Habakkuk 2:1-5
Faith honors God and God honors faith! A story from
the life of missionaries Robert and Mary Moffat
illustrates this truth. For 10 years this couple labored
faithfully in Botswana without one ray of
encouragement to brighten their way.
They could not report a single convert.
Finally the directors of their mission board began to
question the wisdom of continuing the work.
The thought of leaving their post, however, brought
great grief to this devoted couple, for they felt sure
that God was in their labors, and that they would see
people turn to Christ in due season.
They stayed; and for a year or two longer, darkness
reigned. Then one day a friend in England sent word to
the Moffats that he wanted to mail them a gift and
asked what they would like.
Trusting that in time the Lord would bless their work,
Mrs. Moffat replied, “Send us a communion set; I am
sure it will soon be needed.”
God honored that dear woman’s faith. The Holy Spirit
moved upon the hearts of the villagers, and soon a
little group of six converts was united to form the first
Christian church in that land.
The communion set from England was delayed in the
mail; but on the very day before the first
commemoration of the Lord’s supper in Botswana, the
set arrived.
Last week we started our series through the book of
Habakkuk. We studied chapter 1 where we read
Habakkuk’s Earnest Prayer to God asking how long he
would have to keep crying out for God to discipline the
people of Judah, and why does he have to keep on
looking at the sin of the people.
God responded that He is at work and He is going to use
the evil Chaldeans to discipline the nation of Judah.
Habakkuk asks God why he would use a nation more evil
than Judah to discipline them and that is where chapter 1
ended.
This morning we are going to look at the first 5 verses of
chapter 2 of Habakkuk.
Habakkuk 2:1-5
Habakkuk’s Attitude towards God
He is Patient– Habakkuk takes his stand at his
watchpost. That phrase has a military context. He is not
moving. He is standing his ground waiting for God to
answer his complaint.
We can learn from Habakkuk’s patient attitude towards
God here.
Habakkuk plans to look out to see what God will say to
him.
When we pray to God we should wait with expectation for
Him to respond. Sometimes He responds quickly, others
He doesn’t. And sometimes He says no. We should learn
to wait for God because He is faithful and will answer His
children.
He is Expectant – Habakkuk says he will look out to see
what God will say to him. He expects to hear from God.
He doesn’t say, ‘I will see if God responds to my
complaint.”
He is confident that God will respond again.
He knows the voice of the Lord.
Jesus said He was the good shepherd, and the sheep
know the voice of the shepherd.
We know when the Lord is speaking to us.
We should expect it. We should depend on it.
Habakkuk 2:2-3
God’s Instructions to Habakkuk
We don’t know how long Habakkuk had to wait for the
Lord’s reply, but the Bible records what God told him to
do.
Write the Vision – God would tell Habakkuk exactly
what to write down. There is much disagreement among
commentators about what exactly the vision was.
Some believe it to be verses 4-5, some believe it to be
verses from the previous chapter. Some believe it to be
the woes from verses 6-20 on this chapter, still others
believe it was not recorded. What is clear is that God
told Habakkuk to write the vision down and He told him
what to write.
God wanted to make sure it was recorded so that the
people would know when it occurred.
Preserve it on Tablets – the word for tablets is the
same word used in Exodus when God wrote the 10
Commandments on the tablets of stone. The point was
for Habakkuk to make it plain so that people could read
and understand it.
The last part of this verse presents some difficulty in
interpretation. Is Habakkuk supposed to write it very
large so that people who come by can read it? I don’t
think that is what God was saying here.
I think this verse is talking about how we should live our
lives based on this vision. We will see why when we get
to verse 4-5.
I also think there is an element of running as a herald
with the vision from God. We are all called to take the
Good News to the ends of the earth. Once we have read
the word we should run with it to pass it on to those who
desperately need it.
In verse 3 Habakkuk mentions the appointed time that
the vision will be realized. Babylon will be defeated. God
will bring the evil nation to justice.
God is telling Habakkuk to have patience.
It is surely going to be fulfilled – God doesn’t lie.
Even if it seems slow he must wait for it.
This is how we must view our prayer life.
God will answer all of our prayers.
He may just not answer them in the time we want.
His timing is not our timing.
Here’s something interesting.
The writer of Hebrews quotes these verses from
Habakkuk.
But he adds a definite article before the verb for coming,
which would help the reader understand that one very
specific person is coming – the Lord Jesus Christ!
He’s writing about the second coming of Christ.
Isn’t God’s Word awesome?
Habakkuk 2:4-5
Here we see the contrast between the evil and the
faithful.
Habakkuk mentions the evil ones, but not by name in
verse 4. He writes about their pride and arrogance.
Then in verse 5 he continues by writing about their
alcoholic tendencies, arrogance once more, greed,
covetousness.
Pride can be especially dangerous among the
people of God. Once a man came to John Bunyan
after a sermon and told him what a fine sermon he
preached.
“You’re too late,” Bunyan answered.
“The devil told me that before I stepped down from
the pulpit.”
Satan can tell the praying brother to be proud of
his ability to pray,
the growing brother to be proud of his growth,
and even the humble brother to be proud of his
humility.
David Guzik
We can also see the evil ones described in chapter
1:7,11,13.
In verse 4 Habakkuk contrasts the evil ones with the
righteous.
The one who is righteous will live by faith.
Remember, this is what Paul told the Galatian churches to
do back in Galatians 5:16,18,25.
APPLICATION
Expect God to Work – we know God is always at work.
We can trust that when we pray to Him He already has a
plan for our good and for His glory. It may not always
seem like it at the moment, but God never does anything
that doesn’t bring Him glory.
Exude Patience – we have patience because it is one of
the fruit of the Spirit. We need to practice it every day.
We need patience with our families, with our co-workers,
with our friends on the roadway, etc.
We also need to be patient as we pray.
God is alway going to answer our prayers, you can count
on that. He hears us when we pray.
We also should be aware that sin hinders our prayers.
As we pray we should be continually confessing our sin
and thanking God for His forgiveness.
Exist Faithfully – Hebrews tells us that faith is the
assurance of the assurance of things hoped for, the
conviction of things not seen.
Paul writes that we are saved by grace through faith.
He also writes that faith comes from hearing, and hearing
through the word of Christ.
We can have faith that God saved us and that Jesus died
on the cross to forgive our sin.
We can also have faith that God is in control of our lives
and is working all things for the good of those who love
him and are called according to his purpose.
We must live by faith.