I Object!
Habakkuk 1:12-2:3
Pastor Jefferson M. Williams
First Baptist Chenoa
5-12-19
I Object!
Several years ago, I was pulled over on my scooter because Austin was swinging his feet. Instead of paying the fine, I went to court and represented myself. I cross examined the police officer and the judge said that he didn’t even really understand the case. A lawyer friend told me afterwards that I actually won the case but everyone in the courtroom knew I didn’t understand that. So I ended up paying a $50 fine (instead of $75) and I got to experience being a lawyer for a day! The one thing that I didn’t get to do was stand up and say, “I object!”
We learned last week, that Habakkuk asked God some very pointed questions. When God answered him, Habakkuk jumped up and said, “I object!”
Review
Habakkuk was one of the minor prophets. This doesn’t mean his message was less important it just means that his book is shorter than the major prophets like Isaiah, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel. His name means “to embrace” or “to wrestle.”
This is a great description of a prophet that wrestled with frustrating questions and embraced God’s love for him despite the answers. He was believed to be a temple musician. Chapter three is actually a song that he wrote.
The structure of the book is very unique. Usually, God would speak to a prophet and then the prophet would declare to the people what God said. In Habakkuk, there is a series of dialogues between Habakkuk and God. Habakkuk asks a question and God answers. Habakkuk asks more questions and God answers. But the answers that God gives aren’t always what Habakkuk expected.
The main questions are “why?” And “how long?”
The theme of Habakkuk is that we can trust God even when we don’t understand what He’s doing.
In the opening verses, Habakkuk is very frustrated with God. He uses six words to describe Judah and asked God why He makes him look at this mess - injustice, wrongdoing, destruction, violence, strife and conflict.
Judah has become a culture full of idolatry, immorality, greed, deception, lust, hatred, injustice, hypocrisy, and oppression.
The society is falling apart and he wonders out loud if God even cares. God doesn’t seem to be listening. He sees the violence that had become rampant in Judah and he asked why doesn’t God do something about it?
God’s answer will amaze and astonish Habakkuk. God says that if He thought things were bad in Judah, then he aint seen nothing yet!
He is planning on using the Babylonians to chastise His wayward people. The Babylonians were a brutal, bitter, violent people who were like ISIS on steroids. They feared no one and raped, killed, and conquered their way across the Middle East.
Habakkuk puts his head in his hands and says, “You’ve got to be kidding! I know we are bad but the Babylonians are ten times worse! This doesn’t make any sense.”
This bring us to the verses for today. Turn in your Bibles to Habakkuk 12.
Prayer
Theological Musing
Read Habakkuk 1:12-13.
Habakkuk’s respond is honest, blunt, raw.
He begins by acknowledging that God is eternal. He is everlasting.
David said the same thing in Psalm 90:
“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” (Psalm 90:2)
If you are eternal, then why would you allow this? The Babylonians deserve more judgement than Judah.
His questions come out of deep faith and he is wrestling with the deep things of God. How do we know that?
Look at how he describes God? “Lord,” “my God,” “Holy One,” and “my Rock,” which is his grounds of confidence.
He understands that God is sovereign. This is just a big theological word for the fact that God is the King with absolute and complete control over everything, with nothing being left to chance.
God has “appointed” and “ordained” the Babylonians to execute judgement and bring punishment on Judah. Habakkuk just doesn’t understand how this lines up with what he knows about God’s character.
Too Pure
Read verse 14.
Habakkuk states that this doesn’t seem to line up with who You are God. If God is too pure to look on evil and doesn’t tolerate wrongdoing, then why the Babylonians?! Why do you tolerate the wicked? Why don’t You answer? Why do you allow these brutes to swallow up, which means to completely annihilate, everyone in their path?
But Habakkuk, and the people knew, that God had done this in the past. When the northern kingdom refused to return to God and continued with their idol worship, God sent Isaiah with a message:
“Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath! I send him against a godless nation I dispatch him against a people who anger me, to seize loot and snatch plunder, and to trample them down like mud in the streets. (Isaiah 10:5-6)
In 722 B.C., Isaiah's prophecy came to pass as Assyria invaded, conquered, and carried the Northern kingdom into exile.
Hooked
Read 14-17
Habakkuk employs an extended metaphor about deep sea fishing to describe what the Babylonians are doing to the nations.
Babylon is pictured as a fisherman who pulls up people with hooks. This was a literal description of how Babylon treated captives. They would use a hook either in their lower lip or nose and string them together single file.
Babylonian art from that era shows captives also being carried in nets, squirming like a catch of fish.
The worst part was the sheer joy they got out of inflicting such terror.
They are godless and worships the nets that bring them victory and the spoils of war.
Nebuchadnezzar II rebuilt Babylon and it was said to surpass the splendor of all other cities.
Habakkuk plaintively asked God when will it end? How long God? Will Babylon destroy the whole world? Why are you silent? How can Babylon’s wickedness bring about your justice?
All along the Watchtower
Habakkuk expects an answer and he realizes that he may have been too brash. He resolved to wait for God’s answer.
He positions himself on the watchtower (as did Ezekiel and Isaiah) which was a place of watching and waiting. It is also a place where the city is warned of approaching danger. He is bracing himself for God’s rebuke.
How long did he wait? We aren’t told. The question seems to hang in the air - How will God fulfill His promises to Judah when He is about to bring utter devastation on them?
Isaiah wrote:
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” (Isaiah 30:18)
Write it Down and Run
Read Habakkuk 2:1-3.
God prefaces His answer with three commands -listen, write, and and wait.
The answer is so important that it needs to be written down so it could be preserved. It needs to be written plainly so anyone can read it. And it was meant to be carried and proclaimed throughout the land of Judah to the faithful.
The vision will come true at its “appointed time.” God is working His redemptive purposes for His people out in history. Habakkuk is to direct them people to patiently wait with hope.
What is the message? You’ll have to come next week to hear that! (Or you can read ahead)
What can we Learn?
Last week, I made the case that doubt and faith can exist in a mature believer. In fact, questions can be a sign that you are growing and wanting to go deeper in your faith. Don’t hesitate to ask questions here.
We also looked at the word sovereignty. This simply means that God is in charge from beginning to end.
Well, here’s a question that I’ve been asked more than once. How do you reconcile God’s Sovereignty with man’s free will? Charles Spurgeon was once asked that question and I love his answer. He said, “You don’t have to reconcile friends.”
A.W. Tozer gave an illustration that I think is helpful. Imagine an ocean liner leaves New York headed for Liverpool. It’s destination has been set by the authorities and the captain of the ship knows the heading.
There are hundreds of passengers on board. They are not in chains and their activities are not determined for them by decree. They are completely free to eat, sleep, play, lounge on the deck, read, and talk as they please. All while the great ship carries them steadily on toward the predetermined course.
He concluded with this quote:
“The mighty liner of God’s sovereign design keeps its steady course of the sea of history. God moves undisturbed and unhindered toward the fulfillment of those eternal purposes which he purposes in Christ Jesus before the world began. We do not know all that is included in those purposes, but enough as been disclosed to furnish us with a broad outline of things to come and to give us good hope and firm assurance of future well-being.”
I also introduced Craig Groeschel’s version of “the dip.” Everyone who is a believer in Jesus will eventually find themselves in the dip. It’s what you do in the dip that makes all the difference.
If chapter one of Habakkuk is about wondering, then chapter two is about waiting.
Let’s look at three things that we can do while we are in the dip.
Listen
First, Habakkuk listened. He positioned himself in the watchtower and listened for God’s answer.
Right now, I’m wrapping up a class for Moody Bible Institute called “Caring for the Ministry Leader’s Soul.” In the last week of the class, they have to do a four hour retreat and then write a paper about what they learned from their time alone with God. What most of them write is that they can’t remember the last time they were simply silent and alone.
We live in a loud society. Culture clamors for our attention. When we are in the dip, we must escape that chaos and get alone to listen to God.
When the prophet Samuel was just a boy, he lived in the Temple as an assistant to Eli. One night, he heard a voice call his name and he went to Eli three different times to ask what he wanted. Eli finally discerned it was God speaking to him and directs Samuel to go back and lay down and say, “Speak Lord for your servant is listening.” (I Samuel 3:10)
It’s okay to get quiet and say to God, “I don’t like what’s going on. I don’t understand. I need You to speak to me. Please speak to me, I’m listening.”
How does God speak to us? He can speak through circumstances, prayer, creation, music and through other people but the main way He speaks now is through His Word.
John Piper has said, “Do you want to hear God speak? Read your Bibles out loud.”
When we are in the dip, we often find ourselves frustrated and sometimes we stop doing the daily disciplines such as Bible study and prayer. But it is in the dip that you need to be in His Word even more than normal.
We need to get alone and simple ask for ears to hear. We might not like the answer, but then at least you know where you stand.
David said, “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” (Psalm 46:10)
We love to quote the first part of this verse but often leave out the second part. His main purpose is to be exalted among the nations. His plan is much bigger than just us.
Write Down
God tells Habakkuk to write down the message so a herald can run with it.
Ivan Mesa give us several reasons to keep a journal
to keep a record of life’s journey
I’ve written in a journal on and off for years. I’ve recorded my struggles and victories and the weather, which is one of my obsessions.
To have a tangible account of God’s blessings
He writes,
“Believers who spend no time reviewing and pondering in their minds what God has done, whether they are alone and reading their Bibles or joining with other believers in corporate adoration, should not be surprised if they rarely sense that God is near.”
It’s amazing to go back and read entries where I am so worried about everything and to see how God was working all along.
“April 30, 2018. I was asked to preach at First Baptist Chenoa this coming Sunday. I cant’ help but think about everything I’ve been through in the past two years. This is not a coincidence.”
to serve as a reminder of the long term sanctification process.
If you read my journals from ten years ago, they are very different from last year. Why? Because I’m a different person. God is growing me and changing me.
You don’t need a fancy moleskin journal. A simple composition book will do. Get alone and quiet and listen. And if He speaks, write it down.
Waiting
Habakkuk positions himself on the wall with a pen and paper and waits for the answer.
Our culture is all about instant gratification.
I recently listened to an interview with Horst Schulze, the founder of the Ritz Carlton hotel chain.
“When we started Ritz-Carlton, if the customer had to wait more than four minutes to check-in, he was upset. Today, it’s 20 seconds,” he says.”
We get frustrated in traffic, in the grocery store, or in the coffee shop if we have to wait.
But waiting is part of God’s process of teaching us to trust Him.
Craig Groeschel says it this way, “God’s delays are not God’s denials. If He has promises it, will will come to pass.”
Abraham had to wait for a baby. Moses had to wait forty years in the desert. Joseph waited years, in slavery and prison. Paul is compelled to preach but then waits 14 years before he preached his first sermon.
Isaiah says that waiting is spiritual good for us:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weary. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (Isaiah 40:28-31)
What do we do while we are waiting? We serve. We keep doing the next right thing. We trust God’s plan and believe that He is good and that His purposes are for our good and His glory.
Let’s close by going back to verse 3 of chapter two:
For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it will certainly come and will not delay.
This verse is a very of incredible hope. It has a two-fold meaning. Yes, the prophesy of the Babylonian invasion will come true, not in his day but very soon in the future in 539 B.C. The Babylonians will be judged and actually wiped off the face of the earth. But, more importantly, God promises “the end” will come.
The Living Bible Translates this verse like this:
“These things won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue by one single minute.” 11
Ultimately, God will provide the Jews, and us, with hope through the promised Messiah.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
Why hasn’t He come back yet? Because of you! Without His forgiveness, you will be forever lost. Come to Christ today.
Kendrick Castillo was set to graduate on Friday from the STEM school in Denver. Instead, his parents are planning his funeral. He had always told his dad that if there was a shooter, he wouldn’t hesitate to try to disarm him to save others. And that is exactly what he did. He died to save others.
We are going to end with a “in the dip” song. As you listen to these words, I have prayed that God would speak to you while you wait.
Closing Video: Blessings by Laura Story
