Wednesday, May 18, 2016

How Long, O Lord? (RP1)


(Audio version; Music: "While I'm Waiting" by: John Waller and "Bring The Rain" by: MercyMe)






Introduction

            I read a great story this week about a professional basketball player from the Golden State Warriors. I’m not a huge basketball fan but I am a huge Stephen (“Steph”) Curry fan. Aside from being a basketball phenom, all indications are that he is a great young man and a devout Christian. Anyway, Steph has a practice of writing a particularly important Bible verse on the outside of his basketball shoes before a game. Well most high-profile basketball players partner with big-name sports apparel companies to wear and advertise their athletic apparel for which the athlete gets paid a mind-boggling amount of money—often tens of millions of dollars every year. In this case the sponsor involved was the sports giant, Nike. They contacted Steph and told him that if he was going to represent them by wearing basketball shoes with their name and company logo on them, he could no longer write Bible verses on the shoes. With millions of dollars to lose, Steph had a decision to make—stop writing Bible verses on his basketball shoes and keep collecting Nike’s sponsorship money or maintain his character and integrity by honoring God the way he was and lose all that money. So what did Steph do? He contacted Nike and cancelled his agreement with them. He honored God be demonstrating through his actions that his Christian witness is not just words written on his basketball shoes. Shortly after cancelling his agreement with Nike, Steph was contacted by Under Armor, another sports equipment and apparel giant, about partnering with them to promote their product. When they learned why Steph cancelled his contract with Nike, they assured him that not only could he have any Bible verse he wanted on his basketball shoes, they would custom print the verse on the shoe for him.

Steph’s decision to be true to what he believed and especially his Christian witness was quickly rewarded. But it doesn’t always work that way does it? Do character, integrity and the doing things the right way really matter, especially when we don’t seem to be rewarded for it? Sometimes it just doesn’t seem like it’s worth the anguish and heartache. I wish I had the perfect words to encourage you in your struggle but I know I have often struggled with this same issue. Ironically, unbelievers rarely struggle as much with the matter of why the events of life unfold the way they do. They can attribute it to luck, karma, coincidence or chance. But for believers in a truly sovereign God the struggle is real. Why, when people do what is right, aren’t they always rewarded for it? Why, when someone works so hard, do they still lose their job? Why, when a wife commits her life to her husband, does her husband leave her for another woman? Why, when parents sacrifice everything for their children, do some children rebel against their parents? Why, when a student studies so hard, don’t his or her test grades always reflect that effort? Why, when you believe things are just starting to go great, do you find out you have cancer? Why do cheaters so often win? Why are liars so rarely exposed? Why do the wicked continue to prosper? When you don’t believe in luck, karma, coincidence or chance then these questions inevitably arise. We pray and cry out to God for answers. I’m not convinced we care all that much about why we struggle. I think we want to know How Long, O Lord? You see, I don’t believe we toil under the weight of our struggles because we don’t understand them, we toil because they are heavy and knowing why they are heavy makes them no less heavy. We want to know How Long, O Lord until you do something to relieve the struggle? How Long, O Lord are you going to let injustice have the upper-hand? How Long, O Lord do I have to live paycheck-to-paycheck? How Long, O Lord do I have to suffer? How Long, O Lord _________________? You fill in the blank. These are very real questions that long for answers that are too often left unanswered. But sometimes, sometimes God lets us peek behind the curtain to catch a glimpse of His plan. Usually He never seems to give us the complete picture or a map. Do you want to know why? If you have a map or detailed plans, you won’t rely on Him and you’ll soon think you can do everything without Him—you won’t need faith, trust, or hope. You may also tremble at what you see or hear. So we continue to question and seek Him and hope that He will answer us when we cry out How Long, O Lord?

Subject Text

Habakkuk 1:1-3:19

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

The Lord’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. 7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; 9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. 15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?

2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

The Lord’s Answer

2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith—5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!
10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. 16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 18 “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. 5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. 6 He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. 8 Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? 9 You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; 10 the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. 11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. 12 In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. 13 You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. 14 With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. 16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

Context

For those of you who are a regular part of this learning community, you know that I generally teach on a single idea within a biblical text (unless I get distracted by the voices in my head that lead me down a rabbit trail occasionally). So before you freak out about how long the Subject Text is for this week’s lesson, it really represents a single idea so stick with me as we go through it. Context for this particular lesson is really the key to understanding the text so let’s get that out of the way up front.

Habakkuk’s biblical contemporaries were Nahum, Jeremiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel and Daniel. Habakkuk’s oracle was most likely written sometime around 608 BC-598BC. Remember that the nation of Israel was divided at this time into two kingdoms; Israel in the north and Judah in the south. The northern kingdom of Israel was captured by the Assyrians in 722 BC and the southern kingdom of the Judah would fall, in part, to the rising world super-power Babylonians in 597 BC. For the most part, superior military might during the time of Habakkuk belonged to Assyria, Egypt and a brutal, massive and still growing Babylon. The Assyrian capital of Nineveh was destroyed by the Babylonians in 612 BC. Three years later, Egypt feared Babylon’s continuing advancement and set out to oppose Babylon at Carchemish. Pharaoh Neco tried to march his army north through Judah but king Josiah of Judah tried to stop him. Josiah was a good king in God’s eyes but fell in battle against Neco. Jehoahaz became king of Judah but only for three months which is when the king of Egypt removed him and took him to Egypt and installed Jehoiakim as Judah’s king. Judah was then required to pay massive tribute to Egypt. Neco moved on to Carchemish and fought alongside Assyria against the Babylonians for 4 years. Egypt and Assyria were soundly defeated at Carchemish in 605 BC. Babylon was firmly in control and held the distinguished titled of being the world’s unrivaled super-power. Babylon also began its systematic deportation of Judah at that time. Judah’s fall to the Babylonians was completed and the temple and Jerusalem were destroyed in 586 BC. The prophet Jeremiah actively opposed Jehoiakim’s evil rule. Jeremiah presented him with a scroll detailing all the things God spoke to Jeremiah that God had in store for Judah because of its disobedience. The hope was that when Jehoiakim and the people read the scroll, they would repent of their wicked lives. Instead, Jehoiakim burned the scroll and sent his people to find and arrest Jeremiah. It is upon these events that we can overlay Habakkuk’s prophetic writing.

Text Analysis

1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.

            Habakkuk opens with a complaint in 1:1-4 wondering how long God was going to ignore king Jehoiakim’s evil leadership. Habakkuk complains that there is violence, strife, conflict and injustice yet God remains silent. At first glance, Habakkuk’s complaint doesn’t seem completely unreasonable but let’s not forget that this leadership structure is precisely what Israel asked for when they demanded to be led by a king like “the other nations” instead of recognizing God as their king as I taught in last week’s lesson. “The substance of the prophet’s complaint centers on unanswered prayer. He has cried for relief from injustice; he has not been answered. A previous historical situation explains in part the perplexities of this circumstance. At the time of Israel’s insistence on the establishment of the monarchy, the Lord warned them through his servant: ‘You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day’ (1 Sam. 8:18). The consummate consequences of their rejecting God as king is that a wicked monarchy would bring them into a state of oppression. Then the Lord would not hear their cry for relief. The prophet cries, but the Lord does not hear. The wickedness brought in by Manasseh and his predecessors has sealed Israel’s fate. Left to themselves, they suffer endless abuses.”[1] Nevertheless, in response to Habakkuk’s complaint that God hasn’t answered his prayers, God answers. I wonder, though, if Habakkuk wishes God hadn’t answered when he heard God’s answer.

The Lord’s Answer

5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. 7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; 9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

            God responds to Habakkuk’s complaint in 1:5-11 but in accordance with his own agenda not Habakkuk’s agenda. God informs Habakkuk that he will, in fact, judge and punish Judah’s sinful behavior but not the way Habakkuk must have hoped for. God informs Habakkuk that he is raising up the feared Babylonians to carry out divine judgment against Judah. In case Habakkuk was unfamiliar with their reputation for brutality, God reminds him what the people can expect at the hand of the Babylonians. It is important to remember that the Assyrians were described as the most brutal and oppressive empire of all time—until the Babylonians who conquered the Assyrians and eclipsed the Assyrian brutality with unmatched military might and brutality. “Nebuchadnezzar demonstrated his military aggression following the battle of Carchemish (605 BC) by pursuing the defeated Egyptian army more than one hundred and fifty miles to crush them completely. Once the Babylonians had defeated both the Assyrians at Nineveh (612 BC) and the Egyptians (605 BC), no one could stop them. They could ‘scoff at rulers.’ Once they controlled trade routes, they could ‘laugh at all fortified cities,’ building earthen ramps to go over city walls.”[2] You can picture the advancing Babylonian warriors as a massive tornado too fast to out-run and powerful enough to destroy anything and everything as it moves along its path of destruction. Babylonian military strength was measured not just quantitatively but qualitatively. In other words, military strength was demonstrated not only in how many nations were conquered but the degree to which those nations were devastated—their strength was their god!

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 O Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O Lord, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

14 You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. 15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?

2 I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.

            Before we jump right in to Habakkuk’s second complaint in 1:12-2:1, consider for a moment what just happened. Habakkuk has been crying out for God to do something about Judah’s evil and injustice and God’s solution is to throw Judah to the lions. There is no way Habakkuk expected, or wanted, God to solve the problem this way. I remember once when my girls were very small, one of them got a Christmas gift that the other one wanted to play with and the two of them fought constantly about it. I would intervene a few times to get them to share but the situation would always eventually disintegrate into more fighting and crying. Finally, when one came to me complaining about being treated unfairly with respect to this toy, I quietly took the toy and threw it in the trash. I told them that if they couldn’t figure out how to share each others’ toys better, I would begin throwing them all away. They were stunned! They complained and wanted relief but what they really wanted was for me to rule in their favor respectively. Losing the toy altogether never even crossed their minds. Suffice it to say, no more toys found their way to the trash but the lesson learned to get to that point was painful and dramatic. This is precisely Habakkuk’s reaction in 1:13a when he says that if God can’t tolerate the “wrong” of Judah then how can he tolerate the treachery of the Babylonians? And then, in 1:13b, Habakkuk does the same thing that many of us do when God is disciplining us for our sin; we point to others in comparison and try and defend our actions by pointing out that there are others who are far worse than we are. Habakkuk goes on, just like we would, to question how God could use the ungodly to judge and punish the less ungodly (I know that sounds stupid but how do you think it sounded to God?).

The Lord’s Answer

2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous will live by his faith—5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 “Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, “‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 “Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin!

10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 12 “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! 13 Has not the Lord Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. 15 “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. 16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the Lord’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 18 “Of what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak. 19 Woe to him who says to wood, ‘Come to life!’ Or to lifeless stone, ‘Wake up!’ Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”

            God again answers Habakkuk in 2:2-20 by reminding him that no offense goes unnoticed—by anyone! God instructs Habakkuk to record the future indictment, judgment and sentencing of Babylon for its evil and unrighteousness. Then in 2:4 God says something that seems like an afterthought in the Old Testament but is on prominent display in the New Testament—“the righteous will live by his faith” (cf. Hab 2:4; Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Heb 10:37-38). “The precise meaning of these verses is difficult, but the basic thought is clear—the sharp contrast between the faithful righteous and the proud, debauched, and bloodthirsty Babylonians. The conduct of each group determines its fate: the Babylonians fail; the righteous live.”[3] What follows as a description of God’s indictment of Babylon can be found in the 5 “Woes” starting in 2:6b. But when you read the indictments, do any of the warnings make you uncomfortable? Some of them make me feel uncomfortable, like maybe they could apply to me. In a bit of divine irony, I think that is the point. Remember that even though the biblical text has just one meaning, it has multiple elements of significance and I believe this is one of those elements of significance. Are our achievements above reproach? Have we tried to insulate ourselves with lies and deception? Have we built our lives through illegal or illegitimate means? Have we taken advantage of the weaknesses of our family, friends or neighbors for our own gain? Have we set anything up in our lives in the place that should belong only to God—i.e. money, sex or power?

In any event, this was God’s future indictment of the Babylonians. 2:20 makes an extremely important observation—in all situations: God is sovereign; God is in complete control; God can and will use whatever means necessary to accomplish His will. You will notice that although God fully recognizes the sinful character and actions of the Babylonians, He has no intention of stopping them from carrying out the providentially ordained judgment against Judah. However, it is not for the purpose of annihilating Judah but disciplining Judah and purging it of unrighteousness. “Habakkuk had begun his dialogue in an effort to understand the mysterious ways of a holy God with sinful people. Now he stands in the presence of the Lord’s holy temple, hushed in reverential awe. He may not have grasped fully all the implications of the divine answer to his query. Yet he stands assured of the abiding lordship of his God, of his justice in prosecuting all violators of his holy law, and of his infinite mercy in granting life to all who will trust in him and in the provisions he has promised for the sinner.”[4]

Habakkuk’s Prayer

3 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. 4 His splendor was like the sunrise; rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. 5 Plague went before him; pestilence followed his steps. 6 He stood, and shook the earth; he looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. 8 Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? 9 You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; 10 the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. 11 Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. 12 In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. 13 You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. 14 With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. 16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

            Habakkuk ends his prophetic writing in 3:1-19 with what comes naturally—praise. Chapter three is essentially a psalm or poem or song that gives praise to God for His sovereignty, provision and faithfulness. The beginning of the chapter recalls God’s salvation work in Israel’s past and asks God to once again be merciful to His people even in His anger. Habakkuk has abandoned his focus on what he thinks God should do about the peoples’ unrighteousness and how He should do it and has once again begun to focus on the person and character of God. The psalm alludes to God’s faithful care and salvation during David’s military conquests (3:13) as well as God’s faithful care and salvation of His people during the Exodus (3:15). The text also anticipates God’s future care and salvation from the Babylonians (3:16). But most important of all is Habakkuk’s final attitude recorded in 3:17-19. Therein, Habakkuk acknowledges that no matter the circumstances that currently surround him or that will surround him in the future, he will unswervingly put his full faith and trust in the Lord to care for him and to save him. Habakkuk praises not with an attitude of defeat and sorrow but with complete confidence and joy. “The prophet has clearly borrowed from Israel’s hymnic tradition to express his confidence in God’s ultimate salvation, but in so doing he expressed a profound truth about eschatological existence. In the certainty of that coming salvation, Habakkuk appears to say, one is both able to stay on the path, as precarious as it may seem, and, what is more, to experience in the interim some foretaste of that coming victory over the powers of evil.”[5]

Application

            Dr. Larry Crabb in his wonderful book, 66 Love Letters-A Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, provides the perfect application for this lesson. As part of the format of the book, Dr. Crabb supposes that God responds to the question of “What are you teaching me in this book?” from each of the “66 Love Letters” representing the 66 books of the Bible respectively. Dr. Crabb asks God what he is trying to say through Habakkuk. And God responds:

            “Never ignore your struggle with how I do things. Ask every question that arises in your heart as you live in this world. But prepare yourself to struggle even more with My response. You must stumble in confusion before you dance with Joy…Like you, Habakkuk saw problems in the church of his day, problems that I opened his eyes to see and then did nothing about. Through my letters so far, I have opened your eyes to see what bothers you and appalls me in today’s Christianity:

v Surface worship that provides excitement but no power to change;
v Recognition-hungry spiritual leaders who remain blind to their insecurity-driven ministry and, therefore, are unable to call people to true brokenness;
v Cheapening views of the cross that reduce My Son’s death to an affirmation of people’s value and a call to similarly affirm others;
v A postmodern revision of Christianity into a kingdom-building story told on a foundation of either truth-denying uncertainty or unknowable truth—resulting in a religion of moral flexibility that weakens the demands of holiness;
v A pride-enhancing emphasis on size, activity, and celebrity that corrupts church into a merely inspiring event and moves it away from a supernatural opportunity to know Me, and to know oneself and others with a painful realism that drives My people to ever-deepening dependence and trust.

“Habakkuk prayed for brokenness in his people and revival through My Spirit. He saw neither. Now hear me well as I unfold the dialogue I entered into with My frustrated servant. It’s the dialogue I long to have with you. I permitted Habakkuk to continue the mystery of My silence until he was worn out. Only when false hope is abandoned will My strange but true hope be embraced.
“I shattered his false hope by revealing My plan for Babylon, a nation more evil than Judah, to rise up and discipline My people. And I made it clear it would all happen under My direction. I want you and all My people to know that nothing catches Me off guard—not even Adolf Hitler or Osama bin Laden. Nothing has happened or ever will happen that I am not using for My purposes.
“But what I allow seems to contradict My holy and pure character. I required Habakkuk, as I require you, to live in the tension between the evil that prospers, whether in the church or in secular society, and My plan to restore the beauty of My character in this world. It is that tension that shifted Habakkuk’s focus away from frustration with what he saw in the world toward the mystery of how I execute My plan. With that shift, Habakkuk was silenced and I spoke.
“It was then I revealed My plan that everyone must wait and see unfold. People respond in one of only two ways to My requirement to wait. Either they refuse to wait and instead try to manage life according to their desires; or they live by faith in My character, confessing their own selfish ways and yielding to My plan and to My timetable to get them to My party.
“Know this: those who live by faith will struggle in ways that those who live to make their lives work will never know. It is that struggle, to believe despite desperate pain and confusion that a good plan is unfolding, that will open your eyes to see Me more clearly. Is that what you want? Will you pay the price?
“The price is this: you will tremble in agony as you live in a sinful, self-prioritizing world as a sinful, self-prioritizing person, knowing that no sin will go unpunished even though, for a time, I will appear to be doing nothing.
“You will learn to wait in emptiness and frustrated desire for My plan of love to reveal itself. With confidence in Me and hope in My plan, you will not only feel the pain of living in the valley but also see My glory from the mountaintop of faith. Only those who struggle in confusion and wait in hope will be strengthened to struggle well and wait with confidence. This is My message to you…Struggle well! Wait in hope!”[6]





[1] O. Palmer Robertson, The Books of Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), p. 138.
[2] Mark J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2012), p. 296.
[3] William S. Lasor, David A. Hubbard and Frederic W. Bush, Old Testament Survey, The Message, Form, and Background of the Old Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p. 324.
[4] Robertson, Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah, p. 211.
[5] J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1991), p. 158.
[6] Dr. Larry Crabb, 66 Love Letters-A Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2009), pp. 170-172.



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