Habakkuk

And here we find these words, the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? Or cry to you of violence and you will not save? Why do you make me see inequity and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me.

Strife and contention arise. So the law is paralysed and justice never goes forth for the wicked surround the righteous. So justice goes forth perverted. Let me see the Lord's answer. Look among the nations and see; wonder and be astonished.

For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves.

Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all for violence. They all their faces forward.

They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at the fortress for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep it like the wind and go on. Guilty men whose own might is their God.

And then we get Habakkuk's second complaint. Are you not from everlasting, oh Lord, my God, my holy one? We shall not die, oh Lord. You have ordained them as judgement and you, oh rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see no, than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.

Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet.

So he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet. For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? So far this reading, thanks, John.

Thanks, John, for leading us in the reading this morning. It would be fair to say I think that you could go to church like this and do so for decades and then never have heard a sermon on the book of Habakkuk or coming from the book of Habakkuk. At best, or rather at worst, you might have never heard of the man Habakkuk. But at best you may know something about the end of the book of Habakkuk. At the end of chapter three, there's a chorus there that we used to sing at youth group and even convention decades ago. Those famous words as the book comes to a climax: though the fig tree does not blossom and there's no fruit on the vine, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

We're to deal with that this morning, but here's the reason we're going to focus on just this first chapter because I chose it. Well, not entirely. But I hope you can see that what's going on in this first chapter in the book of Habakkuk will be something relevant, very contemporary and something that should be very applicable to all our lives, even everyone in Australia at this particular time. Let me therefore explain why this is so relevant to us. Basically, this little book of Habakkuk tells us how to handle evil times.

Whether those are global evil times or whether we're talking community or society evil times or even just your own personal evil times. Habakkuk is a minor prophet in the history of Israel. His ministry starts around seventy years after Amos, late in the seventh century, ministers to the same group of people, Judah and the Southern Kingdom. It's not a good time for Israel as a nation. There was the good king Josiah.

He was the ruler and gave people hope that good times might be coming for the country. But his sons were terrible kings and there was corruption morally, socially, economically. There was injustice inside the city and evil abounded. So we're going to look this morning at what Habakkuk saw, then what he did and what he heard from God and lastly what it all meant. First of all, what he saw, what's he looking at?

Well, in a way, Habakkuk tells us in verse three. He says to God, why do you make me look at injustice? What he's saying there is why you put me, a holy man, a prophet no less, and you put me in a position where all I can see in the world around me is evil, sorrow and grief. And then he tells God the reason why he sees these things. He says the law is paralysed.

Justice never prevails. Can you see God that bad things are happening? Can you see God why bad things are happening? And therefore what we have now are evil times.

Habakkuk sees that, but he also sees the reality that, well, God seems to be doing absolutely nothing about it. He says in verses two, three and four, Lord, why are you not hearing me? Why do you do nothing? How can you possibly tolerate this? Why are you absent?

Why have you abandoned us? Now the reason to be bringing this up this morning is to be thinking that we might be thinking that last year we've had a good year or a bad year and this year is certainly going to be better. I mean, things are supposed to be on the up and up, and we, especially if we're Christians here in church this morning, like to have a positive outlook towards the future. Essentially, the assumption for most Australians is that our lives are going to improve. We're going to get better and better.

Even now, five or ten years from now, we'll be better off, and if we're not better off then we certainly hope that our children will be better off, that our investments will basically go up, that the value of our homes will go up. That basically things will get better and better. You might have had a bad year, but basically we all want to remain positive and say things are on their way up. But if we're honest this morning, we have to admit that life is not like that.

Think of the last century, the twentieth century, two world wars, Great Depression, the Holocaust, and by the end of the nineteen forties people were starving to death. Thousands of people were starving in Europe. During that time, nobody believed that life was going to get better, and it's the reason that my parents and I suspect many of yours left Europe after the war to go to a new country in pursuit of a better life here in Australia. Now where are we? Is this still our expectation even today?

It would certainly be too soon to panic, but then on the other hand, it would be silly for us not to be prepared and bury our head in the sand. There's been some speculation in the press just recently to wonder how it is that the impact of the devastating fires and the drought will have upon us economically, financially. Perhaps you're hearing what the Federal Treasurer has said to us, you know what insurance companies are saying. I think none of us have missed out on hearing the pleas and seeing so many tears of those who've been impacted in the bush.

They've been absolutely smitten by the devastating impact of the fires and the drought and will take years and years to recover. And so it's true to say that we're facing a great threat to the economic, social and security of our families and our welfare as a nation, even society as a whole. Many of you are aware of new laws that have come and more that will come that conflict with what God says in His word, and here I'm thinking of the new definition of marriage and what will come of assisted dying, euthanasia here in Queensland, not to mention what has already been passed into law concerning abortion. Think, if you will, globally and of the escalating tensions in the Middle East, certainly between Iran and America. The threat of terrorism has never been more real.

So on the one hand, it would be foolish of us to panic, but on the other hand, it would also be foolish of us not to be thinking that we should be prepared because good times are not necessarily here to stay. We think good times are normal as if we're entitled to them. But if history teaches us anything, it teaches us that's just not true. We might be staring into evil times already. And the question is, are you ready?

Is God's church ready? Habakkuk is gonna help us. Maybe I'm getting the book of Habakkuk out a little early, but I know you can never deal with this too soon. We need to be prepared. So what Habakkuk sees is evil times.

He has a healthy appraisal of his circumstance and the circumstances of his countrymen. Now, secondly, what did he do? How did he respond? Well, to understand what he did, you need to see that he did two things. First of all, he was bold and honest, right up front to God.

And he actually says to God, God, why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Boy, that's really bold. That's like in your face God. Here I am telling you what's wrong with your world.

In a sense, he's challenging God. But secondly, in verse 12, he actually says something that's even more remarkable. Oh Lord, are you not from everlasting to everlasting? Which means infinite, no beginning, no end. Are you not infinite?

This is a rhetorical question. A rhetorical question is not a request for information. The commentators agree that we should read this as a sarcastic statement. Essentially, he's saying something like this to God: God, I thought you were infinite. You were supposed to be this great God, wise, everlasting, in control of all things, but you're showing your limits here God.

You look powerless, helpless in our country. Habakkuk doesn't actually use those words; it's my paraphrase, but he comes close to saying those sorts of things. Put it to you this morning: there's nothing quite like this in the whole of scripture. God is not being approached here in honour with reverence and awe. Habakkuk is in absolute anguish, and you know why.

In verses two, three and four, Habakkuk says, why are you letting all this evil and injustice abound? Look at my society. Look at Israel. You're supposed to bring salvation out of Israel. Israel is meant to be a light to the nations around her, and yet it's corrupt.

It's a mess. Why are you letting all this evil and injustice in my nation, Lord? Come on God, do something about it. Well, God does answer in verses five through to eleven. And in a nutshell, here's what God says: I'm raising up the Babylonians.

I'm raising up the most ruthless, bloodthirsty people the world has ever seen, and they're going to sweep across the world and they're going to crush and conquer your country. And Habakkuk says, what? You call that an answer? I just complained, and your answer is wait until I see, and I'm going to send more evil, more injustice, more violence and more oppression. Habakkuk is close to saying, although he does not say it, are you nuts God?

I just don't get it. It's like Habakkuk has lost it. He's over the top. He hasn't thought through who he's talking to, but he's actually talking to God. He's complaining to God.

He's bold. He's upfront, emotionally and intellectually. He's realistic. Let's just say that Habakkuk is wrestling with God, challenging God. That's the first thing he does because of what he sees, what he experiences around him.

And you know what the other thing he does? It's a little easier to see as the book goes on. When in chapter two, verse one, he says, now I will wait to see what God says to me, and I will look to see what He will say. But here's what we need to realise.

On the one hand, Habakkuk is challenging God. He's asking God questions, hard questions, struggling with doubt, but on the other hand, he never even hints. The thought never even enters his head that it's an option to walk away from God, to stop obeying God, to stop talking to God, wrestling with God, to stop praying to God, to stop following God. It's not an option, and you know why. Did you notice how he's dealing with his complaint?

He's not blogging about it. He's not posting it out there on the internet. He's not even discussing it over coffee with a friend. Who's he talking to here? Well, he's praying.

He's saying in verse 12, my God, my holy one. Even after the opening line in verse 12, which is probably one of the most insulting things ever asked of God in the whole Bible, then he says of God, my God, my holy one. He's wrestling with God and doing so faithfully, opening his heart and his mind to God. I've been talking to people about God for many years. It used to be my job.

I was a pastor once, but I still love to talk to people about God. And I've seen how people treat God. Almost nobody treats God just like this. On the one hand, you've got people in traditional churches who will say things like, you just don't question God. Don't go there.

Don't talk to God like that. What's important is saying and doing all the right things, and especially on Sundays. On the other hand, I've met modern people, and especially younger people, and they have an enormous confidence in human reason and perception, and so what they say is something like, well I don't see how God can be bringing anything good out of this. I don't see why God allows evil and suffering in our world today. Therefore, I choose not to believe in Him.

I don't need this. I'm out of here. Now, Habakkuk is neither of those two. Do you see? On the one hand, he's so honest, much more honest than traditional religion, not feeling like I have to bow and scrape and say all the right things before God.

And yet on the other hand, Habakkuk would never even think of leaving, not in a million years. In fact, when he says, my God, holy one, he's declaring his loyalty, his devotion, his dependence on God. He's virtually saying, where else can I go God? You have the words of eternal life. That's why I'm so upset.

That's why I'm complaining to you. This is so important to appreciate this morning. I hope you get it. What we have here is unconditional faithful wrestling with God. Unconditional and faithful wrestling.

I have to say that over the years, that kind of person is very rare, very rare indeed. And you know why? Because it takes the gospel of grace to produce a person like that, to produce a person who will engage with God at a level that is deep and profound, at a level that does demonstrate real faithfulness, real integrity with God. There are a couple of other places in the Bible that come close to this. I think of the Psalm, even the Psalm we read this morning, Psalm 73, Psalm 88, Psalm 39.

What about God's servant Job? Job says things that are just about as strong as what Habakkuk says here. And there are places in Jeremiah where Jeremiah does a similar sort of thing. These are people who are really, really upset. They're angry. They're confused, and Habakkuk is too.

So should we be praying to God like that? Well, no. I wouldn't encourage sarcastic defiant language like that in our prayer time with God. Well then, what are these prayers for in the Bible? Well put it this way: God knows that when we speak, we're desperate, and so He listens. He hears, and He reminds us that He is our God because of His grace. And here's what God is saying: I remain their God not because they put on a happy face, because they don't.

I remain their God not because they have emotional self-control, because they don't. I remain their God not because they're doing everything just right, because they don't. I remain their God because of My grace, because My relationship with My people is not based on their performance, because of My unconditional covenant commitment, because of My great love for them. And if you know even a glimmer of that love, that grace of God, it'll turn you into an unconditional faithful wrestler with God. You and I know we can ask God for anything.

We know our salvation is not based on doing anything right. We know there's no place except with God that we can possibly make it in life. So we never leave. In the words of Simon Peter, Lord, to whom shall we go? For You have the words of eternal life.

And that's how we should deal with evil times. Marvel at God's grace in your life, and it'll turn you into someone who's prepared to wrestle with God, and especially in the face of evil. Global evil, society-wide evil, or personal evil times. That's what Habakkuk has done. That's what he's doing here.

That's because of what he saw, and now this is what he does in the face of evil times. Thirdly, what did he hear? What he heard is God's first answer, and there are several more throughout this short book of Habakkuk, but basically verses five and six. Two things He says: for I'm going to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. You're not going to get it, Habakkuk.

You're just not going to understand, and then He'll go on to launch and say this: I'm raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people. They were unthinking, hot-headed people who sweep across the whole earth. You're not going to understand what I'm doing, Habakkuk. Habakkuk prays, come on God, do something, and God says, I am doing something. I'm going to raise up the Babylonians, and they're going to crush you and take you out, deliver you into exile at the hands of your captors. And Habakkuk says, you call that an answer?

We look at this new year, we contemplate what's happening in our world, in our society and personally, and when we think about and reflect on those sorts of things, we don't get much perspective, do we? We see the bush fire crisis. We know about the drought. We know many people are hurting, but we don't have a lot of perspective because we're not actually living in their shoes. Some of you have five-year-old children, and even if you don't, there was a time when each one of us was five years old, and you know that a five-year-old can sometimes always be screaming.

Carrying on because they don't understand what's going on, what's happening to them. You know, a five-year-old might want something to eat and they reach out for it, they launch into the cupboard, and what they're helping themselves to is poison or something that has way too much sugar. So you reach out and you remove it from the child's grasp. They scream as a consequence. They don't understand.

You can sit down and try to explain to them. You say, okay, let me tell you about the basics of a good nutritional diet, the sort of foods you should be eating, but you and I know that a five-year-old is just not gonna get it. What you have to say is you have to trust me. And then about five minutes later you have to tell them to shut up. Your screaming is driving me nuts.

If you don't trust me, oh child, even though you can't possibly understand why I'm doing many of the things that I'm doing, if I let you have this, if I give it to you, you're going to die or at least get very, very sick. Now, the distance between our mind and God's mind is vastly, infinitely greater than the distance between the mind of a five-year-old and a parent's mind. And you expect to understand everything that God does. To say that God has to make sense makes no sense at all. To say that I've got to understand God and He has to make sense in what He's doing is no sense at all. In fact, I'd say you're worse than a five-year-old because in the end, a five-year-old does trust their parent.

Pardon me for saying, but if you choose to walk away then you are less mature than a five-year-old. That is, if you walk away from God. And if you don't trust God, even though sometimes what He says doesn't make any sense, you're certainly going to die spiritually, but maybe even physically. Trust and obey. I know it's a cliché, but if you walk with the Lord, that is what you will do: trust and obey. Lastly, what did it mean when God said, I'm going to do something that you would not believe even if you were told?

Years later, Paul in the book of Acts chapter 13, verse 41, makes this amazing statement. He's talking to Israel, to Jews in the synagogue. He's talking about the gospel. He's talking about Jesus. He said, God raised Jesus from the dead, and therefore I want you to know through Jesus, forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

Through everyone who believes is justified, and then Paul adds, take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you. Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I'm going to do something in your days that you would never believe, even if someone told you. Could it be that Paul's looking at Habakkuk chapter one, verse five, and Paul's introducing a principle built on a strong foundation from the Old Testament? It's a principle that applies in your life and my life too. It's a principle about sovereignty, God's sovereignty.

God says, I'm going to answer you, Habakkuk. I'm going to bring deliverance, salvation out of judgment. I'm going to bring salvation, redemption out of injustice and violence and evil times. And Paul says, God's talking about Jesus. No.

No. No. No. You say, wait a minute. Paul's talking, Paul must be referencing the Babylonians here.

But clearly the context means Paul's talking about Jesus. And the thing that God was saying to Habakkuk, the principle is this: that I bring light out of darkness, that I bring salvation and redemption and justice out of injustice and all manner of evil and suffering. That principle finds its ultimate expression in Jesus Christ. I'm going to do something out there in the nations that you will not believe. I know you don't understand it, but this is what I'm doing.

Jesus Christ experienced absolute evil, injustice. Why? Because He's holy, totally without sin, and God ordained it. Habakkuk says, but I don't know how you can put up with injustice because of the fact that you are holy. But on the cross, God answers Habakkuk and all those who are prepared to wrestle with God today, because on the cross, He who is holy hung there.

He bore our sins, our iniquities, says Isaiah, so that we might be saved. Sin had to be paid for, and because of what we've done towards Him and towards each other, sin has to be paid for, and He experienced that judgment on the cross. And God ordained that the most evil act the world has ever seen should result in salvation, in redemption for you and for me. He brings salvation out of judgment. There were people standing there in front of the cross thinking, I don't see what good God could ever bring out of this.

But of course, it was the ultimate good. And now each one of us is invited to look at our lives and contemplate the world around us, your own community, your own society, contemplate even your own evil times. I don't understand what God could possibly be doing here, but hey, stop right where you are and think of what God did. God the Father did through Jesus. Look at the cross. And if you're asking the question this morning, where are you God?

Know and believe that God remains faithful. So much so that believers can conjoined with Habakkuk and say, 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, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I'll be joyful in God my saviour. You see, the greatest injustice that the world has ever seen was perpetrated against the one who was truly innocent, without fault. Unconditional faithful wrestling is what Jesus did for you and for me.

So much so that He gave His life up. During the worst evil that was ever to come upon this world, now we need to stick to that and trust that it works salvation for you and for me too. Remember, He was there in your place and in mine too. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we're so grateful that You sent Your Son to suffer the greatest injustice the world has ever seen.

How could it be that the holy one, Him who was without any sin, took on the sins of this world and died the death of a common criminal on the cruel cross? Thank You that through that, You've worked the greatest salvation the world has ever known. Thank You because of the cross, we have life and we have hope. And though, Lord, we perceive evil in us and around us and in the world today, we thank You that You've conquered evil, and the day is surely coming when You will announce Your victory in a very public way, in a way that means that all men and women everywhere will bow the knee.

Grant, Lord, that as we continue to give expression to the glad hope we have in our lives, that You will never leave us. Go with us, Lord. Teach us how to deal with evil times so that more and more we can be looking to Jesus and remembering His presence, His company with us now and always. And it's together in Jesus name we pray when we say, amen.