Habakkuk 1:1-17
I heard about a young boy who went off to one of
these extremely expensive universities. The bills
were coming in monthly to his parents, and they
were struggling to keep their heads above water.
One day the boy’s mother received a letter from
him that read like this: “Dear Mom: I’m writing to
inform you that I have flunked all of my courses. I
had an accident and totally wrecked my car, I owe
the clothing store in town $2000, and I have been
suspended for the next semester because of
misconduct. I am coming home, prepare Dad!” His
mother wrote a one line letter back to him that just
said this: “Dear son: Dad is prepared, prepare
yourself.
Today we are going to start a new series in the book of
Habakkuk. He was a minor prophet which means he
didn’t write a lot of words compared to Isaiah or
Jeremiah or Ezekiel. Habakkuk wrote in the time just
before Judah, the southern kingdom, was taken captive
for the first time.
They were actually taken captive by the Chaldeans, also
known as Babylon, three times.
605 BC – Daniel
597 BC – Ezekiel and 10k others
586 BC – Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed
The first two chapters are a conversation between God
and Habakkuk, similar to Job.
Let’s pray and ask God to teach us His truth and for Him
to reveal Himself to us so that we can hear and obey
Him.
Habakkuk 1:1-4
Habakkuk Questions God
Habakkuk means embrace or wrestle. In the first two
chapters we see the prophet wrestling with what God is
doing and why He is doing it.
The word oracle means burden.
It can also refer to a divine utterance delivered.
As pastors prepare for the messages they deliver, they
have to understand the burden of the message of God
and deal with it personally so they are able to deliver it
correctly to the flock.
Habakkuk is dealing with the burden as he questions
God.
This prophetic book is different from most because the
prophet is not delivering a message About God or From
God to the people. Habakkuk is crying out to God about
the people.
Habakkuk has 2 questions for God.
How Long will I have to cry out for help?
And
Why do I have to keep on seeing the sin of the
people?
Let’s deal with the question of how long first.
Habakkuk is having a difficult time being patient.
I am sure none of us ever suffer from impatience do we?
How do we respond when God seems to not be
answering our prayers?
Do we give up?
Do we blame God and accuse Him of not caring?
We need to become more earnest in our prayer.
Spurgeon said, “The best thermometer of your
spiritual temperature is the intensity of your
prayer.”
Habakkuk says he has been calling out to God – the
Hebrew word means to cry or plead for relief.
He also says he cries out to God.
The word for cry is used in the same way when Jesus
cried out to the Father, why have you forsaken Me.
We can see the intensity of Habakkuk’s prayers.
He is having trouble being patient, waiting for God to
save them.
All the while he is seeing violence.
The word for violence is hamas.
Interesting that this is the same name of the group that
is trying to destroy Israel even today.
I also find it interesting that Habakkuk is crying out to
God for His judgment and discipline for the sin of the
nation.
When David cries out to God in the Psalms, he is
normally asking God how long his enemies will prosper.
In Revelation the saints cry out asking how long until
God will avenge the blood of the martyrs.
Any parents out there ever had your children come to
you asking how long until you disciplined them?
Habakkuk is tired of the sin and he wants God to turn the
people back to Him. This is exactly God’s plan.
Now, for the second question.
Why do I have to keep on seeing the sin of the
people?
Jeremiah asked why does the way of the wicked prosper?
Why does God allow evil?
Phrased differently, why does God allow bad things to
happen to good people?
Why does God allow Christians to suffer?
I went to a celebration of life last Saturday.
The man had received a cancer diagnosis two years ago.
Rather than ask why, he asked why not?
He used his time of receiving treatments to minister to
other patients and staff. He looked for opportunities to
share his faith. He used his suffering for God’s glory.
Rather than asking God why, we should be asking Him
“What are You teaching me through this circumstance?”
Habakkuk’s concern is that the people have turned from
God and His commands to doing what is right in their
own eyes.
They have ignored the law and kept on sinning.
“Because the sentence against an evil deed is not
executed speedily, the heart of the children of man
is fully set to do evil.” Ecclesiastes 8:11
Sin that used to be done in the cover of darkness is now
being done in broad daylight.
We see it in our world every day.
Things that never used to happen are now the norm.
Habakkuk 1:5-11
God Responds to Habakkuk
God answers Habakkuk with 4 commands
Look
See
Wonder
Be astonished
These commands are also in the plural which means that
they are not only for Habakkuk, but for all of Israel.
God is Working – He has a plan.
Henry Blackaby, in his incredible Bible study Experiencing
God, says that God is always at work and believers need
to see God at work and join Him in what He is doing.
God tells Habakkuk that He is up to something.
It is something that you wouldn’t believe if someone else
were telling you.
Then he lets the cat out of the bag.
God is going to use the Chaldeans to discipline Judah!!!
God goes into great detail to describe how awful the
Chaldeans are.
They are fierce – Ezekiel calls Babylon a ruthless nation in
Ezekiel 28:7 “therefore, behold, I will bring
foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of the
nations; and they shall draw their swords against
the beauty of your wisdom and defile your
splendor.”
The Hebrew for ruthless means terror striking!!
They are dreaded and fearsome – their justice and
authority originate with themselves. That’s just another
way of saying. They make their own rules. They do what
is right in their own eyes, just like the people during the
time of the judges.
Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than
wolves.
They fly like eagles swooping down to devour.
They come for violence. Again the same Hebrew word
Hamas.
God is effectively saying to Habakkuk, you think your
people are bad, you haven’t seen anything yet.
The people who are going to take you captive are evil.
God is not going to leave the sin of Judah unpunished.
He has a plan to discipline them – not to destroy them.
Habakkuk 1:12-17
Habakkuk Questions God Again
He begins by asking a rhetorical question.
Are you not from eternity?
He knows God has always existed and created the world
from nothing.
He also uses the possessive my God and my Holy One.
He has a personal intimate relationship with God.
The follow up question Habakkuk asks in these verses is
Why would God allow evil people like the Chaldeans
to discipline His people?
Remember, God disciplines those He loves.
Hebrews 12:5-7 “And have you forgotten the
exhortation that addresses you as sons? ‘My son,
do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor
be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and
chastises every son whom he receives.’ It is for
discipline that you have to endure. God is treating
you as sons. For what son is there whom his father
does not discipline?”
Habakkuk understands God’s discipline, but what he
doesn’t get is how God could allow such a perverse and
violent nation to bring discipline upon them.
Habakkuk speaks to God’s holiness as he asks God how
He can watch as the Chaldeans swallow up Judah.
The answer is God’s sovereignty. He can do exactly what
He wants whenever He wants to do it. And God is always
right.
God ordained it to happen and it will happen just as He
said.
Like I mentioned at the beginning, Babylon will take
Judah captive three separate times over the next 20
years.
Another thing to remember is that the Chaldeans were
not believers. They were sinners acting like sinners.
Judah on the other hand had professed to follow God, but
were doing what was right in their own eyes. They have
sinned against the God who loves them and wants the
best for them.
The Bible tells us that sin must be punished.
Even though there is forgiveness of sin, there are still
consequences. God disciplines those He loves.
He does it to teach us and make us stronger so we grow
closer to Him.
APPLICATION
How is Your Prayer Life?
When we are lacking in prayer we are more susceptible
to sin.
When we are diligent in prayer, we are aware of our
enemy and we are ready with the armor of God to
protect against sin.
Is prayer a last ditch effort for you or your main priority?
Are You Receiving God’s Discipline?
Not receiving discipline is an indication that we aren’t a
child of God.
Because of our sinful nature we are going to sin, and
when we do, God is loving and kind to discipline us to
restore us. Are you seeking out His discipline when you
stray from His commands?