Habakkuk is a book of prophecy, one of the 12 minor prophets. Habakkuk writes from a different perspective. Rather than being a voice of God to the people, He addresses God about the people. The overwhelming word in the 1st chapter is Why? This in itself isn’t surprising, especially in our day and age. I find myself asking the WHY question over and over again. This calls into question the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of God. We feel so many times that if God is God why do the things happen as they do.
Habakkuk is asking God the very question in this short book. Now Habakkuk wrote about 605-586 BC, this is prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the deportation of the captives. It is an odd time because there was just a period of “good” because of Josiah. But Josiah has died around 609 BC, so things are relatively stable. Yet Habakkuk asks the LORD “how long will I cry for help and you not answer?” Many of us have been such a situation – we call on God, and it seems that He is turning a deaf ear to us. I know today I ask so many times “Lord what is going on?” I get the same response as Habakkuk got – 1:5 – look at the nations, observe! Be astonished and wonder! Because I am doing something in your days – you would not believe it if you were told. The world we live in is in great turmoil and upheaval. Where does it all end? How do we make sense out of all this? As a believer in Christ I must put my lack of understanding aside and know that the Father in Heaven has this! Even if He was to answer our questions and tell us what He is doing, we just wouldn’t get it.
With the many atrocities that happen routinely today, we ask, Why God have you not done something to stop or prevent this? I have had to understand that God isn’t necessarily ‘doing” as much as He is “allowing” us to be the brunt of our own poor choices. Now we all have read the end of the Bible, we know what is ultimately going to happen. But the questions comes too many times, Is this the End? Or is this just a bad time in our life?
God is going to raise up Babylon to be His instrument for punishment and discipline towards Judah. Judah didn’t heed the warning of the fall of Israel [Northern Kingdom] nor did they heed the warning of Nineveh falling [Assyrian capital] in 612 BC.
While it appears there is still hope of revival and renewal of the Kingdom of Judah, the plan is already in motion for Judah’s captivity. Habakkuk is in dialog with God about what is going to happen. There is no record that Habakkuk survived the 586 BC siege of Babylon. Yet God does give the hope of a future after the punishment events.
Habakkuk 2:4 is a wonderful verse that has made the carry into the New Testament. [Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11-12] The Just shall live by faith.
Questions – Will Judah be punished – yes. Will Babylon be punished yes. Is there a future – Yes. Even though Habakkuk doesn’t understand all the details or working of God, he has to live within that hope in God’s providential redemptive plan.
I find myself asking many of the same questions today about America. Is America going to be punished – yes. Will we survive – yes. One thing about Judah and America, neither nation will ever be the same after the disciplining of God. Many prophets/preachers have drawn a line in the sand to say that this is the End Times, and ultimately the end as Bible prophecy in Revelation speaks. But that is Man’s opinion, not God’s. Nations have risen and fallen, but God was still at work trying to redeem creation from the Fall. Now if this is the end as in Last days – then if we know that and have understood God is at work, why do we thwart God’s working? If this is the End Times or if it is just a time of pruning and purifying, so be it – We [I] must still live by Faith.
preachbetweenthelines 