Habakkuk 5: 1-7, 11

Evil and suffering are a problem, and will continue to be a problem. We live in a society in which we think we can have lives void of suffering. There has never been a bigger group of entitlement oriented, litigious cry-babies, than modern day human beings. It is because of our secular mindset that we continue with the assumption that we have rights to a happy life without pain and evil.

What we know about suffering is this: Some see evil and suffering as a cause for their atheism, or they deny that He is gracious, or they deny that He has any power to stop it. Eastern religions ignore it as an illusion. Other western religions say that God is up there and has His reasons but we can’t possibly know them. Only Christianity has a God that actually intervened and came into the world of suffering. If God has come and suffered, then He must have reasons for its existence if He was willing to come and get involved Himself and suffer upon the cross. I’ve got reasons and I’ll tell you why, and one day I’ll completely remove it, but to show you that I care I’ve come and involved myself in it. All other philosophies and religions either ignore it, or attempt to relegate it to personal opinion.

Sin is the problem. Rebellion, folly, killings, disease and discouragement are all the results of sin.

Habakkuk sees that sin is causing pain, and its injustice is gripping the people of God. Though Habakkuk is perplexed and pained by the suffering and injustice in the world, his frustration does not lead him to accuse God of evil. Rather, it drives him to God in prayerful inquiry, which is a wise example for us all in times of darkness and doubt because many things are hidden in God’s understanding alone, causing our speculation to be mere vanity.

We do not know much about Habakkuk. We know that he was a prophet, that he was also a contemporary of Jeremiah, and that his name means “embrace.”

Verse 1- “The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet saw.”

The oracle can be translated “burden.” It is a term that pictures something that is lifted up and carried. It is described as the message that God has placed upon the shoulders and hearts of His prophets to carry.

This is not a weight that Habakkuk wants. It is something that he would prefer not to have. Its weight is tremendous and he cannot escape the responsibility of declaring it. His understanding of God’s character and his observation of what he sees are in conflict. It is a divine difficulty that God has placed upon him. We must understand that this is God’s word, and therefore, as Habakkuk speaks to us, we can not forget that it is by God’s Spirit that Habakkuk speaks and it is by God’s desire to reveal something of Himself to us that we have this letter to read today.

Habakkuk has been crying out to God for a long time. He is now completely overwhelmed by the situation in which he lives. He is living in the midst of violence, anarchy, cruelty, crime and lust. He turns once again to God and like you and me at the end of our tether in times of distress, he calls out to God: O Lord how long…? Why…?(2-3).

Verse 2- “How long, O LORD, will I call for help, And You will not hear? I cry out to You, ‘Violence!’ Yet You do not save.”

Behind the cry “how long?” is the unspoken cry, ‘I have my limits God.’ Behind “why?” is the demand ‘I must have reasons.’ God’s silence is intolerable to Habakkuk.

Habakkuk believes that if only God would explain to him why He is not acting, then Habakkuk’s limits of tolerance would be extended. Habakkuk is desperate to know why God is acting—or not acting—in a particular way.

The word “violence” is used six times in this book. It is a word that describes a violation of the moral law in which a man injures his fellow-man or continues to oppress him.

Habakkuk lived in a particularly violent society. He speaks to us about the endemic, systematic violence all around him. This violence has always been a problem on earth as men live out their wickedness by injuring or killing one another. This evil heat of murder and anger escalated in Judah at the time of Habakkuk.

This difficulty with evil and God’s seeming lack of concern or answer to Habakkuk’s prayer, is troubling to the prophet. God had warned Israel through his servant Samuel, “You will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, and the Lord will not answer you in that day” (1 Samuel 8:18). The result of their rejection of God as King is that a wicked monarchy would bring them into a state of oppression. The prophet cries, and it seems the Lord will not answer. Left to themselves, they will utterly destroy one another.

This is the same cry as Job “I cry out, ‘Violence!’ and you do not answer” (Job 19:7). Only the wisdom of God can answer this question of prayer that remains unanswered.

Habakkuk stands among the innocent with the faithful remnant. Why shouldn’t his prayer be answered?

In light of the truth that God’s intention is to maintain a people for Himself, how can He refuse to provide deliverance in such desperate times?

Verse 3- “Why do You make me see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises.”

The specifics of Habakkuk’s complaint are spelled out more clearly: iniquity and wickedness, destruction and violence, and strife and contention. The entire nation is plagued by these griefs. Both sin and its consequences seem to prevail through the country.

Verse 4- “Therefore the law is ignored and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore justice comes out perverted.”

Yet, having the law does Israel no good. The best law in the world profits nothing if its statues are not maintained. The wicked outnumber the righteous, surround them, and enforce their own will on the people.

Not only are people, culture, families and systems demonstrating evil, but those that are supposed to uphold law and justice are wicked and perverted. Fathers that are supposed to love and shape their children are abusing them. The police aren’t enforcing the law, they’re breaking it. The attorneys aren’t seeking truth, only profit. The judges are not seeking justice, only power. Elected officials are not representing the wants of their constituency, just their selfish gain. This book is over 2,600 years old, and yet the problems then are our problems today.

Are our politicians telling us the truth? Are our courts handing out justice and mercy in godly ways? Perhaps infrequently, certainly not often. Why? Because there is such thing as systemic evil. Systems and governments are comprised of people, and people are wicked. This doesn’t mean that Habakkuk’s culture was as evil as it could possibly be. Nor does this mean that all of our systems are “utterly” depraved. Certainly systems and people can be more depraved and wicked then they are. This simply means that what Habakkuk saw was the depravity and wickedness of mankind acted out before him.

How can we seriously sit back and not recognize that something is wrong when a guy who has a large bag of pot gets 10-15 years in prison while a child molester gets a slap on the hand and sent to a very short term in prison? When murderers get off because of a technicality even though they have confessed their crime and are obviously guilty? When men who are the heads of major corporations rape their company and the pensions of those who are retired and get a short term in prison? Habakkuk’s message is timely, and until we come to the same frustration when we see lawlessness and the perversion of justice, we will not understand this book. Habakkuk’s burden is heavy upon him because he has a deep seated understanding and desire for holy justice. His cry is a cry of righteous indignations.

The world is characterized by apathy and the death of outrage. We are more angry and animated over our minimum wages then we are with the suffering and death of men, women, boys and girls because of the AIDS crisis, poverty, disasters, killings and injustice in this world.

Some of you might be saying that it isn’t all that bad. People are inherently good and therefore we shouldn’t cry out like Habakkuk. Really? Then why do you lock your doors? Why do you have an alarm on your car? Why do we have to sign contracts with people? Why do you buy insurance? Because you realize that there is evil in this world, and without thinking, you take measures to protect yourself from it. The sad truth of Habakkuk’s burden is that his complaint is against God’s people! Those that are supposed to champion justice and mercy, compassion and care, order and civility, are the very ones that are committing these horrible sins. They know God’s law and God’s justice, yet do not esteem either of them.

Justice in not carried out, but is perverted instead. The most difficult thing for a righteous person is to appeal to the courts of the land only to find that a decision would be rendered against him. So the prophet complains. It is a strong one. He can find no justice among God’s own people. Instead, brutality, perversion, lawlessness and injustice prevail in the land. The righteous people of the Lord suffer endless abuse. Prayers of the devout go unheard. How does the Lord explain this terrible circumstance, and His own seeming lack of response to the cry of the prophet?

Now comes God’s divine response. The Lord listened patiently to the complaint of the prophet. His response is not only to Habakkuk but is addressed to a plurality of listeners.

This answer to the prophet is an awesome one. Interestingly, the Lord doesn’t dispute the complaint of the prophet. The Lord agrees with the indictment against the nation.

There is also a total absence of rebuke to the prophet since the Lord is in full sympathy with the prophet’s agony over the suffering of the righteous. When the Lord tells Habakkuk His answer, it is plain that He sees the problem even more deeply than does the prophet. His resolution appears overwhelming.

Verse 5- "Look among the nations! Observe! Be astonished! Wonder! Because I am doing something in your days—You would not believe if you were told.”

Look, observe, be astonished, wonder! The prophet had presented a problem. The divine response is of such an overwhelming nature that God prepares the people for its reception.

All of His people should be amazed at the judgment that is coming. For no less than the whole of the nation will be struck by this judgment. The faithful are called to watch the storm which is coming, to observe it closely as it advances, and to wonder at the force with which it will finally break itself upon Israel.

Verse 6- "For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, That fierce and impetuous people Who march throughout the earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.”

The Chaldeans are bitter and impetuous. Not just a few of them, but the whole nation is ill-tempered and bitter. They are not a people that reason and sort out the facts. They act first and cause sufferings and great injustice.

Their sin of seizing dwelling places that are not their own will be used as a way of serving God’s purpose to discipline His people.

Verse 7- "They are dreaded and feared; Their justice and authority originate with themselves.”

This nation is feared because of its strength and temper. They act autonomously and do not listen to or follow the law or justice. Much like the unfaithful Israelites who are acting as practical atheists, God will use a nation even worse then they to punish them and show them their sinfulness. They seek to be a law unto themselves and God uses this lawless nation to demonstrate what that looks like.

Verse 11- "Then they will sweep through like the wind and pass on. But they will be held guilty, They whose strength is their god."

Yet God will hold even His instrument of punishment guilty for their actions!
The problem of evil is dealt with through Christ on the cross, and is being dealt with now, and will be completely eradicated in the future.

The problem of suffering is dealt with by God who came into this world and suffered. If God Himself has suffered, then our suffering isn't senseless. First, if you have a God great and transcendent enough to be mad at because He hasn't stopped evil and suffering in the world, then you have to have a God great and transcendent enough to have good reasons for allowing it to continue that you can't know. Second, though we don't know the reasons why He allows it to continue, He can't be indifferent or un-caring, because the Christian God (unlike the gods of all the other religions) takes our misery and suffering so seriously that He is willing to get involved with it himself. On the cross, Jesus suffered with us.

The problem of evil is not a problem for God.

The existence of evil is part of the greater plan for God show the fullness of His divine attributes and for Him to receive the greatest amount of glory. God does all things for the ultimate purpose of His glory.

It is no comfort to think that God could have stopped a particular evil or suffering and simply “allowed” it to happen so that He didn’t intrude upon our freedom. The only comfort is that God is in sovereign control and is infinitely good, and because of these truths, God has a sufficient reason that I cannot see but is for my good and His glory. Our comfort is that God is involved and still loves us through the cup of bitterness that we are asked to drink.

Sin is serious. The answer is the cross.

Romans 8:18-39 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance we wait eagerly for it. In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words; and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many Brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written, ‘FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG; WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.’ But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

I will like to finish off this message with the prayers of St. Francis:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Thanks be to God - for his living word - Jesus Christ our Saviour
And for his Spirit - which gives up power day by day. Amen.