The DISCONCERTING DILEMMA Of DIVINE INACTION--I
—Habakkuk 1:1-2a(:1-4)
Key Words—•Difficult/Disturbing/Disorienting/Disconcerting/Perplexing/Uncertainty/Unsettling. •Dilemma/Predicament/Quandary/Situation.
Attention:
Building a road on a mountainside. Rock must be removed. Much of it is done thru the use of heavy explosives.
You may ask, ?Why are they waiting? All they have to do is ‘blow it up’, right?.....
WRONG!
There are other processes at work, behind the scenes, & therefore unseen, that must be present, to produce the desired result.
The explosives must be expertly prepared:
a. The precise need must be expertly determined.
b. Type of explosive must be expertly determined.
c. Amount of explosive must be expertly measured.
d. The explosive must be expertly placed—depth, & distance from each other.
e. The detonators must be expertly connected to a power source.
f. The area must be expertly cleared of people, so no one will be hurt.
g. Guards(both material & human) must be expertly positioned around the area.
Likewise, there are many ‘behind-the-scenes’ or unseen & puzzling processes that come into play, & are at work with the execution/outworking of God’s sovereignty.
Need:
Most of us at times, have questioned:—Why God doesn’t do something’ about whatever malady, or affliction, or trouble, or distress we’re facing.
As Christians, we can allow those things to become disorienting, unsettling, & disconcerting to our faith in God thru Christ.
Habakkuk was a prophet of God, who faced the disconcerting/unsettling dilemma of Divine inaction towards His people, Judah.
Divine ‘inaction’ presents an unsettling dilemma for God’s people.
How is Divine inaction unsettling?
4 fabrications that either accentuate the dilemma of God’s inaction
—OR said another way:—
4 fabrications muddy/confuse/obscure the answer/explanation to God’s inaction.
“Habakkuk” is pronounced variously as:
—Khab´-Ah-Kook -OR- Kha-Bak?-Ook—
•His name derives from the Hebrew word, qbx--Kha-Bahk, meaning “to embrace.” It is intensified with the addition of qw--Ook—at the end.
•So “Habakkuk” was a person who was expected to ‘embrace’ God’s desire for Judah(Israel)....Even though that desire was for cleansing thru Judah’s promised destruction(cf.-Jeremiah). Thus thru his heartache at the God-ordained demise of his country, “Habakkuk” has to ‘double down’ on what YHWH wanted him to ‘embrace’ & share!
There is no firm date provided from the book itself. The only hint of a date is in the single reference to “the Chaldeans” in 1:6, where YHWH God states to the prophet, “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.”
•Most conservative scholars hold that 1:6 is a reference to the God-ordained destruction of Jerusalem, & thus “Habakkuk” predates the eventual Babylonian exile of Judah. Thereby, “the Chaldeans” are spoken of “as about to invade Judah, but not as having actually done so”(JFB).
•Thus the dates provided for “Habakkuk’s” prophecy are ‘educated guesses’, which range anywhere from ~635BC to ~590BC.....Much of it being within the reign of Jehoiakim(Barker/Bailey in NAC-1998).
•Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians(“Chaldeans”) in 598/7 BC. Following that, major deportations of the Jewish populations are known to have taken place in 598BC, 586/7BC, & 582BC.
Thus “Habakkuk” would have 'possibly' been a contemporary of Jeremiah, Zephaniah, & possibly Daniel.
1:1—“The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw.”
“Habakkuk’s” “burden” is one which he “saw.” And in that sense he was a ‘seer’(1Sam. 9:9). He eventually ‘perceived’ as God wanted him to. Habakkuk was 'witness' to God's desire & future movement.
•1Sam. 9:9—“(Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he spoke thus: “Come, let us go to the seer”; for he who is now called a prophet was formerly called a seer.)”
What “Habakkuk” “saw” from YHWH(1:1ff.), is what produced the “burden” upon “Habakkuk.”
“Habakkuk” was given the “burden” by YHWH, & “Habakkuk” shared that “burden” during his time in history, as well as sharing it beyond himself thru this his biblical record.
*First & foremost it must be said, that it is a FACT that God is neither inactive, nor is He negligent, nor indifferent to your plight!*
*God’s seeming ‘inaction/inactivity’ is actually a ‘human perception’ problem!*
•That is, unless a person’s ‘limited perception’ of reality is overcome by the Spirit of God, such people will continue to muddy the waters of God’s reality!
A 'FABRICATION' is—“The action or process of manufacturing or inventing something.”
For our purposes here, a ‘fabrication’ is a misleading attempt to make sense of what might be falsely perceived as God’s inaction.
1—A fabrication forged thru Divine inaction is An Unsettling...
‘INATTENTION’ To PERSONAL PLIGHT(:2a)
Explanation:(:2a)
:2—“O LORD, how long shall I cry, And You will not hear?...”
The prophet Habakkuk is pouring his heart out to YHWH(“LORD”).
•Recall that the name, ‘YHWH’ is a description of God’s eternal uncreated nature. It is derived from the Hebrew verb, meaning ‘To Be.’
God’s own prophet “cries out” to God with the soul-wrenching: “how long?”
Habakkuk is obviously a man of prayer. He obviously has a working relationship with God. However Habakkuk’s personal prayer experience also reveals that Habakkuk SUPPOSES God has not “heard” his “cries.”
For Habakkuk, it seems that he is “crying” out to a God who has willfully chosen to “not hear” his own prophet. And Habakkuk is not alone in that sentiment.(cf.-Ps. 13:1-2; Ps. 6:3; 80:4; 89:46; Jer. 12:4; Zech. 1:12)—Carl E. Armerding in EBC(1985)
“Cry”—ewv shaw-vah’—Piel(intensive/intentional/repeated/extended) Perfect—1) (Piel)--To cry out(for help), shout. Strong—a primitive root; properly--To be free; but used only causatively & reflexively--To halloo(for help, i.e. freedom from some trouble). Used 21X.
Ps. 13:1-2—“<<To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.>> How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart daily? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?”
Ps. 89:46-47—“A Contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite”—“How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men?”
Habakkuk’s question represents & reveals a dilemma that plagues his mind & heart.
And that dilemma, that question in the prophet’s mind, is answered in this short recording(book) of Habakkuk’s prophecy.
The dilemma is answered by a simultaneously ‘Improper’ perspective, as well as by a ‘Proper’ perspective.....That ‘human perception’ problem that I mentioned previously.
The quandary/dilemma of God’s inaction/indifference toward us, plays on, incites, stirs up, & stokes our human emotions.
If we see God as indifferent to our suffering, it rightly produces an emotional response. If we see God as inactive & indifferent toward us, then our faith is ‘soured.’ Because we attach ourselves by unswerving faith, to the perfectly compassionate, & loving, eternally existing God!
And so, when we see God as inactive or indifferent towards us, then we are driven to question whether our faith is rightly placed. And it puts us in a ‘state of depression’ or puts us in a ‘funk.’
Scripture tells us that we are to call upon the Lord while He may be found(Isa. 55:6; Ps. 18:1-6, 16-19). We are told to bring our burdens’ to the Lord. To ‘bear our souls’ before the Lord. And we should!!
Ps. 18:1-6, 16-19—<<To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David the servant of the LORD, who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies & from the hand of Saul. And he said:>> I will love You, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock & my fortress & my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield & the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; So shall I be saved from my enemies. The pangs of death surrounded me, And the floods of ungodliness made me afraid. The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; The snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called upon the LORD, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.”
Php. 4:4-7—the apostle Paul wrote,—“Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer & supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; & the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts & minds through Christ Jesus.”
Mat. 11:27-30—Jesus said,—““All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, & no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, & the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all you who labor & are heavy laden, & I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you & learn from Me, for I am gentle & lowly in heart, & you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy & My burden is light.””
Argumentation:
*Isa. 59:1-2—“Behold, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.”
Isa. 50:1-3—“Thus says the LORD: “Where is the certificate of your mother’s divorce, Whom I have put away? Or which of My creditors is it to whom I have sold you? For your iniquities you have sold yourselves, And for your transgressions your mother has been put away. Why, when I came, was there no man? Why, when I called, was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Indeed with My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; Their fish stink because there is no water, And die of thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, And I make sackcloth their covering.”
*1Jn. 5:14-15—“Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.”
Mat. 13:13-16—“Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, & hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled[Isa, 6:9-10], which says: ‘Hearing you will hear & shall not understand, And seeing you will see & not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes & hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts & turn, So that I should heal them.’ “But blessed are your eyes for they see, & your ears for they hear;”
Ps. 74:1, 10—“ <<A Contemplation of Asaph.>>”.....“O God, how long will the adversary reproach? Will the enemy blaspheme Your name forever?”
Lam. 3:8—the prophet Jeremiah in Lamentations states,—“Even when I cry & shout, He[YHWH] shuts out my prayer.”
Illustration:
Teaching a student to do their homework. You DON’T do their homework for them! You DO offer ‘help’ when needed. “It’s too hard Mommy!” “No it’s not too hard!” You only need to take your attention off of yourself, & focus your attention on the work/need at hand.
It may SEEM to the student that Mommy or Daddy or their teacher or whoever is ‘INATTENTIVE’ To their PERSONAL PLIGHT. But THAT assumption is incorrect! They are actually helping the student to excel at living in the real world!
Application:
?Have YOUR Fabrications(failed attempts to make sense of God’s inaction) accused God of An Unsettling ‘INATTENTION’ To PERSONAL PLIGHT?
?Are YOU a Fabricator of false accusations toward God?
?For others, Do YOU Fabricate false notions regarding God?
CONCLUSION:
Visualization:
Removal of rock for road construction:—1)The explosives must be expertly prepared. 2)Safety must be expertly ensured.
Likewise, there are many ‘unseen’ processes that are at work with the execution of God’s sovereignty.
Action:
A fabrication forged thru Divine inaction is An Unsettling...
1. ‘INATTENTION’ To PERSONAL PLIGHT(:2a)
Pt.#1 only! presented 10/20/2024am to:
Salem Baptist Church
1618 Salem Rd.
Bennettsville, SC 29512
