Sermon - The Believers Perspective - Take The Long View

Sermon. The Believers Perspective - Take The Long View

Scripture - Habakkuk 1:1-6 “This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumbers the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands.”

Introduction: Perspective is everything. Our perspective is the lens at which we view life and most importantly God’s role in our life. God is good all the time. Too many Christians define God’s goodness by their circumstances rather than Who God actually is. Men fail us. The world fails us. Our friends and family failed us. Even when we go through trauma and disappointment, God is in the middle of it all, reigning supreme and orchestrating every step we make and bringing about His will in the world. Your perspective is formed by what you know is true. As Christians, this wisdom should come from God’s Word.

What do you do when your world has become confusing and unsettled? What do you do when nothing seems to make sense. The prophet Habakkuk lived at a time and in a world with many similarities to our own. There were frightening international tensions, the decline of one superpower and the rise of another, attendant anxiety and fear among smaller nations that tended to get trampled in the conflicts, and the confusion of political alignments and alliances. And, at the same time, the fracturing of family morals, religious bonds and sacred traditions were plaguing Judah’s own society. We all face confusing times, unsettled hearts and troubled minds, sometimes. It’s okay to admit to God how you feel.

1. Habakkuk Expresses His Feeling to God. He admits that his mind is confused, and his world is unsettled. It was a bad time. It was a baffling time. It was a world that was hard to understand. What did Habakkuk have to say about this situation? More importantly, what did God have to say about it? Unsettling and Confusing are mild words for the state of the world during Habakkuk’s life. It was a time filled with international, political, religious, and moral chaos and rampant unchecked evil.

Internationally, the whole world of the ancient Near East had been in turmoil, with one empire collapsing and another rising to take its place. All of this was generating great fear and uncertainty, especially among the smaller nations who, like Judah, had got caught up in the rivalry of the great powers of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Habakkuk turns to God in the midst of that world—a world he could not understand—with those fears and questions tormenting his mind. He begins to tell God how he feels and what he thinks. There is a conflict between what he knows and what he sees.

Nationally, King Josiah had made valiant efforts to bring about reformation in Judah, the country was still suffering the long-term legacy of the evil reign of King Manasseh, who reigned 53 years. During that long reign, the people had slid into increasing idolatry and evil practices of all kinds. Even though Josiah had achieved some major reforms and purged the nation of the outward trappings of other gods, he was soon followed by his son Jehoiakim, who tragically reversed Josiah’s policies and behaved in arrogant, showy, and oppressive ways. It was probably during the reign of Jehoiakim when Habakkuk asked his questions.

Socially, there was increasing poverty, social inequality, sexual dysfunction, arrogant exploitation by the “elite,” dispossession, and all the suffering that went with loss of land and security. The country of Judah was descending into a spiral of increasing degradation and wickedness, while the perpetrators of these ills were boldly getting away with it. That was the trigger for Habakkuk’s opening complaint to God.

Religiously, there was a mixture of worship of other gods and a dangerous complacency in the assurance that Yahweh, the God of Israel, would always defend his city. God’s people thought they would be safe if they carried on their worship in the Lord’s temple, for God would never allow his own temple to be destroyed. How wrong they were!