Read Habakkuk 1:1–11
Questions from the Scripture text: What is the prophecy called in Habakkuk 1:1? Who saw it? What was his office? What question does he ask in Habakkuk 1:2a? What has he been doing? Whom is he addressing? What is He not doing (verse 2b)? What, specifically, has Habakkuk cried (verse 2c)? What, specifically, does YHWH not seem to have done (verse 2d)? What six things does he say that YHWH has been making him to see (Habakkuk 1:3)? What conclusion has he drawn about the law (Habakkuk 1:4a)? And about justice (verse 4b)? Why—what do the wicked do (verse 4c)? With what effect (verse 4d)? With what double command does Habakkuk 1:5 begin? What will astound them? What cannot even enable them to believe? Whom is He about to raise up (Habakkuk 1:6)? What are they like, and what will they do (Habakkuk 1:6-11)?
How can believers respond, when providence is heavy? Habakkuk 1:1–11 prepares us for the evening sermon on the coming Lord’s Day. In these eleven verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that, when dealing with heavy providence, we must remember God Himself.
How long? Why? These are questions that believers who experience life in this world end up asking. There are many things that we encounter that seem inconsistent with what we know of God’s character and Word. What Job personally experienced, in an extreme instance of this, Habakkuk is experiencing
This is why Habakkuk’s prophecy is called a “burden” (Habakkuk 1:1), literally “a weight.” In the midst of God’s plan of redemption, weighty experience casts us upon the Lord. The theme of Habakkuk, through the dialog with God in chapter one, the woes of chapter two, and the psalm of chapter three, is learning to persevere in trusting and enjoying God, even in the absence of all situational comfort and encouragement.
Habakkuk isn’t doubting God like many skeptics who ask these questions, nor is he doubting his own assurance. In his inability to reconcile what he experiences, with the surer knowledge of the character and word of God, Habakkuk cries out to God Himself.
It is God Himself that he needs. It is God Himself that we need. The people of Judah have the Word of God, the law, but it is stunned/paralyzed (v4a). It is the same word as what happened to Jacob’s heart in Genesis 45:26. The people of Judah have God-given authorities, but the judgments are ineffective (Habakkuk 1:4b).
One thing that life in this world certainly teaches us is that we must have God Himself acting, not merely the other good provisions that He gives us. Even with those things, the transition from Josiah to Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim, find Judah filled with the three pairs of evils in Habakkuk 1:3: iniquity and toil, plundering and violence, and strife and contention. Habakkuk cries out in the singular, but the Lord answers in the plural (“Look,” in Habakkuk 1:5, is plural).
Behold what God is doing (Habakkuk 1:5a–b). The Lord answers in the plural: look (y’all) and watch (y’all); be utterly astounded (y’all). God’s people should consider, with wonder and astonishment, what the Lord is already doing among the nations. In this case, the Lord has already punished the northern kingdom. In addition to what we know from Scripture, there is plenty food for praise and thanks in what the Lord has already done in history.
Remember Whose work it is (Habakkuk 1:5c–d). Verse 5c–d literally says, “a working work in your days which you would not believe if told.” Providence is God’s work, not ours. God tells us that even if He were to tell us in advance how it all fits together, we wouldn’t believe it. One reason that we are discouraged is the fleshly desire to be on the throne ourselves, or to be able to see into God’s mind, and to give our own assessment of whether things are going well. The secret things belong to God, and the revealed things are for us and our children. Duty is ours; events are God’s.
Wait for what the Lord is yet to do (Habakkuk 1:6-11). God’s interest in His people, but His domain is everywhere. He will use the most powerful resources of the whole world to sanctify Judah. In comparatively few words, He gives twenty frightful descriptions of the Babylonians. What the Lord has yet to do may include much that is frightful (cf. 2 Timothy 3:1–9). But in all that He does, He does it for the gathering and perfecting of His church. World history is full of people and peoples like the Babylonians, and it will continue to be. But through it all, the Lord is building His church.
Know that the Lord is just. The Lord’s assessment of Babylon is that “he transgresses, he commits offense.” Though Babylon is used by the good God to do His good work, Babylon himself is evil and does evil things. God sees this; God assesses it; and, God will repay it. His sovereign employment of the wicked does not excuse them for their wickedness.
What circumstances in your life are too heavy for you? What, in the condition of the nation or the church, is too heavy for you? What has God done in history that astounds you with His wisdom, power, and goodness? How are you humbling yourself before the fact that He is sovereignly at work in the world? What can you know about what God will do next? What wicked people and actions trouble you? What is God doing through them? What will God do about them?
Sample prayer: Lord, how long will we cry out, and it does not seem as if You are doing anything? But we know that You are working, and that Your work is good. Give us to humble our understanding before You and persist in crying to You, trusting You, and even rejoicing in You. Thank You for reminding us that the secret things belong to You. We are so glad that they do, and we are content to entrust all unto You. Grant unto us to behold Your work with wonder and praise. We look forward to what You will do, and cry out for Your justice upon the wicked. Thank You for punishing our sin at the cross. Give us to receive all of Your providence as coming in the same love that gave us Christ, we ask in His Name, AMEN!
Suggested songs: ARP46 “God Is Our Refuge and Our Strength” or TPH256 “God Moves in a Mysterious Way”
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