August 1-3, 2015 Pastor Timothy J. Spaude Habakkuk 1:1-4, 12-13; 2:4b; 3:16-19a “HABAKKUK TEACHES US TO LIVE BY FAITH!”

MAJORING IN THE MINORS: HABAKKUK

August 1-3, 2015

Pastor Timothy J. Spaude

Habakkuk 1:1-4, 12-13; 2:4b; 3:16-19a

“HABAKKUK TEACHES US TO LIVE BY FAITH!”

1.     He asks our questions.

2.     He lives our answer.

Habakkuk (NIV1984)1-4, 12-13 “The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received. ²How long, O 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 wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. ⁴Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 12 O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”

Habakkuk 2:4b “The righteous will live by his faith.”

Habakkuk 3:16-19a “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. ¹⁷ 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, ¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength.”

          By now you are getting the sense that the Minor Prophets lived in times much like we do. They lived among people that rejoiced in sexual sinning and worshiping fake gods. Even God’s people weren’t so clean as they found themselves drawn to the sins of their society. They also lived in unsettled times with their world politics as different empires jockeyed for power with Israel often caught in between. A lot like our times. Today’s minor prophet is a lot like us. We don’t know a whole lot about him but he does an excellent job in teaching us to be what we are: people who live by faith.

          First he asks the kind of questions we ask. ²How long, O 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 wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. ⁴Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” Habakkuk’s first question is “How long do I have to wait for help, O LORD?” What bothered Habakkuk was the sin going on around him. The sins of his people. Politicians were corrupt. The justice system wasn’t just. The wicked seemed to get away with it. How long O LORD until you help? Have you ever asked questions like that?  How long do I have to put up with the jerk at work or the unkind family member? How long do I have to deal with this chronic illness? How long will my hurting heart keep hurting? Where are you God? Yes, we ask questions like that.

          Habakkuk’s second question was this: “O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish.

13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” Habakkuk’s second question follows God’s first answer which we will get to in a bit. He’s basically asking, “God why do you tolerate evil? Why do you let it appear like they’re getting away with it?” He asked this because God told him that the Babylonian army was going to take care of the wicked people in Judah and everyone knows the Babylonians are even worse. It just didn’t seem fair. Oh, yeah, there it is. That’s how we often ask that question. When someone whose outward life seems worse than ours appears to win or get away with… deflating a football or cheating on their taxes or winning a contract or a better grade on a test or you fill in the blank. Why do you tolerate that Lord? Habakkuk asks our questions.

          Then he lives our answer. The key verse in this book, the one you know best is the second half of chapter 2:4. “The righteous will live by his faith.” You know it well because as Lutheran Christians you know that God used that truth as it is quoted in Romans 1:17 to open Martin Luther’s eyes to the truth that you are right with God and will live eternally by faith in what Jesus has done, not what you do. Oh the peace. Isn’t that amazing, an amazing proof of God’s grace? He considers people like you and me to be righteous, holy in His sight. How can that be? We are the people who complain about our aches and pains when God has put us in a country where you can actually get help and treatment. Most people don’t get that. We complain about food, weather, each other. How many times does God have to come through for us before we will actually honor Him by trusting Him when we’re in trouble? And we are righteous? Yes you are through faith in Jesus who was righteous for you.

          There’s another use of that passage in the New Testament in Hebrews 10:38. The righteous will live by faith. There it means that God is honored when those He has declared righteous live their earthly lives by faith, by trusting in God not themselves, who trust Him even when they don’t see or have what God has promised. Habakkuk did that. You see when he raised the question “How long O LORD do I have to wait for help?” God answered, “Habakkuk, I’ve got it covered. I’ll have the Babylonians take care of the wicked people you live among.” Then when Habakkuk asked his second question “Why do you appear to tolerate evil?” God answered, “Habakkuk, I’ve got it covered. The Babylonians will be wiped out in due time.” I’ve got it covered.

          Now look what Habakkuk did with that. “I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. ¹⁷ 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, ¹⁸yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. ¹⁹ The Sovereign LORD is my strength.” Ah, you see what he did? He resolved to live by faith. He would wait for God take care of it. He would remain joyful.

          The righteous live by faith. Living by faith can lead to some remarkable actions but most importantly it honors God. So many examples in God’s Word. Think of Abraham whose faith that God could raise his son Isaac from the dead led him to raise the knife and start to bring it down before God stopped him. How about this gem from the book of Job 13:15. When his friends are tearing him down Job confess this about God. “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him!” Awesome living by faith. Sometimes though living by faith means taking no action. Habakkuk would wait patiently even as he watched his country invaded. God had it covered. He would live by faith in that truth. That’s what the righteous do. That’s what you can do as well. That jerk at work, the unkind family member, whatever it is that you are enduring if God’s word isn’t making it clear that you need to do something then live by faith. Wait patiently for the LORD. Smile. He’s got it covered! The Sovereign LORD is your strength too.

          No surprise that everything happened just as God told Habakkuk. He just had to wait for it. Don’t be surprised when God works out things for you too. Unlike Habakkuk we are not told exactly what God’s solutions to our problems are. Like Habakkuk we don’t know when God will take care of them. Habakkuk is a good teacher. He doesn’t say, “Do as I say, not as I do.” He says watch me and do what you see me doing. Let’s be good students, the righteous that God says we are, and leave her today with our problems left in God’s hands, a smile on our face as we go to live by faith. For the Sovereign Lord is our strength! Amen.