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Hard Questions, Harder Answers Session 9 Hard Questions, Harder Answers No judgment from a holy God against that which is unholy is pleasant, but it produces the fruit of righteousness in the covenant ones who live by faith. HABAKKUK 1:1-6,12-13; 2:1-4 1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.4 Therefore the © 2015Date LifeWay of My Bible Study:_________ 87 law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 5 “Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. [ … ] 12 Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? [ … ] 2:1 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. 2 Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald 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 will certainly come and will not delay. 4 “See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright— but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.” Highlight all the questions Habakkuk asked the Lord in these verses. Think of situations that might prompt believers today to ask similar questions. 88 Explore the Bible | Personal© 2015 LifeWayStudy Guide MEMORY VERSE Habakkuk 2:4 FIRST THOUGHTS Imagine a middle-aged person who has chain-smoked cigarettes since college days. In addition, the person never exercises and regularly eats fast-food meals. A week ago a health scare finally forced the person to see a doctor. Yesterday, the doctor reported the results of a heart scan and an angiogram—neither of which was good. After years of breaking all the rules of good health, the person has begun paying a price in insurance deductibles, missed work, and expensive medicines. In all likelihood, that price will also include years off the person’s life and time missed with family. If given the chance, what would you say to a friend who confessed a personal story like this to you? The threads of this person’s sad story parallel the history of God’s covenant people, the Israelites. Not necessarily in terms of physical health but in spiritual devotion, the people of Israel broke the rules of God’s covenant with them. God said, “Don’t worship idols.” They did. He said to serve only Him. They also served pagan gods such as Baal. He instructed them on how to treat one another honestly and with loving respect. Instead they killed, cheated, stole from, and lied about their neighbors. Occasionally a prophet stirred their consciences and led them to repentance. But soon they slid back into the mire of sin. This happened again and again until the Lord finally declared that judgment was coming. It would come in the form of an invading foreign army. The prophet Habakkuk knew that the day of judgment had fallen on the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom in 721 B.C. The people of Judah seemed unwilling to learn from that judgment. © 2015Session LifeWay 9: Hard Questions, Harder Answers 89 UNDERSTAND THE CONTEXT HABAKKUK 1:1–2:20 God chose the people of Israel to be His instrument in bringing His plan of salvation to the world. He sought to prepare them to be the people from whom the Messiah, His Son Jesus Christ, would come. And yet in the time of Habakkuk’s prophecy, the people were far from what God intended them to be. We should be reminded that God’s discipline upon the Israelites had a view toward future events hundreds of years later. He sought to shape His people throughout history, so that His greatness might be acknowledged (see Hab. 2:14,20). Habakkuk was keenly aware of the gross disobedience of the people of God. His “woe” oracles in 2:6-19 condemned the horrible exploitation of others as well as the idolatry found among the people of Judah. The prophet saw that they were exploiting one another financially, operating through strong-arm tactics, and using others for base purposes. When God is not revered as God, acknowledging that nothing compares to Him, then the inescapable tendency is to exploit others in our relationships. If God alone isn’t God, who then is to say what is right or wrong? In Habakkuk’s day, absolutes had become mere personal preferences and the moral ground from which behavior could be judged had eroded away. People’s egos had become inflated (see Hab. 2:4), and the reply to any attempt at moral correction was, “Who are you to judge me?” Habakkuk’s vision focused on a high and holy God who would judge all sin and disobedience according to His sovereign schedule and purpose. EXPLORE THE TEXT WHAT ABOUT EVIL? (HAB . 1:1-4) VERSE 1 Seeing life as it truly is, with all of its complexities and injustices, can sometimes be a crushing burden. This is the idea that defines the 90 Explore the Bible | Personal© 2015 LifeWayStudy Guide prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. Little is known about this man other than the fact that he was a prophet, meaning “one who proclaims a message on behalf of God.” Our culture tends to think of a prophet only as someone who predicts the future. The true biblical prophet received insight from Lord about the future as it related to the direction of and fulfillment of current events. What does it mean to be a prophet today? What would that look like in your setting? Habakkuk’s words in 1:1–2:4 take the form of a prophetic complaint. One thing we learn from this book is that there is a right way and a wrong way to express our frustration about the events around us. We learn that God is not threatened by honest questions when they are brought to Him in faith. VERSE 2 Sometimes we make the mistake of assuming that if God doesn’t quickly intervene against evil, it means that He won’t ever take action. Unfortunately, this type of mistaken thinking will endure to the end of time (see 2 Pet. 3:3-4). In his day, Habakkuk struggled to understand why God had not come to the rescue of His people. His cry was “Lord, how long?” As believers, we learn in Romans 12:12 to always be hopeful, to be patient in trials, and to be persistent in prayer. How could these directions help you if you were asking the question Habakkuk asked? VERSE 3 Habakkuk probably delivered his messages at some time soon after 609 B.C. This was a crucial year for the people of Judah. One of Judah’s few faithful kings, King Josiah, was killed in battle © 2015Session LifeWay 9: Hard Questions, Harder Answers 91 at Megiddo in this year. This reformer-king’s death caused great confusion in the minds of many people, including some of the Lord’s faithful prophets. Why did God let this happen to His people’s king? One could not help but feel the injustice of the event. Uncertainty about the future and an inability to comprehend God’s lack of intervention stirred strife and conflict among the people of God. VERSE 4 Habakkuk lamented that wicked people seemed to be in control of an unjust society. Whether the prophet was referring in this verse to a pagan empire or to wicked elements within Judah’s society isn’t clear. In either case, instead of being governed by God’s Word, the righteous were being hemmed in by the wicked, leaving God’s people with a lack of due process for the injustices they experienced. In what ways do people struggle with Habakkuk’s lament today? How can the issue of unpunished evil become a roadblock for someone? KEY DOCTRINE: The Kingdom The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. I AM IN CONTROL (HAB . 1:5-6) VERSE 5 God assured Habakkuk that He was quite aware of what was taking place in the world. God did not have His head turned when Josiah was killed. Believers need to grasp this fundamental truth about God: He knows all things. Nothing happens apart from His knowledge. We will never hear Him say, “I didn’t see that coming.” Not only was the Lord aware of what was happening in Habakkuk’s day, He already had a plan in place to address the evils lamented by the prophet.
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