Triumphant Thursday Bible Study
The Transformation Place @ Gethsemane Baptist Church
5405 Roanoke Ave, Newport News, VA 23605
757-244-8833
God Is Active Today
Habakkuk 1:1-2
Introduction:
The prophet Habakkuk was a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah, who is known to us as the
weeping prophet, because he ministered to the Southern Kingdom of Judah in the darkest days of
its national history, just before the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem and carried the people into
captivity. Habakkuk also was in Jerusalem at that time, so he too saw all that went on.
Little is known of Habakkuk himself. But we do know that his name means ‘embracer’ and that
he was likely to have written his book during the reign of the wicked king Jehoiakim who ruled
Judah from 609 - 598BC. As to the message of Habakkuk, it is unique in that it records a
conversation between the prophet and His Lord – God Almighty. Okay, it may start off quite
high on the gloomy scale (for difficult days ahead were foreseen by the prophet), but it concludes
with tremendous hope and expectation that fittingly backs up the central message of the text –
that “The just shall live by his faith”.
I.
The Prophets Perplexing Problem
a. Habakkuk was a prophet with a problem. Well, several problems. No, not
personal problems like you and I, but perplexing questions that required answers
from God.
b. As Habakkuk surveyed the world in which he lived, he saw unbelievable
injustice, violence and inequality that never seemed to be judged. And this ‘irked’
Habakkuk very much.
c. Why do You show us iniquity, and cause us to see trouble? This is an
excellent question. Why does God allow us to see iniquity and trouble, in our self
or in others?
d. Why does God allows us to see iniquity in our self.
1. To keep us humble
2. To make us submissive in the hour of trouble
3. To make us value salvation all the more
e. Why does God allows us to see iniquity in others.
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1. To show us what we might have been ourselves
2. To make us see the wickedness of sin, that we might pass by it and hate
it, and not indulge in it ourselves
3. To make us admire the grace of God when He saves sinners
4. To set us more earnestly to work that God can use us to save others and
extend God's kingdom. "Ah, my brethren, we need to know more of the
evil of men, to make us more earnest in seeking their salvation; for if there
be anything in which the Church is lacking more than in any other matter,
it is in the matter of earnestness." (Spurgeon)
f. Iniquity, trouble, plundering and violence, strife, contention, the law is
powerless, justice never goes forth, perverse judgment proceeds:
Habakkuk sees trouble and sin everywhere, from personal relationships to courts
of law. This distresses him so much that he cries out to God and asks God why He
doesn't set things straight.
g. Habakkuk deals with the questions that come up when someone really
believes God, yet looks around them and the world doesn't seem to match up with
how God wants it. Habakkuk sees it while especially remembering the prior times
of revival under King Josiah - and asks, "Lord, why are you allowing this?" This
prophecy deals with the problems created by faith; and with the Divine answers to
the questions which express those problems.
II. What troubles do we face?
a. While doing some yard work, the gnats were ferocious. They were so tiny,
and if there had been only a couple, they would have been no bother. But tiny
as they were, they bit. And when I brushed a couple away, dozens more took
their place.
b. Sometimes troubles in our life are like those gnats. Any one of them by itself
is no big deal: a rainy day when you wanted sun, trouble with the car, an
unkind word from a family member, a bad grade on your homework, being
scolded by your boss or your parents, a bounced check, a bruised knee, a sore
back, and the list goes on.
c. And yet, we have those times in life when these little troubles seem to swarm
around us like gnats, each one biting and irritating us a little bit more than the
last one. Finally we throw up our hands and say, “How long, O Lord?”
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d. Sometimes just one big trouble leads us to ask that: Losing your job, a
debilitating disease, death of a loved one, divorce, losing your home, to list a
few. “How long, O Lord, how long?”
e. Why does the prophet Habakkuk cry out those words? He sees violence and
injustice all around him. These people were supposed to be God's own special
nation. But false gods were worshiped at various shrines. The poor and needy
were taken advantage of. Immorality, fraud, adultery were the norm. The
more outrages someone's behavior was the more they bragged about it, not
much unlike the celebrity media of our day. “The wicked freely strut about
when what is vile is honored among men” (Psalm 12:8 NIV). “How long, O
Lord?”
f. Those who tried to do right were trampled down; those who did wrong
excelled. A believer in Habakkuk's day may well have felt like the Psalmist
Asaph, who wrote, “As for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost
my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the
wicked” (Psalm 73:2-3 NIV). Where was justice? It was paralyzed, unable to
act. Those who were to mete it out and protect the innocent were guilty of the
crimes they were to punish. Those with the right influence could get away
even with robbery, rape, and murder. “How long, O Lord, how long?”
g. The Lord's answer in two words, “Trust me.” In the face of troubles, we live
by faith. Whether those troubles are small but swarm us like gnats or large and
overwhelming, whether we're troubled by the violence of society or the
injustice of the wicked going unpunished, we live by faith.
h. This faith patiently trusts the Lord. And this faith counts on Jesus'
righteousness.
II.
Faith patiently trusts the Lord
a. What does Habakkuk teach us about the characteristics of faith?
b. First we see that his faith turns to the Lord and leans on him. He is troubled by
the violence and injustice around him. Instead of pitying himself or
complaining to others, he takes his troubles to the Lord. He prays, trusting the
Lord to answer. He calls out, “How long, O Lord.”
c. Faith leans on the Lord, relying on him in prayer. Faith trusts the Lord. Trust is
the heart of faith.
d. Now in the rest of chapter one, the Lord gives his answer. He will punish the
violence and injustice that the people of Judah were doing. He would use the
Babylonians to punish them. They would ruthlessly sweep across Judah,
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destroying the cities and deporting the people, scoffing at any attempts to
resist.
e. This answer raises another troubling question for Habakkuk. It seems that the
cure is worse than the disease. To paraphrase his second prayer: “O Lord, you
are everlasting. You carry out justice. You cannot stand evil. Why then do you
use these wicked Babylonians? They end up destroying people more righteous
than they are. They don't even recognize you as God but credit their success to
their own power. How can this go on?”
f. Then we come to the opening words of chapter two. “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 2:1 NIV). We learn a
second characteristic of faith. When faith trusts the Lord, faith listens for his
answer.
g. Habakkuk compares himself to a watchmen stationed on the ramparts. A
watchman pays close attention. He searches the horizon attentively. He is alert
for any sign of trouble or for the coming of a messenger. When the messenger
does arrive, he carefully listens. He needs to accurately remember what the
message is, so that he can relay it loud and clear to all who live in the city.
h. Faith listens like that watchmen. Faith searches the Scriptures, not as if it were
dry literature, but alert and attentive for the Scriptures are the word of life.
Faith carefully listens to God's message, remembers it, and shares it clearly
with others.
i. As you in faith pray to the Lord with your troubles, go to his Word for your
answer. But don't search the Scriptures in a superstitious way, looking for
answers that God has not promised to give. Don't search the Scriptures
expecting God to explain himself. He owes us no explanation. Don't search the
Scriptures expecting everything to be clear and better right away, like fast-food
service.
j.
For often God answers our prayers not by taking the trouble away, but through
his Word and sacraments he gives us the Holy Spirit to bear up underneath the
trouble. He strengthens us to trust in him all the more, to lean on him and not
our own understanding.
k. As we go through such times, though, we can't see the good at the end. We live
by faith. In fact, often what we see and feel argues that things aren't getting
better, that God has forgotten us. But we live by faith. We live by faith that- 1)
trusts in the Lord. We live by faith that- 2) listens to the Scriptures. We live by
faith that- 3) patiently waits. In the face of trouble we live by faith.
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