"A Ball of Confusion"

Habakkuk 1:1-4

Temptation Lyrics

One, two, one, two, three, four, ow People moving out, people moving in Why, because of the color of their skin Run, run, run but you sure can't hide An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth Vote for me and I'll set you free Rap on, brother, rap on Well, the only person talking about love thy brother is the preacher And it seems nobody's interested in learning but the teacher Segregation, determination, demonstration, integration Aggravation, humiliation, obligation to our nation Ball of confusion Oh yeah, that's what the world is today Woo, hey, hey The sale of pills are at an all time high Young folks walking round with their heads in the sky The cities ablaze in the summer time And oh, the beat goes on Evolution, revolution, gun control, sound of soul Shooting rockets to the moon, kids growing up too soon Politicians say more taxes will solve everything And the band played on So, round and around and around we go Where the world's headed, nobody knows Oh, great googa-looga, can't you hear me talking to you Just a ball of confusion Oh yeah, that's what the world is today Woo, hey Fear in the air, tension everywhere Unemployment rising fast, the Beatles new record's a gas And the only safe place to live is on an Indian reservation And the band played on Eve of destruction, tax deduction, city inspectors, bill collectors Mod clothes in demand, population out of hand, suicide, too many bills Hippies moving to the hills, people all over the world are shouting, end the war And the band played on Great googa-looga, can't you hear me talking to you Sayin' ball of confusion That's what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya Sayin', ball of confusion That's what the world is today, hey, hey Let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya, let me hear ya Ball of confusion

I Got Questions

Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Introduction)

Habakkuk stands unique among the prophetic books of the Old Testament in form and content. Formally, Habakkuk’s book records a dialog with God and a concluding hymn. Instead of speaking to the people for God, Habakkuk spoke to God for the people. In content, Habakkuk focused on the problem of injustice in God’s world. He saw that evil never seemed to be punished and asked what God’s response to such evil and suffering was going to be.In his dialog with God, Habakkuk asked God directly how the wicked could go unpunished. God answered: You must wait to see the work I am about to do on the stage of world history. Next the prophet asked, How could God use an evil instrument like Babylon to punish his own poor people, who were surely more righteous than Babylon? Habakkuk’s message is set within a backdrop of real people facing real questions about real human suffering. The prophet’s questions prompted God’s revelation. The revelation centered in words that have repeatedly transformed the world: the righteous shall live by their faithfulness to God.

Richard Patterson describes the background and lament form of Habakkuk’s complaint: “The nature of Habakkuk’s complaint can be appreciated by the four words he used to describe Judah’s social situation: violence, sin, misery, and destruction. All are strong words that contain moral and spiritual overtones. ... In Habakkuk’s eyes, then, Judahite society was spiritually bankrupt and morally corrupt. Because sin abounded, injustice was the norm. ... Habakkuk’s plea emphasizes his frustration and exasperation with the state of affairs at the time. The prophet’s concern was a long-standing one, so that his doubts and questioning were not those of a fault-finding, negative critic or a skeptic but rather the honest searchings of a holy prophet” (Richard D. Patterson, “Habakkuk,” in Minor Prophets: Hosea–Malachi, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary 10, ed. E. Philip W. Comfort [Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishing, 2008], Logos).

God decides when He will answer my prayer

In the season of Lent, do not go in with the mindset that God moves according to your forty day timeline. How long in Hebrew means an interrogative marker of a period of time, roughly simultaneous or overlapping with another period of time. Habakkuk is questioning God’s sovereign timing in response to his prayer concerning God’s will.

The word cry for help in Hebrew means ask or request something, with a focus that the asking is intense or desperate, imploring for aid in a difficult or dangerous situation.

“The sovereign God knows the situation, has heard your prayer in the situation, yet he decided how long you stay in the situation

God knows the right time to act

The prophet questions God’s sovereignty asking why God is he tolerating wrong? 1 Peter 1:15-17 talks about God being holy, so if he holy, then, why does he tolerate wrong doing. Lent should open your eyes to not only personal sin, but the sin of the world at large.

Habakkuk’s additional question continued the thought of the passage. How could God allow the prophet to see such trouble? The question implies that God’s inactivity had allowed wicked people to dominate Judah. Such wickedness had come upon the whole land, including the prophet himself. The language picks up themes from Num 23:21 with similar verbs and objects.The second part of the question refers to God’s inactivity. The prophet was incredulous: how could God look on trouble such as this and do nothing? The NIV has caught the force of the question: “Why do you tolerate wrong?” Though the interpretation seems free from difficulty, the remainder of v. 3 presents several problems for the translator. The passage contains four nouns that indicate the problems in Judah during the reign of Jehoiakim. Jerusalem and Judah under the leadership of Jehoiakim could be described as a city of destruction and violence where contention and strife abound.

God’s knows the right time to vindicate himself

The result of the abandonment of God’s mishpat (justice) in Judean society is chaos”: the law is numbed, justice does not go out,45 the wicked surround the righteous, and justice is perverted. No wonder the prophet complained about such a sorry state of affairs. With the breakdown of the social order, the nation lacked the elemental necessities for existence. When law is paralyzed and justice perverted, the righteous become the pawns of the wicked.Who were the wicked? Although some interpreters have looked to identify the wicked with Babylon,47 most modern biblical scholars see the wicked as inhabitants in Judah, probably during the reign of Jehoiakim (609–598 B.C.). “There is nothing in this passage that points to a foreign nation. Those who hold such a view do so on other grounds.” As Armerding rightly points out, “Normally where ‘justice’ and social ‘violence’ are opposed, the ‘wicked’ are Israelites unless clearly identified in other terms (e.g., Exod 23:1–9; Isa 5:7–15).” The terms “law” and “justice” would apply to Judah more naturally than to Babylon.Armerding claims: “The law (tôrāh) may refer to any form of authoritative ‘teaching’ (e.g., Prov 3:1; 4:2); almost invariably it refers to God’s ‘law,’ by which he reveals his will and directs the life of man. When used in the singular without clear definition, as here, ‘law’ signifies God’s covenantal code established with Israel, given through Moses, and set forth particularly in the Book of Deuteronomy (e.g., Deut 1:5; 4:8; 17:18–19; 31:9; 33:4; Josh 8:31–32).” This may be importing too precise a definition from the Pentateuch into prophecy. The “law” can refer to a number of different ideas such as the Ten Commandments, the law of Moses, or specific sets of law material. The most natural meaning is the “instruction” of God without reference to specific passages of Scripture.51God’s instructions had been violated. Habakkuk complained to God that the prophet dwelt in the midst of a people without moral restraints or abiding values. Does God have anything to say when society appears to be disintegrating? Is there a message from God for a wicked age? These became the questions of Habakkuk. Where is God and why is he not doing something? The righteous in every age ask similar questions. One of the helpful lessons to be learned from Habakkuk is that God does know what is happening. He is not oblivious to wickedness in high places. In his time and in his way the Lord brings judgment on those who oppress the weak.With the law paralyzed (lit., “numbed” or “ineffective”), justice cannot prevail. In the Old Testament justice and righteousness are intertwined. Righteousness meant that a person met the demands of a relationship. Righteousness toward God meant meeting the demands of the relationship with God; righteousness toward a fellow human being meant meeting the demands of the relationship with another. Justice carried righteousness into the legal sphere. The prophets demanded righteousness in the gate, the place where justice was dispensed. In prophetic contexts such as the one under discussion, ethical and legal standards are the same.54 Justice and righteousness “were the quintessence of the divine will. They embodied the central authority from which the coherence of the social order stemmed.” Law was “paralyzed” most extensively by “corruption of the religious and civil leadership of the nation” and not by foreign powers.56The lack of justice meant that the wicked hemmed in the righteous. Without justice the righteous have little recourse. Not willing to resort to the devices of the wicked, the righteous suffer when justice does not prevail. The final verb (in v. 4) describes what happens when the law is paralyzed and justice is not carried out: the wicked hem in the righteous, and justice is “bent out of shape.” Another meaning of the verb is that justice is made “crooked.” “The Israelites’ rejection of God’s authority mediated through the law merely exposed them to the harsher experience of his authority mediated through an alien people.”58