Habakkuk's cry

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2022

HABAKKUK 1 VERSES 1 – 4

 

The book of Habakkuk is like all scripture – timeless, the message is still important and timely.  A message for all generations, for all ages.  It is so relevant even for this day.  As we read these verses we see the innermost thoughts of this young prophet.  A man who shares so much with us today.  He is coming to terms with the situation around him.  We see him coming to prayer, pouring out his heart – verse 2 “O Lord”.  It reminds us of Hannah in the temple.  Her lips did not move but her innermost thoughts were being expressed.  It was not a matter of getting the right phrases together but pouring out her heart.  Habakkuk was doing that for his nation.  He lived in a time of change.  4 kings reigned one after the other.  His name means to cling or embrace.  We see a man who embraces the situation around him and does not walk away from it.  He is a man who clings onto God in prayer, to seek a change for that situation.  He is clinging onto God and waiting for an answer.  If ever there was a day when we need to be a Habakkuk it is today.  The world is changing so drastically and quickly.  We need to be able to embrace the situation we are facing.  We are constantly hearing of the decline of the church and people falling away.  The bible tells us to expect that in the last days, that there will be a form of godliness, that people will deny the existence of God.  We need to be those who cling unto God and know he is in control.  The 1859 Revival swept across our land.  They were just ordinary people who got together to pray specifically for the children of the area.  God started to move very slowly and then a revival swept through the entire land.  These people embraced the situation, they prayed for a change.  They clung to God for that to happen.  The situation Habakkuk saw around him.

Notice a crisis in politics.  Jeremiah and Habakkuk lived around the same time when the nation of Judah went into captivity and Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon was in charge.  Both men cried out for change.  Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet because he cried over Jerusalem.  His heart was broken.  Habakkuk steps in and we might see him as the questioning prophet. This man was not afraid to come before God and question God.  Not about his authority, who he was or his character. He was asking questions about the things he didn’t understand.  In verse 2 he was praying – why – because of the burden he had in verse 1.  This man gets before God and asks “how long will we remain in this situation before you move?”  Verse 3 “why do you show me all this and you are not prepared to move and save?”  Jeremiah was a man whose heart was broken for the nation.  Habakkuk was coming to do business with God – “we don’t understand this, why should it be?”  James in his letter in chapter 1 wrote “if any man of you lack wisdom let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not and it shall be given him.”  The challenge for us is coming before the God of heaven in faith knowing who he is, what he has done in the past and is prepared to do now in the present and then be assured he will do the same in the future.  Do we not harbour the same attitude when we come to God in prayer?  We are burdened for those not saved and we ask why.  Are we afraid to ask God why today?  Maybe God will ask something of us when we come to pray and that is what we are afraid of asking.  Remember the Children of Israel under Joshua’s leadership.  They obeyed God and the city of Jericho fell before them.  They became complacent and over confident when it came to the city of Ai but they were defeated there.  Joshua and the elders got down on their faces and cried out “why did this happen Lord? How will we go against our enemies in the next battle?”  The Lord told them to get up, he questioned why they were lying there for Israel had sinned.  One man out of that whole nation disobeyed God and brought the nation down in defeat.  That is how serious sin is and how we must treat it in these days.  It cannot be set aside today.  We need to seek God and ask for his forgiveness.  God’s words to Joshua was simple “Up, sanctify the people and say, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow … There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee O Israel.”  Achan saw the Babylonish garment, the gold and silver, took them and hid them in his own tent.  He thought no-one was watching him but God saw him.  Failure came for the entire nation as a result.  For Habakkuk things were changing.  The good king Josiah had passed away, now his sons were on the throne, one after another but they were not good.  Josiah wanted to seek and serve the Lord and as a result blessings fell on the nation.  When he died there was a great decline in his sons day.  They turned from God.  They knew not God neither did they listen to him.  Do we not see the politics of our day in crisis?  The 4 kings who followed Josiah turned their backs on God.  Here in Habakkuk’s day we see the Assyrian and Egyptian nations coming to an end and Babylon was a rising power.  Jeremiah 1 verse 14 “Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.”   Habakkuk could see it happening all around him and the heavens were as brass.  He asks the Lord “how long shall we cry, why did you show me all this iniquity and are not prepared to save?”  When our prayers are not answered sometimes we are like that too.  God is still listening, he knows our hearts, he is still in control.  We find this solemn figure in chapter 2 verse 1 waiting for God “I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved.”  No-one stood with him but he was holding onto God.  A reminder that we should not give up.

The crushing of a people.  Normally the duty of a prophet was to declare God’s word to the people.  Here was a man whose role was reversed.  He was taking the burden of the people and bringing it before the God of heaven.  In 1 Kings 17 Elijah came bursting on the scene.  He stood before Ahab in the palace and told him God was going to close the heavens.  When he left the palace he was on the run.  He had brought God’s word before the king.  Habakkuk took the needs of the people before God. If ever there was a day when our family needs us, when our community needs us, it is today.  “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 1 verse 4)  We need God to break in and shine his light on them, showing them the need of God in their lives.  Today we have a great high priest seated at the Father’s right hand who sees everything.  He knows every thought and every word.  The Psalmist could say “such knowledge is too wonderful for me.” (Psalm 139 verse 6) Jesus said to Peter that he had prayed for him because Satan wanted to have him “Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not; and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” (Luke 22 verses 31 and 32)  Samuel said “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way.” (1 Samuel 12 verse 23)  The people had demanded a king to reign over them.  Habakkuk sees the needs of people crushed.  We see the same situation today.  People do not really know what way to turn in our present day.  We are told that in the end times many will turn from God, that there will be a one world government, one monetary system and that the Antichrist will appear.  For the child of God faith is found in the finished work of Calvary.  We see so many things happening today.  People are being crushed with so many things happening around them.  Habakkuk saw the spoiling and violence – verse 3 - he speaks of wrong judgment.  The people in Habakkuk’s day were striving to do what was right.  Habakkuk said “the wicked are able to twist things to make things look alright.”  Habakkuk could only take it to the God of heaven.  Romans 13 verse 3 “For rulers are not a terror to good works but to the evil.  Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good and thou shalt have praise of the same.”  “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” (Proverbs 14 verse 34)

The prayer of complaint.  Maybe that is where you are today.  Psalm 40 verse 1 “I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”  We need to be those who wait.  God said to Moses “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows.  And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.” (Exodus 3 verse 7)  We need the Habakkuk’s of our day, not giving in.  Don’t let the devil come down and disturb us.  God is on the throne today.  He rules in eternity today.  The heart of the king is in the hand of God.  God is in control.