Habakkuk 1:1-The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.
(Habakkuk Speaks)
2-O LORD, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, “Violence!”
And You will not save.
3-Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me; There is strife, and contention arises.
4-Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.
In his day there was violence, rioting, looting, strife (anger, conflict),
contention (heated disagreement).
So he is asking God some questions, some questions we have asked God or wanted to ask God when things don't make sense.
Have you ever prayed and it seems that God is not hearing.
Have you ever prayed about a situation and nothing seems to change?
Or has the situation even got worse after you prayed about it?
Israel had forsaken God and His law
Sadly violent crimes were a normal occurrence!
Robbery and stealing had become widespread across the nation!
The streets were not safe to be on!
So much crime and violence that was being committed that law enforcement could not keep up with it.
If they did catch a criminal, when they come before the judge, they were given a slap on the wrist and turned loose!
There was a complete breakdown of the social order.
Lawlessness was being praised and those who had morals were being condemned!
Wickedness was being call right and right was being called evil!
What was bad about this, is that everywhere he looked all he could see was so much evil around him and even though he had prayed about it, God doesn't seem to be doing anything about it!
I feel his frustration, it is what I'm feeling today as I watch the moral decline of our great nation!
(God Speaks)
Verse 5-“Look among the nations and watch—
Be utterly astounded!
For I will work a work in your days
Which you would not believe, though it were told you.
6-For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans,
A bitter and hasty nation
Which marches through the breadth of the earth,
To possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7-They are terrible and dreadful;
Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8-Their horses also are swifter than leopards,And more fierce than evening wolves.
Their chargers charge ahead;
Their cavalry comes from afar;
They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat.
9-“They all come for violence;
Their faces are set like the east wind.
They gather captives like sand.
10-They scoff at kings,
And princes are scorned by them.
They deride every stronghold,
For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.
11Then his mind changes, and he transgresses;
He commits offense,
Ascribing this power to his god.”
God is going to use wicked nation.
A nation so corrupt, so vile, that Habakkuk cannot believe what he is hearing.
That wicked nation it's going to come and defeat Israel and take them captive.
When you read the story of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego and Nebuchadnezzar in the Book of Daniel that is the fulfillment what God is telling Habakkuk
(Habakkuk Speaks)
Verse 12-Are You not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment;
O Rock, You have marked them for correction.
13-You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness.
Why do You look on those who deal treacherously,
And hold Your tongue when the wicked devours
A person more righteous than he?
14-Why do You make men like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that have no ruler over them?
15-They take up all of them with a hook,
They catch them in their net,
And gather them in their dragnet.
Therefore they rejoice and are glad.
16-Therefore they sacrifice to their net,
And burn incense to their dragnet;
Because by them their share is sumptuous
And their food plentiful.
17-Shall they therefore empty their net,
And continue to slay nations without pity?
(Verse 12 Explained)
The prophet speaks, "God we know that you are Everlasting but we are not!"
"If we are overtaken by another Nation a nation that is wicked as you say they are, will we survive?"
Prophet continues to speak, "But you have hand picked them to bring correction and judgment upon Israel!"
Verse 13-16 the prophet can't believe God could use a nation like Babylon, to achieve His plan for Israel!
Could God use wicked people, people who are corrupt to bring upon us as a Nation correction and judgment?
Could all of the upheaval and unrest be a direct result of all of a nation that has turned its back on God?
Do you have questions to God?
Do you have doubts about the future?
Do you have fears about the future?
Then I want to remind you of what God says to Habakkuk 2:4-“Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by his faith.
So what does Habakkuk do with that knowledge?
Look at Habakkuk 3:17-Though the fig tree may not blossom,
Nor fruit be on the vines;
Though the labor of the olive may fail,
And the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls
18-Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,
I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19-The LORD God is my strength;
He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.
To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.
I don't know what lies ahead?
What tomorrow may bring?
What our future may hold in the next coming months?
But I do know in whom I believe in!
And in Him I put my trust!
