*sorry, due to techincal problems the first message in this series was not recorded.

HABAKKUK - WHEN GOD SEEMS UNFAIR

“Questioning God”

            Situated in the Old Testament in the division called the Minor Prophets between the books of Nahum and Zephaniah is the seemingly insignificant book with a funny name - Habakkuk.  The only thing we really know about the prophet who wrote this book is what is contained in the book itself.  He lived around the same time as Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and Zephaniah.  A reference to the Chaldeans or Babylonians implies that Habakkuk wrote this book about 600 years before Christ.

            According to what Habakkuk writes we can assume it is fairly soon after the death of the godly king of Judah, Josiah.  He had been the king who discovered the Book of the Law in the Temple and had instituted badly needed spiritual reforms throughout the land.  However, as soon as he died the nation quickly reverted to her evil ways.  As the book opens up, Habakkuk is questioning God’s silence and apparent lack of punishment on the people of Judah.

            Habakkuk describes a very dark time for the nation of Judah.  Justice had essentially disappeared from the land; violence and wickedness were everywhere and were existing unchecked. 

            The name Habakkuk means one who embraces,  clings to, or wrestles.  

            Actually those three definitions describe the three chapters of the book.  In chapter one, Habakkuk wrestles with God as he wonders why God was allowing all the violence and injustice.  In chapter two he embraces faith and waits for God’s solution.  In chapter three he clings to God’s promises and worships Him for who He truly is.

            The driving question of this book is, “Why doesn’t God seem fair?”  Don’t assume that Habakkuk is immature in his faith or doesn’t really know God.  Habakkuk loves God with all his heart, but the things he sees does not match up to what he believed.

1.  HABAKKUK WRESTLES WITH GOD

O 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. Habakkuk 1:1-3

            “Lord, when are You going to do something about the mess down here?  Can’t You hear my prayers?  Don’t you see all the wickedness and violence in the land?”

            As we read this book I think you can probably both sense Habakkuk’s frustration and identity with his feelings.  Doesn’t it seem sometimes that the wicked not only get by with their wickedness, but at the same time they actually prosper.  On the other hand, many times the godly people seem to suffer unjustly and struggle in this life.  “What’s going on here, Lord”

            To question God’s goodness and His character expresses a total lack of faith and is not characteristic of the child of God.  But to question His workings because we can not understand what is taking place is a sign of our humanity.  God is big enough to handle all your questions.

            There are times that we may feel that God has forgotten us or at least for some reason does not hear our prayers.  The Psalms describe this frustration that we may feel.

How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever?  How long will You hide Your face from me?  Psalm 13:1

            Yet it is at these very times that we come to know God in a way we never have before.

Hear my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer.  From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.  Psalm 61:1,2

2.  GOD’S SURPRISING ANSWER

“Look among the nations and watch - Be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.  For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.  Habakkuk 1:5-6

            God answers Habakkuk but not with the answer he was expecting.  Habakkuk was praying for God to bring an end to the wickedness of the land and bring a revival.  God will bring judgment on the land but in a manner Habakkuk never expected.  God would use the ungodly and cruel Babylonians to carry out His judgment on the wickedness of Judah.  That’s not the way Habakkuk would have done it.

            We often express the same attitude.  Why did God allow the tragedy to happen?  “That’s not the way I would have done it if I were God,” and it’s a good thing I’m not God. 

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:8-9

            The Chaldeans (Babylonians) were even worse than the wicked of Judah, yet God was going to use them to punish His people.  “But that’s not fair, God.”

God is not fair;  He is just!

            If everything were fair, we would get what we deserve.  However, since we all are sinners, what we deserve is hell.  God’s justice demands a payment for our sins; a payment we could never make.  God has therefore made the payment for us through the death of His Son on the cross.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).  Ephesians 2:4-5

3.  HABAKKUK’S RESPONSE OF FAITH  

Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One?  We shall not die.  O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction.  Habakkuk 1:12

            Although Habakkuk did not fully comprehend the working of God, he expressed his complete faith and trust.  As he was reminded of the unchangeable character of God as eternal, sovereign, and holy, he became assured that Judah would not be completely destroyed.  He began to understand that God was his Rock.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies … the LORD lives!  Blessed be my Rock!  Let the God of my salvation be exalted. Psalm 18:2,3,46 

            When you are feeling overwhelmed and are frustrated because of the struggles you are experiencing, remember who your God is.  It is when we go through the struggles and questions that we can grow in intimacy with God.

My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience.  James 1:2-3

            It is when we experience this crisis of belief that our faith can grow the most.  You may be going through chapter one in your life today.  It will be a struggle.  It will be frustrating.  And you may be going through doubts and questions.  Just be assured that God is big enough to handle any question or doubt you may bring to Him.