WAITING FOR GOD The Book of Habakkuk Dr. Jon McNeff, Senior Pastor May 6, 2018 Note: The following are the pastor s notes used in preaching this message. This is not a complete, word-for-word transcription of what was preached. These notes serve as a companion to the complete message, which is available by listening to the audio version. Bible quotes are primarily from NASB and ESV, respectively. Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett Vladimir and Estragon wait for someone named Godot who never comes in 1990 the British Royal National Theater named it the most significant English language play of the 20th century thinly veiled slap at Christians sitting around waiting for God they experience boredom, despair, questioning, hunger, slavery boy arrives surely he will come tomorrow mocking God but Isaiah 40:31 Yet those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary. The message of Habakkuk Habakkuk s references to rampant violence and wickedness indicates he wrote after good king Josiah was killed in 609 B.C. Josiah was eight when he was crowned king in 639 B.C. Began religious reforms eight years later when he was 16 in his 18 th year (622 B.C.) he began repairs on the temple which had fallen into ruin the priest Hilkiah discovered the Book of the Law in the temple Josiah implemented many spiritual reforms and restored Temple worship (2 Chronicles 34:3-7) abolished many of the idolatrous practices of his father Amon (2 Kings 21:20-22) and grandfather Manasseh (2 Kings 21:11-13) tore down Asherim abolished pagan worship 2 Chronicles 35:20-34 indicates Egyptian King Necho traveled through Judah to assist Assyria against Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar Necho didn t want to fight Judah but Josiah thought this alliance would be harmful to Judah confronted Necho at Megiddo wounded Necho the fleeing Assyrian king he was opposed by King Josiah at Megiddo Josiah was wounded at Megiddo by an arrow taken to Jerusalem where he died in 609 B.C. Josiah s death left the throne to a succession of three sons and a grandson upon his death the nation quickly reverted to her evil ways when Josiah s reforms were overturned by his son Jehoiakim Jeremiah 22:13-19 indicates these were so bad that Jeremiah said, He will be buried with a donkey s burial, dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 22:19 Habakkuk lived through the transition from Josiah to Jehoiakim saw the reversal of all Josiah had done wrote right before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Nineveh in 612 B.C. Caused Assyrian nobility to flee to Haran Nebuchadnezzar pursued them there and defeated them in 609 B.C. Same year Josiah was killed Assyrian nobles then fled to Carchemish where Nebuchadnezzar defeated them in 605 B.C. This encouraged his three successive campaigns against Jerusalem that began in 605 B.C. and ended with his destruction of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Habakkuk saw all of this I. QUESTIONS A. How long? Habakkuk 1:2 Habakkuk 1:2 How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, Violence! Yet You do not save. The question of God delaying punishment and justice is a constant dilemma for man: Psalm 6:3 And my soul is greatly dismayed; but You, O Lord how long? Psalm 10:1 Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? Psalm 35:17 Lord, how long will You look on? Rescue my soul from their ravages, my only life from the lions. Psalm 74:10-11 How long, O God, will the adversary revile, and the enemy spurn Your name forever? Why do You withdraw Your hand, even Your right hand? From within Your bosom, destroy them! Psalm 13:1-4 How long, O Lord? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the 1
sleep of death, and my enemy will say, I have overcome him, and my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken. Even Jesus reflected this on the cross Matthew 27:46 My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? This could be the cry of victims of guerrilla thugs, a godless regime, a victim of crime, an abused wife, or a victim of cancer B. Why? Habakkuk 1:3-4 Habakkuk sees evil all around Habakkuk 1:2b-4 I cry out to You, Violence! Yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted. Habakkuk saw the return of idolatry like Amos, he saw the return of sacrifice of babies on the altars of pagan gods financial greed sexual sin lack of justice like the wild west disregard for God s laws allows man to pursue his impulses unchecked Wow! America!? Wickedness is advancing so fast we can t keep up three bills before California legislature one would force all crisis pregnancy centers to refer to abortion providers before Supreme Court of the United States AB 2756 would demand the collection of data on home school families and threaten their freedom it was defeated after hearings AB 2943 would ban books, conferences and counseling for those counseling gays or transgendered what to do? Stay informed write to legislators remember the law can t change hearts! II. ANSWERS Habakkuk 1:5-17 A. God s actions Habakkuk 1:5-11 Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days You would not believe if you were told. God answers but not in a way Habakkuk expected probably thought God would intervene with another king like Josiah but He didn t Habakkuk 1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. God punished the wicked Assyrian Empire by Babylonian Empire not as cruel but more powerful God described the Babylonians for Habakkuk in Habakkuk 1:6-11 not pretty Shortly after World War II began, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, pastor of Westminster Chapel in London preached a series of sermons on Habakkuk in response to people s questions regarding WWII book was called From Fear to Faith classic study of Habakkuk spoke of four great lessons from Habakkuk first one History is under God s control even when it seems completely out of control to us he writes: Every nation on earth is under the hand of God, for there is no power in this world that is not ultimately controlled by him. Things are not what they appear to be. It seemed to be the astute military prowess of the Chaldeans that had brought them into the ascendancy. But it was not so at all, for God had raised them up. God is the Lord of history. He is seated in the heavens, and the nations to him are as grasshoppers, as a drop in a bucket, or as the small dust of the balance. The Bible asserts that God is over all. He started the historical process, he is controlling it, and he is going to end it. We must never lose sight of this crucial fact. 1 B. God s attributes Habakkuk 1:12-17 Not complete but Habakkuk reviews a number of God s attributes to counter doubt Habakkuk 1:12-13a Are You not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor. 1 D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, From Fear to Faith (1953, reprint, London: InterVarsity Press, 1966), 22. 2
He is eternal Habakkuk 1:12a Are you not from everlasting He is holy Habakkuk 1:12b O Lord, My God, My Holy One?... Holy means completely set apart every person and man-made god is on one side of the line and God is on the other completely just, good, righteous, in everything He does He is just Habakkuk 1:12c You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct. God is completely sovereign wicked Assyria deserved judgment God had just the ticket! Mighty Babylon! He is pure Habakkuk 1:13 Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? You can hear Habakkuk struggling with what God is doing Why the Chaldeans???!! Why were You silent after Josiah died? Why did You stand by and let Your people ascend into sin? Why are You now going to bring judgment (which we deserve) at the hands of a people who are worse sinners than we are?? III. LIVING WITH EVIL A. Wait for God s answers Habakkuk 2:1 I will stand on my guard post and station myself on the rampart; and I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me, and how I may reply when I am reproved. He asked his questions now he waits for answers questions are OK He will station myself on the rampart the watchtower place to see everything look for the enemy s advance and order the direction of the troops Habakkuk wants to see everything and wait for God s response How do we do this? Waiting for subjective feeling? NO it involves searching Scripture (passages like this one) seeing how God works in difficult situations receiving counsel Wait for God s answer He may be silent, but He has answered Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. Do you believe that verse? Hal and Jenny Johnson parents of Chris Johnson, (Chris and Stephanie Johnson) also parents of Craig Craig got rare brain tumor in January 2004 glioblastoma multiforme battled for eight years April 30, 2012 he passed away many insights on waiting on God incredibly strong desire to see God get the glory no matter what happened one day he was struggling over this verse I was wanting God to work in my time, and on my grounds instead of stepping back into His arms and letting Him work in His time and on His grounds. I fell down and was crying because of it instead of standing back up and walking with Jesus again. I wanted pity, and there is none needed. Because we are all pitiful from our sin. However, in God s time, everything works out for the greater good. If I die from this, and there is a chance that I will, I know God will get the glory. NO MATTER WHAT!!! It may be immediate or it may come 60 years down the road. But God will get the glory, and I will be exactly where He wants me when that time comes, whether it s here with all of you, or there with Him. But it will all happen in HIS time. 2 Craig and his mom drew heavily from Scripture: Exodus 3-6 God called Moses to go to Pharaoh and demand he release His people he obeyed IT GOT WORSE make the same amount of bricks but with no straw Exodus 6:1 Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh... Acts 12 Herod killed James, the brother of John saw the Jews liked it so he arrested Peter, put him on trial after Passover and planned to kill him Peter is chained to two guards inside his cell with two more guards outside the door what was Peter doing? Worrying? Asking for his attorney? Crying? Feeling sorry for himself? NO he was sleeping! Wait on God and go to sleep! 2 Jennifer Johnson, Dead Man Walking: Craig s Story of God s Amazing Gift of Life! (Zulon Press, 2009), 75. 3
B. Live by faith Key verse Habakkuk 2:4 Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith. Two-fold faith: Saving faith Romans 1:16-17 the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, But the righteous man shall live by faith. Justification made right with God by judicial decree! Sanctifying faith 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith, not by sight we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. The world would have you believe that this faith stuff is just for weak Christians they live on the solid rock of scientific facts but listen to how atheist Richard Dawkins, professor at Oxford In a universe of blind physical forces and genetic replication, some people are going to get hurt, other people are going to get lucky, and you won't find any rhyme or reason in it, nor any justice. The universe we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at the bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil and no other good. Nothing but blind, pitiless indifference. DNA neither knows nor cares. DNA just is. And we dance to its music. 3 His lack of logic is breathtaking. If the universe is blind and we dance to the music of our DNA, which neither knows nor cares, then words like hurt and lucky have absolutely no meaning because, by definition, they express a moral position. In addition, his lack of compassion leaves a gaping hole in his humanity. The universe is blind, so some people are going to get hurt, and there is nothing but blind, pitiless indifference in the end that s the faith the world offers C. Understand evil God provides insight into the egotistical leader who wants to dominate the world: Pride Habakkuk 2:5 Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, so that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples. Greedy Habakkuk 2:6-8 Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery and insinuations against him and say, Woe to him who increases what is not his For how long And makes himself rich with loans? The Babylonians demanded heavy taxation from conquered nations amounted to financial extortion pay or die Exploitation Habakkuk 2:9-11 The Babylonians took advantage of countries they conquered and did what they wanted to set themselves above the people even though they took what they wanted, when they got their homes completed, everyone knew they were gained dishonestly Violence Habakkuk 2:12-14 The natural progression and companion to exploitation is violence if you think you can get away with it, you will force your way on anyone Corruption Habakkuk 2:15-17 Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk so as to look on their nakedness!... They seduced the people in the countries by getting them drunk to get what they wanted Idolatry Habakkuk 2:18-20 No wonder they were corrupt and vile they served pagan idols had no sense of morals or virtue idols were useless D. Pray for perspective One of the great prayers in the Bible alongside Abraham s intercession for Sodom and David s prayer for intercession for the materials of the temple 3 Richard Dawkins, Out of Eden (New York: Basic Books, 1992), 133. 4
The thrust of his prayer here is different than his concern in Habakkuk 1 after he had contemplated God and heard from Him, Habakkuk was willing to acknowledge God s plan despite his own desires and inability to understand what God was doing Habakkuk s prayer three parts: Plea for mercy Habakkuk 3:1-2 Recognition of the coming of the Chaldeans In wrath remember mercy. Praise for God s power Habakkuk 3:3-15 Vast explanation and acceptance of God s power Promise for God s plan Habakkuk 3:16-19 Underline this wonderful assertion of serving God no matter what our temporal circumstances may be Habakkuk 3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk on my high places. Habakkuk comes to same conclusion Job did in Job 42:5,6 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye sees You; therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes. God is worthy of being served despite temporal blessing Isaiah 55:8-9 For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts. QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 1. What does the dark night of the soul mean? 2. What prompted Habakkuk s question in Habakkuk 1:2? 3. What attributes of God do you see in Habakkuk 1:12-15? 4. How does Habakkuk 2:4 relate to Galatians 2:15-16? 5. What can we learn from Habakkuk s prayer in Habakkuk 3:17-19? 6. What have you learned about suffering from Habakkuk? 5