Looking Upon Iniquity

Habakkuk 1:1–12 NASB95

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. How long, O Lord, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, “Violence!” Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. “Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days— You would not believe if you were told. “For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs. “They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves. “Their horses are swifter than leopards And keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. “All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. “They mock at kings And rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress And heap up rubble to capture it. “Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their god.” Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct.

How crazy is our world right now? Forget COVID and it’s still a mess! Injustice, violence, lawlessness, corruption, oppression, perversions,… the list goes on. Yet, 2020 is not the first time the world has witnessed a corrupt and broken society. Indeed, people have sought social justice throughout history.

Today, we begin a brief 3 week study of the book of Habakkuk.

Background: Habakkuk was written in the late 6th century BC, likely during the reign of King Josiah, just prior to Judah’s fall to Babylon. Habakkuk writes on the heels of other prophets who have spoken out against the injustices in society - Amos, Hosea, Micah, Isaiah. But Habakkuk is different. He is puzzled- maybe even frustrated at the situation before him.

You see, Habbakuk is living in a time where the king had brought a reformation of sorts. Idols and altars to false gods were torn down, Jewish festivals, feasts, and temple worship had been restored. The newly re-discovered Law was read aloud before the people. Yet, for all this reform & ‘religion’, there was no true transformation of the people. The religious revival had failed to produce a change in people’s hearts. Thus, society continued to embrace evil and capitalized on oppression.

The prophet is looking around him thinking, “These people supposedly revere and worship the one true God… how can this be happening?”

Business owners were still making crooked deals, cheating people, etc. People who claimed to love God, exercised hatred toward one another. What we witness in this study is a prophet who is wrestling with some painful questions. Perhaps you and I wrestle with these as well.

So, over the next few weeks, we will look at Habakkuk’s dialogue with God and seek to learn together as we examine the elements of the conversation.

Discuss: Why was Habakkuk so frustrated?

Today, we are going to focus on the first 11 verses - Habakkuk’s complaint before God and God’s response to Habakkuk.

Here we are asking a very challenging question and I’ll summarize it this way:

Why does God seem to permit evil among His people? (1-4)

Let’s walk through these verses together and discuss what the prophet is experiencing.

(1) This is described as an oracle- literally a burden he is carrying. This is not just an observation, but rather Habakkuk is burdened over the condition of the people of Judah. The situation has caused a weight to settle on Habakkuk. It was beyond him- he was unable to change what was taking place… and it seemed like it was only getting worse.

And so the prophet cries out to God, (Read v.2-3)

(2) Habakkuk has evidently been praying for a period of time for God to intervene. He has likely begged for God to send revival, to bring conviction and to allow the leaders to see clearly their hypocrisy and rebellion against Almighty God. Oh that God would bring a conviction upon their hearts so that they would repent and turn back to the Lord!!

Yet, God has not answered him. Habakkuk equated God’s silence with his permission or tolerance of wrong. Does God not see or does He not care? You can sense his frustration- he feels as though he is being ignored by God.

Habakkuk cries out for God to intervene in the violence- yet each day the crude reality of violence on the streets of Judah overwhelms the prophet.

(3) He questions why he must look upon this wickedness- this should not be the case! Everywhere Habakkuk turns, there is violence and destruction. People are behaving sinfully and nothing is being done about it. There is a sharp division between people, causing arguments and strife. It was utter chaos and insanity.

In v. 4, Habakkuk tells that because of this wickedness,

(4) The law is ignored- people act as if there is no law other than their own opinion. Justice is not upheld- wicked men walk free and unpunished because they have the popular opinion. He writes that the wicked surround the righteous- there are more evil men than God-fearing ones. Therefore, what is called justice is perverted. It is the will of sinful people being carried out, not the will of God.

ILL- Perhaps you can picture what is going on. The rich used their money and power and influence to gain more - they took what they wanted, they took away the voice of the righteous- they forwarded their selfish causes and broke God’s laws without a second thought. They thought nothing of sacrificing the lives and well-being of the poor to make a profit. I can imagine seeing wicked men physically overpowering the righteous in order to squelch their opposition, bringing false charges against them, all in the name of progress.

Where was God? The God who saves- the God who brought the plagues in Egypt, parted the Red Sea? Who led Israel to conquer under the leadership of King David? Was God unable to intervene?

Today, we might wrestle with that same question. Greedy politicians who incite division and violence on false pretenses; the moral laws of God are replaced with self gratification and self-entitlement. The laws we have are re-interpreted by a few powerful people to match an agenda contrary to God’s glory. Those who speak truth are shamed and bullied by the wicked- who call evil good and good evil.

Where is God in the midst of 2020 America? Is He unable to answer our prayers? Is he OK with all of this?

As we move to verse 5, we see that God indeed answers Habakkuk. He gives somewhat of an unexpected answer, but I want to summarize the main point this way:

There is never a time when God is not holy and just; He is not idle nor impotent. (5-11)

Let’s walk through these next several verses .

Right off the bat, God tells Habakkuk that he is looking in the wrong direction. You see, Habakkuk was hoping for God to simply force these wicked people to turn over a new leaf.

(I think we tend to pray this way sometimes too) But, if we really think about it, God does not force man to love Him. And God has given these people ample time to turn from their evil ways and seek Him. In fact, there is no doubt that King Josiah read the words of the Lord to Solomon that we find in 2 Chron. 7:13-20. We are familiar with v.14, but let me read to you-

2 Chronicles 7:19–22 NASB95

“But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will uproot you from My land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. “As for this house, which was exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ “And they will say, ‘Because they forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers who brought them from the land of Egypt, and they adopted other gods and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this adversity on them.’ ”

God tells Habakkuk that He is raising up a nation that will be the instrument of His judgment. God has not sat idly by and tolerated this wickedness. No, He was patient and gave opportunities time and time again for His people to repent and to seek His face, but they refused! What Habakkuk was hoping for was some miraculous change of heart, but it seems as though the nation of Judah was being given over to their sins as we read in Romans 1, and would face the consequences. Habakkuk prayed for God’s blessing to overwhelm Judah and bring justice and peace- God’s answer was that justice would come through judgment on the nation of Judah for they had forsaken God.

God goes on to tell of the might and character of this nation, the Babylonians. (read 5-10)

They are fierce and fast- they are ruthless and barbaric people. They have no regard for decency or ‘international law’. They make their own rules and answer to no one. They are crafty and fast- they will overtake the nation with such a force, there will no time to react. They will capture people to take as slaves, having no regard for them. They are more violent than you can imagine- caring not to shed blood- whether it’s children, women, etc.. They will make the armies seem as children and will laugh at the king, for their strength is great. Judah does not stand a chance. This nation will be plucked from the land.

I wonder how long God will remain patient with us. We have leaders who claim to be Christian, yet enact laws that are clearly against God’s design. People who claim that all mankind is precious as God made us, yet advocate unrestricted abortion. We have people who claim Christ during a worship service, but lie, cheat, and steal during the week. How long will God stay His judgment on men and women who treat Christianity as an activity or option and have no true transformation.

How long will we pray for God to intervene with revival in our country before He intervenes in judgment?

Verse 11 gives us a promise- this nation that God will use to judge Judah will itself be judged by God. They are instruments, but they are responsible for their deeds. Here, we see that God is just. He alone can judge. And you and I are called to trust in His ways.

This is where we stop today- it’s perhaps an uneasy stopping point for many of us. What is our call here? What do we do with this?

Now, we have a ways to go in this book, but as we close our time together, I want to give you a few takeaways:

We can always bring our questions before God.

Are you fearful? Troubled? Frustrated? Go to God. Cry to Him, plead with Him; sit in quiet before Him and allow Him to speak to you

God is not taking a holiday- He is always working even when we cannot see it.

Look, there are times when God seems silent, but you and I need to know that He is still on His throne! He is not powerless nor has He been overcome by evil.

God is able to use what is evil for good.

We will see the Habakkuk didn’t too much like God’s response here either. But we must trust God to do what is right, even when we don’t like it.

I want to appeal to you in this final moment today.

Are you living a life that is void of true heart transformation? Does your daily life reflect your selfish ambitions, or God’s design?

Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3, that he must be born again. He must be given a new heart. Friends, if you have not been born again- if you do not have the Holy Spirit living in you today, you are living a lie. You cannot enter God’s kingdom unless you have been transformed. You can ask God to transform you right here this morning.

You simply must admit that you are a sinner and you need God to rescue you from your sins, make you a new creation.

Believe that God loves you and sent His son Jesus to take the penalty for your sins- believe that He died on that old cross, but rose again on the 3rd day- evidence that God accepted the sacrifice and that those who believe will one day be resurrected to a glorified body.

Confess that Jesus is your Lord. Confess that you will live under His design and plan- Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in ME as it is in heaven.

Let’s pray.