WHERE IS GOD IN TROUBLED TIMES HABAKKUK HABAKKUK SERMON SCHEDULE Week 1: April 22 Habakkuk 1:1-4 Week 2: April 29 Habakkuk 1:5-11 Week 3: May 6 Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 Week 4: May 13 Habakkuk 2:2-5 Week 5: May 20 Habakkuk 2:6-20 Week 6: May 27 Habakkuk 3:1-16 Week 7: June 3 Habakkuk 3:17-19
INTRO TO HABAKKUK We don t know much about Habakkuk. Most likely he prophesied before the Babylonian invasion to the southern kingdom of Judah. The Assyrian Empire (previously ruling over and heckling Israel) will be imminently overruled by the Babylonians. Two of the most wicked superpowers in history are clashing for dominance and, by implication, dominion over the nation of Judah. It s relevance and helpfulness cannot be understated. Habakkuk teaches us how to live during troubled times. He teaches us what it means to live by faith when God seems absent from a world of moral corruption, institutional waywardness, and political and personal strife. We learn how God can be all powerful, all knowing, and all good while there is suffering and evil. We learn how the grace in the gospel liberates us from being traditional legalists who believe we can t question God, as well as cultural liberalists who believe we should run from God. OVERALL THEME God is sovereign over all things, including suffering and injustice. We must wait on God in times of suffering and injustice. OTHER THEMES God is sovereign, good, and just even though we do not understand his ways. All injustice will eventually be punished by God in the end. God is sovereign over sin and even uses it sinlessly in his governance of history. The righteous ones are those whom continue to trust in God, even in difficult times. UNIQUENESS OF BOOK The prophet never addresses the people of Judah mainly converses with God. The first two chapters are Habakkuk s prayers and God s response. Judah is caught in a downward spiral of moral disintegration. Habakkuk is confused as to how God could use an even more wicked nation than Judah to then judge them. In the end, God as the sovereign One is free and right to judge and will ultimately execute justice toward both nations. Habakkuk submits to the authority and supremacy of God s wisdom and glory. This book applies to those who have remained faithful, and yet the LORD continues to run the universe contrary to what they think should be. HOW TO USE THE GUIDE 1. Read and prayer and text for that week before Sunday. 2. Answer all of the questions as best you can and reference the text when necessary. 3. Bring in the guide to take notes on for the sermon. 4. Answer the questions and discuss the questions in community with other people.
WEEK ONE HABAKKUK 1:1-4 PRAYER I thank you Father for your most precious word given to me by the inspiration of the Spirit of God. Holy Spirit, enable my heart to comprehend and see wonderful things in the word of God that I might trust and love Jesus more and more. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 1:1-4) 1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. (Personal notes below) 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 Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. Habakkuk says in verse 2, O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? What seems to be the deepest cause for his pleas for help: the silence of God ( you will not hear ) or how long it s taking for God to answer ( how long shall I cry )? Which of the two would you say causes the most struggle in prayer? 2. What conclusions can you make from the fact that a prophet of all people is struggling and crying out to God in prayer? How might this serve as a source of encouragement and hope for all Christians? 3. What two phrases are repeated in the question at the beginning of verse 3? What does this tell you about the prophet s deepest confusion and inquiry towards God? 4. The prophet says in verse 4, So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. Why does he say that God s law is like a man whose spinal cord is cut? 5. The prophet would not be asking God why he is letting things happen if God wasn t able to stop it. How does the prophet s question and the rest of verses 3-4 illustrate one of the toughest issues in understanding God and his ways? PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS 1. If a prophet of God is free to express his struggles and pain to God, then so should you be free to express the same in your prayers. 2. If a prophet is asking God why He is sitting by while evil and injustice grows, it assumes God is in fact absolutely sovereign over evil and injustice. 3. Just because you are faithful to God, does not mean your life will be free of struggle, pain, and feeling overwhelmed by the wicked who surround the righteous. (Habakkuk 1:4b)
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 1:1-4 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK TWO HABAKKUK 1:5-11 PRAYER O Holy Father, I give you praise for all the ways you have been so gracious to me. There is an abundance of spiritual gold and sweet honey for the soul down in your word. Spirit of God, grant that I might find those rich sources of strength and sustenance in the Scriptures this day. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 1:5-11) 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. 6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own. 7 They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. 9 They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. 10 At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. 11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god! (Personal notes below) Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. Verses 5-11 are God s response to Habakkuk s complaint in verse 1-4. The kingdom of Judah is overcome by sin and rebellion against God, and Habakkuk wants to know why God is taking so long to do something about it. According to verses 5-6, what has God been up to the whole time? 2. Compare v. 2-3 in Habakkuk s prayer to God s response in v. 5b. What does this tell you about Habakkuk s perception of God s silence and no response? What are the implications of this for when it feels like God is silent to our prayers? 3. God says in verse 5, I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. What is this unbelievable thing that God is doing according to verse 6? Even God says it is unbelievable! Why would this seem un-believable to Habakkuk (and us believers today)? 4. Verses 7-11 are a graphic description of the wickedness of the Chaldeans. According to verses 5-6, who is ultimately the one behind the Chaldeans who are coming to destroy Jerusalem and judge the kingdom of Judah? 5. Read the following verses and right down what they teach about God? Amos 3:6 Isaiah 45:7 6. Another evil power whom God raised up was Pharaoh. According to Exodus 9:16, what is God s ultimate purpose behind this, as well as the Chaldeans? 7. How do Acts 2:24 and Acts 4:27-8 illustrate God s power to use evil for good? IMPLICATIONS 1. God is always at work, even when it seems like he is silent. 2. God does things that his own people find hard to believe. 3. God is totally sovereign over evil yet uses it for his ultimate glory and our good.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 1:5-11 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK THREE HABAKKUK 1:12-2:1 PRAYER Father, you alone are worthy of my highest and most vigorous worship and adoration. Spirit of God, grant that I might not be distracted from the preciousness of Jesus Christ found in the truth of your word. Give me an eager and hungry heart for your truth. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 1:12-2:1) 12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. 13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 14 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 15 He brings all of them up with a hook; he drags them out with his net; he gathers them in his dragnet; so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet; for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. 17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? 2:1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. (Personal notes below) Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. The prophet asks God three questions. Identify them and write the questions in your own words. a. b. c. 2. The prophet alludes to the following 5 characteristics of God in this passage: Eternal, Holy, Creator, Just, and Sovereign. Can you find them in the passage? a. Eternal: b. Holy: c. Creator: d. Just: e. Sovereign: 3. In light of verses 14-17, how do each of the above characteristics of God create such a struggle in the heart of the prophet? 4. Verse 13 is the main question of the book of Habakkuk. How does God essentially answer this question in the gospel? See 1 Peter 2:19-25 and 1 Peter 3:18 for help. 5. How does Habakkuk end is prayer (2:1)? In what way does Habakkuk show boldness and humility before God about the issue of God s control over evil? How does he model for you the godly way in which we approach God when we are struggling to understand his purposes? IMPLICATIONS 1. God is perfectly holy yet is able (mysteriously) to use evil for his purposes. 2. God personally addressed the mystery of evil in his own Son being subjected to the abuse and mistreatment of a wicked empire like the Chaldeans. 3. When you approach God with your theological struggles, you must do so with humility, expecting that he alone will provide the answer from his word.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK FOUR HABAKKUK 2:2-5 PRAYER My good God, Father and Savior, grant me aid by your Spirit to now read with a focused mind and willing heart. Incline my heart to the value and worth of your word that I might worship the Son of God with affections worthy of his glory. Bless me abundantly through your word this day. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 2:2-5) 2 And the Lord answered me: (Personal notes below) Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. 3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. 4 Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. 5 Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as Sheol; like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples. Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. In verse 2, the LORD tells the prophet to write the vision plainly, so he may run who reads it. In other words, the prophet must make God s message plain so the person who delivers the message can preach it clearly for all who need it. What can we learn from this regarding the importance of the clarity of biblical teaching and the building up of the people of God? 2. Compare what God says in verse 3 with chapter 1:2-4. How do we reconcile our perspective, which perceives God as delaying, with God s perspective, which says, it will not delay? What do you think it is about waiting on the Lord that would be good for our own growth in Christ? 3. Verses 4-5 are the vision that was written down on the tablets and delivered to the people from God. In light of the immanent judgment of God upon the Jewish people, how would verse 4-5 serve as good news to the people? 4. Habakkuk 2:4b is quoted multiple times in the New Testament. Look them up and identify the way the New Testament authors interpret it. a. ROMANS 1:17 b. GALATIANS 3:11 c. HEBREWS 10:38 5. God is referring to the wickedness of the Chaldeans in verses 4a and 5. In what way would this serve as a consolation to the Jews? 6. How are verses 4-5 similar to Jesus teaching in Matthew 16:24-26? How does this encourage our hearts to take heed to Habakkuk s message in 2:4? IMPLICATIONS 1. God s delays are not denials. 2. Despite chaotic circumstances, the LORD delivers us through faith in him. 3. The more you get in this life is no guarantee of what you get in the next life.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 2:2-5 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK FIVE HABAKKUK 2:6-20 PRAYER Glorious Father, thank you for your word. Give me the grace needed to engage wholeheartedly with your Scriptures. Holy Spirit, I ask that you not allow my heart and mind to be distracted from your most precious word. Through the Scriptures alone can my heart enjoy Christ to the fullest. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 2:6-20) 6 Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own for how long? and loads himself with pledges! 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoil for them. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 9 Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm! 10 You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples; you have forfeited your life. 11 For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. 12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity! 13 Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire, and nations weary themselves for nothing? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. 15 Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink you pour out your wrath and make them drunk, in order to gaze at their nakedness! 16 You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision! The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter shame will come upon your glory! 17 The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them, for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. 18 What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols! 19 Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake; to a silent stone, Arise! Can this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in it. 20 But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him. Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. The theme of this section of Habakkuk is that God will one day return the evil up the heads of the wicked; namely, upon the heads of the Chaldeans. Can you find the three ways in which this theme is uniquely expressed in the text? 2. There are two phrases (towards the beginning and end) that are repeated wordfor-word. Find them and write it down. 3. How does the phrase you just wrote down relate to verses 11-12? 4. Also, look up Genesis 4:8-11 and Genesis 9:5-6. What do both of these verses have to say about the blood of man? How might this serve as a source of encouragement to Habakkuk, the Jewish people then, and us today? 5. The greatest hope in this entire passage is found in verses 13-14. The first word in verse 14 is For (which tells you that verse 14 is the reason for verse 13). In what way does verse 14 serve as a reason for verse 13? In other words, why would God s purpose to have his glory cover the whole earth make it pointless for other nations strive, labor, and reach for significance and glory? 6. Verses 18-20 conclude the section talking about the idolatrous roots of the Chaldeans destructive behavior. In what way does Habakkuk remind us so clearly of the futility of worshipping something else besides God? In verse 20, how is God portrayed as utterly unique and different from other gods? IMPLICATIONS 1. God will soon bring about poetic justice upon all the wicked of the earth. 2. God s ultimate purpose is for his glory to be known and admired in every square inch of the planet, so we must join him in that pursuit. 3. God is absolutely and exclusively unique in that he is creator, not created, thus idolatry is an empty pursuit and all true worship and meaning is found in him.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 2:6-20 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK SIX HABAKKUK 3:1-16 PRAYER O Father, you are majestic in holiness and robed in splendor! May your Spirit help me as I seek your presence through your word. Without your help I will not be able to see nor enjoy you through your perfect and pure word. By your word alone do I find life and joy abundant now and forevermore. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 3:1-16) A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. 3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. 5 Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels. 6 He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. 8 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? 9 You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah You split the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high. 11 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. 12 You marched through the earth in fury; 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 house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah 14 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. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. 16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. According to verse 1, the entire passage (v. 2-16) is a prayer of worship from Habakkuk. The term Shigionoth at the end of verse 1 is believed to be a musical term for a worship setting. Considering the context and them of the whole book, why might this seem to be a strange response from Habakkuk? 2. Verses 2-3 are the beginning of Habakkuk s prayer. He informs God that he has heard the report and work of the Lord, then he pleads that God would do it again in the near future ( in the midst of the years ) against the Chaldeans. Finally, he adds the phrase in wrath remember mercy ; that is, as God is executing his wrath against the Chaldeans, he pleads with God to show mercy toward his people. In what way does this phrase portray the heart of a Christian: awareness of God s wrath, yet pleading for mercy? 3. Verses 3-15 are Habakkuk s recounting of God s previous dealings with other nations on behalf of his people. Because of the worship setting of Habakkuk s prayer, he uses poetic and metaphorical language to describe historical acts of God s redemption. Compare Habakkuk s prayer (v. 3-15) with Moses prayer in Exodus 15:1-18. What similarities do you see? Habakkuk s prayer Moses prayer 4. Read the last sentence in verse 16 of Habakkuk s prayer. Habakkuk finally gets to the place where he can patiently wait on God to give justice to his enemies. In what way might recounting the gospel regularly in prayerful worship create in us a similar response to Habakkuk s? IMPLICATION 1. Prayerful worship is essential when life s afflictions submerge you. 2. Recounting God s redemption in Christ will instill patience in difficult times.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 3:1-16 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for:
WEEK SEVEN HABAKKUK 3:17-19 PRAYER Father, you have been faithful and good through this series on Habakkuk. I now ask that your Spirit implant the precious truths into my heart in order to yield abundant spiritual fruit for the glory of Jesus Christ. Sustain me through the trials and afflictions that may come with the joy of Christ alone. In Jesus name, Amen. READING THE TEXT Be desperate and dependent upon the Spirit of God. Read slow! Notice every word that Habakkuk uses. Circle, underline, and markup anything that stands out. (Habakkuk 3:17-19) (Personal Notes Here) 17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Read the passage carefully and write down what seems to be happening overall.
QUESTIONS 1. Habakkuk is closing out his prayer of worship. There are two sections in this passage: the first section (v. 17) has to do with joys that can be taken away. How do we know they are circumstantial joys? 2. What is the significance of the word Though at the beginning of verse 17? How might our personal prayers change if we started using the word though at the beginning of sentences? 3. Considering the context of what is happening at the time of this prayer, what is the cause of the things lost in v. 17? How does this intensify the suffering? 4. The second section of the prayer (v. 18-19) has to do with the immutable joy that is found in God alone. What is the significance of the word in when Habakkuk says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation? 5. What is the relationship between verse 18 and verse 19? In what way does verse 19 support or help inform verse 18? See if you can explain it. 6. Habakkuk gives an interesting illustration of the way in which joy in God affects him: the feet of a deer. In what way does the third phrase in verse 19 help explain what he means by the feet of a deer? 7. How does the phrase he makes me tread on high places relate to the circumstantial joys taken away in verse 17? IMPLICATIONS 1. Joy-robbing circumstances are no match for the joy found in Christ alone. 2. Joy found in God alone lifts you above circumstances to sustain you in difficulty.
SERMON NOTES TEXT: Habakkuk 3:17-19 Questions: Memorable quotes: Verses or things to look into: People or things to pray for: