Life Like Habakkuk (Sermon From 12-27-09) Series

Have you ever asked yourself the question; Why doesn’t God seem fair?

It’s a fair question, I mean we hear things on the news like a drunk driver kills a family of four coming home from a Christmas eve service. Or how a woman can jump from bed to bed and have abortion after abortion and for some God fearing Christians couple it can be so hard to have a family.

Sometimes God Doesn’t seem fair.

Over the next two weeks we are going to be looking at the prophet known as Habakkuk and he felt this same way

. Now not much else is known about the prophet, because this is the only place in the bible that he is mentioned.

This a very short book, but don’t let the size of it trick you because it is a non stop drama fulled book.

Today we are going to be looking at the first half and next week we are going to be look at the last half, because this 3 chapter book can not be done in just one sermon.

Now lets talk about The first part of Habakkuk.

Starting in Habakkuk 1 we see habakkuk first prayer to God. At this time God’s chosen People, the Israelite had turn away from God and were do ungodly things.

Now Habakkuk was a Godly man, because there still were some around, and he saw what was going on and how God’s people were doing ungodly things and he did the one thing we all should do and that was to call out to God, He Prayed.

Lets look at Habakkuk 1:1-4;

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw, How long, Lord, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save? Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates. This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.

When we look at the book of Habakkuk we need to understand that the whole reason he was calling out to God was because of sin. Sin that was taking place of Judah and the sin that the Israelites were doing. All and all they have turn on God and were sinning against Him just like we all do. Sin has started at Genesis 3 and will continue to be a problem until Jesus returns.

We have here Habakkuk, a godly man looking onto God’s people turning and committing the sin of idolatry, violence, and corruption which to them seemed to do so well over the ages, as do we . Habakkuk knew something had to be done because he did not want to see his people suffer by rejecting God, so he turned to God.

So my first point today is;

Why God Why?

Now this was not the first time that Habakkuk called out to God. He says, “How long must I call for help.” This says that Habakkuk had been praying for some time but God just wasn’t answering Habakkuk’s cry, at least not in the way habakkuk thought as the answer.

verse 2 of this chapter has a lot of information about how Habakkuk was feeling. He felt mad, sad, alone, because the God he believed in was not answering him.

it can be in times like this where people can turn away from God. When things go so bad in a persons life and they are true to God but God just does not seem to be there.

Illus: I remember a time when I went through something just like this. I was dealing with a problem in my life and I cried out to God for an answer but it seemed like I was just talking to air. I was mad because it seemed like I was alone, but God always answers but we need to be listening for him.

Point 2

God’s Answer

now if we look at verses 5-11 we see that God had finally answered Habakkuk and it was an answer that shocked Habakkuk to his core. Lets look at these Verses.

5 Look at the nations and observe be utterly astounded! For something is taking place in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it.

6 Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter, impetuous nation that marches across the earth's open spaces to seize territories not its own.

7 They are fierce and terrifying their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves.

8 Their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves of the night Their horsemen charge ahead; their horsemen come from distant [lands] They fly like an eagle, swooping to devour.