Living By Faith (Habakkuk)
I love the book of Habakkuk. This is one of the most important and unique prophets in the Bible. When we began to study these prophets, we noticed that the prophets are special because they reveal God's character. In the book of Habakkuk, we have a unique conversation between God and his prophet.
Habakkuk Cries Out To God (1:1-4)
At the beginning of the book, we find out that Habakkuk is living in a time of extreme oppression and violence. People are ignoring God's laws and doing whatever is right in their own eyes. In response to this, Habakkuk cries out to God.
Habakkuk 1:2--4 (ESV) --- 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.
Notice Habakkuk's response to this injustice is to cry out to God, but his voice seems to fall on deaf ears. God appears to be idle and asleep, refusing to save the righteous from the increasingly evil society. Habakkuk knows that this is not like God. He always comes in with some form of punishment to help the wicked see their fault and turn back to God. It almost seems as though God has given up on Judah and abandoned those who are living righteously.
God Reveals His Work (1:5-11)
In verse five, God comes to Habakkuk with a command to watch and be blown away at the work he is preparing for all those wicked people in Judah. He will raise up the Chaldeans. Chaldean is another word for Babylonians. They were from the region often called Chaldea, but Babylon is the main city. God is raising up this nation to be a destructive force against the nation of Judah. They are pictured as a fearsome enemy that comes sweeping through the nations destroying and taking captive everyone. Their horses are like leopards and wolves, and their horsemen are like eagles.
Habakkuk 1:10--11 (ESV) --- 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!”
These words show that they are not a moral nation. God knows that they are guilty and that they will attribute their success to their idols, but he still raises them to destroy his people.
Habakkuk Doesn't Understand (1:12-2:1)
In verse 12, Habakkuk expresses his understanding of who God is and his understanding of who the Babylonians are. He is showing us that in his understanding of things, none of this makes sense. God is so pure and righteous. Far be it for God to allow so much injustice on the earth.
Habakkuk 1:13 (ESV) --- 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?
How could such a pure one as God side with the Babylonians when they are more wicked than Judah? Then he pictures Babylon as a fisherman who comes in with his dragnet and captures everyone. After he captures everyone, he makes sacrifices to his net. This is Habakkuk's attempt to show that God's name will not be glorified in this. How could God do something that destroys his name?
Habakkuk 1:17 (ESV) --- 17 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever?
Habakkuk was asking God to remove the injustice in the land. Instead, he sees God defeating injustice with more injustice, and he is not happy about that. So he asks God how this could be and how long will this injustice last? Then after making these bold statements against God, he waits to see what God will say.
Habakkuk 2:1 (ESV) --- 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.
Interestingly, Habakkuk was willing to say these things to God. He has a great understanding of who God is, but he can't make sense of the world around him and how God fits into that world. Have we ever been like that? Have we ever truly understood the justice of God and wondered why he would allow people to continue to exist in such an immoral state?
God Explains Righteousness (2:2-20)
In response to these comments by Habakkuk, God does not take offense. Instead, he explains precisely what he has in store for mankind after Judah is destroyed. His ways and his plans are bigger than anything that Habakkuk or Judah could ever imagine.
Judah
In verses 2 and 3, he tells Habakkuk that he can write this judgment down in stone so that everyone knows what he is about to do. The Babylonians will most certainly come in and destroy Judah. If it seems like it is taking a long time, just wait and see. God has appointed a time for this to take place.
In verse 4 and the beginning of verse 5, he tells Habakkuk the most critical information in the book. These words are the words that much of the New Testament is based on.
Habakkuk 2:4--5a (ESV) --- 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.”
In these words, God says that those who are puffed up are not upright. If people become proud, thinking that they can do evil and escape the judgment, they are dead wrong. The righteous will believe in the judgment of God and trust in his word until his judgment comes about. Then, he says that wine is a traitor. Those who party and rejoice in their sin will find that they have no rest.
All of this is pointing to a decision that the people of Judah have to make. Either they will listen and believe in the word of the Lord, or they will consider God's lack of judgment to be freedom for them to sin. God points out that the righteous will live by faith. They will not be put to death. Their faith will be counted as righteousness, and they will make it through the judgment.
Babylon
He transitions in the middle of verse 5 to talk about how Babylon will keep taking nets full of people and possessions. He will be greedy and gather up all of the nations, but those nations will rise up and taunt him in the end. The evil of Babylon will not go on forever. They will get what they deserve.
Verses 6-17 show us four woes against the oppressive nation. They steal what is not theirs, set up their own false security, murder the innocent, and commit all kinds of sexual immorality with those they oppress. But God will destroy them for this great evil.
Throughout this text, the Lord answers Habakkuk's question about the character of God. He says that he did not command him to be so ruthless and evil. This didn't come from God. They are just doing what people always do. They are working and working for something that is temporary and will eventually be burned up.
Habakkuk 2:13--14 (ESV) --- 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.
Then, God says that he does care about his glory. He is working in all of this to bring greater glory to his name. He will destroy all of the unjust nations, and then he will destroy the one who destroyed them for their injustice. God paints a picture of himself as the supreme ruler and authority. He will bring about the justice that all of mankind needs to see and understand.
The Taunt of Nations
The words from verses 6 through 17 are all a taunt that the nations take up against Babylon.
Habakkuk 2:6 (ESV) --- 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!”
These words about God's glory filling the earth come out of the taunt of the nations. But after they taunt Babylon for their injustice and evil, they point out in verses 18-19 that the idol is of no profit. We might look at God's judgment against Judah and think, "That really paints God in a bad light." But the nations point to God's glory and idols' uselessness as a result of this judgment. The final woe is against all who put their trust in idols. The nations will say, "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him."
God's response to Habakkuk reveals his future plans to make things right. Things will get worse before they get better, but things will get better in God's time.
Habakkuk's Praise (3)
How will the prophet respond to this? He responds by fearing the Lord and remembering all that he has done in the past. The history of God reveals his power and majesty.
Habakkuk 3:1--2 (ESV) --- 1 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.
Did you notice that he calls for God to remember mercy as he brings about his wrath on mankind? This shows us that Habakkuk has decided to submit to the rule of God on the earth.
In verse 3, he describes how God came down in judgment and delivered the judgment just as he promised. His splendor and glory shook the earth. All of the mountains shake, the rivers split, and the sun and moon stood still as he inflicted his wrath on the wicked people on earth.
Habakkuk 3:12--14 (ESV) --- 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.
Habakkuk praises God for destroying those who would have destroyed him. He is using the evil nation of Babylon to destroy all who oppress the righteous.
In verse 16, Habakkuk admits that he is terrified at the sound of all the killing and destruction going on around him, but he trusts God to make everything right. These evil Babylonians will get what they deserve.
Then, we see great words of faith in verses 17-19.
Habakkuk 3:17--19 (ESV) --- 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.
Here is a man who is truly about to lose everything and live in a destroyed land. Yet, he says he will rejoice in the Lord because God is his strength. Isn't this an amazing response to the troubles of this life. A man or woman of faith must say, "It's okay that my house and all of my property is destroyed. It's okay that I don't have any food. It's okay that all of my security has failed me. God is still in control and he is with those who trust in him. He will provide for me like he does the birds of the air. I will not die."
Application
I think the message of this book is self-evident. God is just and righteous. He will not let the wicked continue in their wickedness, and he will reward all of those who put their faith in him. The righteous will live by faith.
When we come to the New Testament, this message is brought up in books like Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews. Faith in the righteousness and greatness of God is the criteria used for salvation. Will men put their faith and trust in the word of God, or will they trust in men? In Habakkuk's day, God reassured his people that he would provide the judgment due to their enemies. All of those who put their trust in God will find salvation. In our day, we find reassurance as well. This story tells us that God is in complete control, no matter how successful evil people appear to be.
The New Testament reveals one who put his trust fully in God even though his enemies surrounded him and put him to death on a cross. Jesus believed that God would raise him up again. He believed that those enemies would receive what they deserve. But Jesus didn't want that to happen. Oddly enough, Jesus was raised from the dead, and he wanted all of those who killed him to find forgiveness. He wanted all of the evil people in the world to understand their cruel ways and put their trust in God just as he did. He sought all of the nations to give God glory, just like God said in this book. They would need to lay their idols down and trust that God was in control even when the food ran out.
In the New Testament, God reveals that we are all evil like the nations. We have trusted in idols and oppressed our neighbors. Satan is right to accuse us. We are worthy of destruction. But we can repent and find forgiveness. We need to become like Habakkuk, putting our trust in God. This is the theme of scriptures. God is in control, and he promises to save those who trust in him even when it doesn't seem like the most reasonable thing to do. But we must wait in humble submission to his will. We may not understand what he is doing, but we can always trust that he sees more than we do. We can know without a doubt that he is working with purity and justice.