Reference

Habakkuk 1:1-11

Habakkuk: From Fear to Faith

  • The year is 607 BC.
  • Habakkuk is the minor prophet who witnesses the major decline of Judah.
  • Habakkuk does not talk to evil people about God, he talks to God about evil people.
  • God will give Habakkuk “hind's feet” (the feet of a deer/ibex) to live above his circunstances."
  1. The Complaints

Habakkuk 1:2 (NLT), How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. 3 Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. 4 The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted. Habakkuk 1:1 (NLT), “This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.”

  1. The Questions

Four Questions in Habakkuk: (from Tom Sugimura)

  1. God, where are you when I need you? (1:1-11).

  2. Why do bad things happen to good people? (1:12-2:4)

  3. Why do good things happen to bad people? (2:4-20)

  4. Will I make it through this trial? (3)

  5. God’s Answer

Habakkuk 1:5 (NLT), The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands.7 They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like. 8 Their horses are swifter than cheetahs and fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their charioteers charge from far away. Like eagles, they swoop down to devour their prey. • Habakkuk 1:9 (NLT), “On they come, all bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind, sweeping captives ahead of them like sand. 10 They scoff at kings and princes and scorn all their fortresses. They simply pile ramps of earth against their walls and capture them! 11 They sweep past like the wind and are gone. But they are deeply guilty, for their own strength is their god.” • Theodicy: The Problem of Evil

  1. If God is all good, He would defeat evil.
  2. If God is all-powerful, He could defeat evil.
  3. But, evil is not defeated.
  4. Therefore, an all-good, all-powerful God does not exist.

ANSWER: But, evil is not defeated – YET!

“We must learn to trust God’s promises more than we trust our perceptions. This theme is woven through the Bible from beginning to end.” - Jon Bloom, Not by Sight

Four Lessons about God’s Sovereignty (from Martyn Lloyd Jones)

  1. History is under God’s control.
  2. History follows a divine plan.
  3. History follows a divine timetable.
  4. History is bound up with the divine kingdom.

Habakkuk 2:14 (NASB), “For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”