(Audio Version)
Introduction
Introduction
Subject Text
Habakkuk 1:2-17
2How long, O LORD,
must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you,
“Violence!” but you do not save? 3Why do you make me look at
injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction
and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4Therefore the law
is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so
that justice is perverted. 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. 6I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across
the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. 7They are a feared and dreaded people;
they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8Their 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; 9they all come bent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10They deride kings and scoff at
rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen
ramps and capture them. 11Then they sweep past like the
wind and go on—guilty men, whose own strength is their god.” 12O 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. 13Your 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? 14You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea
creatures that have no ruler. 15The 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.
16Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the
choicest food. 17Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations
without mercy?
Context
Habakkuk
lived and ministered during Israel’s divided kingdom. He prophesied from the
southern kingdom of Judah sometime during the ten year period between 608 BC ad
598 BC. We often focus on the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC and rightly so
because the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar burned the Temple and every other
significant building to the ground and carted off most of the remaining Jews
back to Babylon as prisoners and slaves. However, nearly 20 years before that
tragic event, around 605 BC, the Babylonians overran Judah. Israel’s history
was familiar with war and the atrocities of war. However, they had never
encountered a warring machine like the Babylonians. The Babylonians demoralized
and crushed their opponents under a tidal wave of terror and brutality. The
only thing that exceeded the tenacity of their warriors, whose relentless
attack was like a storm that would never end, was the ferocity with which they
fought. Few were able to hold off an attack from the Babylonians for any
significant length of time. Eventually, their brutality proved to be no match
for any kingdom that stood in the way of their insatiable desire to conquer the
world. First Judah and then Israel where no match for the Babylonians. Yet God
would use just this instrument of brutality to carry out his well designed plan
to discipline the Jews for their continued disobedience.
Text Analysis
Habakkuk’s
plea in vv. 2-4 sounds familiar doesn’t it? Habakkuk was in the midst of a culture
where God was once the center of the peoples’ focus and now they were behaving
as though God was just a hobby that one could take or leave. Injustice,
unnecessary suffering, destruction, violence, strife, and conflict were rampant
among the people and no one seemed to be doing anything about it. To make
matters worse, the verses imply that Habakkuk had been pleading with God for
some time to intervene and set things right. Yet God remained silent—until now.
My gosh, Habakkuk could have been talking about America! For decades,
Christians have lamented the cultural drift in America. They’ve been pleading
for renewal through God’s intervention to set things right. In a recent survey
by LifeWay Research, 59% of Christians believe they are losing the culture war
and 11% believe the war has already been lost. How can this be? In the midst of
all the prayers for renewal and God’s divine intervention, things have only
gotten worse! It doesn’t make sense. Well, it didn’t make sense to Habakkuk
either. God insisted that His chosen people were to behave a certain way and if
they didn’t, Habakkuk fully believed that God would do something about it. The
only problem is that Habakkuk wanted God to intervene on his time-table and in
the manner he thought would be best. Habakkuk grew impatient with God and he
would soon find out what happens when God intervenes to set things right. “Habakkuk
wonders how long he must wait for God’s help against violence. Judah’s problems
with corruption are addressed in three matched pairs: injustice (Heb. ’āwen) and wrongful suffering (Heb. ‘āmāl); destruction (Heb. šōd) and violence (Heb. hāmās); strife (Heb. rîb) and conflict (Heb. mādôn). The latter two are legal terms
marking the many lawsuits and legal quarrels in the courts. These six problems
have four results, also presented in poetic pairs: the law is paralyzed, and
justice never prevails; the wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is
perverted. In a few words Habakkuk describes a ruined society full of crime,
violence, corruption, mock legal battles and the defeat of the righteous, and
he wants to know why God tolerates it.”[1]
Have you
ever heard the saying, ‘Be careful what you ask for?’ The implication of the
saying is that you should be careful what you ask for because you may not like
it when you get it. Well Habakkuk was about to have just such a moment when God
tells him how He intends to intervene to set things right. God makes it clear
in v. 5 that when He acts, there’s no mistaking it; God doesn’t dabble in fixes
or nibble around the edges and this case was no different. The Jews would
witness the great nation of Egypt crushed nearly overnight; the Assyrian
capital of Nineveh would be so devastated that the people would actually forget
where it was—it was essentially wiped off the map; and their own independent
nation would become a land of slaves and servants all at the hands of the
mighty and brutal Babylonians. I’m guessing Habakkuk’s head was swimming at the
mere mention of the Babylonians in v. 6, and he probably had a hard time
focusing on anything after that as God described the efficient brutality of the
Babylonians in vv. 7-11. The Babylonians weren’t like the Jews who looked to
God for provision and protection. The Babylonians relied on themselves for what
they needed and they simply took whatever they wanted. Their military strength
and prowess was their god. Nevertheless, “The Lord agrees with the prophetic
indictment against the behavior of the covenant people. Violence prevails.
Strife, contention, plundering, and perversion of justice permeate the
nation…The Lord himself is fully in sympathy with the prophet’s agony over the
suffering righteous ones. Although having larger concerns as well, the Lord
knows and sympathizes with those who have been surrounded by the wicked. The
stunning character of the Lord’s revelation relates to the awesomeness of the
divine response that hovers on the horizon of history. When this coming reality
is appreciated, it becomes plain that the Lord perceives the problem even more
deeply than does the prophet. His resolution of the problem therefore appears
overwhelming…It is indeed remarkable to note the explicitness of the
announcement concerning the designated instrument of God’s judgment. The Lord’s
control of the nations is so great that he orders their rise and fall according
to his own plans and purposes. He may choose to disperse his people among the
heathen as a way of claiming for himself a populace from all the nations. Yet
this dispersion will occur in perfect coordination with the time in which his
own people are ripe for judgment because of their persistence in rebellion over
centuries.”[2]
You can
almost imagine Habakkuk backpedaling in vv. 12-17 saying, ‘Wait, wait, wait
let’s think about this for a minute. How exactly will you deal with Israel’s
evil ways by using the greatest and most brutal evil of our time to discipline
them?’ Habakkuk wants to know how it could be possible for God to partner with
the evil and treachery of the Babylonians. Habakkuk itemizes the unrighteousness
of the Babylonians as though God is somehow unfamiliar with them. Does this
sound familiar to you? When God’s Plan
Doesn’t Make Sense, we try to explain the situation to God thinking he must
be misinformed somehow. We seem to think that God somehow relies on us to keep
Him not only informed on problems we face but to recommend appropriate
solutions for Him to adopt and implement. We treat God like He’s some old man
wringing His hands and pacing the floor because He’s run out of ideas on how to
fix the problems of the world. However, nothing could be farther from the
truth! God has foreseen all the events of the world long before they have
occurred. As a result, His judgments and solutions are always timely and
efficacious. “Habakkuk was well aware of Judah’s faults, but by any standards
his countrymen, particularly the righteous nucleus, were no match for the
wickedness of the Babylonians. Apparently the fate of Babylon’s enemies was
common knowledge, and Habakkuk recoils at the thought that the Babylonians
would ruthlessly ravage Judah and Jerusalem. The sustained figure of speech,
which compares the invaders to an unconscionable angler who fishes for the
delight of killing the catch, is as impassioned a plea against inhumanity as
the Old Testament contains. Habakkuk did not doubt God’s sovereignty over the
enemy nation, but this sharpened the problem. How could a righteous God refrain
from intervening?”[3]
This time not to deal with sins of his countrymen but to restrain the brutality
of the Babylonians.
In the
chapters that follow our Subject Text, God assures Habakkuk that He will
honor his promise to raise up and sustain a faithful group from among the
people. “God showed Habakkuk that the judgment of Judah, though sweeping, would
not be total. He reaffirmed the promise that a remnant would be spared to carry
on the redemptive mission and to serve as a foundation for the renewed nation.
Habakkuk’s despair over the fate of the righteous evoked God’s promise that
they would survive the awful day. The basis of their faithfulness, their total
dependence and dependability…Habakkuk used his questions neither to shield
himself from moral responsibilities nor to shun God’s claims upon his life. He
was genuinely perplexed by the unpredictable nature of God’s dealings. He
raised his protests because he hungered and thirsted to see God’s righteousness
vindicated. God’s self-revelation laid to rest the ghost of the prophet’s
doubts and gave birth to a finer faith. The redeeming God had used the
questions as a means of grace to fortify Habakkuk’s faith.”[4] And isn’t faith, or a
greater faith, God’s ultimate objective in all His dealings with humanity?
Application
Does
Habakkuk’s confusion and doubt describe your own? The grief of death has found
its way to your doorstep too many times over the last few years. You believe
you’ve been prepared for a significant relationship that would hopefully lead
to marriage but God just won’t arrange for you to meet the right man or woman. You
spend your days walking the war-torn streets of your city wondering when the
destruction and bloodshed will end. You spend your days staring at the world
through iron bars or eyes blurred by sweat and tears because you’ve been
deprived of your freedom for the sake of Christ. You spend your days on the
move from place to place trying to avoid those who seek to take your life or
the lives of your family because of your Christian faith. You poured the best
years of your life into your marriage according to God’s instruction on
marriage just to watch your husband or wife leave you for someone else. You’ll
admit that you’re certainly not without sin but you’ve confessed your sin and
done your best to be a faithful follower of Christ yet your life doesn’t seem
to make sense—You struggle to do well in school even though you study
diligently; you can’t find a job even though you search tirelessly for work;
you can’t make ends meet financially even though you work long, hard hours; the
doctors still can’t do anything for your sick child even though countless
people are have been praying; or your mother or father just won’t deal with
their addiction to drugs or alcohol. I can go on but you know your own struggle
very well and how you have pleaded with God for answers; for intervention; for
relief. You don’t doubt God exists, but as the days, months, and maybe even
years grind on, it becomes more and more difficult to see God’s “good” plan at
work. You might recall that I mentioned in an earlier lesson that I grew up in
the home with an abusive, alcoholic father. I haven’t always been an obedient
follower of Christ and there was a time in my life when you could legitimately
question whether I was follower at all. However, when I was young, I had no
choice but to turn to God because I was trapped in a life I did not choose and
could not escape from. I prayed constantly for God to stop the rage that was
fueled by the alcohol, but He didn’t. I stopped asking “why?” a long time ago. I
have come to realize that God has used all the events of my life to make me the
person I am today so I can be equipped to do all the things He has planned for
me to do. Some would insist that God could have chosen a less painful path for
me and I suppose He could have. I didn’t understand it then and I still don’t
understand why God does or allows some things, but I trust more and more each
day that His plan is perfect even if I don’t understand it or like it. Trusting
God when life is painful can seem impossible. Letting go of our need to control
the circumstances of our lives or having answers to the questions that arise in
our hearts during those painful days can be especially difficult when God’s Plan Doesn’t Make Sense. A number
of years ago when I was going through another very difficult time in my life, a
friend gave me something that I would like to share with you. It’s a summary of
the lesson from the Book of Habakkuk and what God is trying to tell us through
the Old Testament prophet. If God were to speak to you, this is what he might
say: “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 in 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 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 to 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 to wait with confidence.”[5]
[1] Mark
J. Boda and J. Gordon McConville, eds., Dictionary
of the Old Testament Prophets, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press,
2012), p. 296.
[2] O.
Palmer Rebertson, The Books of Nahum,
Habakkuk and Zephaniah—The New International Commentary on the Old
Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), pp.
141; 149.
[3]
William Sanford LaSor, David Allan Hubbard, and Frederic William 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]
Ibid., p. 327.
[5]
Dr. Larry Crabb, 66 Love Letters: A
Conversation With God That Invites You Into His Story, (Nashville, TN:
Thomas Nelson, 2009), pp. 171-172.
