Amanda Blackburn was home with her 14-month-old child early Tuesday morning. Her husband had left early in the morning from their home in Indianapolis for the gym. It was a normal Tuesday in just about every way. But the young pastor would not speak to his wife again as a home invader broke into the couple’s home while he was away. He discovered she had been shot upon his return home. Amanda passed away the next day at Indiana University Method Hospital. The couple had announced to their church family the week before that she was pregnant. Thankfully, the burglar left their 14-month-old child unharmed.
Few things are as certain in life as suffering. All around us people suffer from disease, death, disaster, and deep disappointment. When you suffer, it is so natural to ask the question … Why? I have never met Amanda Blackburn but we have mutual friends. I have thought about this young lady much of this week.
Few places will assist us more in answering our questions about suffering, as does the little book called Habakkuk. Habakkuk’s contribution to the Bible is unique. His book is not a series of messages to the people of God, as is the custom of the other prophets.
No, Habakkuk doesn’t speak to the people for God, but he speaks to God for the people. Instead, we discover a dialogue between Habakkuk and God.
1. What He Saw
“Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?” (Habakkuk 1:3)
He sees that evil isn’t being punished. He asks, no he cries out to God, “Why does wickedness go unpunished for so long?” And he complains specifically about violence toward the end of verse three. Habakkuk knows God cannot tolerate evil nor does He tolerate violence as this was the specific sin that caused God to send the flood in Noah’s day (Genesis 6:11, 13). We see violence in our day that gives rise to questions of injustice.
“So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.” (Habakkuk 1:4)
Note his words, “the law is paralyzed” in verse four. The prophet is weary – weary with the world as it is. Habakkuk sees open robbery go unpunished and the poor being oppressed. And he sees those in authority do nothing to protect them.
Vincent Bugliosi, spent eight years as a prosecutor for the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office where he won 105 out of 106 felony jury trials. In his book, entitled The Five Reasons That O.J. Simpson Got Away With Murder, he writes these words:
When tragedies like the murders of Nicole [Brown-Simpson] and Ron [Goldman] occur they get one to thinking about the notion of God. Nicole was only thirty-five, Ron was just twenty-five, both outgoing, friendly, well liked young people who had a zest for life. Their lives were brutally extinguished by a cold-blooded murderer. How does God, if there is a God, permit such a horrendous and terrible act to occur along with the countless other unspeakable atrocities committed by man against his fellow man throughout history? And how could God - all-good and all-just, according to Christian theology, permit the person who murdered Ron and Nicole to go free... When Judge Ito’s clerk, Deidre Roberson, read the jury's not-guilty verdict Nicole's mother whispered, “God where are you?”
1. What He Saw
2. What He Said
Habakkuk knew God but he also knew his times. He didn’t stick his head in the proverbial sand. Habakkuk knew that what he saw was not consistent with what He knew. He didn’t see God do anything about it. So Habakkuk responded in two ways.
2.1 He was Honest
Habakkuk questioned God. You may think that you cannot do that. But Habakkuk stood in a long line of godly people who did just that, question God. Men like Moses, Jeremiah, Job – all them questioned God at one time or another. See, Habakkuk knew God was righteous. He knew God wouldn’t tolerate evil. And this caused his questions.
Benjamin and Celia Vial are a French couple who were attending a concert in Paris this weekend. Terrorists took the lives of more than 100 in coordinated attacks. They told reporters the only thing that saw them was hiding among the dead bodies Celia, the mother of two girls, called the concert “an ocean of blood” around them.
You see, the problem arises because of what we, as Christians, believe about God and about evil. We believe in five tenets:
? God exists
? God is all-good
? God is all-powerful
? God is all-wise
? Evil exists
Repeat these five tenets.
Habakkuk was an honest doubter. He dared to talk to God rather than about him. He wasn’t a fault-finding critic but an honest searcher. He raised his protests because he thought so much of God. He raised his questions to God because he had such confidence in God.
“You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13)
He hungered to see God’s righteousness vindicated. Not only was He honest but…
2.2 He was Bold
“Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord my God, my Holy One?” (Habakkuk 1:12a)
This prayer begins abruptly. He doesn’t begin his prayer with courtesy and respect. Habakkuk is in anguish over the situation. Habakkuk is perplexed. Yet, it never enters his mind to walk away from God. He doesn’t consider it an option to stop praying to God.
“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.” (Habakkuk 2:1)
He essentially says to God, “I think you are contradicting Yourself.”
Cynicism
Habakkuk avoids a common obstacle that modern and ancient people have traditionally traveled when confronting questions about God and evil. And this obstacle is found especially among those who are nonreligious… cynicism. Cynicism is based on the idea that nobody is in charge, that life is random. It’s just a matter of chance. There is no one good, powerful God in charge of everything. Secular people have a tendency when they see suffering to say, “See, this proves there is no God, or if there is a God, he’s incompetent or indifferent. This shows life is a crapshoot. This shows if there is a God, to heck with him, because he allows this sort of evil and suffering.” This is a spiritual dead-end. The modern skeptic says, “I’m not going to believe in a god who does those things.” Habakkuk does neither.
Note in verse twelve that he challenges God but he follows that up with calling God, “O Lord my God, my Holy One?” He says, “If I can’t figure out life with you, how can I figure out life without you?” We must learn how to wrestle with God. God placed this prayer in the Bible for us who struggle with God. God wants us to be honest with Him but not irreverent. It is a wise man who takes his questions about God to God for answers.
1. What He Saw
2. What He Said
3. What He Heard
Habakkuk questions God until God answers Him. Yet, now he listens with his spiritual ear; He watches for God with his inward eye. You’ll find the first time God answers Habakkuk’s question is in verses five through eleven.
“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
to seize dwellings not their own.” (Habakkuk 1:5-6)
The words in verse five are literally “be amazed, amazed.” God uses the word “amazed” twice in order to highlight the shock of what he is about to do. He has just complained about the violence among His own people. Yet, compared to the Babylonians, the citizens of his nation looked like Sunday school teachers. I say the Babylonians because in verse six where the word “Chaldeans” is a synonym for Babylon. Isn’t Israel more righteous than Babylon?
Habakkuk lists the sins of the then world-power Babylon in his second complaint in verses 14-17: “You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler.?15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad.?16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich.?17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?” (Habakkuk 1:14-17)
This isn’t figurative language that Habakkuk is using in these verses. Babylon literally drove a hook in the sensitive bottom lip of their captives and stringed them along in single file. Habakkuk goes on to describe that those who were not captured with a hook, were dragged in a net. Archeologists have discovered an inscription that depicts Babylonian deities dragging a net where their enemies squirmed for release. All the while the Babylonians are seen gloating over their enemies torture.
Now, Habakkuk says, “You call that an answer? I just complained, ‘Why are you letting evil and injustice reign?’ and your answer is, ‘Wait till you see I’m going to send more evil and injustice! I’m going to send more violence and oppression. That’s what I’m going to do.’” God says to Habakkuk, “Okay, you want an answer to what I’m doing? I’ll tell you, but you’re not going to understand it. I’m going to tell you, but you are not going to get it.” Habakkuk says, “Tell me what you’re doing.” God says, “Well, if I tell you, you’re not going to understand it.” He replies, “Tell me.” God says, “Okay, here it is.” And then Habakkuk, “I don’t get it.” God says, “I told you, you wouldn’t get it.”
The Story of Joseph
Do you remember the story of Joseph and how he was doted on by his father, Jacob. He was so idolized by his father; he had ruined Joseph’s character. Joseph was on his way to becoming a coddled and spoiled. The whole family was on its way to being a dysfunctional, abusive, pathological family system. There was a famine coming where everyone was going to starve to death. What did God do to save the family physically and emotionally and psychologically and spiritually? Twenty years of misery for Joseph … He was sold into slavery. Everything went wrong, but when you look back after the perspective of years, you realize every single thing that went wrong had to happen if God was going to help that family.
We respond to tragedy, “I cannot believe in a God who would allow this evil to happen.” Yet, by the very nature of this complaint, you are requiring God to work in a way YOU understand. Isn’t it possible His understanding is bigger than yours?
1. What He Saw
2. What He Said
3. What He Heard
4. What He Did
Hundreds of years go by from Habakkuk’s questioning God. And Paul picks up Habakkuk’s statement and quotes Habakkuk in the New Testament: “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told.” (Habakkuk 1:5/Acts 13:41) “Let it be known to you therefore, my brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you…” (Acts 13:38)
Paul says God was ultimately talking about Jesus. You say, “Wait a minute. No, he was talking about the Babylonians.” But see, what Paul is saying is the thing God said to Habakkuk, that principle, “I bring light out of darkness. I can bring … and I do bring … salvation and redemption out of injustice and wrong and evil and suffering,” finds its ultimate and supreme expression in Jesus Christ. “When the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God.” (Acts 13:43)
Do you know how Jewish people got scattered throughout the world and became some of the first people to respond to the gospel? It was through God’s actions. God used the violent nation of Babylon to scatter His people throughout the world. So that when the gospel was preached by the first Christians, many of these Jewish people were the first to respond. God says in effect, “I must destroy your nation to save your nation.” We do not always understand the twists and turns where God navigates our history and our future.
Closing Prayer
Father, we are unable to comprehend your infinite ways. You are beyond our understanding … far beyond our understanding. We need your assurance that you have a purpose for even the terrible things in our lives. We need your assurance that you hate evil so much that your innocent Son was killed to conqueror evil.
Lord, we need to reminded that your love is for us. We cannot walk in faithfulness without having this profound sense of assurance. We pray for greater patience and understanding. Give us grace in the midst of our hurting. We pray this in your Son’s name, Amen,
Three Take-Away’s
1. Avoid Pat Answers
Yet, the world is not as it should be. But you don’t need to be a cynic and think everything is meaningless. The world is not as God intended it but God is busy setting it right. His purposes cannot be thwarted (Isaiah 55:10-11).
2. Embrace Living without an Answer
We do not always understand the twists and turns where God navigates our history and our future. You cannot measure God by your calendar and your calculator. You cannot walk out at halftime thinking your team lost. You must wait for the entire game to be played out. You cannot leave the ballpark in the middle of the third inning. Until then, God say, “Wait on my deliverance.”
3. Anticipate the Ultimate Answer
People were standing there in front of the cross, looking at Jesus, saying, “I don’t see what good God could ever bring out of this.” And this is the ultimate good. Now you must look at your life, and you must look at your evil times, and you must look at what’s going on in your life. You say, “I don’t understand what God could possibly be doing here.”
