How long shall I Cry?

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER 2022 am

HABAKKUK 1 VERSES 12 – 17

Habakkuk is a man of whom we don’t know much.  The burden which Habakkuk had.  The prophet was a full time prophet. He was looked up to.  For each of us we need to be full time Christians.  Men or woman of God.  We do know Habakkuk prophesied in the years up to the great carrying away of Judah into captivity in Babylon for 70 years.  Jeremiah was also the prophet at this time.  He was known as the weeping prophet and Habakkuk as the questioning prophet.  Habakkuk’s name means to cling or embrace.  In the attitude of prayer he had a burden in his heart.  He came to God with a problem and laid it before the Lord.  He could see what was happening around him.  He was not questioning God’s authority but questioning why these things were happening.  This man was no quitter.  He embraced the situation.  He went into the presence of God and clung to God.  Chapter 2 verse 1.  These were days of coldness and carelessness.  A falling away.  He didn’t say ‘I have preached and witnessed my heart out.”  No he wasn’t saying that.  He wasn’t saying “I am washing my hands off the whole situation”.  He embraced the times and clung unto God.  Sometimes we get to that stage. We pray and preach and nothing happens.  Time after time we ask ‘what’s the point?’  You cannot quit.  We could be just on the verge of a mighty revival, maybe just one person could be won for Christ from a message they have heard.  Suddenly something comes with a freshness.  There and then they accept Christ for themselves as their own and personal Saviour and Lord.  We could just be on the verge of such an occasion.  Wouldn’t it be an awful thing to stop praying now.  God could work at any time.

There is a revelation of God to consider.  Verse 14.  In verse 2 Habakkuk asks “how long shall I cry and thou wilt not hear?”  He was saying ‘I am crying but the heavens and your ears are closed.’  In Psalm 34 verse 15 we read “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and his ears are open unto their cry.”  In Moses’ day the Lord said “I have 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.” (Exodus 3 verse 7)  In Habakkuk 1 verses 5 and 6 God is giving a revelation for Habakkuk to consider.  God would raise this Babylonish army up.  A reminder that God can raise people up and bring them down again.  God is able to chastise his own people.  God allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come down into Judah and conquer them.  He would carry them into captivity.  “I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe.”  In verse 8 we read it will be a swift invasion and in verse 9 we read they will be hungry for war.  God was taking his prophet into the heart of the battle.  Before we can see the hand of God at work, God works in the heart of King Nebuchadnezzar.  Think of Daniel when the decree was made against anyone praying to another god.  They had a spite against this Jewish man.  They worked against him until a decree was made.  Anyone found bowing to any other god was to be thrown into the lions den.  Daniel immediately went to his own room, opened the windows and started to pray.  Daniel was arrested because of his defiance.  He was brought before the king and then thrown into the lions den.  Maybe Daniel had been praying for this decree itself.  It didn’t stop him being arrested, being taken before the king, being cast into the lions den and it didn’t stop the lions mouths being shut.  God delivered in the heat of the battle.  Maybe that is where we are today – in the heart of the battle.  We cannot go on.  We are exhausted.  We have done as much as we can.  God is able to move.  Remember Joseph at 17 years of age.  God would save the nation through hunger and famine.  Joseph had to go through treachery, being thrown into a prison cell, forgotten for years before God elevated him to a position where he could be used to bring honour and glory before God.  Maybe Habakkuk had asked for revival.  He realised that is what the people needed.  He acknowledged the people had grown cold and careless but he pleaded for revival to come in the land.

A reflection that Habakkuk bears.  He takes time now to reflect before God in his presence.  God had revealed he would use Babylon to sweep into the land and carry the people away captive – verse 12.  Habakkuk took this revelation of God and reflected on it.  When you pause to think, to consider what God has done in the past … Habakkuk was doing that – verses 12 and 13.  Consider what God has done in the past and then apply it to your present situation.  We can apply God’s word because it is a living word.  What has been done in the past can be helpful in our future.  Sometimes we battle in the place of a prayer for a difficult situation and we think there will never be a difference.  Habakkuk is looking around him and what does he see?  Verses 3 and 4 – oppression.  A foreign government bringing upon God’s people disorder, idolatry and greed among the people.  Habakkuk takes time to reflect on the problem he sees.  He knows that if he brings it before the Lord in prayer the outcome will be good but before then it will be a difficult time.  Verse 13 “thou art of purer eyes that to behold evil and canst not look on iniquity.”  Joseph took time to reflect on what was happening in his life.  His wife Mary was found to be with child.  Joseph’s first thought was to put her away but “while he thought on these things” God told him not to divorce her.  He revealed to him what was going on in his life.  “fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife for that which she has conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1 verses 20 and 21)  When Isaiah came into the temple he saw the Lord high and lifted up.  It was a new vision for him.  The story of Elijah and Elisha – Elisha wanted to go with Elijah to the very end.  The sons of the prophet asked Elisha “do you not know that the Lord will take Elijah away from you.”  Elisha said “yes I know, hold your peace.”  He was reflecting on the bigger picture.  He knew God would take Elijah away but God was bringing a man to change the situation.  Habakkuk got his mind focused on the Lord.  Maybe God is going to do something in your life, something you would never have thought possible.

There is the reaction of the prophet.  Habakkuk is going to turn afflictions into reactions.  In verse 15 they are going to be thrown into nets to drag them in from far and wide.  In verse 16 we read they will worship that net and burn incense.  What is God saying here?  They will worship skills and abilities.  Habakkuk was clinging to God.  Remember when Abraham was interceding and praying for Sodom.  In his mind there was only one family he was concerned about – his nephew Lot’s family.  We need to be able to pray for people and communities.  Habakkuk knew he needed to keep his eyes fixed on the Lord.  Chapter 2 verse 1 “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.”  Are we quitters or stickers today?  Are we waiting on God to really move?