Something Doesn't Look Right
Habakkuk: Tough Questions, Honest Answers • Sermon • Submitted
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· 5 viewsOur doubts concerning God's goodness and sovereignty when we see men's godlessness and our suffering is a result of our own shortsightedness.
Notes
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1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Something doesn’t look right
My car breaking down
This is why we are so amused by magicians
Or why we are bothered when pictures are hanging crooked on the wall
Habakkuk is all about seeing things accurately
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Oracle - that is to say his message…
Saw..... so important
Saw..... so important
Because in this this book God is going to reveal something to Habakkuk…
In fact we see sight is an important theme for Habakkuk.
Because from the start of the book Hab sees something…
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
He sees sin… and he is bothered by it…
more about this verse in a bit…
But before we get too far into tonights text I want to point out what makes Habakkuk unique to the rest of the Prophets…
This is what makes Habakkuk unique to the rest of the Prophets…
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
This is what makes Habakkuk unique to the rest of the Prophets…
you see… the majority of the prophetic writings are about the Prophets speaking to the people of God based on a vision or word that they receive from God
or they are speaking to the nations
or to a specific person…
Daniel speaks to Neb
Jonah called to speak to Nineveh
We talked about this about a month ago… the prophet is God’s mouthpiece that speaks the words of God
Think of Moses and Pharoah
All the works that Moses did were that of a messenger for God
And while Habakkuk will bring a message to the people,
the primary literary feature of Habakkuk isn’t a him speaking the word of the God to the people of God
or to any people at all
Rather Habakkuk is a conversation between him and God
and in the conversation… God will reveal visions to Habakkuk
and the vision that Hab receive can be summarized in this verse
In fact the whole book is well summarized by this one verse…
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
In fact this passage is a key to salvation and is one of the most important Scriptures in the whole Bible
Paul picked up on it
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.”
38 but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”
39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
Heb 10:
And Paul’s use of it in Romans…
would be picked up by Martin Luther in the 1500s
and it changed everything for Luther
and for the Church as it sparked the reformation
This is going to be our memory verse during this series and I want us all to work on it tonight in our small groups....
4 “Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
This is important…
Because while God is revealing something to Habakkuk through a vision that he sees:
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
The greater theme of the book is not based on what we see with our eyes…
but that which we believe based on what God says…
that is what faith is… taking God at his word
1 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
Heb 11:1
Faith is not seeing with our eyes, rather it is seeing with our ears.
17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he experienced from God
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he experienced from God
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he experienced from God
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he experienced from God
Now, if you lack faith… or if your is week, there is an encouragement that you can receive from Habakkuk as he too was a man who experienced doubts and questions concerning the character of God
Hear the questions asked in v 2-4
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he saw from God.
Habakkuk’s doubts and questions arose when what he knew about God did not line up with what he saw from God.
First of all we need to see this… who is it that Habakkuk’s complaint chiefly against?
Is it against the religious leaders?
Is it against the nations?
The crooked kings of his day?
It it about those who sin against him?
all these people will show up in Habakkuk
BUT THEY ARE NOT WHO HIS COMPLAINT IS AGAINST
at least not primarily…
But rather his complaint is against God himself
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
Who is God… what is his nature revealed in Scripture?
And I want you to see this detail:
Hab doesn’t doubt the existence of God
as so many do today
But his doubt is based on the character of God
that is his justice against sinners
and his care for the righteous
We see this in v 4
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
and often times doubt in the character God leads to people’s doubt in the existence of God.
Epicurus a Greek philosopher was famous for his rational that could be summarized in this way
If the Christian God (who is all knowing, all powerful, and perfect in his goodness and kindness towards his people) exists, then evil shouldn’t exist. The rationale here is that if God were all-knowing, he’d know about all evil (as well as how to stop it); if he were all-powerful, he could stop evil; and if he were all-loving he would desire to stop evil. However, Epicurus observed, evil persists. Therefore, there either is no God or it’s not the God the Christians claim.
And this is the claim that God makes in Scripture…
that he is all knowing… that he is all powerful… and that he is all loving
We have a word for this… that he is sovereign
that he is a supreme ruler
Who is God… what is his nature revealed in Scripture?
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
We see both the loving nature of God and the justice of God
and Habakkuk knows this about God based on what he hears…
but this isn’t what he sees
But what is it that Habakkuk is seeing
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Habakkuk cry is incredibly relevant to us today
even though society has changed significantly since Habakkuk wrote this book
Human nature hasn’t changed at all
We can read the newspaper or watch the news and see this
We can look on the streets and see it correct?
do you lock your doors at night?
or lock your car when you go into the store?
why?
And if it wasn’t obvious from just what we see on the news and on the streets… I’m sure most of us, if not every single one of us experience injustice to some degree or another
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Hab
This is the image of a crooked judicial system
“the law is paralyzed”
remember the law… that is the statutes and commands of God
The law governed the people of God
to protect the poor
the widow the orphan the traveler through the land
To protect the righteous
those who obey God’s law
Protect them from the wicked
Keep those who would seek to murder in check
those who wish to steal would be punished
Even those who would be unfaithful in marriage would be put to death
The law was intended to govern and protect the people of God
The nations of Israel and Judah
but the law is being personified
v 4
So the law is paralyzed…
violence is going on unchecked
I look around and see sin and iniquity…
that is wicked and evil
such as murder, theft, anarchy, idolatry
And Habakkuk is bothered by this…
Hab is the person described in the sermon on the mount who
“hungers and thirsts for righteousness”
But what he sees is only wickedness
and he describes this by saying…
The law is paralyzed…
think of it like a cop with a fat tire
Or the military soldier that is intended to fight an enemy, but he is in a wheelchair
and because the law is paralyzed
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
This is described by Paul
29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
The law is paralyzed…
and it is ineffective
And the problem that Habakkuk has is that it is God who is supposed to do something about this wickedness
This is why Hab brings his complaint against the Lord
And he is accusing him of not hearing
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
You will not hear…
like dialing 911… but them not picking up the phone
Or crying to your parents when your sibling is picking on you and they are just ignoring you....
and yet Hab knows from God’s word that he hears the cries of his people
God heard the cries of his people when they were afflicted by Egypt in the book of Exodus…
6 The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
but he doesn’t hear the righteous now....
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
But what is it that Habakkuk is seeing
Such as law enforcement seeing a person being robbed… but not coming to do anything about it
God literally rescued and saved the people of God in Exodus through many mighty works…
but here in Habakuk’s day, God is not saving
What is wrong with this…
Habakkuk knows God’s character that is revealed in Scripture, But what Hab sees is not lining up with what he knows
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
If you have ever experienced doubt… or had questions about the character of God… know you are in good company with the biblical authors…
V 2 he is troubled and God is is not helping
He watches violence going on around him
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
He is seeing the sins of his fellow Jews happening right in front of him
If you have ever experienced doubt… or had questions about the character of God… know you are in good company with the biblical authors…
Job…
7 Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
I call for help, but there is no justice.
David and many of the psalmists
1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
4 No one enters suit justly;
no one goes to law honestly;
they rely on empty pleas, they speak lies,
they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.
Even
And they all have something in common…
Habakkuk dealt with his doubts and questions through prayer.
Habakkuk dealt with his doubts and questions through prayer.
he didn’t just talk about his struggles
he did simply live in doubt
But he brought them all to God
Listen:
Habakkuk didn’t want to hear from human philosophy
Earlier we talked about Epicurus…
the greek philosopher
But he himself only rationalized that God either didn’t exist, or he didn’t exist as he has revealed himself in Scripture
Hab doesn’t depend on human philosophy
or the wisdom of man
Rather Habakkuk wanted to hear from God himself
And this might seem simple and rather cliché
But it’s exactly what Hab does
Cliché
it’s exactly what we see happening all over in the Psalms and even Job when he struggles
And it’s so often the very last thing we do when we experience doubt or questions because of the many burdens of life
Do you struggle with doubt… then pray
do you lack wisdom… then pray for wisdom
do you lack faith… then pray for faith
There is a reason even in the sermon on the mount we had the Lord’s prayer as our memory verse
Prayer is the secret weapon that we have as that we all know about, but it so often goes unused
And the reason we don’t use it is because it so often feels like God doesn’t hear our prayers
But this didn’t stop Habakkuk
Did you see it in
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
Hab is alluding to the fact that he has been praying for some period of time only feel like God is not hearing, and answering his prayer
but notice it did not stop him from praying again…
And this goes right back to the theme of the whole book of Habakkuk
We see not with our eyes but our ears…
or
the righteous shall live by his faith
and what’s spectacular about Habakkuk is we get a glimpse of what God reveals to him.
and in order for us to see what happens I want us to peek ahead into v 5
because God is going to respond to Hab’s prayer
First remember hab’s complaint in v 3
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
Listen to God’s response
5 “Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
Let me paraphrase what Hab says
paraphrase v 3
and in v 5 God replies
Paraphrase v 5
and says do care… and am working… and you Habakkuk don’t see what I am doing… and wouldn’t even believe it if I only told
Habakkuk’s doubt was a result of his shortsightedness.
Habakkuk’s doubt was a result of his shortsightedness.
we have an advantage of sight that Habakkuk does not have
Because Habakkuk lived on the other side of the cross
and we have a far greater glimpse of the work that God was doing
and a far greater glimpse than what Habakkuk would have ever recieved in his day.
Hab 1
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Hab cried out for help… and yet God did hear him… as he replied in v 5
But when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross he cried out with a loud voice
46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Hab cried out in his affliction for the Lord to save him, and we will see that God does in fact save him…
But when Jesus Christ hung on the cross…
He was mocked
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.”
39 And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads 40 and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” 41 So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, 42 “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. 43 He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” 44 And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.
Matt 27-
While it’s true, Hab who was righteous would see iniquity… in v 3
Jesus himself who knew no sin not only saw sin and iniquity
but scripture says he became sin so that we might become the righteousness of God…
And finally in
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
Jesus there on the cross was the truly righteous one who was surrounded by the wicked…
We have a vision that Habakkuk never saw in his day…
And it is a vision of Jesus Christ crucified
Truly unheard by God
Truly not saved by God
Truly looking at iniquity
and unjustly crucified and surrounded by the wicked…
This and all this he endured so that we could be saved by faith
so that our prayers can be heard
So to that end let us pray and ask that he would strengthen our faith not based on what we see with our eyes but rather what he have recieved and heard by his Word.
For the righteous shall live by faith