HABAKKUK

SUNDAY SERVICE: 20 OCT 2013
SPEAKER: DR CHEN BOON TAI
TEXT: HABAKKUK

SUMMARY

The question of evil troubles many people. Why is there evil in our world? Why is there so much injustice? Why do the wicked get away and why do the righteous suffer? The Old Testament prophet Habakkuk was a man who was also troubled by similar questions. In Habakkuk 1:2-4, we read:

How long, LORD, must I call for help, 

   but you do not listen? 

Or cry out to you, “Violence!” 

   but you do not save? 

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. 

Therefore the law is paralyzed, 

   and justice never prevails. 

The wicked hem in the righteous, 

   so that justice is perverted. 

The book of Habakkuk records Habakkuk’s cries and God’s answers.

During Habakkuk’s prophetic ministry, Judah was ruled by four kings who led the nation astray. Josiah, who was Judah’s last good king had instituted many reforms following a national revival. But his reforms did not last and the four kings who succeeded him namely Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah, did evil. This eventually led to the fall of Judah and destruction of Jerusalem by the invading Babylonians.

What were the sins of Judah? 

•They practised impure worship by honouring both the one true God and the pagan idol Molech (Zeph 1:5) •They set up numerous altars to foreign gods (2 Ki 21:3,5)

•They adopted unacceptable pagan culture (Zeph 1:8)

•There was widespread violence and deceit (Zeph 1:9)

•There was indifference towards God (Zeph 1:12)

•There was no obedience or trust in God (Zeph 3:2-7)

How did God respond?

God said He would do an ‘amazing’ thing that would appear unthinkable. In vs6-11, we read that God would bring judgment upon Judah through military conquest by the Babylonians (or Chaldeans, who are from modern-day Iraq). But why would God raise up an evil empire known for their ruthlessness to do his work? 

Scripture seems to tell us that God does admit responsibility for bringing about good as well as bad. 

Isaiah 45:7 says:

I form the light and create darkness,
I bring prosperity and create disaster;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

But as Habakkuk records it, God justifies his impending discipline by spelling out the sins of his people in Habakkuk 2:6-20 - all of which deserves judgment. While God acts, the righteous are called to remain faithful, for “…the righteous person will live by his faith” (Hab 2:4)

Sometimes God answers our prayers in surprising ways. We are troubled by injustice and cry to God to deliver. And God replies by using instruments of evil to fulfil his purposes and to discipline his people. This is hard to comprehend but the believer must live with such mystery. We ought to be struck by the way sin offends God and cry as Habakkuk did:

Hab 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the reports of you, and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

Even as God used the wicked Babylonians as a tool of judgment He will surely judge the evil that they do.

Indeed, history does record the destruction of Babylon - 60 years later. Meanwhile the righteous must trust in God's sovereignty and wait faithfully until God acts.

Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree does not bud

   and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails 

   and the fields produce no food, 

though there are no sheep in the pen 

   and no cattle in the stalls, 

yet I will rejoice in the Lord, 

   I will be joyful in God my Savior. 

The Sovereign Lord is my strength; 

   he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, 

   he enables me to tread on the heights.

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Dr Chen Boon Tai is an Elder of Hope EFC. He is also the Director of Project Development, IGB Corp/Mid Valley City Developments and Industry Professor of Management, Malaysia University of Science and Technology