Book: Habakkuk

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia continues a mini-series on Habakkuk, the prophet who asked the same question that Christians often ask during ongoing trials: “God, What Are You Doing?” Part 2 sees Pastor Dave examine the second step of rightly dealing with God’s difficult providence: Listening. In Habakkuk 2:1-20, Habakkuk gives three reasons for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and to wait faith-fully for his word’s fulfillment:

1. Yahweh’s Word Has Answers and Will Come to Pass (v. 1-3)
2. The Humble Righteous Will Live, But the Proud Wicked Will Die (v. 4-5)
3. The Proud Wicked Will Be Mocked in Perfect Justice (v. 6-20)

Full Transcript:

Let’s pray together. Great God in Heaven, You are the God who is alive, even the God who speaks and reveals Himself to us. Speak to us now from Your Word. Transform us by it. Encourage us by it. In Jesus’ name, amen.

One of the more memorable experiences of my life is when I first visited a Russian sauna—they call it the banya. Some of you may know my wife is part Russian, and her family enjoys going to the Russian sauna now and then. There are some in America, even in New Jersey. To picture this sauna, think of a large complex with various rooms, each featuring different temperatures and water experiences. In the sauna I visited, there was a room filled with warm steam, a room that was extremely hot, a room with a tepid pool, and even a space for plunging into an ice bath.

Apparently, the traditional Russian routine is to sit and sweat for about ten minutes in one of the really hot rooms, then jump immediately into the icy water bath for about ten seconds, and then relax in a lukewarm space until you’re ready to do it all again. Many people find this temperature-shocking experience enjoyable and therapeutic. I’ve even been told there are many health benefits. But since I had never experienced anything like that growing up, in my first visit I wanted to play it pretty conservative—maybe a little time in a not-so-hot room, and then the pool.

Well, one of my companions had different plans for me. I was in my swim clothes, not really sure what to do, so I followed his lead. He brought me into one of the hot rooms, then adjusted the stove to make it even hotter. This dimly lit room had tiered benches at different heights. He told me to lie down on one of the highest benches in the room, and remember, hot air rises. After I laid down, he brought out branches of oak leaves to massage my back. This is apparently another traditional part of the Russian experience, and while it was kind of him to volunteer to massage me. I don’t know if I’d call it a massage—it wasn’t quite a beating, but it was somewhere in between.

So there I was, in this stifling hot, dark room, on one of the highest levels, being semi-beaten with tree branches, and finding it a little difficult to breathe the scorching air. Two thoughts quickly came to mind. The first: “I think I’m going to die.” The second: “Just ten minutes. Just hold out for ten minutes.” As you can see, because I’m standing here, I did somehow make it through those ten minutes without dying. Then I was very grateful to go into one of the cooler rooms, and later, the pool. I have to admit, in the end it did feel pretty good. I felt refreshed—cleansed, even. But during those ten brutal minutes in that hot room, I wasn’t sure if I would make it or how I would go on.

All of this serves, I think, as an appropriate analogy for what we’ve been talking about lately. Life can sometimes feel like stepping into a super-hot sauna room. And like my guiding friend, God, according to the Scriptures, sometimes leads us into trials that are just like these rooms, as if we’re stepping into a stifling, dark place where we can barely breathe, and it seems like we’re just being beaten continually. But unlike my sauna experience, God does not specifically tell us why He’s brought us into the trial or how long it will last.

As Greg was saying, many of us have experienced, or are experiencing, painful long-term trials—very difficult providences of God—and our hearts are moved to ask the question: “God, what are You doing?” This is the question we’ve been looking at from the Book of Habakkuk. So please open your Bibles, and let’s hear more of the words of this prophet of God. Turn to Habakkuk, just a few books before Malachi at the end of the Old Testament.

Let me review some information we learned last time about the situation of Habakkuk the prophet. When Habakkuk writes, he’s most likely living in Judah around 608 B.C. Good King Josiah is dead, evil Jehoiakim is on the throne, and he’s leading Judah—God’s chosen people, the only remnant left at this point—into more and more corruption, violence, and sin. Habakkuk sees the situation and cries out to God, essentially asking, “God, what are You doing?” Habakkuk’s subsequent conversation with God constitutes the prophecy of this book and provides us with a holy model for dealing with that very question.

As I said last time, each chapter in the Book of Habakkuk represents a step in properly dealing with the mysterious and painful providence of God. We saw the first step in Habakkuk Chapter 1, and that step is questioning. It is natural to question—even to complain to God—when we encounter circumstances that seem to contradict His character and promises. We are to bring these questions and complaints to God, but in faith. This is what Habakkuk did.

In Habakkuk 1:2-4, Habakkuk presented God with the situation in Judah: the righteous are being oppressed, and the wicked are getting away with it. Habakkuk asks God why He isn’t doing anything. God graciously answers in Habakkuk 1:5-11, saying, “I am doing something you don’t expect. Though it may look like I don’t care and I’m not doing anything, I tell you I am working. I am raising up the wicked Babylonians to come and suddenly devastate the people of Judah.”

This answer from God only raises more questions for Habakkuk, who then asks, in Habakkuk 1:12-17, “God, how is what You are doing right? The Babylonians are more wicked and violent than we are. How can a holy and good God cause them to prosper and use them to chasten His own people? And God, will You really let them get away with all their brutality, their sin, their violence, their idolatry, their greed—if You won’t let us get away with it?” This is the first step of properly dealing with the painful providence of God: questioning God in faith.

But the second step is what we’ll look at today in Habakkuk chapter 2. You see that step in today’s message. The title of the message is, “God, What Are You Doing? Part 2.”

Listening. When you and I encounter hard circumstances that make no sense to us, we must not only bring our questions to God but also listen to Him via His sure Word. We can state the main idea of this next chapter in this way: In Habakkuk 2, verses 1 to 20, Habakkuk gives three reasons for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and to wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment. Notice “faithfully” is spelled a little differently there—you’ll see why later on. Now, like we did last time, we will examine these points as we read through different parts of the passage. This segment is even longer than last time, and we will begin with the first reason—to listen to and wait on God’s Word in verses 1 to 3. Look at Habakkuk chapter 2, verses 1 to 3:

I will stand at my guard post

And station myself on the watchtower;

And I will keep watch to see what He will say to me,

And how I may reply when I am reprimanded.

Then the LORD answered me and said,

“Write down the vision

And inscribe it clearly on tablets,

So that one who reads it may run.

“For the vision is yet for the appointed time;

It hurries toward the goal and it will not fail.

Though it delays, wait for it;

For it will certainly come, it will not delay.

The first reason for you, amid ongoing trials, to listen to God humbly and wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment is this: Yahweh’s Word has answers, and it will come to pass.

Notice in verse 1 that we get something like an interlude between chapters 1 and 2: A description of what Habakkuk does as he waits for God’s answer. Habakkuk determined, after apparently not receiving a response at the end of chapter 1, that he would station himself like a watchman on a high place, looking out to see when and how God’s next answer would arrive.

This description of Habakkuk as a watchman is surely metaphorical rather than literal. In fact, the picture of God’s prophets as lookouts or watchmen appears multiple times in the Bible. We see it in Isaiah 21 and, more famously, in Ezekiel 33. “Watchman” is an appropriate picture of a prophet of God, for a watchman looks out for the Word of God and, when that Word arrives, declares it to the people so that they may be encouraged, warned, helped, and saved. In a way, we Christians are like watchmen as well.

Notice in verse 1 that Habakkuk declares three times in those first three lines that he will keep watch for God. He expresses it in a few different ways, and the repetition shows not only his drive to receive an answer from God but also his confidence that God will indeed answer. Habakkuk knows—as we ought to know—that the answers to our most grievous and perplexing questions do exist. But where are those answers?

They are found in God. He is the one who knows. He is the one who has the answers. Many of those answers come to us directly via God’s revealed Word. He wrote the answers in the Bible. Habakkuk didn’t have all the Scriptures; he was looking for new prophecy. But for us, the prophecy is inscripturated in the words of this book. So if you crave answers—even to the most difficult questions of life—you must know that those answers are not ultimately found in the world or in the ideas of man. God has those answers, and He put them in His Word. Maybe not all the answers you want, perhaps not the answer to everything, but all the answers you need—sufficient answers. Whatever is not found in this book will be answered by God one day in another way, either in the unfolding of further providence in His actions in the world, or when you see Him face to face.

Notice the last line of verse 1 in this chapter. Habakkuk not only watches for God’s answer but also for His reproof. He says, “I want to see how I may reply when I am reproved.” What is Habakkuk acknowledging about himself with this statement? He recognizes that his thinking must be off in some way. Even as he complains to God, he understands that his understanding is incomplete. He doesn’t fully know the circumstances or the reasons; he needs God to show him where he is wrong.

This last line of Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 1 helps inform how we are to understand Habakkuk’s questions from chapter 1—his complaints to God. If you think about the term complaint, we normally consider complaining as sinful. Habakkuk’s complaints to God may have seemed out of line, rude, or impudent—how dare you say that to a holy God? Yet, as we see here in chapter 2, his questions were spoken in humility. There was boldness, but also humility and confidence that God does have the answer for even what seems impossible to explain.

We need this same attitude when we come to question or bring our complaints to God. We must say, “God, I don’t understand. It really looks like You are violating Your own character, breaking Your promises with what I see happening in my life and in the world, but I know that cannot be true. There must be something wrong in my thinking. So show me, God, please, where I am wrong. Teach me from Your sufficient Word so that I may get back on track with my thinking and properly continue in fellowship with You.”

Now, we don’t know how long Habakkuk waited for a new word from God, but he was right—God would, and did, answer him. Looking at verse 2, we encounter a formulaic phrase that we didn’t see in chapter 1. Habakkuk’s viewpoint becomes more ordered now that he turns purposefully to listen to God. Notice verse 2: God’s answer is introduced with the phrase, “the Lord answered me and said.” As a reminder, when you see “the LORD” in capital letters in your Bible, it communicates the name Yahweh—the covenant name of God in Hebrew. It sounds like the Hebrew for “He is.” This intimate name emphasizes God’s self-sufficiency, eternality, and faithfulness to Israel. This covenant-keeping God was not going to leave His prophet derelict. Yahweh gave Habakkuk an answer, and that answer was not only for Habakkuk.

In verse 2, God commands Habakkuk to record the vision on tablets for others, so that the one who reads it—or, as some translate it, the one who proclaims it—may run. These are interesting words. First, note the plural “tablets.” That seems odd since Habakkuk’s revelation is not very long. Do you really need multiple tablets to write this all down? And what is meant by “reading” and “running”?

The traditional explanation is that God wanted Habakkuk to write the vision on multiple tablets in big Hebrew letters so that Habakkuk could post these tablets like a billboard in Judah, and those running by could read it and know the Word of Yahweh. That’s a possible explanation. Another explanation is more likely. The reference to tablets alludes to the famous tablets of Moses—the Law and the Ten Commandments. It is not that Habakkuk’s prophecy requires all the space of multiple tablets, but rather that his message is as important as that original message given on tablets. God is essentially saying, “Break out a new set of tablets, Habakkuk, because My answer is so important for You and for all My people to know.” As for “running,” it may not be literal running at all but rather an allusion to the proclamation ministry of the prophets. There are at least two other places in the Old Testament where God describes those receiving and proclaiming new revelation from Him as “running” (see Jeremiah 23:21 and Zechariah 2:4). Prophets run—that is, they proclaim. God’s messengers run and proclaim. In summary, God would be saying to Habbakuk to write down a message that others will be able to read and proclaim. And what do you know, that’s what we are doing today, is it not?

Now, in verse 3 God supplies a reason why His message to Habakkuk must be proclaimed. It reveals the fulfillment of certain promises at an appointed time—not too early, not too late, but exactly when God deems it should happen. In fact, God says the vision “hastens toward the goal.” It is eager to be fulfilled. It pants like a runner straining toward the finish line. God says this revelation about the future will not fail, literally it will not lie. You can trust this vision. It is real, despite whatever you eyes see in the world. Even if the vision seems to tarry or delay, God commands His people to wait for it. Don’t give up, don’t despair. Wait for my declared vision. Why? The last line of verse 3, very emphatic in the Hebrew: It will certainly come. It will not delay, God says. Wait, didn’t God just say it might tarry. Isn’t God contradicting Himself? Not at all. From our perspective, it might look as if the vision is tarrying, but from God’s perspective, never. His Word will be fulfilled at just the right time. In a sense, God is eager for it to be fulfilled, but only at the right time, for His glory and for the good of His people.

Thus, we must listen to and wait upon God amid our trials, because His Word has answers and will come to pass. This is a great principle for heeding the Bible in general. But what is the specific vision that God declares to Habakkuk in this chapter—a vision that will surely arrive at the appointed time? We find out when we read verses 4 and 5, the central component of God’s new revelation to Habakkuk. Let’s read verse 4 first:

“Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith.”

Verse 4 may sound very familiar because it is quoted three times in the New Testament. The verse does not declare something unknown before in the Old Testament; rather, it succinctly summarizes Old Testament teaching on righteousness and faith, applying those truths powerfully to Habakkuk’s day and to all days since. This revelation in verses 4 and 5 is our second reason, amid trial, to listen humbly to God and wait faithfully for His Word’s fulfillment: the humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die.

Notice the beginning of verse 4. God begins the vision appropriately with the word “Behold.” It is a vision after all—behold, look, see it yourself. Look at what? Behold whom? Behold the proud one, God says: literally the bloated one, puffed-up one, one who is full of himself and his achievements. What should we notice about this one? God says his soul is not right within him. His soul is neither straight nor upright, and it does not please God. It doesn’t matter what he has accomplished on the outside. God does not approve of him on the inside. A proud soul is never right before God.

By contrast, God commands us to behold someone else—the righteous one (or the just, or even the justified one). In Hebrew, to be righteous means to be recognized as approved according to some standard. On one hand, it has the nuance of practical goodness and justice—you do what God prescribes (as seen in the Psalms). The Psalmist says, I am righteous because I do what God says. On the other hand, it carries the nuance of approved status regardless of what you have actually done, being legally pronounced in the right or blameless. We see this usage, for example, in the book of Job. Job wants to prove he was not guilty. Both nuances of righteous are emphasized in the Old Testament in different places, but what is the emphasis of the righteous here? In what sense are we to behold this righteous person? Is it legal righteousness, declared righteousness, or is it practical righteousness – what you’ve actually done? There is some connection between legal and practical righteousness.

The context here indicates that the emphasis is on legal righteousness, the declared approval of God. After all, the beginning of verse 4 clearly moves us away from any idea of performance, because the proud one is the one who thinks he can perform and achieve on his own. Moreover, the judgement of God about this proud one’s soul is that it is not right within him. That is a statement of divine disapproval. Then we have this contrast set up in verse four. If God is disapproving this proud one, then it makes sense that when he talks about this other one it is the one who is approved, the one who is righteous, the one who is justified.

Now if we are to behold the disapproved one characterized by pride, by what is the approved one characterized? God goes on to say, the righteous one will live by his faith. Now let’s talk about that term translated faith for a second. It might get a little technical, but follow me. The Hebrew word for faith here is “emuna”. Actually the root letters are the same as in English where we get the root word “amen”. The primary sense of emuna is trustworthiness, steadfastness, reliability, which is why your Bible might have a note that an alternate translation of the word here could be faithfulness. The righteous will live by his faithfulness. This sense of faithfulness is actually used all over the Bible, even that famous line from Lamentations – the Lord’s mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness – it’s this word, emuna.

Perhaps you are wondering why is emuna translated faith here in Habbakuk 2:4 if the primary meaning of the word is faithfulness? This is because emuna, when applied to man, can also carry with it the idea of belief. This is where an important parallel passage will help us – Genesis 15:6. I’d like you to turn there. The context is actually very similar to Habbakuk 2:4. If you remember the context of this verse, in Genesis 15, God has just promised again to bless Abram and to make Abram’s name great. Yet Abram protests[20:15] that God has not given Abram an heir. There’s no child, so how can God’s promises about a great and lasting name for Abram come to pass? How can I be blessed if I don’t have an heir?

God then tells Abram to go outside and count the stars if he can, saying, “So shall your descendants be.” With no change of circumstances and only the Word of God to go on, Genesis 15:6 records,

“Then he believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.”

This passage is famous and beloved among many of us because it clearly presents justification by faith alone. God reckons or account Abram righteous apart from any good works. Abram simply believed God, and that simple belief resulted in God’s full approval—he was counted righteous.

You might ask, what does this have to do with faithfulness? The term “faithfulness” is linked to the Hebrew verb “aman”—Abram aman’d (or believed, trusted, had faith in) God, and God reckoned that faith as righteousness. But aman is a verb, what would the noun form of that Hebrew verb be that would logically stand in for the “it” in this verse? What is the Hebrew noun form of the verb aman that would be translated faith, the thing accounted to Abram as righteousness? It’s the word “emuna”, the same word from our passage in Habakkuk 2:4. The word “emunah” is the noun form of the Hebrew verb aman, meaning here to believe.

So what does all this mean? Just as the word faith is in the word faithfulness, so the idea of faith is implicit in the Hebrew word for faithfulness. Hebrew doesn’t actually have a word for faith like Greek does. Therefore, in Habbakuk 2:4, it uses the word emuna. Emuna contains the word faith as a proper translation. But it does also contain the idea of faithfulness, and this give a nuance to faith as translated in Habbakuk 2:4. This kind of faith is a perseverance faith. One does not have emuna one day and no emuna the next. As one commentator puts it, emuna is steadfast trust. It is a faith that lasts. It is a faith that perseveres.

So let’s go back to Habakkuk 2:4 now. We can complete the idea of this verse. God wants Habakkuk, and you, and me, to behold two very different kind of people in the world. We have the proud one, whose soul is not right, and is rejected by God as disapproved. And then we have the righteous one, who is approved by God. What characterizes the approved one, the justified one? The answer is faithful faith, perseverant faith, steadfast trust. And what will be the outcome for this faith-filled person? God says here in Habakkuk 2:4, he will live. That one will live. Live how? In what sense will he live? When we talk about life and guarantees of life in the Old Testament, certainly there is temporal life in view. God will spare this approved one when his judgment comes, even the judgment of Babylon. And there’s also spiritual life. The one who is approved by God in this way is a person who gets to experience fellowship with God, experience deliverance from sin’s grip, and knows the joy of walking with the Lord. And then there is eternal life. The one approved by God is the one who experiences joyous life beyond this one, in the world to come, in the Lord’s new kingdom, which is only righteous, and which will never end. The Old Testament often leaves open-ended the life promised to the righteous, but it surely contains each of these aspects, as the New Testament also affirms. You’ll find life now, and you will find life forever.

This is really the core truth that God gives to Habakkuk, the core aspect of the new vision. God says the righteous one, the approved one before me, is the one who will truly live. He is the one with perseverant faith. And can you see how such a message would have been so relevant for Habakkuk, and for the godly ones who are suffering during his day, and really for all believers since. God essentially declares to them and to us, I know you have many questions about your hard circumstances, circumstances which I acknowledge are from me. I brought these things about. And I do answer some of your questions in my Word. Listen to my word, but for those other questions, the things I do not specifically answer, you must remember this fundamental truth as the ultimate answer. That is, the righteous will live by perseverant faith.

Therefore, humble yourself, God says. Trust me. Keep seeking me amid the difficulties and unanswered questions of life, and I promise you, you will experience life. You will experience true life both now and forever, if you will live by perseverant faith. And brethren, isn’t this the essence of the gospel, the good news from the apostles and from our Lord. It is no wonder then that Paul quotes Habakkuk 2:4 in his teaching about the gospel in Romans 1:17 and Galatians 3:11. You want to hear the gospel summarized? It’s already been summarized here in Habakkuk 2:4. And it’s also no wonder then that the writer of Hebrews quotes Habakkuk 2:3-4 when exhorting first century believers who were going through very hard circumstances to persevere in faith and to wait for Christ’s reward. Habakkuk already declared the truth that they needed and that we need.

So what about us this morning, brothers and sisters, when it comes to applying this truth? What have you been crying out to God for so long without seeing Him answer? Some good thing, some right thing, even something He’s promised but you don’t see an answer. Do you still wonder, even the answers you do see, how God can use those as answers and still be right? Though God does provide some specific explanations in His Word about why He gives us hard circumstances, we know it’s for our good, we know it’s for our sanctification, we know He’s building us endurance, the ultimate answer for you and for me, for all of those things, is the same as we just read. The righteous will live by faith. So are you willing to embrace and embody that truth? Are you willing to humble yourself before the Lord, listen to Him, obey Him, and wait for the fulfillment of His Word? His sure Word, it will be fulfilled, but you must wait.

This is the only way to life. There is no other answer ultimately besides this one. And if you will not accept this answer, if you say, that’s not good enough, if you instead puff yourself up in pride and even resent God, well then you must know that you are under God’s disapproval, and the end of that way is death. God has already stated as much implicitly in the beginning of verse 4, but we can now go to the next verse in verse 5, look at Habakkuk 2:5:

“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.”

This is interesting. What is God declaring here? That for the proud person, even the proud ruler or the proud nation, all of their efforts to find life will be in vain. Instead, their lives will be characterized by death. They may succeed for a while, though even a nation like Babylon might seem to collect all nations. The party will not last, and it will not satisfy. Wine and sensual indulgence, they will never fulfill. The proud will never find the peace that just lets them rest at home. Like death in the grave, they will have appetites with no bottom, so that even when from others’ perspectives they have everything one could ever want, they will still feel like it’s not enough.

I mean, after all, think of the great dictator conquerors of history. For a moment, they seemed unstoppable, like they had it all. But it was never enough, and it didn’t last. Their lives were characterized by death, and then they died. This was no accident. This was the hand of God. This was the word of God finding its fulfillment. Just as he promises that the righteous will see life, God promises that the proud wicked will see death in all its forms – temporal, spiritual, eternal. Certainly, then, we have all the more reason, amid ongoing trials, to listen humbly to God and wait faithfully for his word’s fulfillment. The humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die.

However, even though we’ve already seen the core and most important part of God’s revelation to Habakkuk, God adds another part, a series of woes on the proud that serves to underscore the truth that God has just declared. Look at the beginning part of verse 6, first half of it:

“Will all of these not take up a song of ridicule against him,

Even a mockery and insinuations against him…”

I’ll just stop there. Who are the these here in verse 6? Well, they are the peoples and the nations that the wicked and proud oppress. God says that these, understand, be sure, these will raise taunts, mockery, and insinuations. They will quote proverbs. They will propound riddles against the proud wicked ones. You’ve heard of the song, We Will Rock You? Well, God says the victims of the wicked can confidently sing to their oppressors, we will mock you. The third and last reason in our passage for us to listen humbly to God and to wait faithfully for his word’s fulfillment is here, number 3, the proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice. The proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice.

I think we might think of mocking as an unholy activity, and certainly in most cases it is, but even God mocks the wicked. And there will be a sense that God’s people will righteously mock the wicked one day as well. What follows in the rest of our chapter is a series of these mockings, five woes, pronouncements of mocking doom. Most of these woes all begin with the same word, woe, which can also be translated ah, or aha, or even ha. And I think it’s that sense of ha that is most appropriate here because, again, the context is mocking. God is going to bring about justice in such an appropriate and perfect way that the former victims will laugh in mockery. That is exactly what you deserve.

Now, at whom specifically will these mocking words of woe be directed? Well, certainly because of what we’ve already seen in Habakkuk chapter 1, we know that Babylon is in view. They are the proud wicked about whom Habakkuk was particularly concerned. God, how is it right that you’re using Babylon? Are you really going to let them get away with it? God says, look at what I’m declaring. Babylon will not get away with it. Yet notice, if you just glance down in the rest of chapter 2, you don’t see the terms Chaldea or Babylon anywhere mentioned. This is not to say that Judah’s soon-to-be conquerors are not in view, but that they are not the only ones in view. This is an appropriate place for us to quote that common saying – if the shoe fits, wear it. These words of woe, they will come upon all to whom they appropriately describe, whether it’s Babylon or Greece or Rome or every ancient and modern state that uses violence and evil against others for its own profit. And not just nations, but also rulers and even individuals who fit what these woes describe.

The woes of this passage, of course, culminate on the final human kingdom that will dominate this world before Christ’s return. The final Babylon, the kingdom of Antichrist. There is an eschatological aspect to these words. God promises, as an assurance to Habakkuk and to all those who continually witness the powerful wicked oppressing the powerless righteous, that perfect justice is coming. God will make things right. Meanwhile, though, God’s people must wait and persevere in faith.

Now, for the sake of time, we will only briefly consider these woes. We’ll read each one, I’ll summarize it, and then make a few comments. The first woe appears in verses 6 to 8, starting in the second half of verse 6. God says,

“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 rest of the peoples will loot you—

Because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land,

To the town and all its inhabitants.”

This is the first woe. I’ll list it as a sub-point for our sermon outline. Point 3a, the plunderers will be plundered. Notice the metaphor God uses here. God says, The wicked’s plundering is like taking loans out from people. They’re really borrowing what doesn’t belong to them. And eventually, God will make sure that those loans come due, and that those borrowed from get paid back with interest. The wicked may live a high life for a moment, but one of the last lines of verse 6 asks tauntingly – for how long? Oh, yeah, you’re doing well now, but for how long? God will not forget the bloody pillaging of Babylon or any other power, any other wicked person. The debt will come due.

The second woe appears in verses 9 to 11:

“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.”

Here’s the second woe, point 3b – the ransacked built house will fall. Notice how God describes here, the wicked taking from others to build for themselves exalted and protected houses like a nest built on high. And there probably is a double meaning of the term house here. You know, throughout the Old Testament, house can mean both a building and a dynasty, a family. Rulers are very concerned about their house. But God points out the irony of the activity of these proud wicked ones in building their houses and shoring up, lifting up their houses this way. They actually sin against themselves and bring shame upon themselves. For the very stones and beams of their houses will cry out against the wicked ones when those houses start to collapse. In stealing from others to build a protected house, they guaranteed their house’s destruction. For God will see to it.

The third woe appears in verses 12 to 14:

“Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed

and founds a town with violence.

Is it not indeed from Yahweh of hosts

that peoples toil for fire,

and the nations grow weary for nothing?

For the earth will be filled

with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh,

as the waters cover the sea.”

Here’s the third woe, 3C, the blood-built city will burn. There’s perhaps an illusion here to the city and tower of Babel, the original Babylon. Remember, according to Genesis, those people were working hard to build a great city for themselves, to exalt their own name, perhaps even resorting to bloodshed and violence to do so. Yet God promises that the wicked ones who look to build a city in this way, they toil in vain. They work for fire. Their cities will burn and come to nothing. They will have nothing to show for it in the end. Despite man’s great efforts to establish his own glory, it is only Yahweh’s works that will be established forever, and He has determined the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of Yahweh. Now that is a beautiful promise. We don’t have full time to explore it, but that’s certainly a promise that has not yet been fulfilled. We do not yet see the world deluged with the knowledge of the glory of God. But you know what? One day we will. God says, wait for it.

The fourth woe appears in verses 15 to 17:

“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 Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you,

and utter disgrace will come upon your glory.

For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,

and the devastation of its beasts by which you terrified them,

because of human bloodshed and violence done to the land,

to the town and all its inhabitants.”

The fourth woe is 3D – the shameless will be shamed. The metaphor in this woe is one of debasement through drunkenness. The wicked are like those slipping something secretly into a drink so that they can intoxicate, humiliate, and abuse others. But God says, I see what you’re doing, and you know what? Your turn is coming. The cup will come back around to you, and you will be the one who is humiliated and abused. And this woe appears to specifically call out Babylon for the violence that it would do to the land, the people, and even the animals of Lebanon. Now, Lebanon is spoken throughout the Bible as a place of lushness, of beauty, of great and majestic trees, but Lebanon is not like that today. Most of the trees of Lebanon are long gone. God declares that he would remember those who shamefully devastated others, and He would recompense them accordingly.

The final woe appears in verses 18 to 20, and it opens a little bit differently. Look there:

“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 piece of wood, ‘Awake!’

To a mute stone, ‘Arise!’

And that is your teacher?

Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,

and there is no breath at all inside it.

But Yahweh is in His holy temple.

Let all the earth be silent before Him.”

This last woe is 3E – The idol worshipers will prove powerless. This woe’s final position in the list and its atypical opening give it extra emphasis, perhaps because idolatry is the root of all wickedness, even the great wickedness of the powerful nations of the earth. And ironically so, that idolatry should be so central, because as these verses point out, the wicked trust in what they worship, whether it’s a physical idol or it’s an idol of their own imagination and heart. The wicked trust in what they worship to help them, to save them, to teach them, to satisfy them, when the idols actually have no breath and can say and do nothing. People rely on their idols so much, but they’re just empty statues. They may look impressive with adornments, but they are empty inside. How silly to call on it to awake and teach you.

In contrast, we see verse 20. Yahweh, the true God, the living God, He is in His temple. And though the wicked beg idols to speak, but the false gods cannot, the true God does speak. And He speaks through His prophet, even Habakkuk here, and He demands that the earth hush and listen. That’s what the term here actually literally means when it says, let it be silent, hush. It’s a command. Hush and listen to the God who speaks. Thus we see the chapter ends like it began, with a call to listen and wait humbly in faith on the Lord and His word.

So the question now is, is that what you will do? Is that what we will do as a church? God did give an answer to Habakkuk’s painful second question, but notice it wasn’t exactly an answer that matched Habakkuk’s question. Habakkuk asks at the end of chapter one, God, how is what You are doing right? And God did not exactly explain. He didn’t say, oh, listen Habakkuk, this is why I can use Babylon. This is how it all works. No, God’s response, it was an answer, but not the exact one that Habakkuk was looking for. God’s answer was essentially, trust My word, trust My perfect justice, and live by faith. God doesn’t have to justify or explain all His ways to us. He is God and we are not. The way to life is to trust Him. So are we willing to do that? Are you willing to do that? Are you willing to humble yourself before the Lord, position yourself like a watchman who is just waiting for His word, and then persevere by faith and obedience with the word that He’s given you?

God has given us via His prophet Habakkuk three reasons to do all of this. We saw them today. Number one, Yahweh’s word has answers and they will come to pass. Number two, the humble righteous will live, but the proud wicked will die. Number three, the proud wicked will be mocked in perfect justice. So you must choose today. Will you be humble or proud before the Lord? Do you want life or do you want death? Isn’t that just like the original tablets? Moses said the same thing to Israel and he also exhorted, as I do today, choose life. Why will you die?

This passage is another presentation in celebration of the gospel. If you will humble yourself before the Lord, then you will not die. You will escape the judgment of God that is due you for your sin. So as Jesus says in the New Testament, even if you die in this world, you will live because, when you have the Lord Jesus as your saving substitute and you believe in Him by faith, you are pronounced approved. You can escape death. You can escape the judgment of God if you will humble yourself before the Lord and live in persevering faith. So do that and let’s do that together. Let’s encourage one another to do that together. Listen, wait, and trust.

The ultimate outcome of all this is not merely obedience. It’s actually worship. When we do all this, it will lead to our worship. And that’s exactly what it leads Habakkuk to do. We’ll see that next time we’re in Habakkuk in chapter three.

Let’s close in prayer. Lord God, it’s interesting to consider this word with the background of Ecclesiastes that we studied recently. The message is really the same. God, we will not understand the answers to so many things in life, but we will understand this, that You are a righteous and good God and You will judge justly in the end. You don’t have to give us all the answers now. In fact, You’ve designed that we will not have all the answers so that we will be humbled before you and learn to fear You with that holy, righteous fear and affection which we ought to have. And Lord, You have shown in the scriptures again and again that You are a God who proves Himself righteous when Your answers are revealed. People of Israel, they wandered through the wilderness. They said, God, how is this going to work? How is this going to work? God, how is this right what You’re doing? You said, just wait for it. I’m going to provide. And You proved it. And Lord, of course, the greatest question that so many in the Old Testament had was, God, how can You, a just God, justify the wicked, even Your people in Israel? We aren’t good. How can You pronounce us good? How can a just God do that? You said, wait for it. My answer is coming. And then, Lord, You gave us the answer, which is Your Son coming into the world. And the just dying in the place of the unjust so that, Lord Jesus, You could give us Your righteousness and pay once and for all our sin. Lord, no one could have expected that answer, even though You were foreshadowing it again and again. And what a beautiful, what a glorious answer it was and is. And there are yet, Lord, questions that we know will have an answer like that when we consider the injustice in the world today or the difficulties of our lives. And we say, God, how long? God, how is this right? God, what are You doing? We know because of what You revealed in Jesus Christ and because of what You revealed throughout the scriptures that the answer in the end will be glorious. So help us to wait in faith. Help us to encourage one another during those times in the darkness and in the heat and in the pain. You are doing something good, God. We can persevere by faith. By Your spirit, we will do this. In Jesus’ name, amen.

In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia begins a mini-series on Habakkuk, the prophet who asked the same question that Christians often ask during ongoing trials: “God, What Are You Doing?” Part 1 sees Pastor Dave introduce the book of Habakkuk and examine the first step of rightly dealing with God’s difficult providence: Questioning. In Habakkuk 1:1-17, Habakkuk teaches you that, amid ongoing trials, God is working something good, but you will still have unanswered questions. Habakkuk’s teaching follows a question and answer format with God:

Question 1: God, Why Aren’t You Doing Anything? (vv. 2-4)
Answer 1: I Am Doing Something You Don’t Expect (vv. 5-11)
Question 2: God, How Is What You Are Doing Right? (vv. 12-17)

Full Transcript:

We’re embarking on a short book study today. This book has been on my heart, ministering to me, and I believe it’s very relevant for our time.

Let’s ask for the Lord’s blessing as we hear from His Word. Lord, speak to us now. You are the great God, and we are Your people. Transform us by Your Word, we pray. Amen.

There’s something inherently exciting about the start of a new year. A new year represents new hope and new possibilities. We look back at the previous year and all its problems and difficulties, and we think, surely the next year will be different. And we can think this way about our national circumstances. Surely this is the year that the pandemic will end, and life will get back to normal. This is the year that extreme political rhetoric will finally settle down. This is the year that Roe versus Wade will be overturned. We can also think this way about our personal circumstances. This is the year that I meet the One and get married. This is the year that we finally buy a house. This is the year that my lost family member will get saved.

Our hope for these changed circumstances can be very motivating. If we feel that the world is about to change for the better, then that motivates us to be better too. New year, new me. I will trust and obey God this year. I will live in a disciplined way for the Lord this year.

And sometimes our hopes for the new year do come to quick fruition, and that is a very joyful thing. The thing we hope for, it comes to pass. But many times, as January progresses into February, and February progresses into March, we discover that what we hoped for, what we hoped would change in the new year, doesn’t look like it’s changing at all. Corruption and injustice, they turn out to remain the same problems in our country that they were. Or your estranged spouse still won’t forgive and reconcile with you. Or there still aren’t enough volunteers for nursery. It’s like you’re looking at a fresh winter snowfall, which you thought would melt and reveal a clean, brand new world. But instead, when the snow melted, it revealed the same old world, just with more mud.

How do we respond? When you’ve already waited so long for circumstances to change, and you think surely now is the time that the light will give way to darkness, surely now is the time that God will act and bring deliverance, but then He doesn’t. What do you do? All too easily, in such a situation, the human heart gives way to anger and hopelessness. What’s the point of continuing on in obedience if nothing ever changes? What’s the point of praying? What’s the point of trusting God if God’s just not going to do anything? At the very least, when we feel like God needs to act, but we don’t see Him doing it, our hearts cannot help but ask God – God, what are You doing?

Is your heart asking God that question about some matter in your life this morning? God, what are You doing? You’ve heard my prayers. You see my life. You know how zealous I’ve been for you. So why is there still no deliverance? God, have You forgotten me? What are You doing?

Well, we aren’t the first to ask such questions of God. Many of God’s people in the past have asked him the same. In fact, some of their own wrestling with the hard and mysterious providences of God have been written down for us in the Scriptures for our instruction and encouragement. And one of the clearest examples of this holy wrestling is the prophet Habakkuk. That’s where I’d like us to turn this morning. Please open your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. Or if you like, Habakuk or Habakook or even I’ve heard Habakake. I’m not sure how that one gets on there. I’m going to say Habakkuk, but whatever floats your boat.

Habakkuk is one of the last books of the Old Testament, just a few books before Malachi. He’s one of the 12 minor prophets. A minor prophet, not because he’s unimportant or his message is unimportant, but because compared to some of the major prophets like Isaiah or Ezekiel, his book is much shorter, just three chapters. But there’s a great message in this little book of Habakkuk. These three chapters outline the process of properly responding to the difficult providence of God. You see, Habakkuk also asked the question, God, what are you doing? And our God graciously leads Habakkuk through the steps of dealing with that question in the way that he should and the way that we should.

What are those steps in dealing with the question, God what are You doing? Well, there’s one step for each chapter of Habakkuk. And spoiler alert, I’ll give them to you right now. Step one is chapter one, questioning. Step two is chapter two, listening. And step three is chapter three, worshiping. When we face circumstances we don’t understand and that seem even to contradict God’s own character and promises, we can and must respond rightly before God. And we can find hope and joy again if we follow this process – questioning, listening, and then worshiping. My plan is to spend one week looking at each one of these chapters, each one of these steps.

And today we’re looking at the first – God what are You doing, part one: questioning. And since I’m looking at a larger passage than usual today, I’m not going to read the whole text in advance. But we will read through it as we go through the individual points of this chapter. But as you are hopefully turned to the book of Habakkuk and as you glance at chapter one, I do want to point out a few unique features of this text before we read it.

Habakkuk does not start as most of the other prophets do, with some powerful declaration from God or some report about how the prophet was called to be God’s spokesman. Rather, our passage begins with a prayer, the prophet himself proclaiming his trouble to God. The passage then proceeds as a conversation with Habakkuk asking God questions and God providing certain answers. Specifically, after an introductory line in verse 1 of our chapter, what we see in the rest of the chapter is a question followed by an answer, followed by another question. There is a longer answer to Habakkuk’s second question. God gives a second answer, that comes in chapter two.

Now you’ll also notice when you read the text that there are no formulaic phrases dividing the dialogue between God and His prophet in this chapter. There’s no, “the word of Yahweh came to me and I said”, or “I prayed thus to the Lord in my spirit”, or “the Lord answered me and said”. We don’t see those phrases. Rather, we just have to pay attention to the shifts and addresses or subject to know who is speaking when. So this passage, it represents a surprisingly intimate conversation between God and His faithful prophet. This conversation is passed onto us as important and instructive prophetic revelation.

Now though the conversation does extend into chapter two, I do think that chapter one does functions as its own unit, and here’s its main idea. Habakkuk 1:1-17, Habakkuk teaches you that amid ongoing trials, God is working something good, but you will still have unanswered questions. That’s the idea here. Amid ongoing trials, know that God is working something good, but you will still have unanswered questions. Let’s look at how this truth, this idea develops, starting with the introductory line of our text. Look at verse 1,

The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Notice the word oracle here. This is an utterance or a pronouncement from God Himself given to Habakkuk to be passed on to the people of Judah. Interestingly, the Hebrew word for oracle literally means burden. When you think of a burden, you probably think of something heavy, something weighty, something that weighs on you even. And there’s something burden-like about this prophetic word for Habakkuk.

How exactly? Well, it is the very word of God, which is always weighty, always demanding your attention. Moreover, Habakkuk as God’s prophet is obligated to give this word whether Habakkuk likes it or not. It is his burden. Additionally, the oracle contains announcements of severe judgment, which is a heavy subject. But also, the message has to do with a matter very distressing to Habakkuk’s heart. In many ways, then, this message is truly a burden for him, but we need to hear it.

Now, you see the name Habakkuk in verse one. The book identifies for us the author and tells us that he is a prophet. But who was Habakkuk? Well, he’s actually one of the more mysterious persons in the Bible. There’s almost no information about him in the Old Testament, or basically none outside this book. Like John the Baptist, Habakkuk appears as a mere voice crying in the wilderness on behalf of God. However, from the clues in the book regarding certain historical circumstances, we can pretty confidently infer that Habakkuk was a prophet of Judah ministering during the reign of Jehoiakim around 608 BC.

Now, to remind you or to inform you of what that means, what was going on at that time, know that in the late 700s going into the 600s BC, Assyria is the dominant power in the Middle East. The northern kingdom of Israel has already been shattered, already been destroyed and taken into exile for its sin. But Judah, the southern kingdom, is sliding more and more into evil corruption. Good King Hezekiah had tried to turn Judah around, but he was followed by King Manasseh, who reigned more than 50 years and was one of the most wicked kings that Judah ever had, and he led Judah into much evil and idolatry.

Josiah soon followed Manasseh. Josiah was the last good king in Judah. Josiah tried tirelessly to reform Judah, to stamp out idolatry, restore true obedience and worship according to God’s word, His Torah, His instruction, but Josiah died in a battle against Pharaoh Necho around 610 BC. Then when Egypt installed Josiah’s son, Jehoiakim, to reign over Judah, Jehoiakim turned away from following his father’s example, and he returned Judah to pursuing evil. 2 Kings 23.37 says,

He did evil in the sight of Yahweh, according to all that his fathers had done.

Jeremiah adds a specific indictment of Jehoiakim in Jeremiah 22:13-17. I’ll just paraphrase it for the sake of time. He indicts Jehoiakim for neglecting justice, pursuing dishonest gain, and shedding innocent blood, all the while obsessing over building a great palace for himself. Jehoiakim would eventually preside over Judah’s first defeat against Babylon in 605 BC, which was also the first phase of Judah’s exile, in which the best and brightest of Judah were carried away captive to Babylon, including Daniel and his friends. So this is where we are in history. Though Habakkuk probably was alive during some of Josiah’s reign, Habakkuk’s prophecy probably only appears after Josiah, between 610 and 605 BC, when Judah has slid back into evil under Jehoiakim, but before Babylon has solidified itself as the new power of the Middle East. So here’s the background information and introductory information.

But now let’s move into the prophecy proper. We look at the first burdensome question of Habakkuk to God. This is in verses 2 to 4. Let’s read those now.

How long, O Lord (or that is, O Yahweh), 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.

We can summarize the complaints of verses 2 to 4 in one main question. The same question that you and I are provoked to ask when we experience an unending trial is: God, why aren’t You doing anything? Notice in verse 2, Habakkuk says that he’s been crying to God for help for a long time: How long, O Lord, will I call to You, and You will not hear? Until when will it be? Habakkuk even invokes that intimate name of Yahweh. It’s represented in our english Bibles with all caps LORD, but it’s actually the Hebrew name Yahweh.

Habakkuk invokes this name as he presents his complaint to God. You are Yahweh. You are the God of Israel. You are the eternal, faithful, covenant-keeping God. You are our God. So why, when I keep calling for help, do You apparently do nothing? I cry to You, violence, Habakkuk says in verse 2. I see violence happening in the streets. I hear about violence from among the brethren. I experience violence in my own life. I and Your godly ones are being attacked, being brutalized, being oppressed. I’m reporting this to You, God. We are experiencing shocking violence, yet You do not save.

And understand, there’s a profound Old Testament background to Habakkuk’s request for help from God. In earlier revelation, God has made quite clear, He has repeatedly stressed that He will save His people when they call on and look to Him. He says this directly in the Bible. For example, Psalm 50:15:

Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you and you will honor Me.

Or Proverbs 28:18:

He who walks blamelessly will be delivered, but he who is crooked will fall all at once.

The Old Testament has many promises like these. Habakkuk has heard these scriptures. He knows these promises, but he doesn’t see them being fulfilled. So he asked God, why? Why? You see my situation. You see our situation. Why aren’t You doing anything?

Furthermore, Habakkuk notes that his circumstances are under the perfect sovereign control of God. Habakkuk says in verse 3 that God is the one causing Habakkuk to see iniquity and to see wickedness, which is a pretty bold thing to say to God, but it’s true. God tells Isaiah in Isaiah 45:7:

I’m the one who brings well-being or calamity, God says. I’m the one who does it. I’m the one who’s ultimately causing it. Habakkuk points out this truth to God. God, You are the one according to Your own sovereign will who is causing your people to suffer under wickedness. And so I want to know why.

We see at the end of verse 3 that Habakkuk’s view of his circumstances is basically one of total chaos. There’s oppression, there’s violence, there’s strife, there’s disputing, both legal and illegal. It’s all around. And Habakkuk describes the outcome in verse 4. The law, literally in Hebrew the Torah, God’s word of instruction and His good rules, they are totally ignored. And true justice never goes forth. Now that’s quite an assertion. Never? Is it that bad?

Are there no righteous persons left in Judah? Well, no. Habakkuk would say there are some. But again, according to verse 4, the righteous are severely outnumbered. Habakkuk says the wicked have surrounded the righteous to such an extent that even when the righteous try to bring about justice in court, the wicked just intervene and make sure that justice goes forth crooked. Evil has risen to such a level that there’s nothing the righteous can do about it anymore. They can’t fix it. So Habakkuk says, God, we need You to intervene. We need You to bring about justice. We need You to bring about deliverance. We need You to bring about revival. We’re helpless. And we’ve been telling You this for a long time. So why haven’t You been doing anything?

And you know, it’s remarkable that this description of circumstances from Habakkuk, it doesn’t describe Judah in exile or Judah under Assyria’s domination. This is Judah oppressing itself, corrupting its way so thoroughly and so quickly after good King Josiah’s death. This is how bad it is, how bad it’s gone. This bleak description of Judah’s state is reminiscent, maybe you noticed, of Moses’ description of the world before the flood. Genesis 6:11 says, “Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.” It’s exactly what Habakkuk sees in Judah.

Can we relate at all to Habakkuk’s complaint to God? Certainly we behold injustice and oppression in our country and in various places around the world affecting our brethren, affecting us. And as Pastor Babij has pointed out in his sermons in Jude, we see the spirit of apostasy flourishing today while the truth suffers. Sin gets more and more protection in our society. Righteousness gets more and more persecution. So might we also ask then, how long, O Lord? How long, O Yahweh? And even beyond the direct parallels to Habakkuk of societal violence and injustice, there are also the indirect parallels of the personal trials of our lives. God, You said that You would provide for me according to Your promises, so why haven’t You? Why do I keep calling out to You, God, for help, and You do not listen, You do not save? This is the prophet’s first question. God, why aren’t You doing anything?

But perhaps to Habakkuk’s surprise, God directly responds to Habakkuk’s first question in verses 5 to 11. Let’s read those now.

Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! because I am doing something in your days – you would not believe if you were told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs. They are dreaded and feared; their justice and authority originate with themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards and keener than wolves in the evening. Their horsemen come galloping, their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swooping down to devour. All of them come for violence. Their horde of faces moves forward. They collect captives like sand. They mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter to them. They laugh at every fortress and heap up rubble to capture it. And they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, they whose strength is their God.

Here’s the second point of our sermon outline. God’s answer, essentially, to Habakkuk’s first question is – answer one, I am doing something you don’t expect. Notice that God does not begin verse five with a dispute of Habakkuk’s assessment. Come on Habakkuk, it’s not really that bad in Judah. You’re just being a little dramatic. No, we don’t hear that from God. God accepts Habakkuk’s dismal assessment of Judah’s state as accurate. Yeah, it is that bad, but at the same time God clarifies by what follows. I do know, Habakkuk. I do care. And I am doing something about it. But it’s something almost unbelievable.

Notice in verse five that God begins with four commands, all related to beholding in astonishment. Look, he says, behold, be astonished, or that phrase could be translated be horrified. Wonder, God says. Why? Because, you see there God says, I am doing something. That verb form is significant – doing. That reflects the Hebrew well. It’s a participle in Hebrew. In English those are I-N-G words usually. A participle is a verb form that communicates continual and characteristic action. So God is essentially saying, you think I haven’t been doing anything? I tell you, I’ve been working this whole time. I’m always doing something. I’ve always been doing something here. And it’s not even a super long-term plan. Because notice God adds in His description of what He’s doing, I am doing something in your days. This is happening now. You’re even going to see the fruit. You’re going to see My work come to its completion, or to some fruition.

But then God adds, you would not believe it if you were told, which is interesting. And we might ask, wait a second, if Habakkuk isn’t going to believe what God says, then God, why bother telling Habakkuk? But if Habakkuk is going to believe what You say, God, then why do you say that He won’t?

Well, here’s where a nuance in the original Hebrew will help us. We probably assume because of English’s ambiguity with the word you, that the you at the end of verse five is singular. Habakkuk, you won’t believe. But actually, in the Hebrew, the you is plural. This is you all, y’all. All of you in Judah will never believe what I’m actually doing. Why won’t they believe? Well, God’s going to explain. Verses six to 11, God reveals that He is raising up the Chaldeans to act as a terrifying force of judgment on Judah and the surrounding nations.

Who are the Chaldeans? Well, technically, the Chaldeans are one of the tribes that lived in a region around Babylon. But by Habakkuk’s day, they had integrated into Babylonian society and even come to rule Babylon. So therefore, to speak of the Chaldeans was to speak of the Babylonians, and what historians call the Neo-Babylonian Empire, emerging at this point, not yet fully on the scene. As I said before, the Babylonians are still a rising power, not dominant yet.

So when God says to Judah through Habakkuk, “I’m bringing the Chaldeans, I’m bringing Babylon to judge,” Judah wouldn’t have been like, oh yeah of course. Who else? I mean, yeah, Babylon’s the one that’s going to judge. No, no, no. They would have been like, really, Babylon? I mean, I know they secured a few big victories against Assyria, but they’re not going to become the next empire. I mean, their power isn’t going to come all the way from Mesopotamia and reach us here in Palestine. You’ve got to be joking. After all, you might remember Hezekiah in 2 Kings 20, he received some envoys from Babylon and he showed them all this stuff. And Isaiah says, “Why’d you do that?” And he’s like, oh they’re only from Babylon. It’s someplace far away. He didn’t consider Babylon any strategic threat. They’re so far they’re not a big problem. No one would have expected at that time for God to use Babylon as His punishing force.

But God says, believe it, I’m raising them up to judge. And you think they’re no threat? Let Me tell you about the way I’m raising up their army to be. Notice in verse 6, in the second line, God says that they are fierce and impetuous people. Or we could also translate that bitter and hasty. They are going to invade, but they’re not the kind of invaders who are careful to win hearts and minds. No, they’re going to be cruel and quick. They’re going to be eager to conquer and seize what is not theirs. Verse 7, God again notes how frightening these invading armies will be with a double description. They will be dreaded and feared. You treat the Chaldeans like they’re no threat? You will tremble when they arrive. You will be in terror. And when they kill your men, steal your women, and seize your property, don’t think they’re going to wave some bill of rights in their faces.

God says that their justice, notice verse 7, their justice and authority originate with themselves. They don’t care about rules of war, war crimes, the Geneva Convention. They’re going to do whatever they want, and no one will be able to stop them. Verse 8, God gives a startling description of how quickly these invaders will sweep through. Their horsemen, God says, gallop more swiftly than leopards, extremely fast predators, more keenly or more quickly than wolves hunting at night. You think they’re too far away to pose a threat to you? You turn your back for one moment, when you turn around again, whoosh, there they are with their spears ready to run you through. They swoop in like eagles, God says, like vultures. They are hungry and ready to feed on a fresh kill. In verse 9, God emphasizes how unstoppable they will be. It says they are united in their will to bring violence upon you. Their faces are set as they march irresistibly to and through your greatest strongholds. They collect captives like sand, like it’s nothing. They’re just throwing more sand on the pile.

But a Judean might have wanted to ask at that time, but won’t some great hero of Judah or maybe Egypt rise up to stop this horde? You know, like in the movie, some king or prince to lead a coalition of allied kingdoms to turn back the overwhelming tide? Well, God says nope. Look at verse 10. These armies, they make fun of kings, make fun of leaders and heroes or whatever rules scramble to oppose them. As for fortresses, the Chaldeans only laugh as they pile up rubble to make their siege ramps and then overthrow those fortresses. And then God gives one more description in verse 11. God says that these brutal warriors, they will crash through like the wind and then pass on. They will arrive, they will slaughter, they will take what they want, and then they will go. They will be guilty of evil, of offense, but they won’t care. They only worship their own strength as their God. They worship power. They believe their might makes them right. They don’t fear divine reprisal. Rather, they say, with Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 3:15, “What God is there who can deliver you out of my hands?”

This is God’s astounding answer to Habakkuk’s first question. And the answer is given to Habakkuk and to all of Judah. You ask, where is justice? God says, you ask why evil goes unchecked, why I’m not doing anything. I tell you, I am just as disturbed by Judah’s sin and injustice as you are and more so. And I tell you, I have been doing a work in response this whole time, a work so awesome you’ll hardly believe it. A nation that you never would have expected is coming with a speed, terror, and invincibility you would never have believed, and they will utterly devastate your nation with no one to stop them.

This is a pretty shocking revelation. To capture its effect, the effect it must have had on Judah, imagine some kind of parallel announcement given to America today. Imagine if God suddenly announced somehow in a way that was prophetically legitimate, yes I am terribly grieved and angry by the evil in America, its continual corruption, the rampant violence, the unending injustice, the unbreakable commitment to sexual vice, the unending slaughter of babies. I tell you, I am so grieved, I am so angry, I am doing something about it. But in a way you do not expect. I’m going to destroy America with some unexpected and brutal invader, or I’m going to bring about some overwhelming nuclear attack, or I’m going to cause some man or woman who gains power to ruthlessly discard the democracy and install a godless tyranny. I’m not saying that that’s what’s going to happen. But if we heard that, that would be a truly astonishing revelation, wouldn’t it? That’s something like what God declared to Judah through Habakkuk.

This is the kind of revelation that makes you tremble, that to some degree horrifies you. This is truly a burden of God’s judgment. This is the holiness of God. This is the zeal of God, the justice of God on display. He is a God who takes sin seriously. This is a reminder to us that we must take sin seriously. And it is also a reminder of how wonderful the gospel is, right? We will not ultimately come under the judgment of God for sin because of Jesus Christ. By faith and repentance of Jesus Christ, we are saved and safe.

But going back to our text, if we were in a conversation with God and He gave us a stunning announcement like this, we wouldn’t want that to be the end of the conversation, right? I mean, His answer to our first question would make us want to ask another question. It’s probably the same question that Habakkuk asks God in the final part of our passage. So let’s look now at verses 12 to 17.

Are you not from everlasting, O Yahweh, my God my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Yahweh, have appointed them to judge; and You, O Rock, have established them to correct. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You can not look on wickedness with favor. Why do You look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are You silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they? Why have You made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? The Chaldeans bring all of them up with a hook, drag them away with their net, and gather them together in their fishing net. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they offer a sacrifice to their net and burn incense to their fishing net; because through these things their catch is large and their food is plentiful. Will they therefore empty their net and continually slay nations without sparing?

What is Habakkuk’s second question to God? He started by asking in his first question, God why aren’t You doing anything? And God answered by saying, I am doing something that you don’t expect. And now we can summarize Habakkuk’s second question this way. Question two, God, how is what you are doing right? I mean, God, the treatment is worse than the disease. I’ve asked You to deal with injustice in Judah, but how can this be the right way? God, how is what You are doing right?

It’s like God’s first answer to Habakkuk is so unexpected and overwhelming that the prophet is literally staggered. He’s trying to find some footing again to make sense of what God has declared. And notice in verse 12, he goes really where we should all go when we don’t understand. He returns to what he knows about God’s character and promises. He even tells this to God and asks God about it rhetorically. God, are you not from everlasting? Aren’t You the One who is self-sufficient and unchanging? Your announcement cannot represent a mood swing or a change in who You are.

And notice the titles that Habakkuk uses for God in verse 12 as he appeals to Him. You are Yahweh, the covenant-keeping God. You will not utterly forsake Israel. You are God, Elohim, the powerful One. Your purposes will not fail. You are the holy One. You will never do evil, but only what is just and right. And then notice the personal pronouns attached to those terms. You are my God and my holy One. You are a personal God who loves and cares for Your people. Aren’t these all true of You, O God? Habakkuk asks. And then notice this. He uses those truths to sift through what God has declared and come to a certain conclusion. He says in the third line of verse 12, we will not die. So God has announced, Habakkuk knows, a blistering judgment against Judah, against the people of Israel. This is not Israel’s end. Habakkuk knows this.

In fact, what God has declared just now to Habakkuk is really what God already declared way back when, in the books of Moses, in the Torah. God declared even then, especially in Deuteronomy, that if Israel would keep turning away from God, that God would eventually send a judgment so severe that His people would be removed from the land and nearly destroyed. Even though God would bring them into the Promised Land, if they kept rebelling against Him, He would bring them out. But that wouldn’t be the end. God says that He would, even in Deuteronomy, He would preserve His people in exile. And when they came back to repentance, He would bring them back into the land. And the other Old Testament prophets then added to that message. The other prophets revealed that God not only would bring His people back, but He would restore the kingdom in Israel. It would be more glorious than it ever was. David’s seed would be back on the throne, and God Himself would rule from Jerusalem over all the peoples of the earth.

Thus Habakkuk knows this Chaldean assault is not the end. Judah will not be annihilated. Rather, in faithfulness, and you see Habakkuk go on and declare this in verse 12,

Yahweh has appointed Babylon to chasten and purge God’s people. The steadfast rock who is God, He is only bringing Chaldea to correct. In a way, this is exactly what Habakkuk and the godly in Judah have been praying for. This is the answer to their prayer. Yet, there’s still something about God’s mode of answer that doesn’t make sense to Habakkuk. And he expresses a new specific question to God in verse 13. God, how is it right that you would use Babylon to judge Judah? Habakkuk reminds God at the beginning of verse 13, God, You cannot look at evil with approval. You cannot ignore it.

Yet Babylon is a wicked nation, even more wicked than Judah, and more treacherous than we are. And if You cannot tolerate evil in us, which You shouldn’t because You’re a holy good God, how can You tolerate even more evil in them? How can You look on them with favor? How can You raise them up to have such great success and prosperity at the expense of others? How can you raise up Babylon to be Your judging force? Will You be silent at all of their evil, Habakkuk asks, at their raping, their murdering, their stealing, their oppressing? Holy God, how can You be okay with Babylon greedily and totally devouring nations more righteous than they are? That doesn’t seem to fit with Your character, God. How is what You’re doing right?

To emphasize the baffling nature of God’s revealed purpose, Habakkuk employs a striking picture in verses 14 to 17, a picture of Babylon as uncaring fishermen. Notice in verse 14, Habakkuk asks God why God has allowed men, namely the people of Judah, the people of the other nations standing in the conquering path of Babylon. God, how can you allow men to be accounted as mere fish with no protecting ruler over them?

Now, most people don’t care a lot about fish or the feelings of fish. I know that some of you here love to go fishing. And you probably don’t feel too bad or have any compunction at all about baiting fish, stabbing a sharp hook through a fish’s mouth, hauling that fish out of its home environment to suffocate on land, to get scaled, gutted, cooked, and eaten. Or in other cases, preserved and displayed on the wall as a trophy. Or in still other cases, sold for money so that you can sustain your family or buy yourself something nice. You don’t feel bad about doing this with fish. Most people don’t feel bad about doing these things to fish because, well, fish are fish. God hasn’t placed fish on the same level as people. Rather, God gave fish as food to mankind, another kind of food. It’s normal not to care too much about the feelings or well-being of fish.

But what about when people, people made in the very image of God, are treated just like fish or like some ruler-less creeping creature of the sea? In verse 15, Habakkuk asserts that that’s exactly how the Chaldeans have treated and will treat those that they conquer, like fish who have no feelings and exist only to be captured, sold, and consumed. And with this metaphor, Habakkuk may be alluding to an actual practice of the Babylonians. It is reported historically that the Babylonian conquerors sometimes stuck a hook through the lower lip of their captives and then led those captives back to Babylon attached to fishing lines. There are also ancient depictions of Babylonian gods taking away captives in nets.

Habakkuk points these things out to God. Holy God, this is what they do. These are their brutal practices. This is their evil attitude. Will You really use Babylon to afflict Judah? They treat Your people like mere fish to be hauled away. How can You tolerate that?

And worse, according to verse 16, the Babylonians then worship their fishing equipment. That is to say, if we’re following the metaphor and if we compare it to verse 11, the Babylonians worship their own power. They worship war. They celebrate and rejoice over all their unjust consequences because these things fill their treasuries and fill their bellies. Don’t you love just rampaging, conquering? Look at all the good it’s brought us. They love, they celebrate their evil. Habakkuk again points that out to God. God, how is it right that You use them to judge?

Finally, Habakkuk asks in verse 17, will You really let them get away with their evil? Look there again. He says, will they just go from sea to sea, lake to lake, river to river, snatching up more fish, hauling away more fish, roasting up more fish? Will you let them unfeelingly slay nation after nation? They are a people who do not spare. They have no compassion. Their warriors are ruthless. How can You, the perfectly good, faithful, and compassionate God that You have revealed Yourself to be, the God who keeps covenant with Israel, how can You abide such continuous and outrageous evil, especially against Your own people?

These are good questions, aren’t they? And maybe you have similar questions about what’s happening in our world or in your personal life. Maybe at first when you were assessing your circumstances, you thought God wasn’t doing anything. Everything was static. Nothing was changing. But then things started to change. God answered your prayer. God is on the move. But then when you look more closely, things are coming about in a way that you didn’t want or expect. And so now you’re asking God in your heart, God, how is what You are doing right? I know Your character and promises from Your word, but I don’t see how what You’ve revealed in my life fits with all that. And my heart is expressing that in grief and pain.

Take courage. Habakkuk had the same feeling, the same question about 2,600 years ago, and he brought that question to God. Now God would answer Habakkuk’s second question, and that answer will be an answer for us as well. But the answer was not total, and it did not come right away. And we’re going to learn more about that next time.

But for today, we must understand the first fundamental lesson from the prophet Habakkuk. When you or I are enduring an ongoing trial, and we cannot see what God is doing, we must still know that God is doing something good, even though it leaves us with questions that remain unanswered. It is okay, it is even right for us to bring our questions to God in our time of perplexity. But we must come in humble faith and not fault-finding doubt.

I hope you are not misunderstanding the nature of the questioning in this passage. There is a difference between righteous and unrighteous questioning, or we could say righteous and unrighteous complaining. And the difference is faith. Unrighteous complaining says, God, what are You doing? You have let me down, and now I’m not going to obey or trust You until You make things right with me. You owe me. That’s unrighteous complaining. But righteous complaining says, God, what are You doing? I don’t see how what’s happening fits with Your character and promises, and yet I know that You do have answers, and You will ultimately make things right. I will wait in faith until You do. As we’ll see next time, it is the latter stance that characterizes the prophet Habakkuk.

But we need to ask ourselves as we close which attitude characterizes us, which attitude characterizes you. Amid your ongoing trials, do you believe that God is doing something good? You do have remaining questions, hard questions, painful questions, but do you bring those questions to God in humble faith like Habakkuk does and wait for God to answer in His own way and His own time? That is the right way. That is the joyful way. That is the way of peace. We’ll see more about that as we continue on in Habakkuk, but that will do for today.

Let’s close in prayer. Lord, You are very good to us. And in times of prosperity or times where we see answered prayer, quickly answered prayer, Lord, we rejoice. That is Your kindness. That is Your faithfulness on a very obvious display. But it is not always that way. God, sometimes You have a mysterious purpose, an amazing purpose, where You are doing something that we do not expect and in a timing that we do not expect. And in those moments of waiting, God, we are sorely tempted to despair, to get angry, to say, God You have done me wrong. But You can never do wrong, God. And even when You afflict us, even when You afflict Your people, it is not because You are indifferent. It is not because You are cruel. Amazingly, mysteriously, God, it is only because You love us.

As Your book of Lamentations says, God, You do not afflict from Your heart. It is not from some evil purpose, but it is always a good purpose for Your people.Things work together for good for those who love You and You have caused to love You. So, God, as we find ourselves in more circumstances like that this morning, circumstances that do not make full sense to us, help us, God, to bring our questions to You and then wait, wait for Your answer, wait for You to show, this is what I am doing. Even if, God, that must take years, or even if, God, that must wait until we are in your presence, we know there is an answer and a good answer. You cannot do things wrong. You always do what is right.

We will rest in that. Yet, God, we also do pray, even as Habakkuk does, that these things that we long for, these things, Lord, that You have taught us to long for, for justice, for deliverance, for the turning of the people of this nation back to you, and even those who are around us that You have brought into our lives, God, that You would bring it about. Show us, revive Your work in our days that we may see it and You may vindicate our faith. Lord, glorify Yourself, and however and whenever You choose to answer, we will be, by Your grace alone, we will be a people who wait in faith. In Jesus’ name. Amen.