1 I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
2 And the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run that readeth it.
3 For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak and not lie. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not tarry.
4 Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.
Introduction
Your dreams are planted deeply within your heart, all of us whether we care to admit it or not have a dream, however, along this journey of life, while hoping and waiting for our dream’s fulfillment, we will face challenges and even discouragement. When and if this happens it can be easy to lose hope and cause us to think about giving up. Giving up on your dream might seem like an easier way out but we need hold on to our dreams because when we give up on them a part of us dies.
Our text tells us of a man named Habakkuk, and very little is known of him, the only other information we have of him is what he himself tells us, because in Habakkuk 3: 1 he calls himself a prophet. In this second chapter and in the second verse, the Lord speaks and commands Habakkuk to “write the vision” and write it clear enough to read. In other words, place it on a billboard if you will—with letters large enough for everyone to see. These instructions were given to Habakkuk following a few complaints lodged by him concerning his beloved Judah’s vulnerability to the much better skilled Babylonians who have already conquered several large nations.
The rise of the Babylonians was a deep dark burden and threat to Habakkuk; just like Job he had a problem understanding why God would allow this threat and this evil to come upon His children in Judah? All through the first chapter we find Habakkuk lodging his complaints to God. And here in this second chapter he wonders, “What's God going to say to my questions? I’m braced for the worst. I'll climb to the lookout tower and scan the horizon. I'll wait to see what God says, how He'll answer my complaint”
And how does God answer? He simply instructs him to write down his dream. The Word ‘vision’ in the original Hebrew language can also be translated as “dream”. This was God’s response to Habakkuk, to write the dream down and make it clear. Why would God want Habakkuk to write down his dream? Is there something special about writing down our dreams? Well if you think about it we do it almost everyday, even if it is something as small as a grocery list, we write them down don’t we?
The business community in order to be more politically correct calls it “goals” and they constantly write down their goals for the coming year, the next 5 years, or decade if need be, and they expect their employees to follow these particular goals (dreams) to the letter. Habakkuk was instructed to write down his dreams because it would help his mind to understand and embrace what it sees. In short, he was to write it down in order for him to see the big picture. The Apostle Paul understood this concept very well, because in 1 Corinthians 13: 12 we read, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”
What Paul was trying to make us see is that the state of our knowledge concerning spiritual things and/or divine things is imperfect and incomplete. Quite often Christians become guilty of the very things they accuse the world of doing, such as focusing on temporary things instead of the eternal. Far too many of us glory in the material things rather than those things that are eternal. We reach for an earthly answer of a spiritual matter and when we do this it only adds to our distress, confusion, and misunderstanding.
And so the Lord simply instructed Habakkuk to write down his dream. Once you begin to write down your dream, your dream will grow wings and the fulfillment will surely come. I once worked for a growing company, and during the orientation session, after being hired one of the first things they asked the new hires to do is to write down their goals for the next five years—the reason for this is because it will force you to clarify what you want. And it will motivate you to take action, provide a filter for other opportunities, help you overcome resistance, and most importantly it will enable you to see—and celebrate—your progress. Under the right conditions and at the “appointed time” and so Habakkuk was encouraged by God Himself to hold on to his dream.
It Will Surely Come
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “"Faith is taking the first step even when you can't see the whole staircase." And “When you lose hope (that’s when) you die” don’t stop dreaming, because if you do the devil may try and replace your dream with a nightmare. I love God’s response to this prophet especially when He says to Habakkuk that, “…it will surely come” can you even imagine standing before the God of the universe with your dream and His answer to you is that, “…it will surely come?” Not, it may come—but ‘surely’ come.
There is one phrase in the Bible, which I like so much. Whenever I come across it in the scriptures, I feel excited and my faith comes alive. It is the phrase ‘and it came to pass…’ Christianity is a way of life that is based on promises. None of us has ever seen heaven except by divine revelation. But because God has promised us, we believe and we work towards it because we realize fully that this earth is not our home.
In Hebrews 11:33 we are told that the Heroes of faith “obtained promises” by faith. I want to let you know that God’s delay is not a denial. The Bible says, “He makes all things beautiful in His time” (Ecclesiastes 3:11). So many times, we think God has forgotten us but God said that even if a mother can forget her sucking child, He will not forget us for we are engraved in the palm of His hand (Isaiah 49:15-16). Whatever God has promised you; I announce to you today that it will surely come to pass. God is not a man that He should lie. He does not need the vote of anybody to remain God. So why should He lie? People lie because of the fear of punishment. Who is in a position to punish God that will warrant His telling lies? God cannot lie. It is impossible for Him to lie and therefore if He says, “It will surely come, it will not tarry” then our part is to simply believe in Him and trust Him.
He told Habakkuk to “write the dream and make it plain upon tables…” in the Church where I attend our pastor quite often will have us to write down on a provided card what we are looking for, in short, what we hope for, such as the strengthening of our faith, the deliverance of a relative, et cetera. After which he and the entire church body will pray collectively over these written request. He does not do this not for the sake of God reviewing them because God already knows what we have need of, but he ask the congregation to do this so that we may fully understand that God is able. Have you ever notice that you can remember things better when you write it down?
Everybody Has A Babylon
Your dream/dreams may not be the same as Habakkuk’s dream but it may be similar. Habakkuk’s dream was for the deliverance of Judah from Babylon and I submit to you this morning that everybody has a Babylon. Babylon is any place in your life where you don’t want to be, Babylon is anyplace or anywhere a Christian does not belong. Babylon for us can be characterized as any situation or circumstance that makes us feel very uncomfortable. Babylon is a place of weeping, a place of regret, for the believer Babylon is the wife who is ready to give up on her husband and her marriage; rather than stay and keep trying to make it better.
It is the parents who are ready to give up trying to guide their rebellious teenage son. It’s the grown daughter who has tried over and over again to please her parents, without success, and is about ready to completely write off the relationship. It’s the pregnant teenager who can’t see any way out but to have an abortion. It’s the fed-up employee who wants to honor God with his work but is about [this] far from telling off the boss and walking out the door.
It’s the man who has been unemployed for over six months, and he submits resume after resume no one seems willing to give him a chance. That’s what Babylon is; it’s the preacher who’s ready to walk away from the pulpit because the people in the church he pastors are not acting like children of God anymore. It’s the victim of cancer who’s tired of fighting the illness and thinking of taking her own life.
Babylon A Powerful Adversary
Babylon was a powerful adversary and it was a place of captivity, when you reached the shores of Babylon you instantly felt as if there is no way out and begin you to weep, “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion” (Psalm 137:1) Babylon was so powerful until it cause you to feel as if your dreams have been deferred. The late Langston Hughes, American poet and social activist saw fit to place this particular thought in the form of poem: “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun? Or fester like a sore-- And then run? Does it stink like rotten meat? Or crust and sugar over—like a syrupy sweet? Maybe it just sags like a heavy load. Or does it explode?” However, my God specializes more in the fulfillment of dreams rather than a dream deferred!
The Babylon that Habakkuk faced was indeed a formidable foe, in fact, in Habakkuk 1: 6 – 10 we are provided a brief run down on just how formidable they really were, “6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; 9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god."
Conclusion
I am raising up the Babylonians? This is one thing that Habakkuk could not understand, how could God use a nation that was much more evil and obviously more powerful than Judah to judge Judah? But the truth is God sometimes actually uses the existing evil in the world to fulfill His purpose.
God is using the Babylonians to accomplish His will, He does not create evil but He does control evil. God does not sin and He does nothing evil, but He has the power to use and then overturn anything the devil tries to do against us. Remember what Joseph told his brothers one day? “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…” (Gen. 50: 20) in other words, God turned it around. Joseph was a dreamer, wasn’t he? And his dreaming often got him in a lot of trouble because in his dream he saw “a coat of many colors” that offended his brothers. Daniel was a dreamer too his dream caused an evil king to see “the writing on the wall” and the writing on the wall is still there, and if you don’t stop dreaming you just may be the one to help expose what it says.
Habakkuk had some complaints, and he had a few questions. But God told him to write down his dreams in great big letters that all can see who loves the Lord that there will be an appointed time. That there are some things you have to go through, before you reach your breakthrough! There are some Rea Seas you have to cross; you may have to spend time in the fiery furnace. There will be some Lion’s den to visit and you may spend some time in the wilderness. But if you go through the valley, just remember that the valley is a temporary place. Write down your dream, whatever it may be—maybe it’s for better health, maybe it’s for a good marriage, maybe you’re dreaming of a better job, whatever it is, go ahead and write it down and in the appointed time it will speak to you and not lie—it may tarry but still go ahead and wait for it, and whatever you should do—just don’t stop dreaming. Amen.
