Habakkuk - Part 1

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Go ahead and turn, if you would, to the book of Habakkuk. The book of Habakkuk.

That is located towards the end of the Old Testament in the section known as the

Minor Prophets, and I'll give you a few moments to find that. Right, right.

That's helpful. So as you're looking for it,

I'll go over some background information regarding the book. It contains three chapters, and we don't really know much about the prophet.

His name means embrace or loves embrace. We know almost nothing about him, but most scholars believe that this book was written towards the end of the 7th century

BC. And prior to this time, the nation of Judah had turned their back on God during the reign of King Manasseh, and after Manasseh had died, his son

Ammon took over the throne for a short period and continued the idolatry.

But after Ammon died, the nation of Judah was blessed under the reign of his son

King Josiah, who took the throne at an early age. He was a great reformer in Judah, and he reigned 31 years and helped to bring back some of the glory that had existed under the reign of King David.

But unfortunately, after Josiah's passing, the nation quickly reverted back to her old ways, and this caused the prophet

Habakkuk to wonder. So here's the whole summary of the book, okay?

The prophet saw the wickedness in the land of Judah, how they had forsaken the ways of the

Lord, and he questioned God as to why he wasn't doing anything about it.

Why wasn't the Lord punishing Judah for her sin?

That was the prophet's first question. Then the Lord answers and tells him that he was indeed going to punish

Judah, and he was going to use a nation more wicked than they to do it.

And that caused Habakkuk to wonder even more. So he asked

God another question, and through it all, Habakkuk learned a valuable lesson about the sovereignty and purposes of God, and how the just must live by his faith.

So before we begin reading in Habakkuk chapter 1, let's open in a word of prayer.

Father, as we begin this book written by your servant Habakkuk, we acknowledge our own failures before you, and we ask for your forgiveness.

Lord, you were so good to Israel and Judah, and yet they both turned aside, as many nations have done after them.

So Father, as you taught the prophet a lesson about your purposes, I pray that you would teach us through your word and through your spirit, and we ask it all in Christ's name.

Amen. All right, Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 1, begins with the prophet questioning

God's judgments. And the book begins with these words, the burden which the prophet

Habakkuk saw. And here's his first question in verse 2.

Oh Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?

Even cry out to you violence, and you will not save. Why do you show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble?

For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention arises.

Therefore the law is powerless. Injustice never goes forth.

For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

So you can see that the prophet Habakkuk is not pleased with what is going on in the nation.

There is violence. There is plundering. We would call this looting. There is strife.

People are not obeying the law. Justice is not going forth, and the judgments that are being made are perverse.

And the prophet's response is, Oh Lord, how long? How long shall

I cry out to you, and you will not hear? In other words, why

Lord are you not doing anything about this? Now the book of Habakkuk is a book of prophecy, and prophecy can be described both as foretelling and forth telling.

We do see a foretelling of future events with the invasion of the nation of Judah by their enemies, the

Chaldeans, but there's also forth telling in the book. And what is another word for forth telling?

Well, it's it's preaching. Prophecy forth telling is preaching.

So if you would now turn to the book of 1st Peter, 1st Peter chapter 4. There's a word that I think we should look at, and that word is oracle.

As you're turning to 1st Peter 4, the book of Habakkuk begins with these words, the burden which the prophet

Habakkuk saw. And the Hebrew word translated burden there is masa, and it means oracle.

And what is an oracle? An oracle is an utterance. Basically you're speaking on behalf of God.

You are being used as God's mouthpiece. So Habakkuk had a burden, so much so that he he just had to speak out.

So Habakkuk, he knew the law of God. He saw what was going on. He had a burden, and he spoke on behalf of God.

He had to say something. And listen, I think anyone who's ever been filled with the Holy Spirit knows that sometimes

God will place a burden upon your heart, and you just have to say or do something.

It compels you to speak up. And you know sometimes that's well -received, and other times it's not so well -received.

The prophets of the Old Testament were not always the most popular men to say the least.

But you know this isn't just an Old Testament thing. This is a New Testament thing also.

Look at 1st Peter chapter 4, starting in verse 10. The Apostle writes, as each one has received a gift, minister it to one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things

God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and dominion forever and ever.

Amen. And you see that phrase, the oracles of God. In the book of Romans chapter 3 verse 2, the

Apostle Paul spoke about the Jews and how to them was given what?

The oracles of God. So not only was Israel given the

Word of God, not only was Judah given the Word of the Lord, the New Testament Church is also given the

Word of the Lord. And don't miss this, in both Old Testament and New Testament, God's primary way of communication with people is through preaching.

It's through preaching. Again, 1st Peter chapter 4, in referring to the gifts,

Peter says, if anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God.

So with all that in mind, go back to Habakkuk chapter 1. Now you might wonder if this burden was placed upon the prophet, and it refers to him speaking on God's behalf, how does that fit with the fact that Habakkuk seems to be questioning

God? How can you speak for God and then question God at the same time?

Well, just remember a few things. Habakkuk is not the only prophet to question

God. Many of the prophets ask that age -old question, the question that you no doubt have asked

God yourself. And the question is, why? Why, Lord?

Why are you doing this? Why are you allowing this? Why are you not doing that?

So that's the ultimate question, why? And I think the ultimate answer as to why

God does anything, or why God allows anything, I think the ultimate answer is always the same.

Everything that God does, everything that God allows, it is to His glory and for the good of His people.

And that's a difficult thing to figure out sometimes, isn't it? Sometimes we can look back, you know, hindsight is 20 -20, and we can look back upon a situation and we can see what

God did. Other times I think we'll have to wait until glory to figure it out.

So Habakkuk questioned God, just like Job questioned God. If you read the

Psalms, King David many times questioned, why? Why, God?

But through it all, if you look at it, God used all of that not only to teach them something, not only to teach the nation of Israel something, hopefully

He's teaching us something as well. Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 1, look at it again.

The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. And the word saw would indicate that he received these things, some of these things, when

God was speaking to him. He received them in a vision, all right? And we'll see in a few moments the

Lord's reply, which begins in verse 5. But the prophet asked God, oh

Lord, how long shall I cry? And this isn't a weeping like we think of crying, it's a crying out to God.

Oh Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear? Even cry out to you violence and you will not save.

And the word save is not a reference to salvation like we think of it, rather it's deliverance.

Habakkuk is starting to grow impatient and he's calling upon God to act, to punish and correct the nation, which hopefully would lead to revival.

And that's, if you read the book of Judges, that was the cycle. That was always the cycle. So that's what

Habakkuk is hoping for. And in the end, it does happen. God does bring correction and punishment to Judah.

And what happens? Judah falls to the Babylonians. The Jews are taken captive for 70 years in Babylon.

And when they are allowed to return, what do you see? Well, you see a revival.

So it does end up happening. Now the prophet Habakkuk almost certainly did not want to see this level of destruction that would eventually take place with the destruction of the temple, the destruction of the city of Jerusalem, 70 years in captivity.

The prophet Jeremiah, who is probably one of Habakkuk's contemporaries, I don't think he wanted to see that either.

That's why Jeremiah is referred to as what? The weeping prophet. Habakkuk, I'm sure, would have rather have seen a less severe chastening that would lead to a revival in his lifetime.

But you know, God is God. And God is sovereign.

He doesn't always choose to do things the way that we think he should do them.

So we must learn. And Habakkuk had to learn that God's ways were higher than his ways.

And God works according to his own timing. You know, you've heard the phrase,

God's timing is always perfect. And in our mind we know that's true. But in our experience, it doesn't always feel like it.

But his timing is perfect. And we are his children to do with as he sees fit.

And if you're going to live by faith, you have to understand and accept that.

I don't think Habakkuk had yet learned this lesson. But he would.

He would. But he had to be tested first. He had to go through all of this first.

Just like us today. It's one thing to know the truth, to be able to repeat the words. But sometimes we have to be brought through the trial.

We have to be tested. And it's when we come through the other side, hopefully we're a little wiser being taught by God.

This is the way the Lord works. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church.

You'd like to listen to the complete message, or you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

MorrisCornickChurch .com. We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.