Sermon Cloud

Hab 1:1-2:1

Welcome- Sarah Z

Reading- Psalm 10,  interactive- 1 reads (in NASB?), 1 paraphrases

SONG_ Worshipping God, praising God

Let’s do a little exercise- What’s wrong in the world today? What are some things you see?

And now, what’s right in the world; where do you see progress, good things?

Hmmm. When we begin to think about these issues, it’s inevitable that we end up with questions. And that leads us to where we’re going to be for the next three weeks- the Old Testament book of Habakkuk.

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Who was Habakkuk? Anyone know?

No? well, the fact is we don’t know much about Habakkuk. Other than that He was a prophet- someone God spoke to and through, he wrote this book about 600 years before Christ- he lived in the time just before Israel was invaded by the Babylonians and all the people taken away into exile- He was probably a Levite, a musician/singer in the Temple.

His short little book here is one of my favorites- because what it takes the Book of Job 42 chapters to say and what it takes the book of Ecclesiastes 12 chapters to say, Habakkuk takes 3. So, we’re going to spend 3 weeks walking through this short book that asks questions of and gets answers from, God.

Let’s pray and we’ll get into the rest of this.

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The word he uses for “message” in Hebrew is “massa”- literally “burden”. This was something Habakkuk felt, something he wrestled with and labored under- a question that was keeping him up all night and pre-occupying him during the day- something big

What was it?

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Here’s the premise of the book- How long, God? and Where are You, God? At the time Habakkuk lived, Israel had become like all the nations around them- they worshipped idols and they took advantage of the poor. They forgot to love God with their whole hearts and their neighbor as themselves… And Habakkuk wants to know why God has allowed this to happen- why he sees what he sees when he looks around- violence, evil and a general disregard for God and other people. So he asks… He speaks up. He questions God.

I think there’s a perception with some that faith negates questioning and doubt. Habakkuk tells us that’s not necessarily so.

Thinking people ask questions. Why so much oppression in the world? Why so much injustice? Why and how long? He says-

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Basically- the same question people have been asking for eons- Why do the evil prosper and the good suffer? And frankly, the description doesn’t sound too different than today- when we walked through the book of Ecclesiastes in 2004, a little journey we called “40 Days of Meaninglessness”, we learned 2 things. The first is that there’s nothing really new, we think the world is getting worse, but it’s just not so- it is now as it has always been. And the second is this: this world is broken. Life, here, under the sun, contains pain and heartache, and it does so because what we are really saying when we say “the world is broken” is that people are broken… and broken people do broken things. The bad news is that people do selfish things and inconsiderate things and evil things. They steal your car stereo, and cheat you out of money, and they hurt people and give God the finger when He tells them a better, more loving way of living. And the worst news of all? “They” is US.

So Habakkuk sees all this, just as we see all this, and he asks God- why? And How long?

And while some may feel these kinds of questions are inappropriate to ask God, God doesn’t think so… because He answers-

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God answers. God actually answers. Now we’re talking. I’m sure Habakkuk was feeling much better- until he heard what God actually had to say…

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Say what now???

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Before we talk about who these people were- let me just ask you- If you had asked God the questions Habakkuk had asked God, and gotten the answer he had- how would you feel? What would be your follow up question?

God finishes his description of the Babylonians this way:

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It’s almost as if He says: All that stuff was bad- evil, wrong. But here’s the clincher- they are deeply guilty because their own strength is their god.

It’s interesting that that is the climax of the litany of the sins of the Babylonians.

All through the Old Testament, God takes his people (and others) to task for two things- Worshiping things, idols, anything but God- and failing to love others, especially the poor the way that they should.

“Their own strength is their god” -it’s like the Babylonians were this whole nation of dudes who worked out in front of mirrors, flexing their biceps going “Yeah!”

Was it George Carlin who did the bit about aliens and dogs? He said- you know, if aliens ever came to earth, they’d think the dogs were in charge, cause they’d see us walking around behind all these animals picking up their poop, and clearly, the one getting their poop picked up by the other one is the one in charge.

The question of who is your god is kind of like that. What gets your attention in life? To whom do you listen? What’s your pre-occupation? What’s you passion? Somewhere in there is the answer to who or what you worship. And I imagine if someone were to have a good view of your existence from the outside, they’d be able to pinpoint pretty easily the god in your life. We’re going to pause for a minute and this is a chance to answer that question before we move on. What do I worship? What would someone who could see my whole life from the outside say that I worship?

BREAK- song,

Bob- Pray

So, Habakkuk tries again… what God told him answered the first question. However, it raised another…

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What is he asking?

Yeah- how can you use these people?

Does anything He says here stand out to you though?

He drops this wild, pandora’s box of a statement right in the middle: You have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins.”

Here’s one of the reasons why bad things happen. Now, before you go thinking I’m going all Pat Robertson on you, let me finish.

In Habakkuk’s case, because God specifically told him so, he knew that the Babylonians were being used to get the people’s attention- to turn them away from their love of self, and violence and their abandoning of the worship of God and love for their neighbor.

That doesn’t mean that every bad thing that happens is God smacking people around, right?

Here’s the thing: Don’t see every tragedy, every misfortune as God’s correction. It’s the exception, not the rule. But exceptions happen, yeah? Be that as it may…

Some of you are experiencing difficulty and you need to know that you are NOT being corrected by God- what you are experiencing are the results of living in a broken world with broken people- it’s impossible to go through this life and not get bruised.

By the same token… Some of you are experiencing difficult times and you need to know- you ARE being corrected by God. What you are experiencing is God trying to wake you, get your attention- He’s trying to get you to put down the thing you are holding so tightly to and that is slowly poisoning you- it may be a relationship, a habit you think no one sees- your porn stash, your selfishness, the way you treat other people, your refusal to care for anyone but yourself, your worship of everything but God…

It’s impossible to continue to walk in the wrong direction and NOT have a God who loves you try to turn you around somehow…

So- the million dollar question: How do I tell the difference? You tell me…

Sometime God is out to get our attention and sometimes it seems like He’s using a sledgehammer to swat a fly- it seems like too much

This is how Habakkuk feels- He says, “ God, Oh Lord our Rock- I know you have sent these people to get our attention- but… “

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Habakkuk’s people at this time may have been bad- but not like the Babylonians…

There’s a theological problem here: What is it? Habakkuk knows God is holy and hates evil- so how can He use these evil people for His own ends?

But it’s not just a theological issue for Habakkuk- it’s a life or death one… he says:

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He does what is so natural to do- questions God’s care for them…

It’s a vivid picture he draws here- the Babylonians had broken away from the Assyrians, but had apparently picked up a nasty habit from them- taking captives from the nations they conquered and stringing the together via hooks through their noses and marching them back home to be slaves. Like fish caught in a net…

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What’s Habakkuk doing here?

“They will worship their nets- these are the gods who made us rich…” “Will you let them get away with this?” What’s he doing?

He’s appealing to God on the basis of His reputation- You God, the True God, you know that if they get away with this, they will think they have done it themselves, they will continue to worship themselves and their own strength- they will continue to be evil and oppressive. And they will not acknowledge You.

“Will you let them get away with this?”

I love this little book of Habakkuk- because so many of the questions that we ask God, or perhaps are afraid to ask God are right here. God- do you see this? God, do you care?

I said earlier that some think faith negates questions and doubts. Does it? Well what does it do then?

I love the place where Habakkuk takes it- for Your reputation God, You need to do something about this. He states his worries, his doubts, his pleas and then…

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He ends up where I think we need to end up:

We identify to God those places in the world where we see injustice- we pray, we plead-God, don’t you see this? We ask Him for the sake of His reputation to move, to change things, to empower us to move and change things… We watch, we strain our ears, and then… we wait. We sit quietly. We ask our questions and then we listen.

We recognize that on the ground here, our perspective, though valid, is very different than that of God who can see not only the whole picture- all the broad details, but deeper as well,  the whole story- how all those details fit into the larger story of this world, past, present and future.

Faith does not mean we have no questions, no doubt. Faith means we wait for answers.  We may not know why, but knowing WHO makes a difference…

Prayer stations

Songs-

Bob-pray: “In your justice, have mercy”

So- what do you want to say, ask, etc?

Chris- Blessing