Habakkuk: From Complaints to Confidence
When You have Mixed Feelings!
Memory Verse: (Psa 55:22 NIV) Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
Text: Malachi 1:12-2:5
(Hab 1:12-17 NIV) O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. {13} Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? {14} You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. {15} The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. {16} Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. {17} Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
(Hab 2:1-5 NIV) 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} Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald 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-- {5} indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
When You have Mixed Feelings:
1. Present Your Perplexities to the Lord.
(Hab 1:12-17 NIV) O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. {13} Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? {14} You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. {15} The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. {16} Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. {17} Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
(Gen 12:3 NIV) I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
(Gen 18:18 NIV) Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.
(Gen 26:4 NIV) I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed,
(Gen 28:14 NIV) Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.
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(Hab 1:12-13 NIV) O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. {13} Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
(Deu 33:27 NIV) The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. He will drive out your enemy before you, saying, 'Destroy him!'
(Psa 90:1-2 NIV) Lord, you have been our dwelling place throughout all generations. {2} Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
(Isa 40:28 NIV) Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.
(Hab 1:13-17 NIV) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? {14} You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. {15} The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. {16} Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. {17} Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
(Psa 5:4-5 NIV) You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. {5} The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.
(Psa 11:4-6 NIV) The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. {5} The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. {6} On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot.
(Psa 34:16 NIV) the face of the LORD is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth.
(Jer 12:1-2 NIV) You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? {2} You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts.
Psalm 37; 49; 73.
(Psa 82 NIV). God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the "gods": {2} "How long will you defend the unjust and show partiality to the wicked? Selah {3} Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; maintain the rights of the poor and oppressed. {4} Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. {5} "They know nothing, they understand nothing. They walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. {6} "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' {7} But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler." {8} Rise up, O God, judge the earth, for all the nations are your inheritance.
(Isa 57:15 NIV) For this is what the high and lofty One says-- he who lives forever, whose name is holy: "I live in a high and holy place, but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.
2. Patiently prepare for God’s Clarification of your Perplexities
(Hab 2:1 NIV) 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.
(Hosea 9:8 NIV) The prophet, along with my God, is the watchman over Ephraim, yet snares await him on all his paths, and hostility in the house of his God.
(Dan 9:2 NIV) in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.
(Dan 9:11 NIV) All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you. "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.
(Dan 9:13 NIV) Just as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us, yet we have not sought the favor of the LORD our God by turning from our sins and giving attention to your truth.
(1 Pet 1:10-12 NIV) Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, {11} trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. {12} It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.
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(Psa 27:14 NIV) Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
(Isa 40:31 NIV) but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
3. Perceive the Divine Explanations of your perplexities.
(Hab 2:2-5 NIV) Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald 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-- {5} indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.
(Ezek 9:4-6 NIV) and said to him, "Go throughout the city of Jerusalem and put a mark on the foreheads of those who grieve and lament over all the detestable things that are done in it." {5} As I listened, he said to the others, "Follow him through the city and kill, without showing pity or compassion. {6} Slaughter old men, young men and maidens, women and children, but do not touch anyone who has the mark. Begin at my sanctuary." So they began with the elders who were in front of the temple.
(Ezek 9:8 NIV) While they were killing and I was left alone, I fell facedown, crying out, "Ah, Sovereign LORD! Are you going to destroy the entire remnant of Israel in this outpouring of your wrath on Jerusalem?"
(Hab 2:4 NIV) "See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright-- but the righteous will live by his faith--
(Rom 1:17 NIV) For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
(Gal 3:11 NIV) Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith."
(Heb 10:38 NIV) But my righteous one will live by faith. And if he shrinks back, I will not be pleased with him."
Evangelical Commentary on the Bible by Walter Elwell:
· First woe: The Babylonians will be despoiled. 2:6-8.
· Second woe: The Babylonians will be dishonored. 2:9-11.
· Third woe: the Babylonians will be devastated. 2:12-14.
· Fourth woe: The Babylonians will be disgraced. 2:15-17.
· Fifth woe: The Babylonians will be deserted. 2:18-20.
(Hab 2:20 NIV) But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him."
(Psa 46:10 NIV) "Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."
