By Andy Foster
With each passing day the news brings more uncertainty to those institutions that we once trusted. There is an increasing realization that the systems we devised as a people have no cure for the ills of our culture. So how does one respond to a crumbling society? Whether personally or as a church our response to trials and uncertainty reflect where we place our faith, trust and hope. Reading through Habakkuk is a great reminder that no matter our plight we must trust in God's plan and provision. Below are some observations on Habakkuk I penned a few years ago.
What in the world is going on?
Have you noticed our world has gotten a little crazy lately. I have never been more concerned about my country, our society and world around me. Things that my generation have largely been immune to are no longer. Events and circumstances that were once unimaginable now seem possible. The world is becoming even more unpredictable.
The economy is shaky, our culture continues to decay, terrorism is on the rise, greed has run rampant, the truth is replaced with political correctness and activism, and as a whole it feels as if the world it is on the brink of falling off of the cliff. These do not even include the daily grind of life that we all deal with. Do you find yourself talking back at the TV or murmrung at social media? To say the least these are perilous times and becoming more so.
This all may prompt us to ask why? Why all the injustice? Why do evil men prosper? Why do the innocent, and righteous suffer? Why doesn’t God do something? Why doesn’t God clean up this mess?
While we may think that this is the worst the world has ever seen, these questions are hardly new. Centuries before Christ, a prophet looked around at the violence and wickedness of the world and cried out to God, “Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrong?...Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (Hab. 1:3, 13) The prophet not only asked the mysterious “whys” that plague mankind; he also received answers to his questions. The answers given by the Creator of the universe are recorded in the book of Habakkuk.
Habakkuk is a unique book. Unlike other prophets who declared God’s message to people this prophet dialogued with God about people. This book records an intriguing interchange between a perplexed prophet and his Maker.
The Setting - Facing Perilous Times
In a world of crisis and chaos, Habakkuk speaks with clarity and is as contemporary as the morning newspaper or blog or twitter. Habakkuk lived in a perilous time of international crisis and national corruption. Society was falling apart, there was great injustice, and sin was rampant. The nation of Judah had fallen into moral & spiritual disarray.
Internationally there was great turmoil as the Babylonians were on the prowl. Babylonia had just emerged as a world power, but Judah found a brief period of relief reflected in the reforms initiated by Josiah. The Babylonians finally crushed the Assyrian Empire and quickly proceeded to defeat the once-powerful Egyptians. A new world empire was stretching across the world. Soon the Babylonians would overtake Judah and carry its inhabitants away into captivity.
The crisis internationally was serious. But of even greater concern was the national corruption. Great unrest stirred within Judah. Josiah had been a good king but was followed by Jehoiakim who was evil, ungodly, and rebellious. Shortly after Jehoiakim ascended to power, Habakkuk wrote his lament over the decay, violence, greed, fighting, and perverted justice that surrounded him. Habakkuk looked at all the corruption and asked, “Why doesn’t God do something?”
He was disgusted with what he saw and wanted to know what God was going to about it. Habakkuk's takes some honest questions perhaps even complaints to God, but in the end is willing to hear the honest answers.
Hab 1:2-4 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.
God then answers and states that He is going to do something utterly amazing and even unbelievable.
Hab 1:5-9 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.”
At this point, Habakkuk must have been thinking, “Alright, here we go, God is going to set things straight - He is going to punish these evil doers and clean their clocks - I can't wait to see this -Go get'em God,” Like us he may have been praying with his own on agenda in mind. But if we seek God earnestly in prayer we must also be prepared to His honest answer. God then lays out His plan.
Hab 1:6-9 “...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.
You can hear Habakkuk's heart drop as he listens to God's intentions to remedy the situation. Not quite what he pictured. He is thinking this not what I ordered.
After hearing God's response to his first question, Habakkuk wanted to make sure God knew what he was doing. He questions God one more time on His method by which to accomplish this.
Hab 1:12-13 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?….
Now I don't want to paint Habakkuk as a bad guy for his request. As children of God we should take honest questions before God. No sense in hiding them anyway because He knows our heart. It is important to note that Habakkuk went before God with a honest heart with doubt but not a rebellious one. While unbelief drives us toward rebellion, doubt can bring us God as we seek the answers to “why”? Habakkuk honestly shared with God his concern and bewilderment but he does not rebel.
God then responds in ch. 2 that while the Babylonians will be used as instrument of justice, the Babylonians will indeed be judged for their sin and rebellion. God explains that His plan is not only to use the Babylonians but punish them as well.
Despite such sobering news that Judah would be overtaken by the Babylonians and his life and certainly the lives of many in his nation would be taken or at least ruined, Habakkuk then comes to realization and a response that I think it would good for us to contemplate.
The question then turns from “Why God” to “How to do I respond to Him”?
From Worry to Worship
In ch. 3 Habakkuk ends with a doxology, that is a hymn or praise rather than bitterness. The hard-probing questions of ch. 1 and 2 did not end with fatalism, skepticism, or cynicism. The book of Habakkuk peaks with worship of the Living God and His deeds. The sequence is much like that of Psalm 73. There the psalmist struggled with the problem of the prosperity of the wicked. But then came the revelation of God Himself as the psalmist went into the house of God to worship. In Psalm 73:16–17 the psalmist declares, “When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny”.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to do in times of trial, trouble and grief is turn to God and sincerely worship Him. Worship is acknowledging God as the Supreme Being above all other people, possessions, priorities or problems. It is to praise Him for His character, attributes and essence. To worship God is to enter the sanctuary of God and acknowledge that He is greater than any trial. This is in stark contrast to the self seeking and myopic attitude that often plagues
our heart.
Undoubtedly there are times we ask Why? And that is not a bad thing because it opens our hearts to knowing God at a deeper level. However the “Why?” should never get in the way of Worship but lead us there. The answer to Habakkuk's why is resolved with his comprehension of who God is.
Therefore, Habakkuk has placed for us the framework of worship. First, we see that....
1. Worship is Adoration for our God 3:2a
Hab 3:1-2 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. 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 contrast the impending trials, Habakkuk's prayer begins with praise, adoration and reverent fear. When Habakkuk considered the majesty, the work, and glory of God, he comes in humility and adoration. He realized there comes in time when come before God to consider His ways not his own.
When God becomes the all-consuming reality, our problems begin to take their proper perspective in relation to His greatness and ability to handle them.
God as described by Habakkuk is much different than the idols described in 2:18-19. When we seek peace and security during questionable times, we must come before the living God. He cannot be fashioned to fit our agenda, molded into our expectations, or limited by our perception. Habakkuk did not bow before a God that could not speak, but in the presence of the almighty living God who holds not only the universe but the children he loves in His hands.
While we can come freely before God, Habakkuk knew there was a time to be quiet, and consider God's deeds and mediating on God’s own statues, His work, His sovereignty.
Worship of the Living God cannot take place while we are still proudly projecting ourselves as equals or advisers to the Lord of the universe. So it is in tone of humility that the prophet confesses, “LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds,” (3:2a). No longer is there any request that God should withdraw His judgment and plan. Rather, there is a recognition that God is perfectly free to do what He wants to do and that in so doing He is absolutely in the right. Habakkuk changed the focus from being centered on himself, his people, his nation, and his culture, to gazing upon God.
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, said that “Our troubles can nearly all be traced to our persistence in looking at the immediate problems themselves, instead of looking at them in the light of God."
But that perspective takes humility. As we contemplate and experience national and local tragedies, do we reflect quietly on whether it just might be possible that God is using these events for His purpose. We must rest in the fact that God knows what is going on with total ability to steer the world in the strategic direction for His purposes to be fulfilled and for righteousness to be vindicated.
As one politician said fairly recently, “we must take advantage of the opportunity”. Not sure what he meant by that but as Christians we can say the same thing. We can take advantage of rough times to glorify God, to show hope and true faith to a fallen world, and serve one another, all because we rest that God is who He says He is.
2. Worship is a Focus on God's Will and Kingdom 3:2b
Habakkuk ask God to display His deeds and works v. 3:2 I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known;
Prayer and worship begins with seeking God to glorify himself in His time and His way.
Instead of praying selfishly that God might prosper his own work or vindicate his nation, Habakkuk now prays, “Renew them in our day, in our time make them known” (3:2b). Instead of a selfish desire to put himself, his people and his plans at the to, his concern now is with the kingdom of God and the reviving of God’s purpose and program.
Our chief concern is not whether our plans will succeed, but rather has God’s rule and reign been furthered or has it been hindered? That is exactly how our Lord taught His disciples to pray: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
A self-centered generation moans about its own affliction, inconveniences, and lawlessness, while seeking resolution within itself. How easy is it to rally behind our agendas, ideologies, political affiliation, etc.. How easy is for us to rally behind the plans of God? In the end, man’s ways have no answer for the ill's our world or our nation. We should instead view our priorities, perspectives and programs in light of God’s nature, His rule and reign so that they more adequately fitted to the only lasting work in this universe: the kingdom of God.
As he recounts the strength of God in 3:3-15, he saw things in light of the greatness of God. He recounted the strength of God in relation to creation, and his enemies. He rested in the fact that God is sovereign. That brings us to another component of worship –
3. Worship Prompts Us to Confess Our Fears and Rest in God 3:16
Hab 3:16 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.
Habakkuk acknowledges his fear yet yielded to God's sovereign will. He rested in God's provision and faithfulness. To rest in God is to loosen our grasp on the things around us. However it is does not mean we do not fear. We should not ignore our feelings but allow these emotions to drive us to God.
What God had described would happen overwhelmed the prophet physically. His body trembled, his heart beat wildly, his lips trembled, his teeth chattered, and his bones felt brittle enough to crumble. This is not the picture of some sort of super saint who can handle whatever comes his way. He understood all too well what was being told to him.
In spite of his confidence in God and in spite of the fact that he has been satisfactorily answered, he is impacted mightily by what he now knows. So what is he to do? What are we to do in the same situation? Like Habakkuk we are to “rest in the day of trouble.”
The reality is that fears are there; the question is, what will we do about them? This text urges that we voice them before God in the context of worship. We are to place our fears before our heavenly Father
4. Worship is Propelled by Our Joy of the Lord 3:17–19
Next we see that we are to worship God in joy. One of the most amazing pieces of biblical text now follows. In the face of the tragedies that were to ensue, Habakkuk states clearly and steadily.
Hab 3:16-18 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade 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.
Habakkuk acknowledges the dire circumstance yet rejoiced is the Lord. He reaffirmed his faith in God. This was not a matter of fatalism, escapism, or resignation, it was state of rejoicing.
G. Campbell Morgan stated, “Our joy is in proportion to our trust; Our trust in proportion of our knowledge of God.” So, while it is easy to only watch and ponder the news events us around us, do not let crowd out time to contemplate God, to seek Him, to intimately know Him to rejoice in Him.
5 . Worship Rests in the Strength of God 3:19
Hab 3:19 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 trusted God to enable him to endure and navigate through these perilous times. Whatever may come, Habakkuk and those who had remained faithful would rejoice in the Lord. The Lord would be Habakkuk’s “strength.” Just as Nehemiah taught his people in Nehemiah 8:10, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”us,
So, for those who are weary and feeling faint, the living God will supply His strength so that they can soar like the eagles, run and not be weary, walk and not faint (Is. 40:31). He is our strength; that is why we can do everything through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:13). Apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5b). Accordingly, we may freely acknowledge our own weaknesses, for in that case, the power of Christ is demonstrated.
2 Cor 12:8-10 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
As we see, to praise and worship of God is certainly not tied to circumstance.
Conclusion - How did he come to this place of worship? We see a key truth back in Ch.2 that should take note of.
1. Hab. 2:1 - Standing Firm - Habakkuk’s stood securely in the knowledge that God answer is the answer, stands within God's authority and not on his own, and stands in the sovereignty of God and His perfect plan.
Hab 2:1-3 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.
We are to stand ready, alert and in anticipation for God's leading so that we may encourage others. We are to stand firm in strength 1 Cor 16:13-14 Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be men of courage; be strong.
2. Hab. 2:4 – Lived by Faith - Habakkuk's lived out his faith.
Hab. 2:4 See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright- but the righteous will live by his faith-
We see this verse quoted again in Romans and Hebrews. Rom 1:17 For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
What kind of faith is this? We have faith that is steadfast, established and abides in Christ.
2 Cor 1:20-22 Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.
We have a faith that stands firm (literally to turn resolutely) in the expectation of Christ Return.
James 5:7-9 You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord's coming is near. NIV
We stand firm because of the faith we have. A faith rooted in the reality of Christ, His work in our lives and our future hope in Him. Our hope cannot be manufactured but rest entirely on the person of Christ
A faith anchored in divine hope and focused on our future glory with Christ - I Peter 1:6-9
Without a realization of our heavenly home and the steadfast belief in our future with Christ, we will have a heart full of conflict, a purpose that is unsure and a hope that is blurred.
A faith purified in suffering.
It has been said that faith is not believing in spite of evidence, it's obeying in spite of consequence, resting on God's faithfulness.
“Whatever sort of tribulation we suffer, we should always remember that it's purpose is to make us spurn the present and reach for the future”. - John Calvin
A faith resulting in praise and honor to Christ
Habakkuk ch. 3 reveals how faith triumphs over the perplexities of sin, tyranny and destruction.
Habakkuk climaxes with Praise. The ever-present “Why?” is best answered by the everlasting “Who!” Though the outlook may elicit terror, the uplook elicits trust. The prophet’s complaints and fears were resolved in confidence and faith. The heart of the message of Habakkuk: “The righteous will live by his faith” (2:4). And it is this faith that strengthens us to stand firm in the truths of God and compel us to worship Him no matter the circumstance.
I don't know what we are headed for as a nation, I don't know what trials are yet to come. Though doubts and confusion reign when sin runs rampant, like Habakkuk an encounter with God can turn those doubts into devotion and all confusion into confidence in the promises that we have in our Heavenly Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
As you watch the news and the events unfold around us, let's do as Habakkuk did, let’s worship God for who He is and what He has done, let's place our fears at His feet and rest in Him, let's rejoice in the Lord and the future we have with him, and depend on His strength to get us through.
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