God's first answer, announcing he is raising up the Chaldeans
5 “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.
6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.
11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
Habakkuk's second complaint, questioning why God allows the wicked Babylonians to swallow those more righteous
12 Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
14 and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
17 Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
God tells Habakkuk to write the vision down plainly and wait for its appointed time
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
God's five woes against the proud, the greedy, violent builders, those who make neighbors drink, and idolaters
5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
15 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
Habakkuk's closing prayer, expressing trust in God no matter what the circumstances
1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.
14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message was Pastor Florian's study in the book of Habakkuk, part of an ongoing series through the minor prophets. Where most of the other prophets delivered God's word to Israel or the surrounding nations, Habakkuk records something different: a prophet wrestling honestly with God about violence, injustice, and whether God's plan is really the best one. The sermon traced that wrestling from complaint to answer to hard-won trust.
What was said
Habakkuk looked around at the Southern Kingdom of Judah and saw senseless violence everywhere. He brought that to God without dressing it up: "Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?" The law was paralyzed, justice was going forth perverted, and the wicked were surrounding the righteous. Habakkuk named what he saw and asked God directly why he was sitting idle.
God's answer was not what Habakkuk expected. He said he was already doing something, something Habakkuk would not even believe if he were told, and then he told him: he was raising up the Babylonians, a bitter and violent nation that worshipped its own military strength. The answer to the problem of injustice in Judah was a nation more fearsome and more wicked than Judah itself.
That sent Habakkuk back to God a second time. He did not abandon his trust, but he pressed harder. He acknowledged God as eternal, as his God, as one too pure to look on evil, and then asked the obvious: if you cannot look at wrong, why are you silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than themselves? He put it plainly, and then said he would stand at his watch post and wait to hear what God would say.
God's response came in five woes aimed at the proud, the ones loading themselves with unjust credit and debt, those gaining at the expense of the poor, violent builders, those forcing their neighbors into drunkenness and immorality, and idolaters. Each woe carried the same logic: what you have done to others will come back on you. Set in the middle of all of it was the line God told Habakkuk to write down in large letters: "the righteous shall live by his faith."
Chapter three is Habakkuk's prayer in response, and the shift in it is stark. The man who opened the book crying "violence everywhere" is now describing God's splendor covering the heavens, the earth full of his praise, mountains scattering and nations shaking before a sovereign God. He rehearsed what God had done in history and let the weight of it land on him physically. His body trembled, his lips quivered, his legs gave way.
And then came the conclusion. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, no produce from the olive, no food from the fields, no flock in the fold, no herd in the stalls, "yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation." Habakkuk got to trust, not because circumstances changed, but because he had been honest with God, heard God answer, and chosen to believe that God had it in hand even when the plan made no obvious sense.
The point Pastor Florian drew out was that this is what prayer actually is. It is not finding the right formal language or the right format. It is being completely honest with God about what you see and what you do not understand, and then waiting for his response. Habakkuk models both the complaint and the quiet waiting, and he ends in a place of trust that his congregation was invited to land in as well, whatever their own wrestling happens to look like right now.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Habakkuk was completely honest with God about what he saw around him, including violence and injustice that seemed to go unanswered. How easy or hard is it for you to be that honest with God in prayer, and what holds you back?
God told Habakkuk he was raising up the Babylonians, a nation more wicked than Judah, as the instrument of judgment. Have you ever received an answer from God that was harder to accept than no answer at all? What did you do with it?
Speaker 1you. Thank you. Thank you, Florian. Alright. So, if you've been paying attention the last few weeks, we've been in a study of the minor prophets and I've been trying to kind of study all of em at the same time and so this week, we're going to go to Habakkuk.
I did preach this service one more time. Guess when it was? 05/22/2022. I actually am just using the slides. It's probably going be slightly different from that time but the point of Habakkuk is trusting the Lord no matter what and this is different.
So, for the past few weeks, what I have been doing is standing up here and saying, Amos is saying this to Israel. He's God's mouthpiece to Israel and basically, God is scolding, rebuking, admonishing through Amos and he's doing it to Israel. So, the word of the Lord to Israel is y'all are failing in this way and Amos said that for a couple of weeks. And then, we went to another of the minor prophets, did the same thing. Habakkuk is a minor prophet and then his book is short.
So, I Obadiah last week. Obadiah gives it straight from the Lord but to Edom, not to Israel. It's the word of the Lord for Edom and for all the nations before he gets to the end of it. This week, it's Habakkuk who is a prophet of God and if he prophesied to the people of Israel or to the people of Judah, he was ministering in there. If he did, that's not what is recorded in his book, okay?
I had some a friend called me yesterday and said, I met a guy today who said he does not know how to pray. Would you help teaching the family? Yeah. I'd love to but tomorrow, the sermon's going to be about somebody who's praying. Habakkuk, the whole book of Habakkuk is basically a wrestling with God, okay?
It's a wrestling with God. So, that is prayer. When you're wrestling with God over something and you can be honest with God about the things that you're struggling with. Habakkuk is very honest with God. Now, the answers that he receives back, that's part of prayer too, right?
Communication with God is not just one-sided where you're speaking but you're also listening and so Habakkuk has two cycles of he's sharing with God and then God shares with him. He shares with God and then God shares with him but at the end, it ends with a prayer. Trust in the Lord no matter what, okay? And that's what we want to get through. The wrestling that we're going into personally each of our wrestling is going to be different this morning.
Some of us are wrestling with pride. Some of us are wrestling with hard decisions. Some of them are wrestling financially. Some of us are just getting to where we see the light. By the way, those of y'all who are seeing the light over there, if you want me to close this, just give me the high sign, alright?
If you say close em, I'm going make half the congregation mad but that's alright. I'm looking in your eyes and I'm seeing this. Enjoy it while it lasts, people. There we go. Here we go.
So, an introduction to Habakkuk. The man is not mentioned anywhere else outside of this book except if you've got a bell and the dragon, an apocryphal story. If you have that memorized, Habakkuk is mentioned in there. When is he ministering? It's in Judah's last day.
So, the Southern Kingdom, we've got the Northern King of Israel, Kingdom Of Israel, we got the Southern Kingdom Of Judah, and it is in the very last of the days. It's the same basic time that the other prophets that I've mentioned so far have been ministering and they've been excoriating Israel and Judah and Edom pretty straightforward, even sarcastic at times. It's God's words to these people but Habakkuk is seeing what's happening around him and he sees social oppression around him in the Southern Kingdom Of Judah and he's struggling to believe that God's plan is the best. Now, being a pastor, I have conversations a lot with people who come up to me and and when they find out, I don't usually lead off with I'm a pastor. That's not my first, that's not my first go to but if they say, oh pastor, Well, I tell you what, if I get to heaven, I've got some questions when I get there.
I was like, ask him now. Habakkuk did. Ask him now. Habakkuk was struggling to believe that God's plan was best or maybe you're struggling to see that the road forward is best trusting God. Maybe I should just do this.
The whole world does things this way. Why why should I be any different just because I'm a believer? Well, here we go. The first cycle, Habakkuk speaks for four verses and here it is. I I went with the ESB this morning.
I'm not even sure why. I I don't remember why, but it's English Standard Version this morning. The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. By the way, I redid all of these slides and I made it all the way through the whole book of Habakkuk in the New American Standard Version and then I thought, I think I've done this before. I have in my head that I never preached from the Old Testament.
I do preach from the Old Testament and I did this one. The oracle that the Habakkuk, the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? That is an honest prayer, is it not? It sounds like Psalms.
It sounds like a Psalm of lament. There are a bunch of those. We kind of skip over that part. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help and you will not hear or cry out to you, violence, look around us. There's violence everywhere and you will not save.
How long will I keep on saying this? Violence right there by the way, that's the word for violence. Hamas. Wrong. Senseless and injurious violence.
That's just the word. That's the word Hamas chose. So, there it is. If you want more of that, I'll send these to you afterwards. In general, it's a rude wickedness of men.
They're noisy, wild, and ruthless. Weapons of violence, witness that promotes violence and wrong, violence, everything gained by wrongdoing or violence. It's bad. So Habakkuk looks around him and sees violence, senseless violence, and he says, Lord, you're supposed to be so almighty and yet this happens. The problem of evil, theodicy.
Right? Why do you make me see this iniquity? I'm a prophet. I can't help but see it, and you idly look at this wrong. Does that seem like the way it is?
Destruction and violence, Hamas, again, are before me. Strife and contention arise. That is very honest. He's seeing what he sees, and he's apparently kind of upset with God about it. So, the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth.
That's up through verse four. So, that's Habakkuk's part of this dialogue. For the wicked surround the righteous and justice goes forth perverted. Okay, how many of y'all can sympathize, empathize, and identify with Habakkuk? Maybe it's an every head bowed and every eye closed situation.
I think all of us can if we're honest. We see stuff going on around us and so that should not be. Okay. So, this is his. So, that's Habakkuk speaks.
So Lord, why don't you act basically? Injustice abounds and he laments to a sovereign God and he recognizes him as all powerful, but he says, why is it that you just sit there idly? And then God speaks. Look among the nations, Habakkuk, and see, wonder, and be astounded for I am doing a work in your very days that you would not believe it if I told you. Okay.
How many of you all have heard this verse before? I've heard it at the beginning of a church planning movements book by David Garrison. It says, behold, I'm doing a work in your days that you would not believe it even if I told you, and it sounds so optimistic. And it is because God knows what he's doing. But the next line says, behold, I'm raising up the Chaldeans also known as the Babylonians, that bitter and hasty nation who marched through the breath of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
I'm raising up these evil people. They're dreaded and they're fearsome and their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. They don't make their allegiances in my name. They don't worship me. They base all of their goodness on what they think is right.
That's terrible. But God is raising them up nevertheless. Their horses are swifter than leopards. That is terrifying. Horse faster than a leopard.
It's hyperbole, but still. More fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle and they're swift to devour.
They all come for Hamas, violence. All of their faces are forward. They gather captives like sand. It's easy for them. At kings, they scoff and at rulers, they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress for they pile up earth and they take it. That's a description of a siege ramp. Yeah. Which is the way that they took over not long after this. Then they sweep by like the wind and they go on, guilty men.
I'll tell you right now, they're guilty. Whose own might is their God. They have deified their military strength. They're not they don't belong to God, and he's very straightforward about that. But he still says, I'm raising him up.
That's the answer to Habakkuk's question. What are you doing? You don't you aren't doing anything. He says, no, I'm doing something. You wouldn't even believe it if I told you.
I'm going to tell you and then he tells him. So, God speaks. Be amazed and astounded, Habakkuk. I am acting. I'm raising up the Babylonians, Chaldeans.
So, that's the first cycle. It concludes and then a second cycle ensues. It reminds me, you know, in Job, we have Job finally questioning God and then God says, brace yourself. Job, like a man. I'm going to hit you with a few questions too.
So, Habakkuk speaks to God again after having received this news. Now, he is a prophet. He sees it. We don't hear his report to the rest of the people but he's hearing the other reports of the other prophets. Habakkuk speaks out to God and I I really like Habakkuk because I understand how he feels and I think y'all do too.
If you're if you're paying attention, you probably understand how he feels more than you do how Amos feels. Maybe not. Some of y'all are more like Amos. Are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my God, my holy one.
That is claiming you're my God. I trust you, right? He's already said, are you not? I'd already know that in the beginning, God, I've got that covered. Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die.
He's that's a couple different ways that can be taken. Either we shall not die like, surely we're not going be overtaken by these Chaldeans or I know that I have a need I have a soul that's going to last forever, Lord, and I know I'm with you. We're we're not going to die. Oh Lord, you have ordained them as judgment, and you, oh rock, you have established them for the reproof of your people. He's he's hinting at trust if he's not trusting him yet.
He's he's saying, you're mine. I know you're eternal. I know you're sovereign. I I trust in you. I'm not going lose in this situation.
I'm not going to die. You and I, lord, we're not going to die. You've ordained them as judgement. I get that. You have established them for reproof.
You, though, lord, you're you who are of purer eyes than to see evil and you cannot look at wrong. Why do you look idly at trailers, traders, and remain silent? Why is it that you let it happen then? I don't get it. He's being very honest.
This is prayer. This is what prayer is. Being honest with God. It's not trying to say all the these and the thous in the right place. It's not just memorizing a format that, you know, Jesus, the disciples asked him to pray and this is how he did our father who's on him.
It's not saying a vain repetition. It's being completely honest with God. Lord, I I get that we need reproof. I see the violence in our land. That's what I was complaining about.
You're raising up the Chaldeans for our punishment. I get that for our reproof, our judgment. I get that but you, lord, you are pure than that. Your eyes are seeing evil. You can't even look at wrong.
Why do you look at traitors and remain silent and idle when the wicked is swallowing up the man who's more righteous than he? Oh, wait a second now. Now, he's gauging on a scale. He's saying, we're wicked. Oh, but they're really wicked.
Do y'all do that? I'm not as bad as that guy. You make mankind like the fish of the sea like crawling things that have no ruler. You make em and you just let em do whatever. He brings all of them up with a hook.
He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet and so he rejoices and he's glad. That's the way that these Babylonians act. They treat people like animals. Therefore, the Babylonian doesn't sacrifice to you, God.
He doesn't give you any glory whatsoever and you say you're raising him up. He should give you the glory for raising him up of what he's done. He sacrifices to his net. His military strength. He gets those fish up in a net and that's the way that he that's what he sacrifices to.
He makes offerings to his own dragnet, to his own military. For by them, he lives in luxury and his food is rich. He is living in the lap of luxury because of you and he does not give you the credit for that, Lord. That's wicked and evil and wrong and they're more wicked than we are. Is he then going to keep on emptying his net mercilessly killing nations forever?
Are you just going to let this go on forever, Lord? Babylon, I think, it was an a literal thing for the people who heard it the first time around, but Babylon happens over and over and over and over again. Just as Egypt did, and the Ottoman Empire did, the Roman Empire did, Babylon did. It happens over and over and over again, and military strength is something that he's fussing with him about. And then he says, this is Habakkuk still speaking in verse two one, I'm gonna take my stand on my watch post.
I'm gonna stand myself on the tower. I'm gonna look out to see what God will say to me. And what I will answer concerning my complaint. I'm listening lord For your that's prayer. It's not just one directional.
It's also waiting for the response from God. This is a modern paraphrase from that. Long time listener, first time caller, wondering what you'll have to say about all our problems and my complaints. I'll take your answer off the air. Okay.
So Habakkuk speaks again. What? In tarot bang. I love this little piece of punctuation. It's kind of informal, but what?
You can see it with the exclamation point and the question mark. They're worse than we are. He describes them and then he says, let me see what God says now. So, this is a lament. Again, a lament is okay, alright?
If you lament to God, that's okay. You might say, oh, Paul says, we're supposed to do all things without grumbling or complaining. Addressing God with what you see in your struggle, whether it's sobriety or whether it's family dynamics. Hey, If you're trying to deal with a situation that's bigger than you, you turn to someone who's bigger than you, and God is bigger than you. And when you're not understanding, by the end of this, I hope you get to the same place that Habakkuk is.
God speaks. First of all, he tells him about the judgment and it's a five parter, a vision of woe, woe be unto you. And here it is. And the Lord answered me, write this vision down, Habakkuk. Make it plain.
Write this down. Take a little note to remind you in case you didn't know. Write it down. Make it plain on the tablets so that the one running by can read it. Use big letters.
Okay? For still the vision awaits its appointed time. If it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it, it will surely come. It will not delay.
It will be in my timing, I promise. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous. Behold the proud, that should say. His soul is puffed up.
It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Write that down. Behold the proud, the king, new king James. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright within him, but the just or the righteous shall live by his faith.
I say every one of the minor prophets really comes down to pride versus humility. And so, if they're trusting in their own military strength, that is proud, and his soul is not upright within him, but the just shall live by his faith in me. The one who is justified is going to live by his faith in me. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It's not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This is a great memory verse. Habakkuk two four. Moreover, he says, wine is a traitor. An arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as sheol.
If some of you have struggled with alcohol before, this one just goes right out of that last verse. You can be proud and insist that you can handle it or you can be humble and say, you know what? Wine is a traitor. An arrogant man who's never at rest. His greed is as wide as hell.
It's like death. He never has enough. He gathers for himself all the nations he collects as his own all peoples. So God speaks. Write down the vision.
It will occur just as I've said, but the righteous one will live by faith and then a lifestyle trust in tough times is what he's looking for but we're in the woe. Shall not all these take up their turn against him with scoffing and riddles and say, woe to him who heaps up what is not his own. For how long? And loads himself up with pledges. This is about credit.
Oh my goodness. Our whole economy is built on credit. Usury is the old term for it. The whole of our economic system is built on this that God is saying is wrong. Babylon was using it.
He who heaps up what is not his own and for how long? Exorbitant interest. He loads himself up with pledges. Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those who awake awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them.
He says, it's going to come back around because you have plundered many nations. All the remnant of the people shall plunder you. For the blood of man and violence to the earth, to the cities, and all who dwell in them. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm. You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples.
You have forfeited your life, for the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork will respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on sin and equity. Behold, it is not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire and nations weary themselves for nothing. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. That's optimistic.
Hey, there's a silver lining in there. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea. That sounds like Amos when he's talking about righteousness flowing, right? Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. You pour out your wrath and you make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness.
That's that's why I changed ESV. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. You think that you're doing this undercover but you're not. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your own our uncircumcision.
The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you and utter shame will come upon your glory. There are lots of nefarious things that people do and God is saying that those things for the proud will be exposed. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you. This is speaking about Israel had done violence to Lebanon. Okay?
This is not what the Babylonians had done. Israel had been awful to Lebanon and so Israel was about to receive from Babylon what they had done to Lebanon. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you as will the destruction of the beast that terrified them For the blood of man and the vials are to cities and all who dwell in them. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it? This sounds a lot like Isaiah.
A metal image, a teacher of lies for its maker trust in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. These little trinkets that people make and we think of idols and go, that's so stupid. We have a lot of idols still. Do we not? Yeah.
Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake to a silent stone, arise. Can this teach? Behold, it's overlaid with gold and silver, but there's no breath in it at all. Idolatry, woe to idolaters. So God speaks.
Here we go. And then it closes out chapter two like this, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. Now, you might think, oh, that's talking about prayer. I don't want to bother Jesus with this.
I don't want to bother anybody with this. He's saying, speak. Don't don't speak and no, he's not saying don't speak. He said, the Lord is in his holy temple. He's still on the throne.
He's in charge. He really is sovereign and he really is good. You might not understand what he's doing. But let all the earth keep silence before him and saying, what he says goes. Listen to him.
Let all the earth keep silence. I remember this, there's a hymn called Let All the Earth Keep Silence. When I first got here, we had the remnants of a choir left behind and there's a little more of a militia than a standing army but we had this and in the second service, we would gather those in the call to worship. The call to worship is usually something peppy, sort of like that bouncing number that we did during the offering and so the first service, we had a pretty raucous time and then, we came in for the second service and I was sitting in my base section of the choir and let all the earth keep silence. I was trembling as the pastor.
He's not saying don't pray to me. He says that my word is what goes and so listen to me. Does that make sense to you? Is that good? Let all the earth keep south.
He's saying all the earth too. Now, Judah, his chosen people, they had some good kings. Israel didn't have any good kings but Israel and Judah, God's chosen people were chosen to reach out to other nations and when it comes back to Judah is complaining to God or at least Habakkuk is complaining to God about how his own people are acting. God is not saying, he's saying, I know but the whole earth, the whole earth is mine. I am going to accomplish my mission, and it might be in a way that you wouldn't even believe if I told you Habakkuk.
So the five part vision of woe was this, big spenders, People who extend loans and creditors collect more than they should, a lot more than they should. Unjust gain. They're always gaining at the expense of others, particularly the poor. All of the prophets are in agreement about that that rich taking advantage of the poor is wrong, unjust gain, or unrighteous gain. Violent builders, people who found their towns on violence and bloodshed.
Eventually knowledge of the Lord's glory will fill the earth. It will come back around on top of your head if you take advantage of others. And neighborly imbibers, this is folks who force, it says, their neighbors to accept. In in the case that's listed, strong drink and sexual immorality. Strong drink to loosen the constraints and let down the inhibitions, and then take advantage of nakedness is what it says.
They force others to drink of God's wrath. And if you think of God's wrath as anger, unbridled rage, that's not what it is. Wrath is the just condemnation of actual sin, and it's measured. Okay? It's not it's more slow to wrath is what it says that he is.
He's patient, and he doesn't do anything without mentioning it to his prophets ahead time. So, this is one of those prophets. We can take this. It'll soon be their turn to drink from it because what goes around comes around and foolish idolaters. Idols are worthless.
Idols are anything that take the place of God in your life. If the Google machine is more important to you than God is. I saw something recently where they said, if we treated our Bibles the way we treat our phones and you can see a guy wakes up in the morning, will start. He reaches over for his Bible And that to us sounds kinda ridiculous. Well, then has this taken the place of that?
Oh, but I do that to check my Bible app. Maybe. It's possible to do that. Just saying that's one of them. It's not overlaid with gold or silver, just a case so that I don't break it.
Like Isaiah says, you build something out of stone, you're covered in silver or gold, and then you have to slip a shim under it to keep it from falling over, and then you bow down and worship it. So, the next verse, the Lord is in his holy temple. He's there and he's listening and he's in charge Being reverent before God and asking and Habakkuk was, lord, violence all around me. Yep. That's true and I'm answering that.
I'm doing something about it but lord, you can't even look on evil. You're right. I can't. Woe be unto all these people that are doing these things no matter where they are, the whole earth, every everybody, I see em and then we get to chapter three and all of this is a prayer. It's a prayer.
Maybe a song but a prayer from Habakkuk. It's a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. According to Shigenath, I don't know who Shigenath is, but he heard this prayer and wrote it down apparently. Oh Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, oh Lord. Do I fear?
I am reverent before you and I'm listening and I do get it. In the midst of the years, revive it. In the midst of the years, make it known in wrath. Lord, remember mercy. Ain't that an honest prayer?
Lord, I deserve it. I deserve your wrath but in your wrath, lord, would you remember mercy? And he does. He does, right? God came from Timon.
We mentioned a couple weeks ago that that was out of Edom. God came from Timon and the holy one from Mount Paran. Selah, think on that. God comes in in unexpected places. Think on that for a minute.
His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light. This is the same guy who was saying, violence, violence all around me and now he's saying, the vision that I have is that God's splendor has covered the heavens and that earth is full of his praise. There are people who are trusting in him. His brightness was like the light rays flash from his hand.
This sounds like God on top of Sinai or sounds like Micah. It sounds like Nahum. It sounds like a few of the other prophets where there's power is obvious. Rays are flashing from his hand but there he veiled his power. Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels.
He stood and he measured the earth. He looked and he shook the nations. Then the eternal mountains were scattered. The everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways.
He is sovereign God. He is all powerful and if you think that you've got a question or two for him, your vision is obscured. Now, you can question him and he will answer you that he is taking care because the great reversal is coming. That great and mighty day of the Lord where just like how in the world are the Hebrews gonna get out of Egypt? There's no way.
How in the world are they gonna get across the Red Sea? There's no way. How in the world are they going to get across that river? There's no way. God is the way.
Trusting in him is the way. His ways are the everlasting ways. I saw the tents of cushion and affliction, the curtains of the land of many and did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, oh Lord? Was your anger against the rivers or your indignation against the sea?
When you rode on horses, on your chariot of salvation? No. He was looking out for people. You stripped the sheet from your bow calling for many arrows. You're powerful lord.
You split the earth with rivers, the mountains saw you and they writhed. The raging waters swept on, the deep gave forth its voice. It lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spear. You are Almighty God.
You can help me today to stay away from booze. You are Almighty God. I can sit and forbear an offense. I can sit and bear with someone that I disagree with without having to shout them down. I can sit with this decision and trust you.
Commit my work to the Lord and my thoughts will be established. You march through the earth in fury, you thrash the nations in anger. You went out. Why? For the salvation of your people.
For the salvation of your anointed. I think that should be a capital A. I think that that's for Jesus. You saved him from death. He voluntarily gave his life which to us might not be the way that it seems right but the way that seems right to man is often the path of destruction.
You went out for the salvation of your people, God, for the salvation of your capital A, anointed for Jesus. You saved Jesus from death. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. That's a vulnerable position. Think on that.
Selah. You pierced with his own arrows. The heads of his warriors. Sowing and reaping comes up a lot in the prophets. If by pride you take advantage of another, it is coming back on you In Babylon and in every Babylon sense.
You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors who came like a whirlwind to scatter me rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses and the surging of mighty waters. I hear and my body trembles, Lord. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones and my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us. You know why, Lord? Because I trust you no matter what. In the midst of all kinds of battles we're going through, whether they be physical, emotional, or spiritual. I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the others, Lord, because I'm putting my trust in you and I will be vindicated by my simple and humble trust in you.
Though the fig tree should not blossom, doesn't matter, nor fruit be on the vines, doesn't matter. The produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, starving to death, Lord, doesn't matter. Though the flock be cut off from the fold, though there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. I trust you, Lord, no matter what.
Yeah, it seems bad, and I voiced that to you and your answer was, I got this. I trust you, Lord. I think that's the last lie because I keep clicking it. Nothing else is happening. It's not.
Does it keep going okay? Good. Here we go. God, the Lord is my strength. He's the one who makes my feet like the deer's feet.
He's the one who makes me tread on high places. And then it says to the choirmaster with stringed instruments. Remember the children's choir practice is starting in a minute downstairs. I fear your report but in wrath, remember mercy. Judgement against the nations and the salvations of all of God's people and they had a limited view of that.
They were looking forward to that great mighty day of the Lord. They were we're still looking to that ultimate vindication but what they're looking forward to is Jesus. Jesus on the cross, crucified, dead, buried, and resurrected is the plan of salvation. Lord, that doesn't make any sense to me but I trust you. I don't understand how the death of a first century Jew and the resurrection of a first century Jew can make a difference to me in The United States Of America in 2025 but I trust you.
That's the answer. Resignation to God's purpose. I must wait for the day of the Lord. I'm a humbly trust and I'll trust in God despite all the circumstances. So, here are the applications.
God is sovereign. Now, there are half of you in the room that say, I can't stay in Calvinism. Don't even mention that. God is sovereign. It's absolutely claimed and you are responsible.
It's absolutely acclaimed, okay? So, if God is sovereign, do we live like it? He tells us the way that we should live our life. The way of the world makes more sense because we live in the world. Unjust gain, I'm not going to do that because you say don't do that, Lord.
God is sovereign. He's told us to trust him. If we trust him, we will live like he is going to make it right. God is sovereign. Do we live like it?
We don't always understand God ways. Can I get an amen? Yeah. We don't always understand God's ways. We must trust the Lord no matter what and that's what Habakkuk comes down to.
It's a very honest prayer and it's a very honest response with God. It's above your pay grade, Ray. You don't understand and you don't need to. You just need to trust me. That's it.
Would y'all stand and we have a closing song but if your kids want to get down there to choir, I understand. Oh, they're down. They're down there. Hey, y'all don't even have to worry about that. Most of them are down there.
If you're up here and you want to be down there, go. Except for Lisa.
Speaker 2The word of God is so good. Amen. Touches our hearts. And and I'm glad. I'm glad that we have New Testament where we have the grace.
I'm glad we also have the Old Testament where it shows what happened so we can learn from their life. But we trust Jesus. Amen? And we trust God. This
