The Questioning Prophet 2

Habakkuk 1:12–2:5 ESV

12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. 17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? 1 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. 2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 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. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. 5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.”

Introduction

Last week, we looked at Habakkuk’s question to God on how long He would allow the Jews to continue sinning openly without punishment. The prophet was tired of looking at the sins of Judah, saddened by the wicked state of the nation, and recalled how he had seen God move mightily with the restoration of Israel the return back to God. Now, all he could see was an evil and sinful world. He prayed for the sinful condition of his country, and felt as though he had not been heard. “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?” Habakkuk was asking God, how long do I have to endure this sinfulness and pray for deliverance, only to feel as though you do not hear me or listen? He was not ready for the answer he would receive. “ 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”. Um, Lord, can I get a second opinion? Lord, you know I’m aggravated by the state of our nation, but does it really make sense to allow a much more wicked nation to overtake us? What are we going to learn from that??? Well, one answer could have been, you don’t know how good you’ve got it until you lose it. You see, Judah and the Jewish nation as a whole had a bad habit of not realizing just how good they had it. God had miraculously saved them from death during the famine, had delivered them from the bondage of slavery, had given them their promised land, had made them into a great nation, BUT they couldn’t see how good they really had it. They couldn’t see all they had, because they were too busy seeing what they didn’t have. As I have said many times before they were spoiled. They knew they were God’s chosen people, but in many instances they refused to choose God. As a righteous God, one who can only stand for good, He could no longer allow their sinful actions to go unpunished. As we look at today’s text, though, we see Habakkuk was not prepared for the answer God gave him and his response is one similar to what we would give today when faced with uncertain answers to prayer. Really God? The Chaldeans? You’re going to use them??? How can you use someone more wicked that we are as a means of divine punishment? Habakkuk’s response, while not disrespectful, was blunt and quite pointed. He points out fact - God, I know you are eternal, I know you are holy, but I can’t believe you would allow someone who deserves punishment more than us to overthrow your nation. These questions weren’t questions of doubt, or uncertainty, but came from a man seeking to understand God better. He can’t understand the divine judgment that will be carried out. But yet, what we are allowed to see here is this - God will punish sin and hold sinners accountable for their disobedience - even if it means using their enemies to do it. There is a lesson here for us church, we cannot continue to go on living in sin as a nation without expecting God’s divine judgment to be passed on us also. God, righteous by His definition, cannot continue to allow sinful attitudes and acts to sustain this nation. There will be a time where we, too, will face the same fate as Israel. It may not seem fair, and I firmly believe the only reason God has not judged us yet is because of faithful and righteous Christians who petition God constantly for protection of our nation. We can’t stop praying and petitioning God, but we, too, cannot continue to tolerate the sinful attitude of our nation.

Second Plea

Habakkuk 1:12–17 ESV

12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. 17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

Habakkuk got his answer, but it was not what he was looking for. How could a holy God tolerate His people being so disobedient? How could God be silent when the wicked people would overthrow those more righteous? Judah may be bad, but not in comparison to the Chaldeans! But yet, these were the exact people God was willing to use to prove His point. Habakkuk was not convinced God had answered his first question. How could a holy God use a wicked nation to punish His people?

The prophet starts his rebuttal by focusing on God’s character. God, you are eternal, God, you know you are our Lord and we are your people! Isn’t this like us? God, why don’t you answer me? God, that’s not the answer I expected! Yet, when the prophet was shocked and concerned with the answered, he did not approach God with his doubts, but confirmed his goodness, faithfulness, holiness, and reminded himself of his relationship “my God”. God promised the longevity of Israel and their descendents, Habakkuk reminded God of this promise, the eternal covenant that had been made. He knows God’s people would not be allowed to die - even though they may be overtaken, they would never be completely destroyed. Habakkuk knew God’s promises were true, and God was unchanging. God would protect those who were faithful.

Even through the nation as a whole would be protected, God still could not allow the disobedience to go unpunished and the Chaldeans would be the ones who God allowed to deliver the punishment. The entire nation had become corrupt, and the entire nation would be punished. They had rebelled so far, God would have to destroy the nation as it was and start over with the few faithful who still followed Him and obeyed His Word. While it would seem the nation would be completely destroyed, those taken captive scattered, God would preserve the faithful. Habakkuk knew this, and praised God for His faithfulness.

Even though Habakkuk questioned God’s tolerance of evil, he was even more concerned with a wicked nation like Babylon being used to punish God’s own chosen people. How could God allow a wicked nation to destroy His people? Even in the wicked state of Judah, they were still God’s people and not as wicked as the Babylonians! To the prophet, it seemed as though God was allowing a great injustice to take place. God’s people would be overtaken as easily as fish in the sea would be gathered with hooks and nets. Why would God allow wicked people to overcome? They are idol worshipers, rejecting God completely. They were worshipping their own strength and their own might.

Habakkuk ends his questions with this, if the Chaldeans are so wicked, arrogant, and idol worshipers, all of which were worse than Judah’s, how could God allow them to overcome his own? He questioned God, but was humble in his approach to God. Questioning the troubling and confusing revelation, not arrogantly protesting.

Do we ever question God’s methods and ways? God is love, but is also vengeful. God is goodness, but He allows evil. God has chosen His people, but allows the wicked to judge them? We know the difference between good and evil, and our minds, our conscience knows that evil deserves punishment and goodness deserves reward, but this rarely happens in life. We look around us and all we tend to see are good people suffering, and evil prospering. We can’t help but ask ourselves, why? When will God stop all this evil? We could learn from Habakkuk. When we don’t understand what God’s plan is, why He is not answering prayers or giving clarity, even if we are confused or frustrated, we should approach the Lord in humility. We must remember who God is, and who we are in comparison. Have faith that God will see us through, even when it seems unfair to us.

Habakkuk’s Frustration

Habakkuk 2:1 ESV

1 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 that the prophet had asked God to consider all his concerns, he patiently waits. “I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower”. We, too, must be patient when we are asking God for answers. Know that our prayers are heard, and even when we may not receive the answer we are wanting, or not at the time we want it, we must remain patient. Habakkuk stood watch, with purpose, and focused completely on hearing the voice of God. He was like a guard, not abandoning his post until God’s answer came. He had faith God would provide an answer, so he willingly wait on God’s response. While there is power in prayer, we must also be willing to patiently wait on His response.

God’s Second Response

Habakkuk 2:2–5 ESV

2 And the Lord answered me: “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 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. 4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. 5 “Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.”

And the Lord answered me. When God speaks to us, He speaks clearly. One of the purposes of patiently waiting is so we can unmistakably hear God’s answer. But again, we must be prepared for His answer.

Write this down…God’s words were important enough to be recorded for us all to read. The final revelation will be fulfilled at the end times, when Christ returns - at the appointed time. Evil will be one day dealt with completely and eternally. But this will happen in God’s time, not mans. While the certainty of God’s plan is known, the timing is not. For the Israelites, Isaiah had told them 70 years would be their punishment. Just as the wickedness of Babylon rule over Israel would end, there will be a time when wickedness will end completely, too. The Lord told Habakkuk to wait, and since these words were for all of us to learn from we, too, must patiently wait to see what God’s plans are for our lives and for this world. God will one day execute perfect judgment on earth, bringing all things to a perfect end. Until then, we, too, should stand watch, in the guard house, alert and ready to act, until His plan is complete.

The Chaldeans relied on themselves - arrogantly - but failed to understand they were handicapped by their own humanity. They rejected God, were not satisfied, they were relentless and greedy, they always wanted more. God says their greed is as wide as Sheol - the place where all the dead were held - an expanse without end. And like death, there is never enough - there will always be death as long as there is life on this earth. Without God, we will never be satisfied either. While we may think political leaders have power to control this world, we can never forget the Lord orchestrated these things long before a politician could dream them up. However, we have to also be aware that continued wickedness can not go unpunished. We are watching God’s divine plan unfold before us, and all we see is for His ultimate glory. We must be willing to, as Habakkuk says, just live by faith. The righteous live by faith, it is our faith in Jesus that saves us, and it is our faith that will bring us through many trials in life.

Closing

The nation of Judah had seen God’s blessings, and yet they still ignored Him. They say His promises come true, but they still ignored Him. We have been a blessed nation, but we, too, still ignore Him. So how does this apply to us today? Easy - the righteous live by faith. We have to have faith that God’s will is being accomplished. That, like Habakkuk, we may not understand why things are seemingly spiraling downward morally and why God has not intervened. But yet, we must have faith God’s divine plan is being completed daily. It is okay to ask God the hard questions, it is okay to not understand fully why things are going on, but we must also be ready for the answer - and it may not be what we want to hear. But we may also not know all God has planned. You see, even when Habakkuk questioned why a sinful nation would be allowed to overthrow God’s chosen people, he didn’t know it would only be for a short time and then God’s faithful would re-establish the kingdom. We, too, get to look forward to a re-established kingdom when Christ returns to take His believers home. But today, I have to ask you - are you prepared for Christ’s return? Have you made your eternal arrangements? Can you boldly stand and say I righteously live by faith? If not, today is the day to ask God to forgive you of your sins and follow Him completely.