us is to say, “Fight for your nation.

Fight for your people and your family.

That seems like it would be God’s will for those in Jerusalem.

But it wasn’t.