Trinity Baptist Church

Habakkuk: Trusting God No Matter What

The Strangeness of God's Ways

Habakkuk 1:1-11

 

Tonight we’re going to begin a study of the book of Habakkuk. Now in case you’re lost, you’ll find Habakkuk after Jonah, Micah and Nahum.  It is located just before Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. It is a small book of only 3 chapters and they are short chapters.

 

So it is a very brief book, but at the same time, extremely important, and personally, I find it fascinating and extraordinarily relevant.

 

Tonight, I want to look at chapter 1, verses 1 through 11.

 

Now we know that life is never a bed of roses and particularly the Christian life is not easy.  In fact, it is a whole lot easier to just drift through life with no convictions or responsibilities than it is to be serious about our commitment to Christ.

 

So even though we live the life of faith, even though our faith is very personal and placed in the person of Jesus Christ, and even though Christ is all and all, and even though He is sufficient to every need, life in general and the life of faith in particular, is never just easy and comfortable. There are always problems in the Christian’s life.

 

And it’s always been that way.  Trace the history of any of those who followed God in the Bible and the story is about their struggles and difficulties and problems.  That was certainly true of the Israelites.

And it’s true for Habakkuk.  As he writes these words, there are all kinds of questions in his mind as he thinks about what he knows about God and what he is witnessing.

 

Now the reason there are always problems is because there is always an active adversary whose desire is to tempt us to sin. He seeks to undermine our faith and cause us to doubt God, and more specifically to doubt God’s love or that He cares for us. I feel sorry for those who do not believe in a literal devil because if there is no devil responsible, then their life is just a series of unfortunate events and bad circumstances with no explanation for there occurrence.

 

We believe in a real devil who brings real problems into the life of believers in his attempt to strike back at God.  Does he ever do that to you?  The reason many Christians fail in their walk with God is because when they experience difficulties, whether it is problems they cannot understand or sorrows they cannot cope with or temptations that are too overwhelming to resist, they tend to doubt God and wonder if we’re really saved or if God really cares at all.

 

Satan is always there to tempt us in those ways and he has always tried to work in that way.  Now it seems one of his more recent attempts to keep folks from salvation is to make Christianity appear to be ridiculous.  It’s stupid to believe there is a God in the first place and certainly to believe that He had a Son Who died for sins and that it can have any impact on your life today.  

 

And if we were to classify that temptation or categorize it or title it, we could call it the problem of history.  People are perplexed by our historical situation. We often look around us and wonder why things are the way they are.

 

Up until the early 1900’s, people had a different problem. Back then, it wasn’t the problem of history that was bugging everybody, it was the problem of science.

 

In the nineteenth century and even in years previous to that, the biggest problem humanity dealt with was that science was purported to be a threat to Christianity. The experts of the day said that the Bible was scientifically wrong and in great error. They would point to things like the Bible saying the sun stood still and things like that and say the Bible is scientifically impossible.  And the Bible was discounted as authoritative because “science” proved it wrong.

 

If you look at sermons and writings from Christians during that time, you will find much of their attention was given to wrangling with science.  There was an old black preacher named John Jasper who lived from1812-1901 who used to preach a message from Joshua 10 called “The Sun Do Move”.

 

It all started when two members of his church got in an argument about which one moved, the earth or the sun, and asked his opinion.  He chose to answer with this sermon. The Bible talked about the movement of the sun, and for Jasper, that settled it.

 

 

He preached that sermon more than 250 times.  People would come to laugh at him for preaching that because science had discovered it was the earth that was moving, not the sun.  And even though his science was in error, his faith was pure and he won souls to Christ as he preached.   

 

And so, Christianity was always wrangling with science.  And there is still a certain degree of that occurring.  But for the most part, we’ve settled the science issues and science, more and more, is catching up to the Bible and finding its best support in the pages of God’s Word.

 

So today, that’s not the problem. Today, the problem is history. And the thinking goes like this:  how can a God like the one you claim in the Bible let the world get in the mess that it’s in? And more to the point, how can the God that you claim is the God of the Bible let the church get in the mess that the church is in? And even more specifically, how can the God that you claim is the God of the Bible let bad things happen to good people like me?

 

And the truth is, if you look around the world, the world is in a mess.  We have war, famine, disease, suffering, sorrow, death and constant problems all around the world.

 

And if you look at the church you’re going to find the church in a mess also.  People are unfaithful, confused in their doctrine, questioning the authority of Scripture, justifying all kinds of behavior and substituting any and everything for Jesus.  There’s no question the church is in a mess.

 

And everywhere we look, and maybe we have to look no farther than your life or mine, we see bad things happening to good people and the lives of so many are in a mess so the issue today is if God is really God, why is all this mess going on? Why is God allowing it and why do we have to cope with it?

 

It is the problem of history.  And as always, in order to find the answer to our problem, we must go to God’s Word.  That is true with science and it’s also true of history.  In fact, the Bible has a very profound philosophy of history and a very distinctive scientific world view.

 

If you carefully study the Word of God, you will find that everything that occurs in history has a place in God’s divine plan. And that is the focus of the book of Habakkuk.

 

The prophet deals with the problem of history in a fascinating way. He doesn’t address it academically.  He doesn’t deal with it theoretically.  He doesn’t consider it philosophically.  Instead he deals with it personally.

 

He says, in essence, “God, I can’t figure out why things are happening to me as they are if You are Who You are.”  He is personally perplexed by what he’s dealing with and we get to go along for the ride as he deals with his own life experiences and what he is witnessing in the world and among God’s people.

 

Now what was

 

 

Well the situation in Habakkuk’s day was that Israel was back-slidden, which is nothing new for Israel.

Israel had turned from God and was completely given over to idolatry. And so as he begins, we hear his heart cry in

 

verses 2-4

 

What a horrible picture of Israel. And the prayer that Habakkuk is praying is...God, they’re in a mess. I’ve been asking You and asking You and crying out for You to change it. Why don’t You do something about it? How long shall I cry and You will not hear?

 

What a situation. Sin, immorality and corruption were rampant. Those in government were slack and uninvolved.  And those who applied the law applied it dishonestly and justice was nowhere to be found. And Habakkuk, a man of God, has had his heart just bleeding before God as to why God allows this. Such were the conditions of Israel. There was lawlessness, there was sin, immorality and so forth.

 

The same thing is true today. As we look about our world we see the same characteristics exactly as in Habakkuk’s day.

 

In verse 2 he cries, “Violence!.” Would you say that is a characteristic of our day when we have Americans being beheaded by terrorists in the Middle East?

 

Verse 3 talks about iniquity, plundering, violence, strife and contention.  We witnessed all of that a few days ago in our neighboring state of Missouri as Ferguson dealt with the racial distress following the killing of a young man by a police officer.

Verse 4 could well be written by many in our country today as they seek justice and take the law into their own hands.

 

On the one hand, law and authority are not dealing fairly and honestly and as a result it’s difficult to find justice in this world, just as it was in the day of Habakkuk.

 

And so he’s perplexed by the situation and he cries out to God and says, “God, if You’re who You are, why are You letting it happen?” We stand today in the twenty-first century and we can look at God with almost the same quizzical expression in our brain and say, “God, why is it like it is? Why is it that we constantly cry out about these things and nothing ever happens? They only get worse.”

 

So the situation wasn’t very good.  But if you think the situation was bad, wait till you hear

 

 

In verses 5 to 11, Habakkuk gets probably the most unusual answer to prayer that anybody ever got. If you think God’s inactivity was perplexing, just notice his activity.

 

As much as Habakkuk was confused by what God was not doing, it must have been compared to what’s going on in his brain after he heas what God is going to do.

 

verse 5

 

So far, so good.  God is up to something and it’s going to be amazing!

Then in verse 6, He tells us Habakkuk what He’s going to do that will astound the nations.

 

Verses 6-11

 

Did you ever hear someone say, “Be careful what you pray for because you just might get it”?  Do you think Habakkuk is wishing prayer had a rewind button about now?

 

Habakkuk is saying, “God, why don’t You do something?”

 

So God says, “Alright, I’ll go to work.  But Habakkuk, you think it’s bad now, you haven’t seen anything yet.”

 

Now that’s an unusual answer. He’s been crying out, “O God, deliver us, deliver us, deliver us, deliver us.” And God says, “Not only will I not deliver you, it’s going to get worse than it is now.” God intends to raise up an utterly pagan godless people to come in and destroy Israel.

 

So Habakkuk has, not only the practical problems the nation is dealing with, he also now has theological problems.  First, why is God inactive? Why does God not hear his cry? Secondly, when He does, why does He answer that way?

 

And through these eleven verses, we learn three great truths about the way God acts. First of all,

 

 

 

Sometimes, it is

 

He just doesn’t do anything when He could do something.  It is strange how that God is silent in very serious circumstances. Why did God let Israel get this far gone? Why didn’t God smash those idols right when they were put up? Why did God allow false prophets? Why didn’t He strike them down on the spot? Why did God allow Israel to deteriorate at all? Why didn’t God maintain the purity of Israel?”

 

We can ask ourselves the same questions in reference to the church. Why has God let liberalism come into the church? Why has He allowed it? Why doesn’t He strike those false teachers? Why doesn’t He strike them dead on the spot when they utter their blasphemy and their denial of the faith? Why does God allow so many wrong things to be done?

 

And does God allow people under the name of Jesus Christ to commit the atrocities that have been committed? So many churches in our world that name the name of Jesus Christ and under the name of Jesus Christ are doing things unbelievable. Why does God allow it? If God is really God, why doesn’t He keep the church pure? Why does He let this happen?

 

And not only that, why hasn’t God answered yes to all of my faithful prayers? How long have we been praying for a revival in America? How long have we been praying for a revival all over the world? Why hasn’t God answered yes? Why no revival?

 

 

 

 

We pray for decades and God doesn’t hear, why? Why doesn’t God bring America to its knees? Why doesn’t God take these people who have turned against Him and turn them toward Him?

 

And you’ve probably asked in your own heart on an individual level, why does God allow so-and-so to be ill? Why doesn’t God heal? Or you’ve asked, why doesn’t God save that person that I’ve prayed for month after month after month after month, why?

 

Why is God silent in the midst of the atrocities committed under His name in the church? Why do they allow it in Israel? Why does He allow the world to go like it’s going if He’s really God?

 

And very often, we have no answers.  Those are those awkward times when the preacher doesn’t know what to say.  Too many times I’ve stood there with a grieving family and I didn’t know what to say.  I didn’t have anything to say.  There are no answers. And God didn’t come through like we had hoped. 

 

See, God’s ways are mysterious.  His inaction is mysterious.

 

Sometimes it’s not what He doesn’t do but it is

 

 

God sometimes gives very unexpected answers to our prayers. Now this really shook Habakkuk. For a long time God didn’t seem to answer. And then all of a sudden God answered and it was even more mysterious than before He answered.

 

Now the reason it was unexpected is because Habakkuk thought he knew what Israel needed. They needed to experience revival and turn back to God and they just need a little “encouragement” to get the ball rolling.

 

That’s exactly what they need. They just need a good whipping, God. They need to be smashed down and punished a little bit and then they need a great revival, God, and they’ll turn to You and everything will be great.

 

But, you see, God had other plans for Israel. John Newton once said he felt that he wanted something better in his spiritual life, so he cried out to God for a deeper knowledge of God and a deeper understanding of his own spiritual life and he besought God that he might have a new dimension in his Christian experience.

 

Now he expected some wonderful vision of God or some dramatic blessing from heaven. But instead he had an experience in which for months, God seemed a million miles.  It seemed as if God had abandoned him to Satan himself. He was tempted and tried beyond his comprehension.  It was the exact opposite of what he prayed for.

 

Only later did he realize God had allowed him to go into the depths of suffering to teach him to depend entirely on Him. And then when Newton had learned his lesson, he brought him out and blessed him.

 

In the Bible there’s a basic principle that suffering always precedes glory. We understand that from a physical standpoint with athletics.

The boys have been going to football practice and conditioning for several weeks now.  Nobody likes that part of the game.  No one enjoys the running and suffering that goes into getting ready for the season.  But this week, the season starts and the glory of being under the lights on Friday makes all the suffering of Monday through Thursday worth it.

 

Suffering always precedes glory. No man ever attained anything in life but what he suffered through some sacrificial hours to take himself to that glory. But somehow we believe our spiritual life ought to be different.  No one ever wants to suffer.

 

Our prayer meetings are filled with requests to eliminate the suffering.  If we suffer, God must have forsaken us.  How many of us have ever asked God to allow us to suffer so we might be more like Christ? Have you ever gotten down on your knees and said, “God, make me suffer. God, literally smash me down. God, crush me.” Have you ever prayed that? I never have, I’m afraid to.

 

Instead we pray, “O Lord, protect me, Lord, keep me safe as I go over here. Lord, bless our family. Lord, watch over us. Lord, take care of us. Lord, do this, do that. You know, keep the little wall around us. Lord, don’t let anything happen to us.” That’s the way we pray, isn’t it?

 

But there’s a basic biblical principle that says suffering always precedes glory. But we don’t want the suffering; all we want is the glory.

 

Some day Israel is going to be glorified, did you know that? Some day they’re going to reign with Christ who is their Messiah.

They’re going to have the glory but not without the suffering. And some day the church is going to be glorified in the day that we meet Jesus Christ in our glorified bodies.  But not before we go through some suffering in this world.

 

We all like to pray then tell God how to answer our prayer.  But we forget the fact that God sometimes makes things an awful lot worse before they get any better. Just remember that God may do the opposite of what you expect.  His answer may look like the backside of a homemade rug from your perspective.  But just remember, there is another side to it!

 

What we’re seeing today is the backside. What we’re seeing today in the world is the suffering that the world is going through to get ready for the glory that’s going to be there. Someday this world is going to be in the hands of Jesus Christ and the lion is going to lie down with the lamb and the little child is going to play in a snake pit and never be bitten. And do you know that the nations are going to go in and out and see Jesus Christ reigning on the throne of David and Israel is going to be glorified and the church is going to be glorified and Christ is going to be glorified.

 

But not before suffering.  After all, why should I deserve anything that Christ never had? It was needful for Christ to suffer before He could be glorified. And so it is for us. I don’t mean to be discouraging, but things are going to keep getting worse.  That is the promise of Scripture.

 

Think about our world today.  Ebola virus is killing Christian missionaries.  Earthquakes in California.  Beheadings in the Middle East.

Racial strife in the Heartland of America.  Crime is running rampant.  Famines and wars and saber clashing.  Peace summits dealing with Russion-Ukrainian tensions.  Those are mjsut this weeks headlines!

 

Paul says that the spirit of lawlessness is going to run wild in the end times. We read that in the end times there’s going to be a rise of cults, false religions called by Paul in his letter to Timothy doctrines of devils. We read that in the last days there are going to be apostates who go around denying the Lord that bought them, 2 Peter 2. Things are going to get worse and worse and worse, not better.

 

The world is readying herself for the end of the age and it’s going to get worse and worse before it gets any better.

 

And so, sometimes, even though we think we know how God ought to answer, He doesn’t answer the way we think He should and in verse 6 He told Habakkuk, “I’m going to raise up the Chaldeans to judge Israel.” God’s ways are mysterious. Sometimes it’s what He doesn’t do and sometimes it’s what He does.

 

So God’s ways are mysterious. As a result of that, secondly,

 

 

It seems to me there are two different groups of people that misunderstand God’s ways.

 

First of all,

- careless religious people misunderstand God’s ways.

 

Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount about the judgment when many would stand before Him to brag about what they had done?  And His response is, “Depart from Me I never knew you.” There are going to be many people who were religious but very, very careless.

 

Notice verse 5

 

These religious Israelites didn’t believe the message that God gave them. They didn’t believe it. Israel never would believe. No matter what God did, they never believed the prophets.

 

In Matthew 21 Jesus told a parable about Himself and the Israelites.  It is the story of the man who had a vineyard and he brought servants in and people would come and kill the servants. And finally he said, “I’ll put my own son there, surely they won’t kill my son.” But that’s exactly what they did.

 

That is a graphic illustration of the fact that no matter who God sent to Israel, they never believed God. The prophets kept crying judgment, judgment, nobody ever believed them. And yet they considered  themselves to be very religious people.

 

There are people like that today. There are people in churches singing little hymns and listening to little spiritual thoughts dripping off the lips of their preachers who carelessly sit there thinking that religion is going to protect them and ignore again and again and again the Scriptures that talk about judgment...careless religious people.

But not only are God’s ways misunderstood by careless, religious people, but sad to say, they’re also misunderstood by

 

 

verse 11

 

Now that’s a difficult verse to understand but what it means is this: after the Chaldeans conquer Israel, they’re going to think they did it themselves. They’re going to think they did it by the power of their own god. But what they fail to realize is they were being used by God and instead they went around patting themselves on the back telling themselves how great they were for having done this.

 

But God was soon to demonstrate to them that it was not so because the God who had lifted them up was about to smash them down. Sad to say in the world in which we live today, people soon forget that what they do they do not do by their own power, but are permitted by God.

 

Great powers have come and gone and conquered and become drunk with their own success and God has cast them down, and still man never learns the significance of history.

 

The ways of God are mysterious to the careless, religious people and to the world. The world thinks it’s doing it on its own and in reality they’re nothing but the pawns of God. So the ways of God are mysterious and they are misunderstood, but thirdly and most importantly, though they be mysterious and though they be misunderstood,

 

 

God is moral. God can do no wrong. God exerts a divine superintending power over the history of His world. God has divine control of this world. In verse 6 it indicates that God is going to raise up the Chaldeans. God is the one in control. Every single nation on this earth is under the power of God.

 

How do you know that? Romans 13:1, “The powers that be are...what?...ordained of God.” God is the Lord of history. Listen, God was sovereign in creation. God is sovereign in the dispersion of man at the Tower of Babel. God is sovereign in the historical process.

 

And I’ll tell you, God’s just as sovereign in how it all ends as He was in how it all began. God is going to end history because He began it and He’s responsible for everything that happens. So there is a divine control over history.

 

And by the way, not only is there divine control, there is a divine plan in history. Things don’t happen by accident. They’re a part of God’s plan. It’s God who sees the end from the beginning.  It’s God who knows the times and the season. God knows exactly what He’s doing.

 

The clock of God is never off one split second. Every single thing happening in this world today is happening right on schedule because God is a divine timetable. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3 you have that beautiful passage about a time to love and a time to die and a time to weep and a time to work. And just as there are times and seasons in the lives of men, so divine history is on time.

There’s a divine plan, there’s a divine control, there’s a divine timetable. God is running history and He’s running it to the end that He sovereignly desires it to come to.

 

The key to the history of the world is one concept, get it and it will answer a lot of other questions.

 

The key to the history of the world is the Kingdom of God.  It is God’s redemptive history.  There are two major figures involved.  In the history of the Old Testament it was Israel.  In the NNew Testament it is the church.

 

In the Old Testament the Kingdom was promised. In the New Testament age it was promised again and then postponed. The Kingdom of God runs right through history. God’s desire was to call out a people holy, set apart unto His name. That’s His plan. The Kingdom of God is central in history.

 

The only thing that matters in this whole world and this whole universe is the Kingdom of God. The problems of today are to be understood only in the light of the Kingdom of God. The problems of yesterday are to be understood only in the Kingdom of God and so the problems of tomorrow.

 

What God permits in the church and what God permits in the world is related to His Kingdom. And it’s going to be established. And the principle is the same, before the glory there must always be the suffering.

 

God’s ways are mysterious.  God’s ways are misunderstood and God’s ways are moral.  So the question is, “Will I trust God no matter what?

That is the message of the book of Habakkuk and I pray before we go any farther you will make up your mind, no matter what, when I can’t understand what is going on, when it seems God is doing nothing or what He does is unexpected, I will trust Him.

 

It all begins with trusting him in salvation. . .

 

Let’s pray.