Judah had just experienced a religious revival under the leadership of Josiah, where Josiah cleaned house so to speak, and set the nation in the right direction; however, King Josiah, attempting to block the Egyptians as they moved north along the Palestinian coast to aid Assyria, was killed at Megiddo. Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim was named King of Judah by the Pharoh Nechoh (2 Kings 23:29-24:6).

Unlike Josiah, Jehoiakim did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord. Over the next 11 years, Jehoiakim attempted to pit the Babylonians against the Egyptians, until the Babylonians finally had enough and besieged Jerusalem.

The time between the death of Josiah and the captivity of Judah to Babylon is when Habakkuk takes place. Habakkuk was confused and upset about the condition that his nation was currently experiencing. Everything was going great with Josiah, but now everything is completely upside down and ruined, and if that was not bad enough, to Habakkuk, it looked like the Lord was just letting things go.

Sometimes things happen that just do not make any since, and it looks like the Lord is just siting back without concern, and we too, like Habakkuk, can get frustrated and confused. Today we are going to look at the steps that the Christian should take when this happens:

The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Habakkuk 1:1-4

1. Admit your lack of understanding

Why is God Silent? (1:1-4)

To Habakkuk, it looked like God was not doing anything about all of the injustice

The answer (1:5-11)

God is working but we fail to recognize when he does

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;

2 Corinthians 4:17

God communicates his plan of using the Chaldean (Babylonian) army to chastise his people. The Lord can and will use even the wicked for his own purposes. This does not eliminate the responsibility of those for there actions.

Then said he unto the disciples, It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come!

Luke 17:1

Why would God use the ungodly for his purposes? (1:12-17)

The Lord wasn’t surprised by the character of the Chaldean’s. He describes their attributes in Habakkuk 1:6-7.

• Bitter
• Dishonest
• Terrible
• Dreadful
• Proud

Habakkuk couldn’t understand why God would use the wicked to punish His own people, He admitted that they had sinned and deserved punishment, but the Babylonians were even worse than they were!

We need to remember that Lords ways are above our ways, and that he knows what needs to happen for his people to be turned back towards him. When we don’t understand what the Lord is doing, we need to admit our lack of understanding and then we need to move to the second step, which may be one of the hardest steps on this list.

2. Wait on the Lord (2:1)

I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.

Habakkuk 2:1

It is okay to have questions, as long as you approach them properly. Habakkuk did not stop believing in the Lord. He did not throw in the towel and change sides. He decided to wait for the Lord to show him how his opinon and thoughts were wrong. He was ready to be corrected. He understood that it was his approach and not the Lords that was incorrect.

He stayed where he was supposed to stay, he did not abandon his post, he stayed on watch and waited for the Lord to show him how he was to be corrected through Prayer and through the word of God.

This is exactly what the Christian needs to do in this situation, meditate on the word of God, and spend time in prayer. Those are the two ways that the Lord will communicate with you. Too many people shut themselves off to the Lord when they do not agree with his ways. You will never get a resolution to your confusion by shutting down towards the Lord.

3. Listen and obey (2:2-4)

The Lord answered

The Lord instructed him to write down the answer plainly so that the message could be spread abroad. The message is the promise of deliverance for God’s people. He reminds Habakkuk that even though it may look like the wicked are getting away with murder, that in the end, there is a price to pay.

5 Woes pronounced (2:5-19)

God reveals the truth about the Babylonians. They are proud, misguided—and doomed. They will get rich for a while by plundering other nations—but the time will come when they themselves will be ransacked. Crime and bloodshed are no way to establish a society, and God will bring their achievements to nothing.

4. Focus on  the big picture (2:20)

But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.

Habakkuk 2:20

The Lord gave Habakkuk a vision of the second advent

•     Habakkuk knew that God had worked in the past

•     and can be trusted to work in the present and in the future.

•     he is going to return and correct all of the injustices

Our faith in the Lord is not a baseless faith

•     it is based on the substance of our expectation that is fueled by our experience with the Lord and his word.

•     We have the record of the life, death and resurrection of the Lord as well as the promise of his return.

Habakkuk praises the Lord in the end (3:17-19)

He knew that God would give him the strength to go through the trials of life, and Paul reminds us of the same in the book of the Philippians:

Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Philippians 4:11-13

Trials are going to come

When you do not understand or see Gods plan in the midst of those trials:

•     Be honest with the Lord

•     Be patient and wait on the Lord

•     Be obedient when he speaks to you

•     Be confident that there is a bigger picture

Our hope at Irvington Bible Baptist Church is that this podcast provided some encouragement and has helped you to develop a closer relationship with the LORD Jesus Christ.