TRUSTING GOD’S GOODNESS (HABAKKUK)

1. TRUSTING GOD’S GOODNESS (HABAKKUK) Lesson 8 for May 25, 2013

2. The book of Habakkuk is not about any prophecy God gave Habakkuk. It is actually about the complaint of the prophet and God’s answer to that complaint. Habakkuk is unique among prophets because he does not speak for God to the people but rather he speaks to God about the people. • Habakkuk complainsabout God’s passiveness before the sin of Judah(1:1-4) • Divine answer: Babylon will punish Judah (1:5-11) • Habakkuk complains again: Will we be punished by someone worse than us? (1:12-2:1) • Divine answer: • Patience for the wait (2:2-3) • Living by faith (2:4) • Babylon’s final punishment (2:5-20) • The psalm of Habakkuk: • God, the Savior of His people (3:1-16) • Trusting God completely (3:17-19)

3. GOD’S PASSIVENESS BEFORE THE SIN OF JUDAH (1:1-4) The prophetic ministry of Habakkuk took place during the reigns of Manasseh and Amon. That was before Josiah’s religious reformation. The moral depravity of Manasseh and Amon affected the people. Habakkuk was indignant at the moral situation of Judah and he was surprised at God remaining silent before that situation. “Why do You show me iniquity, and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises” (Habakkuk 1:3)

4. BABYLON WILL PUNISH JUDAH (1:5-11) God does not remain impassive before the sin of His people. He decided to punish them by using Babylon, a cruel people. “For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs” (Habakkuk 1:6) Babylon is compared with three fast predators: The leopard, the wolf and the eagle. “Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead; their cavalry comes from afar; they fly as the eagle that hastens to eat” (Habakkuk 1:8)

5. WILL WE BE PUNISHED BY SOMEONE WORSE THAN US?(1:12-2:1) “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he?” (Habakkuk 1:13) The prophet is astonished at the divine solution for Judah: God uses the wicked to punish those who are more righteous than him. Will Babylon praise God for their victory? Will they admit that they are the hand of God which is punishing Judah? Quite the opposite, the Chaldeans are a proud people who will praise their own strength and will worship their own gods. How could God or His people benefit from that solution?

6. PATIENCE FOR THE WAIT (2:2-3) “For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry” (Habakkuk 2:3) God requests patience from the prophet before answering his second complain. He must wait for the prophecies to be fulfilled, for they will surely be fulfilled. That also applies to the prophecies about the End Time (Hebrews 10:35-37), especially to the certain promise of the Second Coming: “He who is coming will come and will not tarry”

7. LIVING BY FAITH (2:4) “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4) That sentence is quoted and explained by Paul (Ro. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38). It was the key to the protestant reformation Martin Luther: “The just shall live by faith” Through faith in Jesus Christ we receive God’s righteousness; we are credited with the righteousness of God Himself. His righteousness becomes ours. “True faith lays hold of and claims the promised blessing before it is realized and felt. We must send up our petitions in faith within the second vail, and let our faith take hold of the promised blessing, and claim it as ours” E.G.W. (God’s Amazing Grace, July 18)

8. BABYLON’S FINAL PUNISHMENT (2:5-20) God used the 5 Babylon’s woes to show Habakkuk that the Chaldean people will be justly punished by their acts. • God’s ultimate answer to Habakkuk’s questions was the affirmation of His abiding presence. Trust in God’s presence and have confidence in His judgment in spite of the appearances to the contrary; that is the message of Habakkuk’s book. “But the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him” (Habakkuk 2:20)

9. “O Lord, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy” (Habakkuk 3:2) GOD, THE SAVIOR OF HIS PEOPLE (3:1-16) This hymn reminds us the way God acted in the past. God saved His people in the past, so He will also establish His justice on Earth and will fill the world with His glory. The example of Habakkuk encourages us to take heart “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19), to remember God’s past acts and His future salvation.

10. “Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls— Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:17-18) TRUSTING GOD COMPLETELY (3:17-19) Although I may lose my job, or may have no food or house, or may not be able to find a solution to my serious problems… I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION.