Title: When God Becomes Irrational
Bible Book: Habakkuk 1 : 1-5
Author: Michael Catt
Subject: America; Nation; Sin; Habbakkuk
Objective:
Introduction
In his book, Managing Turbulent Times, Peter Drucker warns of “the irregular, non-linear, erratic" times facing modern society. "A time of turbulence is a dangerous time, its greatest danger is a temptation to deny reality."
We are living in an age of shifting paradigms. Nothing is sacred. Values are crumbling. Morals are depleted. Lawlessness abounds. The economy is unstable. We face political unrest. The list goes on and on. Yet there is an incredible correlation between our times and the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.
The prophet Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah during the reigns of King Josiah and King Jehoiakim. His prophecy was written in 650 BC, just before the Babylonians (Chaldeans) were to become the undisputed power in the region. The kingdom was already divided. Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had already been taken captive, and captivity was just around the corner for Judah, the Southern Kingdom.
Though we classify Habakkuk as a Minor Prophet, there’s nothing minor about this book. Habakkuk brings a major message during a time when the world seemed to be coming apart and calamity was on the horizon.
The reign of Josiah was one of great peace and prosperity, and national pride swelled. Judah thought this era of “perfection” would last forever. It was a lot like America in the ‘80s, singing “We’re in the money! We’re in the money! We’ve got a lot of what it takes to get along.”
However, the nation owed its prosperity to God’s favor and grace on Josiah, but they refused to acknowledge the spiritual reasons for their blessings. Much like America today, we print “In God We Trust” on our money, but “In Greed We Trust” on our hearts. Judah thought they were God’s little sweethearts and never expected to face tribulation or turbulence of any kind, regardless of how they lived their lives.
Habakkuk had a problem. God was sending judgment to His own people through heathens. Following Josiah’s prosperous and peaceful reign, Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years. His reign brought disaster, disintegration, degradation, deterioration, and coming destruction. The signs were all around, but the nation refused to acknowledge the decline.
I. God Found the Nation Guilty of Six Specific Sins:
(These could be found in the headlines of any major newspaper today.)
A. PRIDE
"Furthermore, wine betrays the haughty man, so that he does not stay at home. He enlarges his appetite like Sheol, and he is like death, never satisfied. He also gathers to himself all nations and collects to himself all peoples. Will not all of these take up a taunt-song against him, even mockery {and} insinuations against him, and say, 'Woe to him who increases what is not his—for how long—and makes himself rich with loans?' Will not your creditors rise up suddenly, and those who collect from you awaken? Indeed, you will become plunder for them. Because you have looted many nations, all the remainder of the peoples will loot you—because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land, to the town and all its inhabitants.” (2:5-8)
B. GREED
“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to put his nest on high to be delivered from the hand of calamity! You have devised a shameful thing for your house by cutting off many peoples; so you are sinning against yourself. Surely the stone will cry out from the wall, and the rafter will answer it from the framework.” (2:9-11)
C. VIOLENCE
"Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and founds a town with violence! Is it not indeed from the Lord of hosts that peoples toil for fire, and nations grow weary for nothing? For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (2:12-14)
D. ALCOHOL
“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make
{them} drunk so as to look on their nakedness! You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your {own} nakedness. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace {will come} upon your glory.” (2:15-17)
E. PERVERSION
“Woe to you who make your neighbors drink, who mix in your venom even to make
{them} drunk so as to look on their nakedness! You will be filled with disgrace rather than honor. Now you yourself drink and expose your {own} nakedness. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you, and utter disgrace {will come} upon your glory.” (2:15-17)
F. IDOLATRY
"What profit is the idol when its maker has carved it, {or} an image, a teacher of falsehood? For {its} maker trusts in his {own} handiwork when he fashions speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a wood, 'Awake!' To a dumb stone, 'Arise!' that is {your} teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all inside it. (2:18, 19)
The Judean politicians, much like today’s politicians, predicted a quick end to the recession they faced. They wanted to focus on things like the environment, not on violence, lawlessness and injustices.
So God was sending Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans to wipe them out.
We, as Americans, take pride in our lawlessness, saying “Yes, we have our problems. But at least we aren’t like some of the nations.” Not one verse of Scripture speaks of American superiority in the last days! We are Christian in name only, much like Judah in the days of Habakkuk.
J. Greshem Machen noted, “America is running on the momentum of a godly ancestry. When that momentum goes, God help America."
Does anyone doubt we’re running on fumes? It’s all the more reason to be about the business God has called us to before our window of opportunity closes.
Habakkuk 1:1 says that the prophet saw an “oracle.” The word means “burden” and carries the image of being loaded down like a pack mule with idolatry and sin. God placed a word on Habakkuk’s heart that had to be accurately conveyed to others. “These are not my words, but words laid heavily on my heart by God.”
Habakkuk saw all the injustice, and it appeared the people were getting away with sin. Habakkuk questioned God about the situation: “Why aren’t you doing something about this?” But the answer God gave the prophet bothered him more than the sin he witnessed.
“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ yet You do not save. Why do You make me see iniquity, and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; strife exists and contention arises. Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.” (1:2-4)
Violence…iniquity…wickedness…destruction…strife…contention…the law is ignored…justice is never upheld. God, what’s going on? What’s the deal? The country was filled with dissension, strife, anarchy, and oppression. Judah was spiritually bankrupt and morally corrupt.
The prophet Jeremiah agonized: "Woe to him who builds his house without righteousness and his upper rooms without justice, who uses his neighbor's services without pay and does not give him his wages,” (22:13).
“Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?" (8:19)
“Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! . . . For all of them are adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongue {like} their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me," declares the Lord. . . . They weary themselves committing iniquity. . . . “Shall I not punish them for these things?" declares the Lord. On a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself? . . . I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant." (9:1-3, 5, 9, 11)
Habakkuk’s name means “to wrestle or embrace.” The prophet was wrestling with the issues and injustices of his day. He wrestled with serious problems and grappled with issues that still confront us today. G. Campbell Morgan said, “Men of faith are always men who have to confront problems.”
The opening verses of this book convey frustration and exasperation, along with Habakkuk’s honest searching and desire to understand. We can almost see him shouting in desperation at the top of his lungs, “God, I don’t understand; it looks like you don’t care. Get up and do something about all this!”
You’d think that after 2,500 years, we would have solved these problems by now. But, in fact, they just get worse. How could God use less than holy instruments to discipline and judge His people for their unholy actions?
Surrounded by immorality and injustice, Habakkuk would watch God use a nation immersed in even deeper immorality and injustice to execute judgment.
We understand that God is loving, just, righteous, and holy. What gives us problems is that the world is full of hate, injustice, evil, and immorality, and it seems God is inactive.
The issue Habakkuk faced—and we face—is trusting God when he seems to turn the tables on you.
II. The prophet had three problems with God:
A. He Accused God of Indifference (verse 2)
“It’s about time you got in shape, Lord. I’ve been asking—where’s the answer?” Habakkuk probably thought it would have been better if he hadn’t gotten an answer at all, rather than getting one he didn’t want or expect. Understanding doesn’t always bring immediate peace.
B. He Accused God of Inactivity (verses 2-4)
We are often confronted with the disturbing delays of Deity. It really shakes us when God seems inactive. Remember the disciples when Jesus was asleep in the boat? “Lord, don’t you care?”
C. He Accused God of Inconsistency (verses 5-11)
(c) Michael Catt, 2011
