Habakkuk

Being prepared to hear from God

Main idea- We must be prepared to hear from God

God speaking through the Bible, teachers, friends and family, events and circumstances are all things that we understand pretty well. But impressions, pain and silence are things we just don’t talk much about. The prophet Habakkuk did six things to prepare himself to hear God’s voice

Habakuk, is a one of 12 profits that we find in the old testament. Habakuk is different in several ways from the rest of the profits we read about in the old testament:

Where as most profits shared a message from God with the people, Habakuk actually is sharing something with God from the people. We do not find Habakuk mentioned elsewhere in the Bible.We do not know much about Habakuk, other than what is written in directly the book named after him.We do not have a definite picture of what his profession he has, From what we see Habakuk most likely was a musician and had some role in the temple, but all of that is put together by looking at what is described here in his the book named after him.

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:2-4 ESV

Habakkuk’s Complaint

2  O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,

and you will not hear?

Or cry to you “Violence!”

and you will not save?

3  Why do you make me see iniquity,

and why do you idly look at wrong?

Destruction and violence are before me;

strife and contention arise.

4  So the law is paralyzed,

and justice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous;

so justice goes forth perverted.

Let’s start by thinking about what Habakuk, is doing here, he actually is complaining, he is bringing something to God and wants to know, why are you allowing these bad things to occur I don’t know about you, but there have been times that I had those same questions. So let's look and see what Habakuk does when he wants to hear what God has to say. By what God has to say I do not meet like a voice, but what does God reveal to him when he prays, when he has a conversation with God.

Relationship-

God wants to have an intimate relationship with us. He already knows our deepest secrets but he wants us to bring him our burdens, he wants us to carry the weight of those things for us. To be in any healthy relationship we have to communicate, there are 2 things we can do to be in a relationship with God, Pray and read the Bible.

We can’t really have a healthy relationship if we don’t communicate.. I know my marriage wouldn’t be healthy if we didn’t communicate, especially if everything is one sided.

Want. I must want to hear God.

This can be a tough one for us most of the time, I don’t mean hearing as in God speaking to you out loud, but rather God revealing his plan to you when you come to hime in prayer. God wants us to be

2 I will take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and look out to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

• You’re much less likely to hear God unless you want to hear God. God speaks to those who want to hear from God. ( 8  Let me hear what God the Lord will speak,

for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints;

but let them not turn back to folly. I delight to do your will, O my God;

your law is within my heart.” , . 29 But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.

Withdraw and Wait

2. Withdraw. Get alone in a quiet place.

2 I will take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and look out to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

• You can’t hear God if you are surrounded by noise. • I get up every morning around 5am and sit by himself, in the quiet of the morning, listening to God. Most of the ideas for my sermons begin at home in my quiet spot in the house, so that I can hear God. This is a Time that I normally spend in the quiet with God, in his word and in prayer to him.• Do you have a quiet place? It is vital for you to have a quiet place in your house where you can withdraw from the noise to hear God loud and clear. • “Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.” 16 But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.• Until you pause, and allow silence in your quiet place, you won’t be able to hear God…or at least as fully as you could.

III. Wait. Calm your thoughts and emotions.

• 2 I will take my stand at my watchpost

and station myself on the tower,

and look out to see what he will say to me,

and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

• Now it’s time to settle yourself down on the inside. ()

• "Hurry up and wait!" We can get ourselves all worked up waiting.

• What if we became still? What if we planted ourselves in that favorite chair in the silence of the early morning and simply said, “I’m waiting and ready Lord to receive a word from you today.”

• God speaks to people who take time to listen.My wife won’t talk to me if I start to multitask because she knows that she isn’t getting my full attention. And she deserves my full attention!

• Waiting for God means that we surrender to His timing in our lives, not ours. ((, )

Patience- if we look at the 3rd verse in chapter 2 we see-

3  For still the vision awaits its appointed time;

it hastens to the end—it will not lie.

If it seems slow, wait for it;

it will surely come; it will not delay.

IV. Watch. Let God give you a mental picture.

• “I will look to see what he will say to me…”

• The Bible is full of examples of God giving people a mental picture. In the Bible it’s called a vision or dream. God puts a picture in your mind that you can actually see.

• Each of us needs perspective in life. We get caught up in the small things and forget to see the big picture God has for us.

We hear a story or a joke, and we begin to picture it in our mind. So why wouldn’t God give us a picture to make sure that we know what he’s trying to say?

• “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in Your law.” We see God when we read his Word.

V. Write. Record the answers you receive.

2 And the Lord answered me:

“Write the vision;

make it plain on tablets,

so he may run who reads it.

• A journal allows you to slow down and really examine the very thoughts you are writing down. Then you have a record of God’s faithfulness to you and how God is moving in your life.

• Write down your prayers. Then write down how God answers in the future.

• Write down how your life aligns with God's Word, not how scripture applies to you. The latter is egocentric.

These things allow us to keep a record of what God is doing in our lives, it makes it easier to see our great God in action.

• Ask yourself: “What was God trying to teach me through this event?” We get too busy and we miss connecting the life-lesson God is trying to teach us with the current painful event in our life.

• Writing things down also helps your children and grandchildren who will be interested to read your journal someday. ()

VI. Worship. Thank God for speaking to you.

• 2  O Lord, I have heard the report of you,

and your work, O Lord, do I fear.

In the midst of the years revive it;

in the midst of the years make it known;

in wrath remember mercy.

Thank God for speaking to you. When you receive God’s response to a question it makes you love Him more.

So lets think about this, no matter what Habbkuk felt, no matter how frustrated with things he was he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that his hope was found in God. Habbakuk knew that in due time God would provide the answers that were required, he provided answers to what he has prayed about.

Habakkuk (ESV): Though God’s ways are sometimes mysterious, “the righteous shall live by his faith” (2:4) while awaiting salvation. These words are quoted three times in the New Testament (; ; ).

(ESV): For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.

(ESV): Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”

(ESV): but my righteous one shall live by faith,

and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

The New American Commentary: Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (5) The Nature of God’s Salvation

The prophet and the faithful people who support him expect God to destroy such wickedness. The God they worship cannot tolerate such. Yet for a time God is silent.

Habakkuk finds a relationship with God as Savior even as God retains his silence on the field of human history. The prophet knows God as Savior even as he continues to wait for God’s historical deliverance. Salvation depends on trust in God’s word, in faithfully being righteous even when God does not appear to be (2:4). Salvation is not prosperity now. Salvation is trust in the midst of hardship while God plans his actions according to his ultimate knowledge and will. “Habakkuk’s vision of God as the mighty conqueror of chaos endows him with hope for the future and instills within him the triumphant courage to endure a dismal present in the joyous confidence that this vision of God will prove reliable.…