“Catching The Vision”
Habakkuk 1:1 – 2:4
Habakkuk was a prophet in Judah around 600 BC. Habakkuk was disturbed by what he saw
going on among God’s people. Habakkuk saw violence, cruelty, bitterness, and conflict all around him. He saw how mean
people could be. He saw that the people that had no respect for each other and little fear of God. Habakkuk loved God and
Habakkuk wanted to see God’s holiness vindicated.
Habakkuk was concerned and he wanted to know why God was allowing all this
to go on? Habakkuk wanted answers, but God seemed to be far away.
The book of Habakkuk is a dialogue
between God and Habakkuk. Habakkuk raises questions in his prayers about what was happening among God’s people as well
as in the world and God answers Habakkuk’s prayers.
When we analyze Habakkuk’s complaint we see that when Habakkuk looked at the
circumstances around him Habakkuk came to the wrong conclusions. Habakkuk wrongly concluded that:
God did not care about His people
God did not punish evil
God had separated Himself from the affairs of the world and
God was not doing His job
We also need to notice Habakkuk’s concerns for himself
Look at verse 2 – “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do
not listen”?
Remember Habakkuk was a prophet … He was God’s spokesman and Habakkuk did
not have an answer for his own questions much less the questions he was getting from the people. We see this in verse 1 of
chapter 2 “I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint”. Habakkuk
found himself in a position of trying to defend God’s actions.
But we also see Habakkuk’s sincerity and his allegiance to God in Habakkuk’s
complaint.
God honored Habakkuk sincerity and devotion by answering him. …But … When
God gives Habakkuk an answer … God’s answer distresses Habakkuk even more.
God told
Habakkuk that He is going to send the wicked nation of Babylon as an instrument of judgment. This was certainly not the answer
Habakkuk was looking for. In fact, Habakkuk finds it hard to believe that God would use a nation that was more sinful and
evil to punish God’s chosen people. It just did not make sense to Habakkuk that God would use the evil nation of Babylon
to establish God’s righteousness. Habakkuk did not know why would God do this?
Our God is a holy God and God condemns sin. In verses 6 -11 we find a description of
Babylon’s sin. God tells Habakkuk that He knows the Babylonians are evil. Then God reveals the faithless path that Judah
is on… the very same path that will lead Judah to Babylon’s condition The path of violence, injustice, internal
strife and conflict, and idolatry. Judah is headed down a slippery slope and God reveals that He is going to discipline Judah
in order to get them back where they belong, the place of turning to God and living by faith. God wants His people to be a
people that live by faith.
When we are not living by faith, God, in His mercy, will go to extraordinary measures
to get us back. God is always working for our best. The truth is, however, that when God works for our best, it is often a
very painful process.
In Chapter 2 we see a different attitude … Habakkuk says he will watch and wait
to see what the Lord will do. There is an interesting choice of words in verse 1 “I will stand at my watch and station
myself on the ramparts” because in effect God had just told Habakkuk that Habakkuk did not have a broad enough prospective
to understand what was going on. So Habakkuk says I will go up on a watch tower to get myself above and away from the distractions
and to get a better perspective. We need to note that Habakkuk is no longer talking; instead he is listening. He is no longer
arguing; instead Habakkuk is submitting. When Habakkuk climbed into his tower of faith God answered Habakkuk and reassures
him that the proud will perish and the righteous will live!
It is at this point that God responds to Habakkuk with instruction to write.
God told Habakkuk to
“Write down the revelation and to make it plain. God wanted His answer to Habakkuk
to be plainly and permanently recorded, because future generations like ours need it.
God’s last statement is interesting, literally He says, “Though it delay…it
will not delay.” This simply means this. Though the timing is not ours…it is not a delay in God’s
timing. What seems like a delay to us is not a delay to God. God is in control. These events are not random circumstances
– things are moving in accordance with God’s plans! In 2 Peter 3:9 we read: “The Lord is not slow in
keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come
to repentance.”
It is at this point that Habakkuk caught the vision ….the vision that God wants us to have.
Habakkuk learned that:
God is aware of what is going on and is aware of our circumstances
God is in control of His universe and God is at work in the affairs of the
world.
God’s timing is not our timing
God’s ways are not our ways and God does not always stop what we would
stop and God does not always bless what we would bless
God, in His mercy, will go to extraordinary measures to get us to turn back
to Him and to depend upon Him alone!
God expects His people to live by faith.
Habakkuk caught the vision that the issue is not what God is doing but the issue is
what we are doing. Habakkuk caught the vision to stop complaining, to stop questioning, and to get on board with God’s
program.
You see we all are a lot like Habakkuk. We complain, we question, and we try to justify
our righteousness by comparing ourselves with others. We are so busy worrying about other people’s actions or their
inactions that we lose sight of what God is doing around us and we forget that God is in control of all that happens or does
not happen.
At the end of our text we read that the righteous are to live by faith. We find this
same truth in Galatians 3:11, Romans 1:17, and Hebrews 11:1. So what does it mean to live by faith?
Living by faith means to believe God’s promises and for us to go about our daily
lives as if God’s promises had already been fulfilled. It means to live our daily lives knowing that God will fulfill
the vision that God will bring His Kingdom on earth. We pray for this each time we pray the Lord’s Prayer. “Thy
kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”. As Christian we are all called to live our lives in
accordance with the character of Christ’s coming kingdom i.e., a kingdom of love, forgiveness, righteousness, obedience,
service, and worship.
Our task is to step back and to share the vision of what God has done, what God is
doing and what God will do in the future. We are to live by faith knowing God will accomplish His plan. Our task is to proclaim
the Good News of Jesus Christ; our task is to be a visible demonstration of what God intends for all mankind; our task is
to share what God is doing in our lives.
God’s timing is not our timing; God’s ways are not our ways. We are to
believe God and to trust God. We are to live by faith not by sight.
God is not required to explain His actions If He were, that would mean we are
sovereign, not God. Until we can trust God beyond our ability to figure things out, we have not accepted the Sovereignty of
God. The fact that you and I cannot see God working in our world does not mean that He is not!
The Book of Habakkuk has two great themes; waiting and faith.
This book is just as applicable for us today as it was in 600 BC. Think about this
… God used evil Babylon to punish Judah and Babylon is located in modern day Iraq.
We may disobey God, we may try to shut God out of our lives, we may live with un-confessed
sin in our lives; we may ignore His purposes; and / or we may not understand what God is doing or not doing, But the fact
remains that God is alive, God is aware of what is going on and God is very much in charge of His universe and we are accountable
to God.
When we are searching for answers to life we are not to check out our horoscope for
answers. We are not to depend on a good luck charms or consult a psychics for answers. We are to climb into our tower of faith
and to pray and then watch and wait for God’s answer. We are to trust in the LORD with all our heart and lean not on
our own understanding. …
I want to end this message with the way God ends His message to Habakkuk in verse 20
of chapter 2 “But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him.”
Lord God Almighty reigns. We are accountable to God and we are to worship Him, even
when we do not understand Him.
