Trust in the Who
Notes
Transcript
Trust in the Who
Trust in the Who
Intro
Intro
So many of us want to have a conversation with the Lord. So often we think that if we could just sit down with Jesus, if He would only visit our dinner table, we would be able to ask questions and get the answers we need.
Habakkuk is going to show us that the conversation we seek probably wouldn’t go the way we think it would.
Background info
Background info
Date Disputed
During the time of Jehoiakim (2 Kings 23)
Habakkuk was thus a contemporary of Nahum, Zephaniah and Jeremiah.
Themes in Habakkuk
God’s Justice
God’s Sovereignty over Evil
Man’s responsibility
God’s Outmatched Wisdom
God’s Mercy
Function of Prophets: To Speak to the People of God on Behalf of God
Habakkuk Speaks to God on behalf of the People of God
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
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.
So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
more fierce than the evening wolves;
their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
all their faces forward.
They gather captives like sand.
At kings they scoff,
and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
guilty men, whose own might is their god!”
Habakkuk’s Complaint
Habakkuk’s Complaint
Kenneth Barker: God is the friend of the honest doubter who dares to talk to God rather than about Him
Habakkuk is questioning what he sees around him
What he knows of God’s Character does not match his experience
Vs 2
Longsuffering
Not an instantaneous attack by another nation
Vs 3
The prophet sees Sin, wrong, destruction, violence, strife and contention all around
John Calvin
Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets Lecture One Hundred and Sixth
he could not, without great grief, yea, without anguish of mind, behold such evils prevailing among God’s chosen people;
Vs 4
The pervasiveness of the issue
The evildoing and lawlessness are so pervasive that justice is stifled
The wicked outnumber the righteous, as they are surrounded
The issue is so pervasive, that the only justice that exists is perverted justice
John Calvin
Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets Lecture One Hundred and Sixth
every one ought to regard his own sins, so as to become an enemy to himself; and he ought also to feel indignant whenever he sees God offended.
The Lord’s Response
The Lord’s Response
Response in Hebrew is Plural
Habakkuk is pleading on behalf of God’s people, and God responds to the people
Vs 5
God says “I am doing a work”
Even while Habakkuk is pleading to God to end his inactivity, God reaffirms it only seems like inactivity. God is always working, whether we can see it or not.
Vs 6
Chaldeans = Babylonians
Bitter = rutheless (Cruelty)
Hasty = Impetuous (Speed)
Vs 7
They are fierce and terrifying;
their views of justice and sovereignty
stem from themselves.
Vs. 8-10
Description of the powerful Babylonian Army
Vs 11
Lest we think these are the good guys
“Their own might is their god”
These are Godless pagans, they are concerned with violence and power
I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
Conclusion
Conclusion
John Piper said “Everyday and in every circumstance, God is doing 10,000 things, and you might be aware of 3 of them”
Our confidence isn’t in the what or the why.
Our confidence is in the who
When we are surrounded by injustice, we cry out to the one who is just
When we are surrounded by violence, we cry out to the one who is peace
When we see sin in our lives and in the world, we cry out the one who is Holy
If our trust is in our understanding of His plan, Our trust is in us, not in Him
As we sang earlier,
When you don’t give the answers, I will trust
what does it say, I will trust there is a plan? NO
We sang I will trust in YOU
Do we trust that God’s plan is good?
Or do we trust that God is good?