A. If you could have a sit-down with God and converse with Him one-on-one, what would you talk about it?
1. Would you talk to Him about your FAMILY, your JOB, your HEALTH PROBLEMS, your NEIGHBOR
down the street who has WILD PARTIES every Saturday night?
2. It could be that you’re hoping for some DIVINE insight into the NUMBERS of the next POWERBALL
JACKPOT.
3. Maybe you’d like to talk to Him about WORLD AFFAIRS: the rise of the Islamic Religion in the world,
the BRUTALITY of ISIS, the increased ATTACKS on Christianity.
4. And I think it’s safe to say that there would be a lot of QUESTIONS about the upcoming ELECTION and our CHOICES for PRESIDENT.
B. The Prophet Habakkuk got that SIT-DOWN with God, and he had a lot of things on his mind to talk about.
1. Unlike the other Minor Prophets who addressed the NATIONS on behalf of God, Habakkuk is
addressing God on behalf of the Nation of Judah.
COMMENT:
He is deeply concerned about the SPIRITUAL DECLINE and MORAL DECAY of the people of Judah. WICKEDNESS, IMMORALTY, CRUELTY, IDOLATRY are rampant throughout the nation, and especially in Jerusalem. All the PROPHETS before him poured their hearts out preaching
REPENTANCE, but no one seemed to listen.
Finally, Habakkuk has had it with the Nation of Judah and personally asks God what is He going to do about it? But when God tells him what His PLANS are, that concerns Habakkuk even more.
2. Habakkuk was written around 612-606 BC.
COMMENT:
He had just witnessed the FALL of the powerful nation of Assyria at the hands of the Babylonian army. And now the Chaldeans (Babylon) was gaining more strength as they started out on a CONQUEST to Western Asia, destroying nation after nation and taking its people CAPTIVE. Habakkuk is told by God they were also coming to PUNISH Judah for their WICKEDNESS, and this news greatly DISTURBED him. So Habakkuk has a back and forth CONVERSATION with God about his CONCERNS.
3. Habakkuk’s name means: “EMBRACED” (“One who takes another to his heart”)
C. Social Media, for better or for worse, has given us great insight into how people feel about LIFE.
1. Overwhelmingly, many Christians, if not most, feel like they are under ATTACK, even by our own
GOVERNMENT at times.
COMMENT:
I have read POSTS and SHARES in FACEBOOK from Christians all over America who are FRUSTRATED and ANGRY with the DIRECTION they perceive our COUNTRY as going, and they don’t understand why God seemingly sits back DOING NOTHING about it. Or, if this is God DOING SOMETHING about it, they certainly don’t LIKE IT and thinks He needs to do something DIFFERENT. (HAVE YOU BEEN THERE?)
2. Rewind 2600 years to the book of Habakkuk, and we realize those same FRUSTRATIONS were expressed even back then resulting in two common CONCERNS about God still prevalent today:
MESSAGE:
I. WHY ISN’T GOD DOING ANYTHING?
A. Have you ever asked that question before? “God are you going to do anything about this?”
1. Habakkuk certainly does in no uncertain terms- 1:2-4 (READ)
a. I don’t think this is the first time the prophet has had this conversation with God.
COMMENT:
Undoubtedly he has lifted his NATION up in PRAYER many times. But instead of seeing the people of Judah getting BETTER, they have gotten WORSE. Instead of seeing them REPENT
and RETURN to God, they have turned FURTHER AWAY from Him.
b. I have PRAYED similar PRAYERS before, haven’t you?
COMMENT:
As I look at the decline of Christianity in America, my heart breaks. Unless God does something about it, my GRANDCHILDREN are going to grow up in an America that no longer RESPECTS God’s Word, an America who believes that there is no longer any ABSOLUTES, an America who is ASHAMED to even mention the name “Jesus Christ”. I PRAY often for this great COUNTRY of ours, and for the church of Jesus Christ to stand firm and contend for the faith.
2. What I really like about Habakkuk’s PRAYER is that he feels FREE to be HONEST with God and
just POUR out his heart before Him.
a. Family, God can handle our RAW EMOTIONS and our RAW THOUGHTS.
COMMENT:
It is okay to ask God what is going on. It is appropriate to turn to God in prayer and tell him that we do not understand. There are many events in my life that I could say, “God I don’t get this! I just don’t understand what’s happening.”
b. But there is an important aspect of Habakkuk’s faith that we must not overlook. Instead of WALKING AWAY from God because he doesn’t like what’s going on, Habakkuk TALKS to
Him about it.
COMMENT:
So often getting angry and leaving God is the response that occurs when TRIALS and DISAPPOINTMENT crush our lives. Rather than give up on God, TALK to Him. Tell Him what’s on your HEART. God already knows it all anyway, so just be HONEST with Him.
B. Habakkuk wants to know what God is going to do about the SPIRITUAL DECLINE of Judah, so God
tells him- 2:5 (READ)
1. God says to Habakkuk, “You will be utterly amazed at what I’m planning to do, and you’ll see Me
at WORK answering your PRAYER in your LIFETIME.”
COMMENT:
It’s not easy to SEE what God is currently DOING around us. We can see God’s HAND in HISTORY, but have more difficulty SEEING what He is doing in the HERE and NOW. Yet, the fact is, God is WORKING among the NATIONS today and we don’t even REALIZE it! The things that CONCERN you and me . . . God is already ON IT!!
2. “God tells Habakkuk that He is preparing the FIERCE and RUTHLES Babylonian Army under the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar to come SWEEP through and PUNISH the Nation of Judah for their refusal to REPENT and RETURN to Him”- 2:6-11
a. Now remember, God has been WARNING Judah for DECADES that this was going to happen
unless they REPENTED.
b. God doesn’t decide on a whim, “I feel like PUNISHING someone today! Let’s see . . . there’s
the people of Judah, I’ll just WHACK them!”
COMMENT:
God has been more than PATIENT with this NATION. He LOVES His people, and this is
the LAST thing He wants to do.
However, He knows that the Israel and the ETERNAL SOULS of future generations are at STAKE. So to preserve Israel and the ancestral line that leads to the coming Messiah, God will have to PUNISH Judah; even if He has to use a RUTHLESS nation like Babylon to do it!
II. I DON’T LIKE WHAT GOD IS DOING
A. Although Habakkuk wanted God to do something about the WICKED DIRECTION that Judah was
heading, He doesn’t like the CHOICE that God has made to GET IT DONE.
1. The prophet expresses both his DISMAY that God is planning to use Babylon against Judah and his
FAITH that God is in CONTROL- 1:12 (READ)
a. Habakkuk acknowledges three infinite characteristics of God: He is “Eternal”. He is “God”.
And He is “Holy”. (REPEAT THIS WITH ME!)
COMMENT:
It’s for this reason that although the PROPHET doesn’t UNDERSTAND nor even AGREES with what God is planning to do, he knows that his “Lord” and his “Rock” will somehow protect
the RIGHTEOUS while still punishing the WICKED.
b. The prophet confidentially affirms that through it all, “WE WILL NOT DIE.”
2. Habakkuk knows that God is in CONTROL, but he just doesn’t understand why use Babylon that
God just described as being “RUTHLESS and FIERCE” in vv. 6-8 to carry out His PLAN.
a. Habakkuk 1:13 (READ)
COMMENT:
The prophet is asking, “God, how can you being PURE approve of such EVIL? How can you possibly use a NATION to deal so TREACHEROUSLY against a PEOPLE who are less
WICKED than they?”
b. Psalm 37:7- “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men
succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes.”
ILLUSTRATION:
I get where Habakkuk is coming from, because I must confess to you . . . I don’t always
UNDERSTAND why God seemingly allows WICKEDNESS to prevail over RIGHTEOUSNESS.
I don’t know what God was doing on June 25, 1962 when the United States Supreme Court
ruled that schools could no longer lead PUBLIC PRAYER. (And we wonder why there are so
many problems in SCHOOLS today.)
What was God thinking when on January 22, 1973 He allowed the United States Supreme
Court to legalize ABORTION, which has resulted in the murder of 54 million unborn babies?
Was God not listening to the PLEADINGS of His people last year when on June 25th the US Supreme Court passed down the ruling that SAME-SEX MARRIAGE was now the law of the land; a practice that God’s Word describes as an “abomination”- Leviticus 20:13? (Start PRAYING now for the JUDGES that will be APPOINTED to the SUPREME COURT by our next PRESIDENT; whomever that will be.)
B. God’s answer to Habakkuk’s concern is this: “The righteous will live by faith”- 2:4. (REPEAT)
1. As SIMPLE as this sounds, this has always been the MEANS by which God’s PEOPLE has found
VICTORY over the most difficult of CIRCUMSTANCES.
a. 1 John 5:4- “This is the victory that has OVERCOME the World, even our faith.”
b. Paul- “We live by faith, not by sight”- 2 Corinthians 5:7.
c. Jesus told the church of Smyrna of Asia to “Be faithful even to the point of death, and I will
give you the crown of life”- Revelation 2:10.
2. Whatever happens, God is wanting Habakkuk to know that “those who are righteous will live by
their faith.”
COMMENT:
Whether the BABYLONIANS come or not. Whether the MORAL CLIMATE of the NATION improves or not. In all circumstances, good or bad, the righteous continue to live by faith. And they did!
3. Some of the greatest stories of FAITH recorded in the Bible took place in Babylonian captivity.
a. Daniel 1:1- “In the third year of the reign of Johoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king
of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”
ILLUSTRATION:
In 605 BC King Nebuchadnezzar began a full assault against Egypt, and as his TROOPS returned from BATTLE they brought with them CAPTIVES from surrounding NATIONS—including Judah. Among those CAPTIVES were a young prophet named “Daniel” along with his
companions, “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.”
b. While in CAPTIVITY these “righteous men LIVED by faith” even when their LIVES were put
on the LINE.
-You know the story of “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and the fiery furnace”- Dan. 3.
COMMENT:
King Nebuchadnezzar made a golden statue that was 90 feet high and 9 feet wide to be WORSHIPPED by all the people. The plan was when music played, everyone was to BOW down
and WORSHIP the IDOL. Those who refused would be thrown into a blazing FURNACE.
Well, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were FAITHFUL to Jehovah God, and simply refused to WORSHIP the IDOL. When brought before the King they were given another chance to BOW DOWN to the IMAGE when the MUSIC PLAYED, or be immediately thrown into the
FIERY FURNACE.
This is what these men of FAITH said to the King, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. BUT (listen to these words of faith) even if He does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up”- Daniel 3:16-18.
The king was furious and ordered that the FURNACE be made 7 times hotter. It was so HOT that the soldiers who threw these faithful men into the furnace died instantly just by getting close to it. But there in the furnace was Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walking around. And with them in the FURNANCE was a fourth person that the king said appeared to be “like a son of the gods.” (I BELIEVE HIM TO BE “THE SON OF GOD”!)
- And who could ever forget the story of “Daniel and the lions’ den”- Daniel 6.
COMMENT:
At this time a new king is over the Babylonian Empire—King Darius. He liked Daniel, but the king was tricked by his administrators who despised the PROPHET to sign a DECREE that if anyone in the land PRAYED to any god or man, except for the King himself, he would be thrown to the LIONS to be TORN APART.
There was no way that Daniel was going to pray to anyone but Jehovah God, and the King’s men knew it. As was Daniel’s custom, three times a day he would be in his HOME facing the WINDOWS that were opened towards Jerusalem and BOW DOWN to God in PRAYER.
The administrators reported this to King and reminded him of his DECREE. Although it greatly saddened him, the King had no choice but to carry out the EXECUTION against Daniel.
When King Darius gave the order to throw Daniel to the LIONS he said to the prophet, “May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you”- Daniel 6:16. And God did. Because of Daniel’s FAITHFULNESS, God sent an ANGEL to close the mouth of the LIONS and he was SPARED.
4. God tells Habakkuk that even though Judah will be taken into CAPTIVITY by the RUTHLESS
nation of Babylon, “the righteous will live by faith.”
a. That is the same FAITH that we are to LIVE BY regardless of what we FACE in LIFE as
INDIVIDUALS, as a CHURH, or as a NATION.
COMMENT:
Our FAITH is not tied to PROSPERITY or POVERTY; SICKNESS or HEALTH; the MORALITY or LACK OF IT in others. Our FAITH is not reliant on whether a REPUBLICAN or DEMOCRAT gets in the WHITE HOUSE or on the RULINGS of the SUPREME COURT. It is SECURED in our God and His Word (Romans 10:17).
b. Whatever happens to our own NATION today, “the RIGHTEOUS will LIVE by FAITH!”
CONCLUSION:
A. Habakkuk closes his PROPHECY with a PRAYER of FAITH- chapter 3.
1. He still doesn’t UNDERSTAND nor even AGREES with what God is going to do to finally bring JUDAH to its knees and it FRIGHTENS him, but he has come to the conclusion that whatever God does it will be for the BEST.
2. He simply asks God “to show MERCY in the midst of His WRATH”- 3:2b.
3. Although Habakkuk knows that Judah must be PUNISHED for their WICKEDNESS and IDOLATRY and that major DEVASTATION awaits them, the prophet reveals his own statement of FAITH when he closes his prophecy with these final words- 3:18- 19a (READ and COMMENT)
B. Next week we will study the book of HAGGAI: REBUILDING THE TEMPLE
