Habakkuk 1:1-4 ESV
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save? 3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
The Lord’s Answer Habakkuk 1:5-10
5 “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your day that you would not believe if told.
6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are dreaded and fearsome; their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves; their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar; they fly like an eagle swift to devour. 9 They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.
10 At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress,
for they pile up earth and take it. 11 Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, who’s own might is their god!”
1. Why doesn’t God answer me when I pray?
Habakkuk 1:2
2O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!
2. Why does God allow so much evil in the world?
Habakkuk 1:3-4
3 Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
3. Why do you allow indecent people to hurt decent people?
Habakkuk 1:13
You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
Habakkuk 2:1
I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Habakkuk 2:4b
…The just shall live by his faith.
‘Getting Direction from God’
1. WANT: I must desire to do God’s will.
Psalm 85:8
8I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.
Psalm 40:8
8I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.
| Psalm 119:20 AMP
20My heart is breaking with the longing that it has for Your ordinances and judgments at all times. |
Deuteronomy 4:29
“If you search for God with all your heart and soul, you will find Him.”
2. WITHDRAW: Get alone in a quiet place.
Habakkuk 2:1 (NLT)
“I will climb up into my watchtower…”
Luke 5:16 (NIV)
“Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.”
Matthew 6:6 (Mess)
“Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense His grace.”
3. WAIT: Calm your thoughts and emotions.
Habakkuk 2:1 (NLT)“…
1 I will climb up into my watchtower now and wait
- BE STILL I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint. Hab 2:1
- BE QUIET “I wait quietly before God, for my hope is in Him.” Psalm 62:5 (NLT)
- BE PATIENT “Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him to act.” Psalm 37:7 (NLT)
- BE EXPECTANT I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits and in his Word I put my hope.
4. WATCH: Let God give you a mental picture.
Habakkuk 2:1c (NIV)
“I will look to see what he will say to me…”
Psalm 73:16-17 (Mes)
“When I tried to figure it out, all I got was a splitting headache until I entered the sanctuary of God. Then I saw the whole picture.”
5. WRITE: Record the ideas you receive.
Habakkuk 2:2
2And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.
Habakkuk 2:2-3
2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets
so that a herald[b] may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time;
it speaks of the end and will not prove false Though it linger, wait for it;
it[c] will certainly command will not delay.
6. WORSHIP: Thank God for speaking to you.
Habakkuk 3:2
2O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.
Habakkuk 3:16-18
Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fails and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.