Habakkuk 2:1-4 - Faithful After Prayer

Context

Please open your Bibles to Habakkuk 2.

It’s around 605 BC.

Things do not look good for Judah

In fact she is falling to pieces.

Under the leadership of Jehoiakim, the nation is failing morally.

They are spiritually deteriorating.

To the south, Judah, was watching Babylon move.

Under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonians were marching south.

Habakkuk was a prophet witnessing this decay.

In chapter 1 of Habakkuk he repeatedly cried out to God.

The book begins opens with an exhausted prayer, Habakkuk 1:2 “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.”

Perhaps you’ve made a similar plea to God.

There are things in your life that seem to never change.

You find yourself having the same prayer over and over again, so it appears your prayers go unanswered, “How long O God …?”

To which God doesn’t respond in a way that you would expect.

Habakkuk 1:5-6 God answers Habakkuk by saying, “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.”

Essentially, “You think things are bad now? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

God goes on to describe what He will allow the Babylonians to do.

He describes their strength and might.

They are unstoppable.

He describes the motivations of the Babylonians.

They aren’t the good guys, they are evil.

They boast in themselves.

Verse 11, “They whose strength is their god.”

Habakkuk hears what God says and he doesn’t believe it.

God is holy.

God is good.

There’s no way God would allow the Babylonians to do what He says they will do.

Verses 12–13, Habakkuk responds, “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. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?”

Habakkuk’s argument is one of complete disbelief.

God is too good to use the Babylonians.

“God you are wrong. This isn’t who You are.”

Many prayers are just like Habakkuk’s.

People become angry because God doesn’t respond to prayer they way they wanted Him too.

That’s why today’s text is so important.

It helps us in our approach to prayer, specifically in what we do after prayer.

Let’s look at Habakkuk 2:1–4.

This is Habakkuk after prayer.

Read Habakkuk 2:1-4.

I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved. Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”

What do you do after you pray?

Habakkuk gives 3 actions for you to take after prayer.

First, Faithfully Wait for God’s Reply (v. 1)

It appears that some time has passed since Habakkuk’s prayers in chapter 1 and chapter 2.

In the first chapter he spoke bluntly.

After praying what are we to do?

You watch and wait for what God will do.

Look at verse 1, “I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved.”

Tucked away in this verse are 2 components to waiting after prayer.

First, he says, “I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart. And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me,”

This is similar language to the Levites who would guard the Tabernacle.

There is an aspect of alertness.

He says, “I will stand on my guard post.”

He doesn’t say, “I will sit at my guard post.”

He stands

Why is he standing?

Because there is an expectation of action.

If a guard is sitting he’s not ready to act.

He is expecting God to do something, so he stands alert.

He becomes like the watchman on a watchtower.

The watchman was someone who gazed out on the distance looking for coming danger.

He would climb to the top of the walls of the city.

If there was a tower, they would go into the tower, high above everything else and look for approaching armies.

This was a constant job.

The watchman was vigilant even when the city slept.

The prophets acted like watchmen, but instead of looking for oncoming armies, they waited for God to communicate.

Spurgeon called this an attentive attitude.

You pray to God.

God is real.

He hears prayers.

Your prayer is not mindless mantras or mutterings to the wind.

Prayer is a dialogue, a one way conversation between the believer and God.

After you speak to God in prayer, which He hears, then you wait for Him to respond.

You pray, then you go onto the watchtower, eagerly expecting God to act.

After prayer there is an expectation.

The second part of waiting after prayer is to be careful with what you say after prayer.

Sometime has passed from chapter 1.

I’m not sure how much time.

But Habakkuk has a different mindset from chapter 1.

In chapter 1 he spoke quickly and impulsively.

He accused God of being wrong and at odds with Himself.

He accused God of contradicting Himself.

And now in chapter 2, Habakkuk knows that his prayers were wrong.

Did you know that you could pray wrong?

That means if you’re looking how to pray wrong, read Habakkuk’s prayer in chapter 1.

Tell God He’s doing things wrong.

If you want to pray wrong, pray opposite of God’s will.

God had said, “This is what I’m going to do.”

And Habakkuk said, “No, that’s not right. You haven’t thought things through.”

That’s how to pray wrong.

Habakkuk knows he was wrong and should be corrected.

At the end of verse 1 he says, “And how I may reply when I am reproved.”

Habakkuk is now waiting to speak.

This is a reminder to be careful how you speak in prayer because of Who you speak to in prayer.

Prayer is a conversation with the holy and infinite Yahweh, who created all that there is.

He is sinless.

He is just.

His wisdom far exceeds our own.

In Isaiah 55:8 God says, “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.”

You don’t need to tell God how to do things.

Be careful in your prayers that you aren’t correcting God.

Because that’s what Habakkuk did in chapter 1.

It’s one thing to be continuous in our prayers, which we are to do.

It’s another thing to be rebellious in our prayers.

One has an attitude of humility, and the other or pride.

Solomon understood this when he warned his listeners in Ecclesiastes 5:2, “Do not be hasty in word or impulsive in thought to bring up a matter in the presence of God. For God is in heaven and you are on the earth; therefore let your words be few.”

Are your prayers reverent?

When you pray, you aren’t talking to an equal, you’re talking to God.

Put thought into the words that you pray.

The passage moves from waiting for a reply from God to Faithfully Wait for God’s Action (v. 2-3)

In verse 1 Habakkuk was waiting for a reply from God.

In verses 2–3 we get the reply from God.

Look at verses 2 and 3 with me.

Read Habakkuk 2:2–3, “Then the Lord answered me and said, “Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

God says, “Record the vision and inscribe it on tablets.”

This is a message for Habakkuk, but not Habakkuk alone.

It is a message that needs to be communicated.

He says to inscribe it on tablets.

This message wasn’t to be written down on paper or a scroll.

These would have either been stone tablets, or planks of wood.

That’s because the message needs to be written down so that people in the future would be able to see it and read it easily.

The previous chapter had a message from God about the Babylonians.

They were going to come and conquer.

Judah would be in captivity for 70 years.

They needed a medium that would last for a long time.

Be seen and ready by many.

They needed this message written down on something that would last -

God says, “Inscribe it on tablets”.

Put it on stone.

He said, “That the one who reads it may run.”

This has to do with the ease and the speed of the person reading it.

It needs to be able to read quickly and easily.

It can’t be too complex.

This tablet that Habakkuk is commanded to inscribe needs to be more like a billboard that you see on the side of the freeway while driving.

They have simple messages.

McDonald’s … next exit.

In N Out … 2 miles.

Did you know that there is a recommended number of words that should be on a billboard?

It’s recommended that a billboard have no more than 7 words on it.

Why?

Because you’re driving.

You can only process so much information before the sign is behind you.

Billboard designers recommend that a billboard be short and pithy.

That is what God is telling Habakkuk to do here.

He’s giving a message.

That message needs to be recorded.

It needs to be clear.

And it needs to be given in such a way that the message can be passed on quickly.

Before Habakkuk was waiting for a reply, now it’s waiting for God to act.

God declares what He will do.

Look again at verse 3, “For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay.”

In the rest of the chapter, God explains that there will be judgment for Babylon.

They were a tool used by God.

They were a resource in God’s arsenal.

But they were wicked, and committed atrocious crimes in the process.

For the rest of the chapter God assures Habakkuk they will be judged.

But it’s not coming soon, hence the message on tablets.

It’s going to happen in the future.

God explains that despite the time that passes, Habakkuk can be confident in God’s promises.

There are 3 reasons you can have confidence in God’s promises.

First, God has an appointed time when this judgment will happen.

God plans things out, and He plans them in detail.

For example, Genesis 1 describes the beginning, “God created the heavens and the earth.”

From the moment when the first atom was created, it kicked off God’s timetable.

Man was created.

Man sinned.

But God’s plan was on course.

Genesis 3 God promised that there would be an offspring who would crush the head of the serpent.

Time passed.

Thousands of years went by, but God’s promise still stood, despite the time.

Israel became a nation.

Eventually, the nation fell.

israel was conquered.

Yet His promise remained.

Time didn’t lessen God’s promise to provide a Son who would crush the head of the serpent.

It wasn’t until the first century, under the rule of Caesar Augustus that Jesus was born to a young couple, Mary and Joseph.

Thousands of years passed since Genesis 3, but the promise stood.

Galatians 4:4 said “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,”

The fullness of time ...

Time may move, but God’s promises remain.

We can count on it.

Second, God’s promises move forward.

Verse 3 continues and said they “hasten toward the goal and it will not fail.”

They are in a forward progress.

Things are always moving toward God’s goal.

Third, “Though it tarries, wait for it. For it will come, it will not delay.”

God’s promises move forward, and they move forward at a pace He desires.

Sometimes that pace is in an instant.

“Let there be light” - and there’s light.

In an instant Jesus heals the leper.

Skin is instantly regenerated.

And at other times it may seem slow.

In the case of Habakkuk, it would take at least 20 years for judgment to fall upon Babylon and for the Persians to conquer them.

But even after Medo-Persian empire, Judah would be in exile for a total of 70 years.

At the close of Malachi, there would be 400 years of relative silence before the events of the incarnation.

God’s plan will be accomplished, though it may take time for that to happen.

This means that we need patience.

Patience that God will do what He has sworn.

Patience that God will complete what He has sworn.

For us today.

It’s been nearly 2000 years since Christ was here on earth.

He said he would come again and gather His church.

But it’s been 2000 years.

How do we respond?

With patience.

II Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

At this time, those that the Father predestined are being drawn by the Spirit and converted to Christ.

This is to our benefit.

I’m glad God is patient.

I’m glad that Jesus didn’t end things immediately after the resurrection, we would not have known Christ.

God’s patience is a good thing.

It’s His plan being acted out.

So we wait for God to Faithfully Act.

So if we wait in faith, knowing that God is faithful to act, we can then Faithfully Live (v. 4)

God has just declared all that He will do.

His promises have a timeline.

They are moving forward.

They will not fail.

They will certainly come.

Verse 4, “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.”

The proud man has a problem with verse 3.

In fact those opposed to the sovereignty of God have a problem.

He doesn’t like waiting.

He doesn’t like not being in control.

Think back to Abraham.

Genesis 15 God made clear that he would have a son, an offspring.

Genesis 16 comes along.

Abraham is older.

Sarah is older.

God made this promise, they would have children, but the biological clock is ticking.

Sarah goes to Abraham and says, “Take my servant Hagar. Have a son with him.”

Do you see what is happening?

A lack of patience.

A lack of trust that God will do what He has sworn.

This is definitely going to mess up the employer/employee relationship.

But they justified this action because they thought it was getting late in their lives.

They needed to do something now before Abraham and Sarah were too old or dead to have kids.

They didn’t want to wait.

They thought God’s promises were somehow dependent on them.

I regularly go out evangelizing.

I met a Catholic couple about a week ago.

I asked them how a person gets to heaven.

They said by being kind and serving God.

Take the most of every opportunity and do good.

If you do this, then you will go to heaven.

The proud person thinks we need to act, and by our efforts we speed up God’s work.

By us working hard enough we make things easier for God.

God has told Habakkuk, “Here’s what I’m going to do. It will not fail. Wait for it.”

The proud person doesn’t want to wait.

He doesn’t want to be dependent on God or anyone else.

It says, “His soul is not right within him.”

He can’t wait.

He thinks God is moving too slowly.

He thinks God is not doing enough.

He doesn’t want God to work.

You know you’ve done a good job sharing the Gospel when the person you are evangelizing too argues back and says it’s too easy.

You explain to the person that he has sinned and that sin has earned him an eternity in Hell.

You explain that Jesus paid for sin on the Cross.

Not only was sin paid for, but Jesus’ righteousness is imputed, given to the sinner.

That means that when the believer stands before God on judgment day, it’s Jesus’ righteousness that God sees, not the sinners.

The proud person is offended by this.

He thinks salvation by faith alone is wrong because men need to balance the scales or show that they are truly sincere.

They think it’s unjust that the sinner can be let go without doing anything.

Yet what they don’t realize is that it’s impossible for for the sinner to pay for his own sin.

Psalm 49:8, “For the redemption of his soul is costly,”

Isaiah 64:6, “ And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;”

These 2 verses tell us:

It’s impossible for you to remove your own sin.

And it’s impossible for you to make yourself good enough.

It’s impossible.

Yet, the Gospel is that Jesus does these things for the sinner.

Sola fide.

It’s by faith alone.

Sola gratia

It’s by grace alone

Solus Christus

Through Christ alone.

Soli Deo Gloria

And it’s all to the glory of God alone.

He receives all the credit.

But the proud person, is uneasy because it means he’s not in control of things, but God is.

It means he has to wait for God to act.

In contrast to the faithless person who is uneasy with waiting, is the righteous person.

Look at the very end of verse 4, “But the righteous will live by his faith.”

The Babylonians will come.

They will conquer.

They will kill.

They will murder.

God’s promises stand true.

The righteous person understands verse 3.

He understands that God’s promises will move forward and be fulfilled.

So, he is able to fold his hands and wait.

He does not worry.

He is not anxious.

He is content because he knows that God is faithful.

Job demonstrated this type of faith.

He lost his wealth.

He lost his family.

He lost his health.

He wasn’t sure if he would recover, he might die.

And in Job 13:15 he said, “Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. ...”

“Even if I die … I will hope in God.”

You’ve made your prayer to God, now you can faithfully live.

The proud is not right.

He is anxious.

The faithful live.

He does not worry.

Because He knows that the Lord is in control.

He is able to live fearlessly and confidently, because one day he will die and he will stand before God.

His faith is not in himself, but in Jesus Christ, who lived for him and died for him.

What a relief it is to know that you have a God who is in control.

This allows you to live.

The faithful has a confidence that the Lord is working for His benefit.

God is a good God who provides what you need the most.

This is freedom.

But this challenges us in what we believe about God.

That He works and He saves outside of us.

He accomplishes what He desires.

He receives the credit.

It was Jesus Who died for sin.

It was Jesus Whose goodness is given to us.

It’s living by faith in Him to do what we cannot.

Only when you get to this point can the righteous live by faith.

As you live have this confidence:

If you are in Christ, God hears your prayers.

Faithfully expect Him to answer them.

Know that God is faithful.

He is active.

He is working.

And He will not fail in what He has purposed.

And now you can live under these truths by faithfully living