HOW LONG, O LORD? THE RIGHTEOUS WILL LIVE BY HIS FAITH— HOPE FOR TODAY THROUGH A STUDY ON THE BOOK OF HABAKKUK—Lesson 1

 

Though the nations may rage around us, life must go on with the day-to-day mission we’ve been called to as aliens in this world. That doesn’t mean we don’t have questions and a longing for righteousness. When life seems to be spiraling out of control, when this world is careening toward Judgment Day at what seems to be breakneck speeds, we will exult in our LORD. Like Habakkuk, we can rejoice in the God of our salvation because He is our strength and makes our feet like hinds’ feet, the One who makes us able to walk on our high places.

 

I’m back. Life has thrown a lot of diversions at me for the last two months—all good, all God-ordained, but diversions, nonetheless—from some sense of normalcy. All the while, I’ve been itching to get back to blogging and ‘the ordinary’, which really doesn’t seem to describe my life in any way at all. But it is my normal and my ordinary.

 

I live with my two middle sons who graciously brought me into their home the year after I was released from prison. Together, we have had four moves in five years. Though I lost most of my belongings before I went to prison, I still had accumulated a lot of stuff that I had kept in storage. To my shame, I am a knickknack-a-holic. I have collections of stuff like pillows, pretty china picked up piece by piece here and there over the years, etc. Last year, all the things that I had in storage for so many years we brought across the country “so I could start downsizing”. I must admit, downsizing is overwhelming, and I certainly don’t want my boys to have to deal with things once I’m gone…they are strict minimalists! I think it’s a generation thing. (Word to the wise, auction houses no longer want most of things you may think are most precious and valuable in your eyes. Most everything ends up getting dropped off at the local thrift store. The danger to start thinking about what was let go, which you could now use, is real. Avoid it at all costs! No looking back. “Just let it go” is slowly becoming my motto!)

 

At the end of July, my sons were informed by their landlord that they had to be out of their home at the end of their lease which was the end of August. That gave us five to six weeks to find another place to live. By the grace of God, and with the help of a Christian real estate agent who happens to be our pastor’s wife, we moved into our new home on August 24th. Oh, and that same week we got a new two-month-old puppy (Ducky) for our three-year-old dog (Jinjo), who in no uncertain terms did not appreciate his gift.

 

Long story short, over the last two months we have moved, worked to facilitate two dogs to become the best of friends, downsized all our belongings and organized every room of the house integrating some of my belongings I haven’t seen for over ten years. Oh, on top of that, we finally had the tax case trial by Zoom that I have been dreading and fighting since 2013, when I first received news of it in prison. I hope by December (when the Judge makes his ruling) to finally have all legal issues put behind me forever, regardless the outcome! Prayers greatly appreciated.

 

With my ‘fresh start’ to the blog once again, I want to do a study on the book of Habakkuk. I believe it will bring us fresh hope in these dark days when the world seems to be in all sorts of chaos. What do we see? There is no justice in the courts of man. Violence and wickedness pour forth like waters bursting free from dam walls. Darkness seems to be overtaking the light-filled days of our youth. These things were part of Habakkuk’s world, too. And he cried out for God to intervene, just like the saints are doing today. Judgment was coming, but with it came even more questions. Why? Where are You, Lord? What are You doing? How can this possibly be part of Your good plan for Your people? God was sending a wicked people to judge Judah. The Chaldeans were exceedingly more wicked than those whom God intended to judge! Lord, how can we defend Your character to the lost when the things You ordain do not look right to us?

 

My thoughts, and the things I wrestled with from 2006 and throughout my time in prison, could reflect those Habakkuk put down on paper. As we step inside Habakkuk’s world, we get the eerie feeling that it is one with which we all are getting all-too acquainted. Just three short chapters pack an enormous amount of truth that will give us hope in these dark days catapulting our faith to new heights as we look at God’s sovereign character. We can rest in the knowledge that we don’t worship God only when things are good temporally. If we do, we don’t rightly know Him. If our worlds are quaking out of control and we are full of fear and trepidation at the tumult around us, we must get our eyes off ourselves, our circumstances and onto the Rock of our Salvation. Habukkuk’s call to trust God is our call—the call to anyone who knows Him—for the righteous shall live by his faith.

 

The name Habakkuk comes from the verb “embrace”.  It probably means, “He Who Embraces” or “He Who Clings”. “Habakkuk”, then, is appropriate for the prophet’s name and the name of the book. Habakkuk is an example to us of how to come to firm faith through wrestling with tough questions.

 

We will see Habukkuk ask two questions that God responds to in this short book. A simple outline could be Habakkuk Complains in 1:1-17. Habakkuk Listens in Chapter 2. Habukkuk Prays in Chapter 3. From “Worry” in Chapters 1-2 to “Worship” in Chapter 3. The beginning of the book opens in gloom beginning with a question mark, but it closes in glory with an exclamation mark! Faith is troubled, but faith is triumphant. What is God doing? turns to Who God is—from doubts to shouts! Restlessness turns to rest.

 

Habakkuk 1:1-4

 

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

         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. 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.

 

HELLO!!! Do you hear what the prophet saw? Do you see it, too?

 

Habakkuk believed God. Yet, he looked around him and saw that the world wasn’t matching up with the way God wants it to be. Habakkuk wants to know why God is allowing it. “This prophecy deals with the problems created by faith; and with the Divine answers to the questions which express those problems.” (Morgan)

 

Look up Isaiah 13:1, 15:1, 17:1, 19:1; Nahum 1:1; Zechariah 9:1, 12:1; and Malachi 1:1. What do you notice about how this word ‘oracle’ is used? Note the context and who uses the word. The word for ‘oracle’ means burden or load. Though there is no office of prophet any longer, how might that word be used today, by whom, and through what means? Got Questions -- Prophets Today

Next, Habakkuk saw this oracle or burden. The message God had for His prophet Habakkuk was received through a vision. How might we see that judgment is coming to a nation or to a people today? Would it be through a vision someone received in the same sense as what Habakkuk saw? Why or why not? Got Questions —Dreams, Visions

 

I have never been very interested in politics. Before the last Presidential election, that changed. I began watching the news channels I believed to be telling the truth and giving a proper perspective of what was going on in the world. How did I know they were telling the truth? How does one distinguish between truth and error? How does one say, “That is not wisdom but those thoughts or that narrative comes from a debased mind? How does one know that judgment should follow sinful living? How does one know when judgment has already begun? Habukkuk knew from God’s Word and from God’s message to him given in a vision. We can know the answer to these questions from the completed revelation of God’s Word found in all of Scripture.

 

After about a year of this accurately-reported news, my two youngest sons said, “Mom, you really need to stop watching the news. It will do nothing but frustrate you.” They are right in the sense that I don’t live by the news; but why is even the rightly-reported news so frustrating? Because nothing is being done to cause any real change. For the believer, the news just backs up what she knows is going to happen, all that is going to happen fully ordained by God and under His complete control. That doesn’t change the fact that the wickedness in the world stirs up righteous anger in the believers’ hearts. Injustice and unrighteousness never sit well with the believer, even when she knows it is to be expected in this world. Believers long for righteousness, first in themselves, then in everyone else. Believers long for the day when righteousness will reign from the throne of King Jesus.

 

The first four verses of Chapter 1 could be the heart cry of any Christian living in the United States today. Habakkuk is looking around him—at the world he is living in—and sees that sin is spiraling out of control in his own people. Why did God appear to be ignoring the sin of the people when sin demands judgment?

 

Read Deuteronomy 28, especially look closely at verses 15-68, the consequences of disobedience. According to this chapter, what would happen if Israel obeyed God? What would happen if Israel failed to obey the Lord?

 

When my “prison trial” began back in 2006, I began to ask the Lord similar questions to the ones Habakkuk was asking. I was certain God would defend and vindicate me quickly. He would slay my “enemies” and I would praise His name in the great congregation. Why, He would never want His name to be tarnished by not rescuing His own child from evil and wickedness. I hated the unrighteousness that I could see with my own eyes. Where was the justice? Why were lies going uncontested? Where were men of integrity who could and would defend us?  Where was God?

 

Habakkuk knows his God. He knows His character and His promises. Yet, His inactivity and apparent indifference to Judah’s sin is perplexing. How could this type of situation cause one to question her own faith? How could this type of situation cause one’s faith to grow even stronger?

 

How long, O LORD, will I call for help, and You will not hear? What do you know about God’s timing from your study of Scripture, especially as it relates to your prayers? What is wrong with Habakkuk’s first complaint? What is the sin in this complaint? Read 1 Peter 3:12 and 1 John 5:15. How do you relate these promises to your own prayer life?

 

This is Habakkuk keeping it real. He is pouring his heart out to the Lord. When we are impatient based upon what we perceive to be happening (or not happening), we must remember that it doesn’t mean  God is not acting. Habakkuk is in good company. David cried in Psalm 13:1, 2—How long, O LORD? Will You forget me forever? How long will You hide Your face from me? God never forgets His children. Isaiah 49:15 says: “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.” (ESV) And because the Father turned His face away from the Son on the cross, He will never hide His face from His child who is in Christ.

 

How long, O LORD? Many times, I have simply had no words to cry out but, O LORD! I just don’t understand what is happening and why. And that is okay because He knows exactly what is in my heart and what He is doing. He knows exactly how to grow my faith. I can know that all I am going through concerns Him and that He is there with me in the midst of it. What may seem like forever to us in a difficult situation is only a blip on the screen of eternity in God’s eyes. We can know for certain that every trial will end. If you get a chance, look up these other passages and record your thoughts: Psalm 62:3; Jeremiah 14:9; and Matthew 27:46. How might these questions be evidence of faith?

 

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. I can see it; I know You can see it. Yet, You aren’t doing anything about it! Oh, Father please do something!

 

Beloved, can you relate to the prophet’s longing for God to act? Wickedness was everywhere— from personal relationships to the courts of law. Violence, iniquity, wickedness, and destruction were increasing—sadly, we see that, too; even in the Church. Strife and contention were the result. Habakkuk wanted God to cause His people to turn back to Him. He wanted God to chasten them or do whatever it took to cause them once again to walk in righteousness. “God bring revival,” are the pleas we hear today.

 

Why did Habakkuk need to see iniquity? I asked the Lord, Why do I need to see a prison sentence? Surely, you can teach me what you want me to learn without having to go to prison.

 

Why would we need to see iniquity—first, in ourselves, then in others? (1) Seeing our own iniquity keeps us humble. (2) It keeps us submissive to Him in our times of trouble. (3) When we know our sin, when we come face-to-face with our own depravity, we value our salvation even more.  Seeing iniquity in others shows us: (1) What we might be left to ourselves. (2) To see the wickedness of sin so that we might hate it and stay far from it. (3) To keep us in awe of God’s grace when He saves sinners. (4) To keep us focused on our work and mission in this world.

 

Therefore, the law is ignored, and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted. The word for ‘ignored’ means ineffective, slacked, feeble, literally chilled or numbed.

 

Genesis 45:26—They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But he was stunned, for he did not believe them. Stunned is the same word as ‘ignored’, above. KJV says Jacob’s heart fainted, which is the same word. Psalm 77:2—In the day of my trouble I sought the Lord; in the night my hand was stretched out without weariness; my soul refused to be comforted. That same word here is translated ‘weariness’. In the KJV it is ‘ceased’.

 

Habakkuk is saying that the law is not respected and no longer carries any authority with the people. The law is ignored. John MacArthur says: “As hands rendered useless by cold, the impact and effectiveness of the law was paralyzed by the corruption of Judah’s leaders.” Just like our own day! Look up Ecclesiastes 8:11. What parallels do you see in our own day? There are so many, just name one. Proverbs 29:2 says: When the righteous increase, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, people groan.  Proverbs 29:4 says: The king gives stability to the land by justice, but a man who takes bribes overthrows it.

 

Did your child ever come to you in frustration, upset with you because you did not administer justice to one of his or her siblings like he thought you should? Did you ever just listen to the whole complaint to understand his thoughts and get it all out? You want to say, “Are you finished? Is that everything? I don’t have to explain myself or my actions to you, but here’s what I have planned.”

 

God will answer Habakkuk. We will see that next time.