Waiting on the Lord - Habakkuk 1:12-2:1

Introduction - The Proper Procedure

Read Habakkuk 1:12-2:1

Habakkuk 1:12–2:1 (ESV)

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.

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?

You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.

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.

Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?

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.

Martin Lloyd Jones four Principles

A. Stop to Think

B. Re-state basic principles

C. Apply the principles to the problem

D. If still in doubt, commit the problem to God in faith

I. Stop and Think Through the Problem

A. God is raising up the Chaldeans for reproof for Judah (v. 12)

As Habakkuk is thinking through this problem, he does see and recognize what God is ultimately doing. He is answering Habakkuk’s complaint about the pervasive wickedness within Judah and he knows this is God’s plan for reproof and correction for His people. God has ordained them for judgment and for reproof.

B. God appears to be leaving Judah as fish in the net for Babylon (vv. 14-15)

However, the problem appears that this seems to be more than just discipline. Because of Babylon’s ruthlessness and violence, it seems as if God is leaving them to destruction. He is making Judah like the fish of the sea without any protection from those seeking their lives. The Babylonians will have free reign to capture them and bring them in their dragnet with no possibility of escape for Judah.

C. Babylon worships their own power and strength (v. 16)

And then the problem seems to go deeper in that Babylon, because of their wickedness and idolatry will be boasting in their own strength and power by worshiping their own cunning and their own tools to provide for them.

D. Babylon seems to go unchecked in their violence and oppression (v. 17)

Finally, Habakkuk wonders if there will be any end to what Babylon could do. Will they go on to take over all the nations of the earth? Will the entirety of humanity perish under Babylon’s violent reign?

Habakkuk’s first step was to think through and examine all the aspects of this problem. Even if he couldn’t figure it out, he is attempting to examine God’s response and think through all the details and ramifications of what is going on.

Often times, we get ourselves in trouble because we speak before we think through an issue. We assume we already have all the information we need and we make a judgment about ourselves, our situation, others involved or even a judgment about God because we think we know best.

However, we need to slow down and properly think and process the situation we are in and attempt to look at things from another point of view as much as we are able.

James 1:19 (ESV)

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger;

This doesn’t mean that we will have the answers after we have thought through it, but it will get us to slow down and process things before we speak. It might reduce the chance that we will say something foolish and stick our foot in our mouths. There may be times in which we wished we would have said something sooner, but that is better than wishing we could take something back because we regret something we said.

So before we give unsound and unbiblical advice or make unfair accusations against others or against God, we would do well to stop, think and pray through our situation first and seek to get another point of view rather than act out on our own initial impressions of a situation. Stop and think!

II. Remind Ourselves of What is True

As Habakkuk is thinking through and processing the problem that he is seeing, he is also reminding himself of what he knows is true of God and trying to apply what he knows to the situation. Through this passage, we are going to do a short study on some of the Attributes of God and why it is important that we know who God is and what His character is like as we relate to Him.

A. God is Everlasting (v. 12)

First, Habakkuk says God is everlasting. This is an attribute that reminds us that God has no beginning and no end. God sits outside of time and can see all of history from beginning to end.

In verse 11, as God is telling Habakkuk that the Chaldeans are coming, He says their own might or power is their god.

But what is their god? What power does their god truly have? They might be powerful in comparison to the other nations of the time, but their god doesn’t hold a candle to Habakkuk’s God. The Chaldeans god is temporal, created by their own imaginations and by their limited power. Their god rises up as they have been risen and will fall when their power comes to an end. Their god has a beginning and an end because it is based upon fortunate circumstances that have worked in their favor for a time, but will come to an end when Yahweh raises up the next powerful nation after them.

We know from history that every empire is limited in its scope and its time. No empire is eternal and in the grand scope of history every empire is short lived. One will reign for a moment and then another comes to take its place.

The Chaldeans’ god is a weak, false and powerless god that will not ultimately be able to save because it is not eternal but simply based upon circumstances.

B. God is Holy and Pure (v. 12-13)

Next, Habakkuk reminds himself that God is holy. This is where much of the problem is arising because he knows the holy character of God. God is holy and set apart from the things of this world and cannot dwell with anything common and unclean. This is why Habakkuk says, “you cannot look at wrong.”

The problem he is facing here is that he cannot reconcile how a holy God can use the wickedness of the Chaldeans to bring about His good and holy purposes. Habakkuk is not accusing God of wrongdoing or denying God’s holiness, but he is asking God how does this work?

Again, we still struggle with this problem today. How can evil seem to prevail when we have a holy and pure God overseeing things? We must not deny God’s holiness, but we can be perplexed about how these things work together.

C. God is Mighty (Rock) (v. 12)

Next, where Habakkuk is calling God His Rock, he is acknowledging God’s power and faithfulness. Habakkuk again is not denying these things, but he is wondering how the current circumstances are fitting into what he knows and is convinced about God.

Habakkuk knows God is almighty, which means all powerful. We are looking at God’s omnipotence and power over all of creation. God is in control and maintains His control over everything He has created. Habakkuk is asking, how can the Chaldeans be allowed to gain this kind of power under God’s almighty control?

D. God will not allow His people to perish (God is Faithful) (v. 12)

Finally, the last part of Habakkuk’s concern is that Habakkuk knows that God is faithful. God has made a covenant between Himself and His people and God will not go back on a covenant. God will not allow His people to be completely destroyed, although that is what looks like might be happening under the violent reign of the Chaldeans.

But Habakkuk does remind himself that God is faithful to His promises by making the statement, “we shall not die.” He knows, whatever else comes from this, even if they are reduced to a remnant, there will still be some of his people left at the end of this, even if its hard for him to see this outcome.

We need to remind ourselves of this as well. It might be hard for us to remember this as the church is beginning to face increasing tension and antagonism in our own nation, something we have not been familiar with ourselves, and we might be tempted to think that the forces around us are seeking to destroy the church and if they gain the political power they want, they might just be able to do that.

III. Commit the Problem to God

Habakkuk is struggling to reconcile what he knows about God with what he is seeing around him because he is limited in his knowledge and experience. He has reminded himself of who God is and he knows God is going to work all things out for good but he is still troubled by a good, faithful, holy God using the Babylonians as His tools and he cant see the final answer. What does he do?

Habakkuk commits this problem to God.

A. Detach ourselves from the Problem (watchtower) 2:1

Habakkuk, knowing there must be an answer, even if he doesn’t understand what it is, commits to wait for God’s response. He steps back from the problem and stands watch for what God is doing. Sometimes, what we need to do is take a step away from the problem so our ears can be in a place where we can hear what God will say to us.

There were times in school when I was faced with a math problem I just couldn’t solve. Things would get so stressful that I would need to take a break, move on to another problem, and maybe even work on other homework before coming back to it. Often times my stress in not getting the problem only added to my inability to work it out because I was looking so closely at it I was missing the bigger picture and the logical solution it. There are times we need to just step away and be still and know that the Lord is God and allow Him to speak in His way and in His own time. We are often too quick to give up and turn our backs on the Lord and we never hear what He says because we assume there is no good answer to be had.

B. Wait and Expect God to Answer

Next, we need to be constant in prayer. As we step away from the problem, we must continue to lean on God in prayer and present to Him our petitions, trusting Him each step of the way. This is part of what Habakkuk means when he talks about the watchtower. Yes he is leaving the problem with God but he is going to stand watch and persist in His duty until he gets an answer.

He is not going to give up too soon. Jesus has a lot to say about our persistence in prayer. And scripture has a lot to say about waiting on the Lord. To be still and know that He is God.

Part of growing in faith is continuing to pray knowing God has an answer, even if the answers do not come when we would like.

But we pray expecting God will answer at just the right time and with the answer we need to hear from Him. This is faith being exercised, knowing and trusting that God will never leave us, even as the world falls down around us.

It was seven years before Carey baptized his first convert in India. It was seven years before Judson won his first disciple in Burma. Morrison toiled seven years before the first Chinese were brought to Christ.

Are you persisting in prayer and continuing in your walk with Christ even when it seems like God is silent? Do not give up too soon for you will miss what God is ultimately doing.

C. Humbly Listen to God’s Answer

Finally, part of waiting for God’s answer is having the humility to listen to it and accept it whatever it might be. Habakkuk is waiting on the tower knowing God will answer and he is going to listen to what God says. He knows at this point God’s answers do not always match what we expect Him to answer, but he knows that God’s answer will be good even if it is mysterious.

It’s having the humility to know that there might not be an answer that will make sense to us because we do not have all the information God has and we are not meant to have that information.

Habakkuk knows and acknowledges the truth that is communicated in Isaiah 55:8-9

Isaiah 55:8–9 (ESV)

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts than your thoughts.

But Habakkuk continues to pray and wait on the Lord because his soul is perplexed and he refuses to simply quit and turn his back on God. He knows and trusts that God does have an answer and a plan for all this so he is going to wait to hear what God says and he will humbly accept whatever that answer might be.

In the Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis refers to Aslan, the figure who symbolizes God, as ‘not a tame lion’. He acts in ways that we do not fully understand or appreciate. How little we know of his work! Let us look at an example. John Flavel was a preacher in England in the seventeenth century. One Sunday morning before he preached, Flavel prayed fervently that someone would be saved in his congregation through the preaching of the word that day. When he concluded there was no evidence that anyone had been converted. Another man, named Luke Short, grew up in England, but emigrated to New England to be a farmer of the land. He reached his 100th year in good health and vigour, yet he had never sought peace with God. One day, as he sat in the fields reflecting on his long life, he recalled a sermon he had heard as a boy in England before he sailed to America. He was converted there in the fields through a sermon he had heard preached by John Flavel some eighty-five years before. Flavel had been dead over fifty years, yet God answered his prayer on that Sunday morning that someone would be saved through his preaching of the word. How little we see of the providence and work of God!

John Currid, Habakkuk, the Expectant Prophet (72-73).

D. The Disciples failed to understand the necessity of the crucifixion until after Jesus’ Resurrection, and then not even fully until after the Holy Spirit had come upon them.

Think of how the disciples must have felt on that Friday night as Jesus’ body was carried off the cross and laid in a borrowed tomb. They were struggling to see how the man they were following was truly God as He was proclaiming throughout His ministry. They struggled to see His power, His eternality, and His faithfulness. How could their God be killed on the cross? On Friday it looked like God had lost against evil.

And yet, as they and as we look back, we actually see Christ’s power over death in His resurrection, we see His complete and total control over the actions of evil men to bring the greatest good out of the most horrific evil this world has ever seen, we see Christ’s eternality as He is unstoppable by the actions of evil men, and we see His holiness as His sacrificed crushed sin once and for all. All sin has been judged and put to death when Christ died on the cross.

However, even after Jesus rose from the dead, it still took them some time to understand and reconcile the things they saw with what they knew about the God they worshipped. But after looking back, they were able to see what God was doing all along. Sunday came for the disciples, and Sunday is coming for us as well.

However, we might not be able to see all that God is doing in this life. We might not get all the answers we want. But because of the cross, we can trust and know from what we have seen God do before, that God does have a plan and it will work out exactly as He wants. So, in the meantime, we continue to pray, cry out to Him, and humbly wait for Him to either give us the answer He wants to give us or to simply give us peace in the midst of the confusion.

Conclusion