Habakkuk
Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in HIs Holy Temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
Here is the proper attitude toward God…..to take our place before Him…in silence. For there is no boasting, or excuse, or complaint that we can give God (Ro. 3:19),…
….we are but HIs creatures….at HIs disposal (Mat. 20:15)….at HIs pleasure (determination, Revelation 4:11)
There are many awe inspiring verses where we see that Majesty and Glory of God, but
Habakkuk….from the first to the last….is in awe of God’s Holiness.
Habakkuk 1:12-13 “Art Thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One?….Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity:…”
God has shown Habakkuk that He will bring the Babylonians against Judah….even thought they are far more wicked than Judah.
But he questions….
….How can God, Who is so Holy, let them that deal treacherously and do wickedly….against those that are more righteous than they? Will He let them get by with it?
And many today are asking the same thing.
Habakkuk 2:1 “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.”
I love this…”when I am reproved.”…..
…..look at the submissive attitude of Habakkuk.
His spirit is roused against the wickedness of both his people and the cruelty of the Babylonians, God will bring against them for their sin.
He knows that because of this, he probably is not seeing things as God sees them….so he waits to hear from the Lord….to be reproved and set right with His Way.
How great a person, who submits to God….in all circumstances, for the ultimate enlightening and blessing of God’s people.
In the general, Habakkuk is prophesying concerning the Babylonians coming against Jerusalem….spoken of in the first chapter. They are described as “terrible and dreadful…more fierce than evening wolves…”
This was a judgment because of Judah’s sin for idol worship….for violence and injustice…
…..and Judah and Jerusalem would reap, violence and injustice!
(Most say that Habakkuk, himself was taken captive, though it is not mentioned. And I think that this is interesting in itself. God has His eye upon us, when others do not. And He apportions our work, our influence, and our message…to His place, time, and people. And though that changes….yet He remains constant….in faithfulness to us.)
But Habakkuk also sees that though God is using the Babyonlians to reprove and chasten HIs people….(and it is for their good, as some will repent…Hallelujah for every soul saved and brought back to God!)
….still…..those Babylonians will be corrected….and judged for their terrible treatment of the Israelites.
Habakkuk 2:2 “And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”
Write, make it plain….that those that read it….may run. That they may run to tell others of God’s Ways…..of correction and the good news of deliverance.
God then goes on to show that Babylon will be defeated in three ways:
First, pride will puff them up…so that their fall will be greater.
Second, an insatiable desire for “more, more”.
And third, false safety and drunkenness….and they will be overthrown.
All this happened.
And as Habakkuk hears from the Lord….his overwhelming sense of God’s Holiness….of His faithful Might….of His Purpose for His Own….brings from Habakkuk a cry:
Habakkuk 2:20 “But the Lord is in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.”
What a God we have! He not only sees all, but He has planned and purposed all.
He will reprove and correct….but He will see us through, as we repent.
Habakkuk then prays….and praises the Lord. (It is interesting to note that the word “prayer” here, means…”to apply to a judge for a favorable decision”.)
I believe that Habakkuk starts to pray….then bursts into a song….a song of praise for God HImself, Who is Amazing in holiness, might, and light…
There are three stanzas….each stopped by a “Selah”, which means “stop, and consider”
The first (verse 2-3), Habakkuk confesses he was afraid when God had told him of what was coming…and he asks that God would: “revive Thy Work”… (what work?)
The work that God did at Sinai when He made Israel a nation which was to be ruled by God. Selah.
In the second (verses 3-9), Habakkuk was fully singing,….about God’s glory. He pictures God’s glory seen by all in the heavens and the earth.
He is seen as standing and walking….light shining everywhere He went…both in judgment and in blessing. He is seen as dividing mountains and hills and nations….and then riding forth in deliverance to the tribes of Israel….”according to the oaths…even Thy Word.”
For God has acted according to His Word, for HIs glory. Selah.
In the third (verses 9-13), Habakkuk’s voice raises in a song of the many deliverances which were given Israel by God…and raises to a full pitch for he sees that…”God went forth…with Thine anointed”.
Habakkuk sees that God has willed a deliverance for Israel…..all for the glory of “Thine anointed”, or Jesus Christ, Who went forward to save….and will save. Selah.
Then Habakkuk returns to his prayer….for himself, and the believing remnant in Judah, in awe… before the revelation of God, in holiness.
“Thou didst” (verses 14-15) Habakkuk terms the judgment against Judah as already done. For God’s Word is true….and he was bathed in emotion, trembled (verse 16a)….his lips quiver, trying to keep back sobbing….he was weakened in his core….he felt he could not stand any longer…he was almost overcome in emotions.
Then: …”and I trembled in myself…that I might rest in the day of trouble.”
This trembled is to be afraid, to be in awe.
The only way we can truly be at rest in the day of trouble is to know the “fear of the Lord” to be in awe of Him.
An old preacher once said….”If we truly fear the Lord, the fear of man may surprise and attack us…but it will not overcome us.”
And then Habakkuk lifts up his head….to the Lord….and sings with a submission and whole-hearted laying of himself and all that he had to God.
Habakkuk 3:17-18 “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.”
(A long time ago, I mentioned that I was considering these verses. And my husband said something I found odd at the time, but I have seen the wisdom in it since. He said, “I do not think it is good, when people read these verses….for these verses show a maturity of subjection that many do not have. These verses sound wonderful….and they are….but to have the experience of such submission, is hard.”
I have since found this to be true. When all things seem to be taken away….all plans, health, and maybe even life….when you are alone, and distressed, with no helpers but the Lord…when you see nothing but bleakness, or fear….then…
…if you can quote these verses in truth….then you have a real beginning of the submission that is spoken of here.)
Here is the submission….and yet even as Habakkuk sings it….his eyes see the Lord God as the power to do this….and so must we:
Habakkuk 3:19 “The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.”
Let us pray and sing to the Lord our God….Who is Holy, Glorious, and through Jesus Christ, our Salvation.
Preaching, Teaching, and Notes 