HARD QUESTIONS, HARDER ANSWERS

APRIL 26, 2015

FIRST THOUGHTS

     Sometimes tragedies come into our lives that make us cry out, “No! Please God no!”. At such a time as this our faith is tested faith. We may grieve, cry, and go into a season of prayer and allow God to give us comfort. All of this without loosing our trust in God.

     Others get angry and blame God vowing never to trust Him again. They have been deeply hurt and they want to hurt God back by withdrawing from Him.

     This is always a time when we ask God hard questions; and sometimes God’s answers are not what we want to hear. They are harder answers!

      Since we know that God is always right and just, we must accept His will. We may wrestle with this for awhile; but we will stay unmoved in our trust if we truly belong to Him.

      I had a co-worker who had lost her teenage daughter to a drunken driver. She decided that God could no longer be trusted and vowed that the rest of her life she would separate herself from God and to never go back to church. She was filled with so much anger that several years later when she talked about God, she spoke with her teeth clinched.

     I have not seen or heard about her for several years now, so I do not know if she still feels this way.  

EXPLORE THE CONTEXT 

·        The Book of Habakkuk is essentially a dialogue between Habakkuk and the Lord God.

·        Habakkuk asked God hard questions, and God responded with even harder answers.

·        The prophet struggled to understand and accept the answers God gave him.

·        However, in the end, Habakkuk chose to believe God’s way was best and to live by faith in God.

·        Habakkuk wondered how long God would tolerate all the iniquity in the land.

·        God’s answer stunned Habakkuk.

·        He would use the Babylonians.

·        After speaking, Habakkuk eagerly awaited God’s response to his second set of questions.

·        God responded with an even harder answer.

·        Habakkuk needed to trust God.

·        He was to write down everything God had said, for everything would certainly come to pass.

·        Habakkuk recorded five “woe-oracles” against the Babylonians and others. 

Main Idea: No judgment from a holy God against that which is unholy is pleasant, but it produces the fruit of righteousness in the covenant ones who live by faith. 

EXPLORE THE TEXT 

HABAKKUK 1:1-6, 12-13; 2:1-4 

WHAT ABOUT EVIL? 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 1:

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw. 

“Oracle” can also mean burden. 

"The burden" means the judgment. Actually, this is not Habakkuk's question, but rather it is the Lord's answer. The answer of God is really the prophecy of the Book of Habakkuk. The Lord's answer is judgment which Habakkuk called, as did the other prophets, "the burden."

J Vernon McGee 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 2:

How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, "Violence!" Yet You do not save.  

·        This is another case of one having their vision too low and thereby missing what God is actually doing.

·        God is working but because Habakkuk’s eyes are only looking at the situation from earthly eyes instead of spiritual eyes, he fails to see at all.

·        We are just as limited unless God will raise our understanding.

·        Perhaps we should ask that God would increase our understanding rather than lamenting that He seems not to hear our prayers. 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 3:

Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. 

·        Here is the thing: Habakkuk sees things and he knows God sees them too; so Habakkuk is confused as to why God seems to be doing nothing.

·        However, God has sent other prophets to warn them about the coming judgment and to offer again the opportunity to repent. 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 4:

Therefore the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; Therefore justice comes out perverted. 

Isaiah 1: 3-7

3 "An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master's manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand."

4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the LORD, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him.

5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint.

6 From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.

7 Your land is desolate, Your cities are burned with fire, Your fields—strangers are devouring them in your presence; It is desolation, as overthrown by strangers. 

Isaiah 1: 12-22

12 "When you come to appear before Me, Who requires of you this trampling of My courts?

13 "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, Incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.

14 "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.

15 "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.

16 "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil,

17 Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.

18 "Come now, and let us reason together," Says the LORD, "Though your sins are as scarlet, They will be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They will be like wool.

19 "If you consent and obey, You will eat the best of the land;

20 "But if you refuse and rebel, You will be devoured by the sword." Truly, the mouth of the LORD has spoken.

21 How the faithful city has become a harlot, She who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her, But now murderers.

22 Your silver has become dross, Your drink diluted with water. 

Isaiah 5: 20-23

20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight!

22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine And valiant men in mixing strong drink,

23 Who justify the wicked for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right! 

I AM IN CONTROL 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 5:

"Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days-- You would not believe if you were told. 

Here God is beginning to patiently widen Habakkuk’s view of the situation.

Habakkuk must have felt some embarrassment when God explained to him what was developing around him among the nations.

I know that I would be.  

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 6:

"For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth To seize dwelling places which are not theirs. 

·        God now reveals to Habakkuk how He will deal with the sins that the prophet has listed.

·        It is an awful prospect to be sure.

·        If our nation does not repent then it is possible that God could use Islam and ISIS to be the instruments  punishment for us.

·        The rise of ISIS parallels the rise of the Babylonians, and the brutality is certainly equal.

·        If God did not spare Israel then God will not spare us.

·        I believe that we are at the point of warning while the hammer is being prepared. 

BUT WHY GOD? 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 12:

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O LORD, have appointed them to judge; And You, O Rock, have established them to correct. 

·        Here Habakkuk realizes that God is in what is about to happen; this gives him at least the assurance that God will not completely destroy Israel, no matter how bad it could get.

·        God is called “Rock” to express Habakkuk’s confidence that God is an absolute certainty, and he acknowledges what God has ordained. 

CHAPTER 1 VERSE 13:

Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, And You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor On those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up Those more righteous than they?  

·        Now Habakkuk expresses his perplexity about God’s choice of judge.

·        Although this is beyond Habakkuk’s ability to understand, it does demonstrate God’s sovereignty over the whole world. 

CHAPTER 2 VERSE 1:

I will stand on my guard post And station myself on the rampart; And I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, And how I may reply when I am reproved. 

·        Now that Habakkuk has asked his question, he will wait with acute attention to see what God will say. 

TRUST ME! 

CHAPTER 2 VERSE 2:

Then the LORD answered me and said, "Record the vision And inscribe it on tablets, That the one who reads it may run. 

·        God now wants Habakkuk to write down His response so that others will know that it was God who spoke.

·        Although the reading here seems to imply that whoever reads the inscription would take to running in fear.

·        God wants His words written unambiguously so as to very clear, otherwise we would think that everything that happens was just happenstance.

·        With it clearly written down we can see that God is totally in control, even over time. 

CHAPTER 2 VERSE 3:

"For the vision is yet for the appointed time; It hastens toward the goal and it will not fail. Though it tarries, wait for it; For it will certainly come, it will not delay. 

·        This seems to speak to a future time.

·        Most likely it is a double meaning; the coming judgement on Israel and the final battle at the end of time.

·        We have God’s word that time will be at the appointed time, 

CHAPTER 2 VERSE 4:

"Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith. 

This vision, the accomplishment of which is so long waited for, will be such an exercise of faith and patience as will try and discover men what they are, Hab 2:4. (1.) There are some who will proudly disdain this vision, whose hearts are so lifted up that they scorn to take notice of it; if God will work for them immediately, they will thank him, but they will not give him credit; their hearts are lifted up towards vanity, and, since God puts them off, they will shift for themselves and not be beholden to him; they think their own hands sufficient for them, and God's promise is to them an insignificant thing.

Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible 

While the context makes this an obvious reference to the Chaldeans, the passage introduces the marks which distinguish all wicked people from all righteous, regardless of ethnic origin. Two opposing characteristics are here contrasted. The proud trusts in himself; the just lives by his faith.

John MacArthur