HABAKKUK

One of the most difficult things that there is to do is to listen to the prophet who is warning of judgment. It is so difficult that most people will simply never look for personal application to their life, their time, and their country. If one does listen seriously to the prophet's message it can bring an unsetteling nagging from deep within our souls. This is how Habakkuk is so helpful. He dares ask God that nagging question: How can a righteous and holy God use a wicked nation to bring judgment on God's own people? Even if these people are sinful and in rebellion and refusing to repent, how can God use a more wicked people to judge them? How can God permit the wicked to prosper at the expense of the righteous? How can God permit evil to exist at all? Habakkuk gets some answers. Evil always bears within itself the seeds of its own destruction. Dr. F. LaGard Smith explains it so well. "Only in righteousness is there life; sin always brings death."

Habakkuk 1:1-3 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.

HABAKKUK ASKS SOME HARD QUESTIONS THAT WE HAVE PROBABLY ALL WONDERED ABOUT. HOW LONG SHALL I CRY? DOES GOD SEEM DISTANT? DOES HE SOMETIMES SEEM NOT TO HEAR OUR PRAYERS? WHY DO WE SEE SUCH AN INCREASE OF WICKEDNESS AND VIOLENCE? WHY DO WE SEE STRIFE AND CONTENTION EVEN IN THE CHURCH AND IN OUR FAMILY? THESE ARE GOOD TOUGH QUESTIONS THAT GOD WANTS US TO ASK. HABAKKUK COMES TO THE RIGHT CONCLUSION. PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION AND EVEN TRY TO MEMORIZE THE CONCLUSION OF HABAKKUK'S LITTLE BOOK.

Habakkuk 1:5-6 Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder

marvellously: for [I] will work a work in your days,

[which] ye will not believe, though it be told [you].

For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, [that] bitter and hasty

nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land,

to possess the dwellingplaces [that are] not theirs.

EVEN IF GOD TOLD THE PEOPLE THAT IT WAS HIS HAND LIFTING UP THE BABYLONIANS NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE IT. THESE PEOPLE WERE RUTHLESS AND THE BADDEST OF THE BAD. EVERYONE WOULD THINK GOD COULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH SUCH AN EVIL BUNCH OF PEOPLE. BUT IT WAS GOD'S CHOICE TO USE THESE WICKED BABYLONIANS AS HIS INSTRUMENT OF JUDGMENT. IF GOD WERE SET AGAINST THE POWERFUL BABYLONIANS THEY COULD NOT STAND. THE HEATHEN COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS TRUTH.

Habakkuk 1:13 [Thou art] of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst

not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them

that deal treacherously, [and] holdest thy tongue when the

wicked devoureth [the man that is] more righteous than he?

HERE IS ANOTHER OF HABAKKUK'S HARD QUESTIONS. WHY DO THE WICKED SEEM TO TRIUMPH OVER THE RIGHTEOUS? HAVE YOU REACHED ANY CONCLUSIONS TO THIS QUESTION? HABAKKUK COMES TO THE RIGHT CONCLUSION. WE NEED TO KNOW IT. PAY ATTENTION TO HABAKKUK'S CONCLUSION.

Habakkuk 2:1-4 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.

And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and

make [it] plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth

it.

For the vision [is] yet for an appointed time, but at the

end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for

it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.

Behold, his soul [which] is lifted up is not upright in

him: but the just shall live by his faith.

HABAKKUK HAS POURED THE QUESTIONS OF HIS SOUL TO THE LORD. HE SAYS HE IS GOING TO WAIT FOR GOD TO ANSWER HIM. HE EXPECTS TO BE REPROVED FOR HIS DARING QUESTIONS. BUT GOD WILL ALWAYS WELCOME OUR HONEST QUESTIONS. WE JUST MUST BE CAREFUL NOT TO LET OUR WHY'S BECOME A WHINE. HABAKKUK HAS ASKED GOD SOME VERY TOUGH QUESTIONS. GOD ANSWERS HABAKKUK WITH A VISION. GOD SAYS YOU JUST WAIT. GOD IS INDEED ALWAYS IN CONTROL. NOW GET HOLD OF THIS PROFOUND ANSWER - THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. DO YOU GET IT? THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. THIS IS NOT THE FULL CONCLUSION, BUT THIS IS WHERE WE MUST ALL START TO EVER FIND THE ANSWERS. THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.

Habakkuk 2:12-16 Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood, and

stablisheth a city by iniquity!

Behold, [is it] not of the LORD of hosts that the people

shall labour in the very fire, and the people shall weary

themselves for very vanity?

For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the

glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.

Woe unto him that giveth his neighbour drink, that puttest

thy bottle to [him], and makest [him] drunken also, that

thou mayest look on their nakedness!

Thou art filled with shame for glory: drink thou also, and

let thy foreskin be uncovered: the cup of the LORD'S right

hand shall be turned unto thee, and shameful spewing

[shall be] on thy glory.

GOD LETS HABAKKUK KNOW THAT GOD IS MORE KEENLY AWARE OF AND GRIEVED BY EVIL THAN WE COULD EVER BE. GOD'S KINDNESS IS MEANT TO LEAD US TO REPENTANCE. GOD WILL NOT ALLOW EVIL TO CONTINUE WITHOUT GOD HIMSELF BRINGING AN END TO EVIL. SOME DAY THE WHOLE EARTH WILL BE FILLED WITH THE KNOWLEDGE AND GLORY OF GOD. THE SMART PEOPLE WILL SEEK GOD'S KNOWLEDGE AND GLORY NOW EVEN WHILE THE UNGODLY APPEAR TO PROSPER.

Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD [is] in his holy temple: let all the earth

keep silence before him.

HABAKKUK IS GETTING IT FIGURED OUT. THE LORD IS IN HIS HOLY TEMPLE. THE LORD IS GOD. THE LORD IS IN CONTROL. IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE HOW OUT OF CONTROL WE SEE THE WORLD TO BE. ONLY THE ONE TRUE GOD OF ISRAEL IS GOD. (YESHUA, JESUS IS HIS NAME) GOD IS IN CONTROL. LET ALL THE EARTH KEEP SILENCE BEFORE HIM. GOD WILL SOME DAY SHUT EVERY VAIN AND PROUD MOUTH. GET READY FOR HABAKKUK'S CONCLUSION. MAKE IT YOUR CONCLUSION AND YOU WILL FIND PEACE FOR YOUR SOUL.

Habakkuk 3:17-18 HABAKKUK'S CONCLUSION

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither [shall]

fruit [be] in the vines; the labour of the olive shall

fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall

be cut off from the fold, and [there shall be] no herd in

the stalls:

Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of

my salvation.

IF THE FIG TREE DOESN'T BLOSSOM,

IF THERE IS NO FRUIT IN THE VINES,

IF THE OLIVE TREE FAILS,

IF ALL CROPS OF THE FIELD FAIL,

IF ALL THE CATTLE ARE GONE,

IF I AM STARVING TO DEATH - YET WILL I REJOICE IN THE LORD.

I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION.

DO WE SEE IT? THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. I WILL PRAISE GOD IF I AM STARVING TO DEATH. I WILL NOT TAKE THE SCANNER MARK TATTOO OF ANTICHRIST IN MY RIGHT HAND OR FOREHEAD. I WILL PRAISE THE LORD. THE LORD MAY LET HIM APPEAR TO PROSPER FOR SEVEN YEARS BUT THE LORD IS IN CONTROL. I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION - NO MATTER WHAT. IF MY FAMILY AND FRIENDS HATE ME - I WILL REJOICE IN THE LORD. IF MY CHILDREN TURN AGAINST ME - I WILL STILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION. IF I AM TAKEN TO BE EXECUTED - I WILL JOY IN THE GOD OF MY SALVATION.

HABAKKUK FINISHES HIS CONCLUSION IN VERSE 19.

Habakkuk 3:19 The LORD God [is] my strength, and he will make my feet

like hinds' [feet], and he will make me to walk upon mine

high places. To the chief singer on my stringed

instruments.

THE LORD GOD IS MY STRENGTH. NO MATTER WHAT - THE LORD GOD IS MY JOY AND STRENGTH. THE LORD GOD WILL ULTIMATELY LIFT ME UP. NO MATTER WHAT.