1. There are problems everywhere!
a. I read of a Missouri couple who built their 5,300-square-foot home in a gated community in Florida. The three-story house had five bedrooms, three floors, beautiful verandas, and it was bordered with palm trees. The only problem: The contractor built the house on the wrong lot. Who knows how it will turn out?
b. Look at our nation today – problem after problem; 75% of Americans polled recently said we are going the wrong direction as a nation;
• Virus and all the implications
• Marxist “soft takeover”
• Loss of morals – Edmond’s “Gay Pride Month” and Paul Blair’s opposition with 10
• Many schools now are about indoctrination not education
• Lack of godly political representation – cheating in elections and Christian apathy
2. Our Questions in light of the problems:
• What’s going on?
• Why is this happening?
• Where’s God and why isn’t He fixing this?
3. Same as Habakkuk 1:1-4 (ESV)
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
I. Recognizing the Realities (verse 1)
A. Many Do Not Want to See the Truth about the Culture
1. We like to pretend everything is ok, even when it is not
2. If we see problems we have to deal with them
G. Campbell Morgan
Men of faith are always the men who have to confront problems. (emphasis added)
3. Whether We See It or Not, It is Real
B. Jeremiah was Contemporary with Habakkuk and Attempted to Act
1. A failure from the “Nickels and Noses” point of view
2. Greatly discouraged – Jeremiah 20:9 (ESV)
9 If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,”
there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones,
and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.
3. A success from God’s
II. A Response to the Realities
A. In His Own Way, Habakkuk Tries to Deal with the Problem
1. He goes to God – prayer is always a good start; by 1815 American governments had issued more than 1400 calls to prayer; John Hancock issued 22 as Governor of MA
2. But there is more than prayer (2 Chronicles 7:14 – pray + Repent)
John Hancock:
“I urge by all that is dear, by all that is honorable, by all that is sacred, not only that ye pray, but that ye act.”
B. Audacity of Accusations
1. Accusation #1 – God is Indifferent – Habakkuk 1:2
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
• First “Cry” = cry for help; personal; National; Similar to disciples in Mark 4:38 (ESV) “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”
• Second “Cry” = Loud scream about the violence
• Society was/is falling apart; Habakkuk prayed about the sins of the people; that people would get stirred up, repent and resist evil but gets no answer, and you will not save?
2. Accusation #2 – God is Inactive – Habakkuk 1:3-4
3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
• Why show me sin and not do anything?
• God may appear inactive but sometimes He lets us hurt to get our attention.
• What has caught your attention? *High Gas? *Declining Church Attendance? (1 in 5 youth are now in church services) *Election Fraud? *Treasonous Politicians? *Injustice (2 rules)?
3. Accusation #3 – God is Inconsistent – Habakkuk 1:5-17
5 “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.
• Babylonians were worse than the people of Judah
• Are the Chinese our Babylonians?
1. We can go through life with our eyes closed. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit. (Matthew 15:14, ESV).
2. Prefer the darkness because then we don’t have to act, but we are to be light, not darkness.
Eric Metaxas summarizing Dietrich Bonhoeffer:
“Being a Christian is less about cautiously avoiding sin than about courageously and actively doing God's will.”
3. Key point – Habakkuk 2:4 (ESV)
. . . the righteous shall live by his faith. (or faithfulness)
4. We join God by faith and faithfulness in the work of saving and purifying the nation and the world, not hiding from it.
