HABAKKUK
“… LIVING THROUGH THE SILENCE…”
“…God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you? Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we? God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work? Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline? But you can’t be serious! You can’t condone evil! So why don’t you do something about this? Why are you silent now? This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and you stand around and watch! (Habakkuk 1:12-13 MSG).
“…You’re treating men and women as so many fish in the ocean, Swimming without direction, swimming but not getting anywhere. Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing. He pulls in a good catch. He catches his limit and fills his bucket— a good day of fishing! He’s happy! He praises his rod and reel, piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it! It’s made his day, and he’s going to eat well tonight!...” (Habakkuk 1:14-16 MSG).
“…Are you going to let this go on and on? Will you let this Babylonian fisherman Fish like a weekend angler, killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?...” (Habakkuk 1:17 MSG).
*
Habakkuk, no doubt, believes in the sovereignty, power, and authority of God. “…Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction…” (Habakkuk 1:12 KJV). “…God, you’re from eternity, aren’t you? Holy God, we aren’t going to die, are we? God, you chose Babylonians for your judgment work? Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline?...” (Habakkuk 1:12 MSG).
Yet, Habakkuk still had some complaints. “…Rock-Solid God, you gave them the job of discipline? But you can’t be serious! You can’t condone evil! So why don’t you do something about this? Why are you silent now? This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and you stand around and watch! (Habakkuk 1:12-13 MSG). “…You’re treating men and women as so many fish in the ocean, Swimming without direction, swimming but not getting anywhere. Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing. He pulls in a good catch. He catches his limit and fills his bucket— a good day of fishing! He’s happy! He praises his rod and reel, piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it! It’s made his day, and he’s going to eat well tonight!...” (Habakkuk 1:14-16 MSG). “…Are you going to let this go on and on? Will you let this Babylonian fisherman Fish like a weekend angler, killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?...” (Habakkuk 1:17 MSG).
Habakkuk couldn’t UNDERSTAND, with his humanity, how a HOLY God could USE such a wicked people and wicked nation even more wicked that Judah to JUDGE “his” people.
“…You can’t condone evil! So why don’t you do something about this? Why are you silent now? This outrage! Evil men swallow up the righteous and you stand around and watch! (Habakkuk 1:12-13 MSG).
“…Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?...” (Habakkuk 1:13 KJV).
Habakkuk wants God, the Holy Spirit, to JUDGE, right away, and tells God it seems as if he is “looking” upon the WICKED and their iniquities with approval or favor. “…But you can’t be serious! You can’t condone evil! So why don’t you do something about this?...” (Habakkuk 1:12-13 MSG).
In addition, Habakkuk felt God was allowing the WICKED to, treacherously, capture other nations in the same way people catch fish in a fish net. “…Are you going to let this go on and on? Will you let this Babylonian fisherman Fish like a weekend angler, killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?...” (Habakkuk 1:17 MSG).
Habakkuk’s first complaint was about the wickedness he was witnessing in Judah (God’s people), then he complained about God’s plan to use the Chaldeans (Heathen nation) to resolve the problem.
God ASSURED Habakkuk judgement, against JUDAH, was on its WAY. However, Habakkuk didn’t APPROVE of God’s method or agent of judgement, which were the Chaldeans.
For one thing, the Chaldeans were WAY MORE wicked than Judah, but, nonetheless, they would be God’s AGENT of change to SOLVE the problem of wickedness among his people.
If the problem was already BAD, Habakkuk couldn’t understand God’s wisdom in a cure that “seem” like it would make the problem WORSE. “…everything [God, the Holy Spirit of LOVE]... does is right and all his ways are just....” (Daniel 4 NIV). “...all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he...” (Deuteronomy 32:4 NIV). “… “I AM WHO I AM …” (Exodus 3:14-15 NASB). “…I change NOT…” (Malachi 3:6 KJV).
Habakkuk KNEW the nature of God was HOLY and DIVINE. This truth about his nature also troubled him in regard to WHY God would JUDGE Judah by RAISING-UP a nation more wicked than they were.
The heathen nation and their people were so EVIL and WICKED, Habakkuk wondered HOW LONG God would allow the Chaldeans to continue their cruelty.
Especially, when it “seemed” God’s own people were being conquered like fish becoming caught in a fisherman’s net. They were EASILY being destroyed by the Chaldeans. King Nebuchadnezzar was their king, but he was no leader or defense since he was siding with the Chaldeans.
Habakkuk was an eyewitness of the EVIL and WICKEDNESS. They were haughty and insolent. They wanted to autonomously exercise their own rights yet control the rights of others.
They were without God but served the gods Bel and Nebo. They were hardened by their own idolatry and blasphemous attitudes toward the God of Israel. “...Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth...” (Exodus 20:1-4 KJV).
Because they had CONQUERED Judah, they believed their god was more POWERFUL than Israel’s God. They took God, the Holy Spirit’s, glory and gave it to their gods (of their own creation) and themselves. “...Thou shalt have no other gods before me...” (Exodus 20:1-4 KJV).
We have all, like Habakkuk, questioned God’s allowance of wicked people and the corruption of their wicked actions.
Some of God’s own people have thought that God’s allowance of these Chaldean-like nations, across biblical history, damages his holy and righteous character.
The Chaldeans in Habakkuk’s day much more WICKED than the Judean’s (God’s unfaithful, wayward children) he was complaining about in the first 4 verses in Chapter 1.
Yet, God, in his ALMIGHTY and omniscient wisdom was allowing the Chaldeans to be a part of his PLAN of CHASTISEMENT upon his people.
The part that troubled Habakkuk and that may trouble YOU, right now, is how can a HOLY God look upon ALL this wicked and evil behavior and “seemingly” do NOTHING.
Habakkuk BOLDLY questions, like many of his people do, God, the Holy Spirit’s, sovereign wisdom in “overlooking” the Chaldeans sins and blatant iniquities.
The Chaldeans being God’s agents for punishing his people who, in comparison, are LESS sinful seems WRONG.
Habakkuk wondered if the God, who sees EVERYTHING, “saw” just how wicked and evil the Chaldeans were in their ruthless, murderous, careless, vicious, selfish, conduct and actions. “…Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing. He pulls in a good catch. He catches his limit and fills his bucket— a good day of fishing! He’s happy! He praises his rod and reel, piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it! It’s made his day, and he’s going to eat well tonight!...” (Habakkuk 1:14-16 MSG).
It SEEMS, not only was God allowing it, but he was taking NO action either. “…Are you going to let this go on and on? Will you let this Babylonian fisherman Fish like a weekend angler, killing people as if they’re nothing but fish?...” (Habakkuk 1:17 MSG).
God, the Holy Spirit, in his allowance, had UNLEASHED the WICKED and EVIL Chaldeans upon them. “…You’re treating men and women as so many fish in the ocean, Swimming without direction, swimming but not getting anywhere....” (Habakkuk 1:14-16 MSG). "…And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, [that have] no ruler over them?..." (Habakkuk 1:14 KJV).
In other words, Habakkuk SAW the “same” people he was complaining about earlier NOW as victims. Let’s look at his original complaint: “…How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted…” (HABAKKUK 1:1-4 NIV).
Now these “SAME” evil people had NO ONE to protect or defend them against the Chaldeans. The Chaldeans were unrestrained from taking them into captivity or hurting them.
They were in the HANDS of the Chaldeans and exposed to their cruelty as if God they had NO LORD or SAVIOR.
It was AS IF they had NO God of providence to preserve them and keep them from being hurt by these wicked and evil Chaldeans.
In addition, they were weak and powerless against the Chaldeans and without God’s GRACE and MERCY that would continually be OPPRESSED by their enemy.
“…How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted…” (HABAKKUK 1:1-4 NIV).
The SAME wicked Judeans he complained about to God, Habakkuk was NOW pleading their case against the “seemingly” merciless way God was choosing to CORRECT them. "…They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad…" (Habakkuk 1:15 KJV).
Habakkuk describes these “same” evil Judeans as FISH and the eviler Chaldeans as FISHERMEN who exerted or forced their power upon them in order to take dominion over the Judeans people, their property, and their kingdom.
However, in Habakkuk’s metaphor the FISH were, somehow, LURED to the FISHERMEN’s nets, which means they willingly choose to go into the NET on their OWN volition.
Whatever, within their own hearts, allowed them to be LURED into the nets, is what DREW them into the FISHERMEN’s TRAPS, "… they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag:…" (Habakkuk 1:15 KJV).
On some level the FISH willingly followed the FISHERMEN’S LURE into their nets. All the fishermen wanted was to get the FISH into their NETS by APPEALING to the FISHES’ own desires.
“…My people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward” (Jeremiah 7:24 NLT). “...But the people replied, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires...” (JEREMIAH 18:12 NLT).
The NET can catch a LARGE number of FISH into its TRAP and what the net misses, the FISHERMEN catches by using what is called a DRAG. "… they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag…" (Habakkuk 1:15 KJV).
"… therefore they rejoice and are glad…" (Habakkuk 1:15 KJV). The FISHERMEN, in the text, is happy for his CATCH. “…Then this evil Babylonian arrives and goes fishing. He pulls in a good catch. He catches his limit and fills his bucket— a good day of fishing! He’s happy! He praises his rod and reel, piles his fishing gear on an altar and worships it! It’s made his day, and he’s going to eat well tonight!...” (Habakkuk 1:14-16 MSG).
In like manner, the Chaldeans LURED the wicked JUDEANS through their own evil desires by capturing them into their TRAPS. “…[God said:].... my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. ….” (JEREMIAH 5:23 NLT). “…My people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted…” (Jeremiah 7:24 NLT).
“…They have turned away and ABANDONED me….” (JEREMIAH 5:23 NLT). “...[My people]… FORGOT all about ME,” says the Lord…” (Hosea 2:13 NLT). “…for years on end my people have FORGOTten ME…” (Jeremiah 2:32 NLT).
“…They ABANDONED ME and did not obey my word….” (JEREMIAH 16:11 NLT). “…They ABANDONED the Lord… they turned their backs on him….” (2 Chronicles 29:6 NLT).
The Chaldean’s took their lands, their property, their kingdom, their nation, and draining their riches. "… therefore they rejoice and are glad…" (Habakkuk 1:15 KJV).
The Chaldeans REJOICED over how wickedly clever they had succeeded in TAKING OVER the backsliding Judeans in such a deceitful way.
The Chaldeans, literally, took dominion of the WHOLE NATION and spared NO ONE; not even the ones they’d manipulated and TRICKED into helping them get what they wanted.
The EVIL Judeans were captured by the EVILER Chaldeans. They TOOK everything they HAD and PARTIED with large feasts and banquets. "…Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion [is] fat, and their meat plenteous…" (Habakkuk 1:16 KJV).
The Chaldeans GAVE the credit for the VICTORY to their “own” POWER and NOT God, the Holy Spirit’s.
It was “their” POWER and false gods, whom they burned incense to, that had enlarged their dominion, increased their riches, enhanced their benefits, given them what they wanted, and emboldened their way of life.
The Chaldeans continuously went after, followed, hunted for, stalked, or pursued injustice and every kind of wickedness. "…Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?..." (Habakkuk 1:17 KJV).
HOW LONG WAS GOD, THE HOLY SPIRIT, GOING TO ALLOW OR TOLERATE THEIR WICKED AND EVIL BEHAVIORS AND ACTIONS?
God may have allowed the CHALDEANS to RISE-UP, but who had EMBOLDENED their evil ways? God’s own people SUPPORTED them.
In the OLD TESTAMENT, God’s people rejected HIM as their King. They decided they wanted a HUMAN KING over Israel. “...Now it came about, when Samuel was old, that he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. The name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah; they were judging in Beersheba. His sons, however, did not walk in his ways but turned aside after dishonest gain, and they took bribes and perverted justice...” (1 Samuel 8:1-3 NASB).
God had RULED over his people through SAMUEL, but his people begin to reject him. “...Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint us a king to judge us like all the nations.” But the matter was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord...” (1 Samuel 8:4-7 NASB).
God respects the human will of his people. “...And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me from being King over them. Like all the deeds which they have done since the day that I brought them up from Egypt even to this day—in that they have abandoned Me and served other gods—so they are doing to you as well. Now then, listen to their voice; however, you shall warn them strongly and tell them of the practice of the king who will reign over them...” (1 Samuel 8:7-9 NASB). “…Choose you this day whom ye will serve….” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).
They were NOT rejecting Samuel, but God, the Holy Spirit. “...they have rejected Me (God, the Holy Spirit) from being King over them...however, you shall warn them strongly and tell them of the practice of the king who will reign over them...” (1 Samuel 8:7-9 NASB).
God allowed them to HAVE what they WANTED in their “own” hearts. “... The matter was displeasing in the sight of Samuel when they said, “Give us a (human) king to judge us.” And Samuel prayed to the Lord...” (1 Samuel 8:4-7 NASB).
“...[God, through Samuel warned]...them strongly and [told]... them of the practice of the (human) king who will reign over them...” (1 Samuel 8:7-9 NASB). “...When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the (human) king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day...” (1 Samuel 8:10-18 NIV).
“... “Give us a (human) king to judge us.” ...” (1 Samuel 8:4-7 NASB). The Israelites WERE rejecting God and so were the wicked Judeans of Habakkuk’s day. God, the Holy Spirit, is“....the RULER of the kings of the earth...” (Revelation 1:5 NIV). “... Lord of lords and King of kings... (Revelations 17:14 NIV).
The Chaldeans were OBVIOUSLY a heathen, godless, and wicked nation, but some of God’s people were LURED away by them. “…[God said:].... my people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. ….” (JEREMIAH 5:23 NLT). “...We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires...” (JEREMIAH 18:12 NLT).
Their backsliding ways had already revealed they had REJECTED the covenant relationship with God. “…They ABANDONED ME and did not obey my word….” (JEREMIAH 16:11 NLT). “…They ABANDONED the Lord… they turned their backs on him….” (2 Chronicles 29:6 NLT). “…The Lord replies, “This has happened because my people have ABANDONED MY INSTRUCTIONS; they have refused to obey what I said….” (JEREMIAH 9:13 NLT).
“…We will continue to live as WE WANT TO, stubbornly following our own evil desires…” (JEREMIAH 18:12 NLT). “…They (God’s OWN people) KEPT DOING WHATEVER THEY WANTED, following the stubborn desires of their [OWN] evil hearts…” (Jeremiah 7:24 NLT). “… [YOU]… FORGOT all about ME,” says the Lord…” (Hosea 2:13 NLT). “… you became proud and FORGOT ME….” (Hosea 13:6 NLT). “…Does a young woman forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding dress? Yet for years on end my people have FORGOTten ME…” (Jeremiah 2:32 NLT).
God gave the Judeans over to the evil ways they had chosen. They willingly followed after the Chaldeans. God GAVE the Israelites, through Samuel, what they WANTED too. “...And the Lord said to Samuel, “Listen to the voice of the people regarding all that they say to you, because they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me...” (1 Samuel 8:7-9 NASB).
Even if the Chaldeans had RISEN UP, God’s people had the God-given right to use their human will to choose evil or good. Many of his righteous ones were CHOOSING, during all the Chaldean’s EVIL, to live by faith. “..the just shall live by his faith...” (Habakkuk 2:4 KJV). “...it is written, The just shall live by faith...” (Romans 10:17 KJV). “...for, The just shall live by faith...” (Galatians 3:11 KJV). “...Now the just shall live by faith...” (Hebrew 10:38 KJV). IT WAS CHOICE TO FOLLOW GOD OR FOLLOW THE EVIL CHALDEANS.“…Choose you this day whom ye will serve….” (Joshua 24:15 KJV).
The evil Judeans had already rejected the covenant relationship with God, just like his people did in Samuel’s time. “...they have rejected Me (God, the Holy Spirit) from being King over them (their lives)...” (1 Samuel 8:7-9 NASB).
Thus, when Habakkuk questions God, again, it seems he has gone silent.
However, God’s people know what God did in Noah’s day, in Lot’s day, and in Habakkuk’s day. Thus, when it “seems” like God is SILENT or is NOT answering, his “eternal power” is WORKING.
“...God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam ...“Be still, and know that I am God ... The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress...” (Psalms 46 NLT).
No comments:
Post a Comment