Download Habakkuk 1:1-3, 2:1-4 God`s Answer to Man`s Questions October 10

Habakkuk 1:1-3, 2:1-4
God’s Answer to Man’s Questions
October 10, 2010
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you
tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. I will stand at my
watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give
to this complaint. 2:1 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a
herald a may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove
false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. 4 "See, he is puffed up; his desires are
not upright — but the righteous will live by his faith."
Who in the world is Habakkuk? I’ve never met a person named Habakkuk, and I don’t suppose you have either. It’s
certainly not a very common name. Not many parents name their children Habakkuk. Not many people know that
Habakkuk is a book of the Bible. He’s one of the thirteen so-called “Minor Prophets” of the Old Testament. They are
called the Minor Prophets, not because their message is less important than the other prophets, but because their books
are shorter. Habakkuk is only three short chapters in the Bible. It’s probably not anyone’s favorite book of the Bible.
Maybe most of us have not read it lately. But we all may be making a big mistake. If ever a book was written for our lives
today, it’s the book of Habakkuk. I have never met a person named Habakkuk, and I suspect you haven’t either, but I
have talked to plenty of people who have voiced the concerns and questions Habakkuk raises in our Bible reading today –
and I suspect you have, too. Maybe you have even had those questions yourself. The comforting thing about the book
of Habakkuk is that it provides us with God’s answer to all of our questions. In fact, that’s a pretty good description of this
portion of God’s Word: God’s Answer to Man’s Questions. We’ll consider first: 1) The questions we all have about God,
but then also: 2) God’s definitive answer to all our questions.
In the opening verse it says: "The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received..." An oracle was a message from God,
often in the form of a vision or a dream. Here we are told that God gave such an oracle to an individual named
Habakkuk. Who is this Habakkuk? What we know for certain about this man is almost nothing. We know he lived and
worked in the land of Judah shortly before the Babylonian Captivity, He probably lived about 600 BC. We know that he
was a prophet of God. And we know that God thought it was important enough to preserve his message for us in the
Bible. Finally, the book of Habakkuk is unique among all the prophetic books of the Bible. It’s a dialogue between the
prophet and God. Habakkuk has some very pointed questions for God.
The first question is the one in our reading today: "How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or
cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate
wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds." These words don’t need
much explanation. The prophet looked at the world around him and saw violence and wrongdoing and injustice and strife
and conflict. What especially troubled Habakkuk was that this evil was being perpetrated by God’s own people - the
people from whom the promised Savior would be born. They professed to know God, but their “faith-life” was just empty
ritualism. Their religion was just a thin veneer to cover their unrepentant hearts. So the prophet asks two simple
questions of God. Number one, how long is this going to last? Number two, why are you letting these things happen in
the first place? Implied in these two questions, however, are several others, such as: Have you forgotten your people,
Lord? Are you unable to do anything about it? Are you unwilling to stop it? Why must the righteous suffer and the
wicked flourish, Lord? How fair is that? How long must this terrible situation continue?
Do these questions sound familiar? These questions are ageless, arent’t they? Suddenly this two thousand year old
book becomes amazingly contemporary, doesn’t it? The presenter at our LWMS Rally last week showed pictures of the
devastation in Haiti caused by the earthquake and said the big question on everyone’s mind as they walked through it
was: “Why?” Why does the Lord allow such human suffering? Or the question may be more personal for some of us.
We all experience problems – personal problems, financial problems, family problems – and we pray and pray and do all
the right things and still nothing changes, and we wonder: “How long must this go on, Lord?” We experience pain or loss
or setbacks or difficulties, – and we may wonder: “Why is this happening? Why me? Why my kids? Why my parents,
Lord?” I knew an elderly woman in Wisconsin who lay on a bed of suffering and pain for days and days, and the family
wondered: “How long must this go on?” A young mother in South Carolina was driving home with her two year old
daughter, and a drunk driver ran through a red light. She was killed, and her little girl was left without her mother for the
rest of her life. And the family wondered: “Why?” No, Habakkuk certainly wasn’t the first to ask these kinds of questions
as he looked around and saw what he perceived to be injustice and unfairness. And he won’t be the last. We may find
them slipping into our own consciousness. We may even say them out loud. We may preface them with statements such
as "I know I shouldn’t be questioning God" or "I probably shouldn’t be thinking this way..." but then ask the questions
anyway.
Habakkuk not only asked questions; he also looked to God for answers. "I will stand at my watch and station myself
on ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint." Habakkuk
knew that he couldn’t answer these questions, so he decided to wait for the Lord to instruct him. We should note that
Habakkuk’s questions did not spring from doubt in God’s existence, but rather in confusion as to why God would tolerate
the things he did. These were not accusing questions, but searching ones. He was confused and struggling. And God in
his grace condescended to answer his troubled prophet... "The Lord replied: ‘Write down the revelation and make it
plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end
and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and not delay.’" Habakkuk is instructed
to write down what God was about to tell him so others could also know. And although it may take a little while, Habakkuk
was assured that God would indeed take appropriate action against the evil in Habakkuk’s time. The message that
followed was originally directed to the specific time in which Habakkuk lived. It had to do with the fall of Babylon, the
nation which would soon conquer God’s Old Testament people and lead them into captivity. But as we will see, behind
the specific message was a general principle for all believers of all times.
God’s answer to Habakkuk’s questions is revealed in the verses not included in our reading today. Habakkuk’s first
complaint was: Why do you tolerate so much evil and wickedness from your people? God’s answer: My people will
shortly be disciplined by the hand of Babylon. Habakkuk’s second complaint: How could you let your people be
conquered by a nation even more wicked than they are? God’s answer: Babylon, too, will be punished for its treatment of
God’s people, whom I still love. And then the Lord begins his pronouncement against Babylon, while at the same time
instructing Habakkuk and all believers how to live in troubled times: "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright –
but the righteous will live by his faith..." He is the Babylonian. He is proud, arrogant and godless – and would
eventually be destroyed. He lives by might and by sight and only in the present. All who live apart from God will
eventually be separated from God forever.
But "the righteous will live by his faith." And that is the definitive answer to all the prophet’s questions. Here is the
explanation Habakkuk was looking for. Here is God’s answer to all of man’s questions about God. Wickedness may
abound and unrighteous people may live by violence and injustice – but "the righteous [the believer] will live by his
faith." What does this mean – to live by faith? "Live" must be understood in two ways. First, it means to live eternally
through faith in Jesus Christ. In the New Testament book of Romans the Apostle Paul uses this passage to explain the
central message of scripture: justification by faith. We live eternally through trusting in the substitutionary perfect life,
sacrificial death and triumphal resurrection of Jesus Christ. We are saved eternally and will live eternally through faith in
Jesus. But in addition to eternal life by faith, believers also live in this life by faith. In other words, right now– even though
evil and bad and seemingly senseless tragic events take place – we live by faith. Faith in what? Faith in God’s love and
goodness toward his children. Faith that Jesus is holding us tightly in his hand and nothing can separate us from his love.
Faith in God’s promise to us to never leave us or forsake us and to make all things work out for the good of his children.
Faith in the personal promise that God made to us at our baptism – that as long as we live he forgives all our sins for
Jesus’ sake. Faith in the true body and blood of Jesus in the Lord’s Supper and the words “for you for the forgiveness of
your sins.”
Here is the answer to those nagging questions of how long and why – faith! And not just blind faith. Faith in God’s love
which is demonstrated and proven in the cross of Jesus Christ! Although there may be things we don’t understand and
possibly never will understand on this side of heaven, far more important than focusing on the things we don’t know for
sure is to focus on what we do know for sure. And what we do know for sure is this: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the
Bible tells me so. And the cross of Christ proves it. As we focus on theat cross, we grow in our asasurance that God is
for us and not against us, that he knows what he is doing in all things, and he is indeed in control of a world which often
seems to be out of control. The cross of Jesus tells us all that we need to know in the midst of the puzzles and
uncertainties of this life.
This is the conclusion that Habakkuk came to as well. The last verses of his book are no longer the words of a
questioning man, but a man of faith. The book of Habakkuk ends not with a whimper but with a tone of triumph and
victory. Habakkuk grew from a man who questioned God to a man who trusted God and praised him in the midst of
trouble. Listen to the final faith-filled words of Habakkuk: "Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes
on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and
no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my
strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on to the height. Even though Habakkuk
could hear the hoofbeats of the Babylonians coming to invade his country, his spirit was as carefree as a deer prancing
through a meadow in springtime. God loved him. God was in control. God would make all things work for his good.
God also provides us with the strength to endure as we keep our eyes centered on the Savior. That Savior is God’s
answer to any and all of man’s questions. May God who has shown his great love to us all in athe cross increase our faith
through his words and promises. And may we who have been made righteous through faith, live unquestioningly now
and eternally by faith. Amen.