When God Doesn’t Answer As Expected.

June 21, 2020 • Habakkuk 1:5-2:1

Habakkuk 1:5-2:1

The Lord’s Answer

“Look at the nations and watch—
    and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
    that you would not believe,
    even if you were told.
I am raising up the Babylonians,[a]
    that ruthless and impetuous people,
who sweep across the whole earth
    to seize dwellings not their own.
They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
    they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

Habakkuk’s Second Complaint

12 Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
    you cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
    Why are you silent while the wicked
    swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea,
    like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks,
    he catches them in his net,
he gathers them up in his dragnet;
    and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net,
    destroying nations without mercy?

I will stand at my watch
    and station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
    and what answer I am to give to this complaint.[d]

Habakkuk pours out his heart in a complaint to God, questioning him as to why he appears to be silent and uncaring toward the situation.

 Habakkuk must let go off his own expectations and wait patiently for God to fulfill his divine purposes in his timing and ways.

In the end, Habakkuk’s complaint gives away to a beautiful trust in God that is not based upon the prophet’s circumstances.  When we face dark, painful, and hard times, we can out pour our hearts and unedited emotions to God.  

Historical Background

COMPLAINT #1: There is Idolatry and Injustice all around. It is even tolerated by Israel’s leaders.

REPLY #1:  The LORD God is going to summon the armies of Babylon to bring justice upon his wayward people, Israel.

COMPLAINT #2:  Babylon is worse than Israel!  What are you thinking, LORD? Habakkuk demands an explanation.

Who are the Babylonians?

  • The Lord answered Habakkuk’s question (cf. 1:2–4) by informing him that Judah would be judged by God through the Babylonians.
  • The Babylonians (‘Kaldu’ in the Assyrian annals) were a Semitic people of southern Babylonia. When Nabopolassar native Chaldean governor, took the Babylonian throne in 626 B.C., he inaugurated a dynasty that made the ‘Chaldean’ name famous.  
  • The word is used in the Bible as a virtual synonym for ‘Babylonian.’ 
  • This a nation that deifies their own power. They treat humans like animals and devour nations.  The LORD God admits as much (1:11).  

Why doesn’t the LORD’s answer seem to satisfy Habakkuk?  

Rather than rejoicing that God was no longer silent but about to do his mighty work, Habakkuk prays another complaint to the Lord God.  What are the main points that Habakkuk brings to God in his second lament? 

Evaluate:  This problem – that God seems to permit the wicked to succeed in this world — has troubled believers in one form or another from the beginning.  

God’s answer to Habakkuk was not what he expected.  What effect did that have on the prophet’s outlook and mood? 

When Jesus doesn’t meet our expectations, do we become disillusioned and angry, where do we need to turn for strength?  

How do we respond when God’s answer is unexpected?

We commit our way into the Lord’s hands, who declares:

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” 

(Isaiah 55:9)