Habakkuk – Living by faith when Life doesn’t make sense
Habakkuk 1:1-3:19
Intro
Slide 1
Good evening/Morning
Have you ever looked around and seen the problems, the injustice, the evil in this world and wondered what God is doing!
We can look at the world in general.
We have governments using chemical weapons against their own people.
This weekend we saw terrorists kill at least 30 and injure more than 100 others at a mall in Kenya.
Last week we saw a man kill 12 others in the Navy Yard in Washington, D.C.
Every weekend, we see violence and killings in our own backyard of Chicago.
Where is the justice? Why isn’t God acting? How long will this continue?
Or we may look at our own lives.
Maybe we are facing what seems to us to be injustices or evil in work places or at our school, or in our neighborhoods.
We may see our co-workers stab others in the back to their bosses and seemingly benefit while those who do right suffer.
We see the bully’s at school not getting in trouble, while the bullied are so distraught that they are forced to leave school and sometimes even harm themselves or kill themselves.
We see all of this seeming evil and injustice going on and sometimes it is so hard to take that we may feel like screaming because it doesn’t seem to make sense to us that if there is a God, why does He allow this!
We may ask
Where are you God?
What are you doing?
Aren’t you a good God?
Where is the Justice!
Maybe you are here today and have thought those same things more than once. Well the fact is that some of God’s own prophets have not only wondered about these things but have actually asked those questions in the pages of Scripture.
Today we are going to read and study Habakkuk and learn about having faith in God when life doesn’t make sense.
Turn with me to Habakkuk.
Slide
Habakkuk is found just a few short books before the New Testament, so go to the left of Matthew and it is not too far.
It is only 3 chapters long so it takes up only a few pages.
Habakkuk is writing at a time during the divided kingdom of Israel and he was a prophet to Judah and there was much sin in Judah. People paid no attention to God, and did as they pleased, even sacrificing their children to pagan gods.
So Habakkuk is dismayed by all of the sin that is occurring in the land and he cries out complaining to God about it and he says beginning in chapter 1, verse 2 -
Habakkuk 1:2-4
2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
Habakkuk is asking the same questions of God that perhaps some of us here have asked.
Where are you God in the midst of all of this evil?
Where are you in the midst of all of this injustice?
How long until you act?
To Habakkuk, it appears as if God is doing nothing.
But even as Habakkuk complains to God about His seeming inaction, God responds to Habakkuk! Now it is not too often that God so clearly responds to us in our questioning,
and I think that is for a reason. The reason being is that the answer to our questions may be even further beyond our understanding.
Habakkuk is going to feel this way about the answer God gives him.
Let’s continue on in Habakkuk and see what answer God gives to Habakkuk about his complaint about the violence and sin that is going on among God’s people, the people of Judah.
Habakkuk 1:5-7, 11
5 "Look at the nations and watch — and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 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. …
Then it describes some of the reasons they are feared because of their strength, their violence, and that they care nothing of anyone but themselves.
And God closes his response saying they are “guilty men, whose own strength is their god." (v.11)
What he is saying to Habakkuk is, I am going to discipline Judah for their sinfulness, for their violence and for their injustice and I am going to use the Babylonians, a people even more ruthless and sinful to do it.
If life was not making sense to Habakkuk before, it is making less sense to him now.
How could having a people that are even more sinful come and conquer Israel be justice? How could God do such a thing?
So Habakkuk cries out to God again with this complaint.
Habakkuk 1:12-2:1
12 O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
Then Habakkuk describes the Babylonians as a people who rejoice in their ruthlessness and who only worship their power and instruments of war.
And then Habakkuk says chapter 2, verse 1
2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.
Habakkuk comes back to God not understanding how God could use the evil and even more unrighteous than Judah to judge Judah’s unfaithfulness, so he complains again and waits for God’s response.
And God answers him.
Habakkuk 2:2-4
2 Then the Lord replied:
"Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.
4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright — but the righteous will live by his faith—
And then the Lord goes on to say that Babylon will face judgment for their sins and He lists 5 specific things that Babylon will face judgment for in the future, but I want to pause here for a moment.
The Righteous will Live by Faith
I want to talk about this statement that the Lord makes to Habakkuk in the midst of telling of his judgment that is to come against Babylon.
He says “the righteous will live by his faith”
This verse is quoted several times in the New Testament encouraging God’s people to have faith in Him.
This is a great book to talk about what faith really is because as we see, Habakkuk is in the midst of a great struggle with his faith.
So today, I want to ask and try to answer some questions regarding faith so that we will better understand it and if this is truly something that is rational to live by in the midst of a world that doesn’t always make sense.
So, let’s start by asking
What is faith?
Slide
Is faith, trust in only what we can understand? Is that faith?
What really is faith?
The author of Hebrews says this about faith in Hebrews 11:1 tells us that
faith is being sure of what we hope for
and certain of what we do not see.
Slide
Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.
How can we be sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see?
Is that just blind faith and wishful thinking?
Well that depends. It depends what our faith is in.
Are you putting your faith in something that is not worthy of your faith?
How do you determine if something is worthy of your faith?
Faith in what we see
There are many in the world who put their faith in only what they can see.
But I would argue that their faith is not really in what they can see, but in themselves and in their ability to interpret what they see correctly.
The problem with that is that we don’t see everything and we do not even interpret everything we see correctly.
Having faith in that, is really only having faith in ourselves and I would argue that having faith in ourselves is really only wishful thinking
So, how can we determine where we put our faith?
Should we have our faith in God?
Should we have our faith in Him not only when we can’t see everything, but even when the things we do see don’t make sense to us?
How do we have faith when what we see seems to contradict what we believe we know about God? This is what Habakkuk is dealing with and this is what many of us deal with.
I would argue that it is in these situations where the rubber meets the road in regards to the reality of our faith.
It is easy to “live by faith” when we can understand and see how things are working.
It is much harder to live by faith when we cannot understand what God is doing.
Faith in Someone Faith Worthy
This is why it is imperative that we know that what or who we place our faith in is Faith worthy.
When you know that your faith is in something or Someone who is worthy of your faith, then you do not need to know all the details.
How do we determine if someone is worthy of our faith?
By their character.
When I know a person’s character, I can know if I can trust them without knowing the details of a particular circumstance.
So let’s ask the question
Is God faith worthy?
Slide
Is God’s character such that I should have faith in him, even when the life we see is not making sense to us?
I believe the answer is yes.
It is yes because
God has shown Himself to be Faithful
Slide
When He has said that He is going to do something, and He has done it.
We live in a time when we have the privilege to see how God has been faithful to His word.
When we look back at the Old Testament, we can see that God has done what He said He was going to do.
Consider Abraham
Genesis 17:17-21
God told Abraham that he would have descendants as numerous as the sand on the seashore. Even when he and Sarah were past childbearing age, He reaffirmed the promise. And He was faithful to deliver, when it seemed impossible.
Consider the Messiah
Isaiah 53; Psalm 22, etc
God promised a Messiah to come and bring salvation and he gave many prophecies about the Messiah including his lineage, how we would suffer, details surrounding his birth and death and God fulfilled them perfectly in Jesus.
Consider Israel
Daniel 9:25-27; Jeremiah 29-30
God has promised that he would disperse Israel and then gather Israel back into a nation. We may say that they already are a nation, but God made his promise of exile and his promise of regathering well before either happened.
So, one reason that we should have faith in God is that He has proven himself faithful.
But God is not only faithful, being true to his word, but
God has shown Himself to be Loving
Slide
Now this is important. Do we want to put our faith in someone who is honest but a tyrant? Probably not, but God is not a tyrant. He has shown His great love for us.
And that love has been demonstrated through his mercy, his grace and his sacrifice.
Every one of us knows we have sinned and done wrong things, yet God has not wiped us out and condemned us to hell for eternity when He could do that. But He had mercy on us and has not done that immediately, but has been patient with mankind, not wanting anyone to perish but for everyone to come to a knowledge of Him and to repentance.
And even as he has had mercy, not giving us what we deserve, he has also extended His grace to us, offering us eternal life, which we definitely don’t deserve.
And he has shown his love for us through His great sacrifice of His Son. To love us and give us the life He desires for us to have cost Him the life of His Son.
Romans 5:8
8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And not only did that sacrifice demonstrate his love, but
God has shown Himself to be Just
Slide
Through that sacrifice. Speaking of Jesus, the Lord tells us through Paul in
Romans 3:25-26 that
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Our sin needed to be atoned for because God is just. He couldn’t just forget about our sin. So because He is a just and loving God, He paid the price for our sins himself, thus fulfilling his justice.
So, even, when we fail to see justice happening immediately, we need to remember that God is just and God’s justice will be accomplished, either through the blood of His Son, or to those who fail to receive Jesus as their Savior, in God’s perfect timing.
So God is faithful, loving and just, but I would argue that for us to put our faith in someone there needs to be at least one more characteristic of them. And that is do they have the ability to do what they say?
Well
God has shown Himself to be Powerful
Slide
In fact, He is all powerful.
That means he has the ability to do whatever he wants.
He has demonstrated His power in 2 ways that we find in Romans 1 so that we can know of his great power.
He demonstrates his power through the resurrection
Romans 1:4, Paul tells us that Jesus,
Slide
who through the Spirit of holiness was declared with power to be the Son of God by his resurrection from the dead:
And we also learn in that same chapter just a few verses later that God shows us his power through Creation
Slide
Romans 1:20
20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
So God is faith worthy and he demonstrates his worthiness through his Character which is faithful, loving, just and powerful and it is truly rational to have faith in the God of the Bible even when we see things that do not make sense to us.
Transition
So why do we struggle so much and
How do we truly live by faith?
Slide
as the Lord wants us to
Well I will tell you that in those times when we are struggling to live by faith and wondering what God is doing when we see so many problems and things we don’t understand, we need to
Stop focusing on what we don’t know (or understand) and
Start focusing on what we do know (the God who is faith worthy)
That is what we see Habakkuk do.
I want you to look again at some of the last verses of Chapter 1. Even as Habakkuk is still questioning God, he begins to refocus on the God whom He knows is faith worthy
Slide
12 O Lord, are you not from everlasting? – He recognizes that God is eternal
My God, my Holy One, we will not die. – He recognizes God’s is Holy
O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment; - He recognizes that God is just and has the power to execute judgment
O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. – He recognizes God strength and power and Sovereignty
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. – He recognizes God’s purity and holiness
In the midst of his not understanding, he begins to focus on what He does know about God. That is what faith does. It says, I don’t understand all that is happening, but this is what I know.
I know you are faithful to your word
I know you are loving, You have shown me that through the great sacrifice of your Son.
I know you are a just God because you did not let sin go unpunished, but atoned for it by the blood of your Son.
I know you are able to accomplish your will by your own right hand and I know your ultimate will is good!
Faith doesn’t at all mean that we have to understand everything.
In fact faith means we will not understand or know everything.
Faith does mean that we know and trust Him whom our faith is in though.
And that is what we need to focus on if we are truly going to live by faith.
Transition
After Habakkuk asks his second question of how can God use the evil Babylonians to judge Judah’s sin, God tells him that the Babylonians will certainly face judgment for their wickedness and he lists some of the ways they will be judged and what they will be judged for.
They will not escape justice.
And then in chapter 3, Habakkuk expresses one of the most profound psalms of faith in the midst of his not understanding things, in the midst of things not making sense, because he has turned his focus from what he doesn’t understand to Whom He has his faith in.
I want to read this and I want you to listen to what he says.
Habakkuk 3:2-19
2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
And in verses 3 through 16, Habakkuk recounts many of God’s works through the history of Israel, testifying to God’s faithfulness, love, justice and power. And then in the second half of verse 16, he continues and it is up on the screen
Slide
Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.
As Habakkuk looks to and focuses on the Lord he knows to be faith worthy, the Lord who will bring justice even though he has not seen it yet, he knows in whom he has faith and He then acts on that and is able to Rejoice in the God He knows, the God who has Saved him and gives him strength.
That is a powerful faith. A faith that not only does not see or understand everything, but rejoices in the God in whom he has faith in spite of his not understanding, knowing that God is good and able and will accomplish his good purposes.
Conclusion
Are you struggling with your faith in the midst of a life that sometimes seems not to make sense?
We need to recognize that we often will not be able to make sense of all that is going on, but instead we need to keep our eyes fixed on the Lord,
knowing Who He really is and that
He is faithful to His promises,
He is loving and just, and that
He is completely able by His power to accomplish all that He has said he will do.
Steps of Faith
When we have done that, God often places in front of us a “step of faith” so that we can see the reality of the faith we are living in.
Maybe you are here today and need to turn and receive Christ by confessing your belief and receiving Him as your Savior.
Maybe you have been struggling like Habakkuk and you need to refocus on who the Lord is and recommit yourself to Him in faith, rejoicing in God’s promises and his faithfulness.
Maybe that is in sharing the truth of who you know God to be with someone else that is struggling in their faith.
Maybe that is in taking a step of obedience in faith to baptism.
I am going to close in prayer and lead in a prayer of confession of Christ as well as for Christ to open our eyes to who He is and to strengthen each of us to act in accordance with the faith He wants us to live by.
Pray
Whenever we act in faith, we give honor to the Lord.
We are going to close worshiping him by singing For the Honor.
Let’s worship Him.
