All right, well we are in week two of our study in the book of Habakkuk, and I am falling in love with the book of Habakkuk. This is really a neat book to me. Let's spend a little bit of time reviewing, kind of talking about some of the background and overview of the book. There's a lot going on in the world at the time that this book is written. So you may remember, or if you weren't here last week, there were really three main world powers. There's Egypt and Assyria and Babylon. And Babylon is rising in the ranks of power in the world. And eventually they kind of come and move against Assyria, and Assyria, a massive power, diminishes. And Babylon sees this and they're not so happy with, or Egypt sees this, and they're not so happy with Babylon becoming so powerful. And so they decide, you know, we need to stop this. And so Egypt moves north and eventually there's going to be this big battle of Carchemish. But on the way there, notice what country they move through. They're just marching their armies through Judah, and this battle hasn't happened yet at Carchemish. They're in Judah, and Josiah right now, who was a great reformer, he was king in Judah, and he sees Egypt moving north, and he says, no, not so fast. He doesn't like the idea of this army marching through his land. And so he goes out to meet them, perhaps advised in battle. And he he actually dies in the battle. And so here's the problem. He's a righteous guy, but he has wicked sons. And who's going to be on the throne next? Well, it's his son. So after Josiah, Pharaoh, who defeats Josiah places his son Jehoahaz on the throne. But Jehoahaz only lasts for three months. Now, that's not that long a time. Think about what you were doing three months ago. OK, that's like 4th of July-ish. OK, so that's not that long to be in power. And Pharaoh kicks him out, throws him in jail. puts his brother on the throne, Jehoiakim. I'm just going to read a paragraph because the Bible describes all this, okay? So listen as the Bible describes this. Jehoiaz was 23 years old when he began to reign. He reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hamuto, the daughter of Jeremiah of Libna. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his fathers had done. Okay, so first son that's on the throne, evil. Pharaoh Necho put him in bonds at Ribna in the land of Hamath, that he might not reign in Jerusalem and laid on the land a tribute of a hundred towns of silver and a town of gold. Pharaoh Necho made Eliakim the son of Josiah, king in the place of Josiah his father, and changed his name to Jehoiakim. Okay, so here's Jehoiakim's rise to power. Long story short, Jehoiakim, he's like, OK, we're going to pay taxes to Egypt. But notice, like, who's really calling the shots here? Like, OK, you have King Jehoahaz and King Jehoiakim, but it's Pharaoh who's like, yeah, no, you're done. Jehoahaz, throw him in jail. Who's next? His brother. OK, put him on the throne. Oh, and by the way, you got to pay me lots of taxes. You get the sense, really, Pharaoh is the one calling the shots right here. But that's all about to change because as Egypt does go up to stop Babylon, there's this battle of Carchemish, they lose. And so they hightail it back to Egypt. And so now here's this question as they're gone. Babylon is advancing and Egypt isn't really in Judah anymore. And so Jehoiakim kind of has this question like, okay, who really am I supposed to ally with here? Because Pharaoh kind of was the one that put me in charge, but now Babylon's knocking at the door. Well, here's what happens. Babylon eventually moves down to Jerusalem. 2 Kings 24 says, in his days, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up and Jehoiakim became his servant for three years. So he's kind of the vassal king here. So he switches loyalties and he's eventually going to kind of rebel against Babylon and that's not going to go well for him. But Jehoiakim is a disaster of a king. Okay, he's just a disaster. The second king says that he, quote, filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and the Lord would not pardon. He's a wicked, wicked king. In fact, he's the one that Jeremiah had like this scroll that was brought to before Jehoiakim and he cuts it up and throws it in the fire. And he personally grabbed his sword and killed one of the other prophets. So just all of this background, I think, helps as we think. Here's Habakkuk. We don't know an exact date for him, but it's leading up right up to the Babylonian captivity. And so Habakkuk sees just some incredible wickedness going on in Judah. And so here's how here's what he does. He cries out to God. Here's all this violence. Are you just going to stand there and watch? The book is organized like this. It's a conversation between Habakkuk and God. So Habakkuk has his complaint. We saw this last week and then God responds and then Habakkuk has a second complaint, and we're going to see that tonight. And then God responds again. And then the book ends with a prayer of praise. What we saw last week is this. Habakkuk saw the moral decline of the nation, cries out to God for justice. He asked these questions. Why don't you hear? Why don't you save? And why do you sit idly by? And God answers. His answer is shocking. He says, I am doing something. In fact, if I told you, you wouldn't even believe it. He says, I'm raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, and essentially God saying they're going to come and discipline. I'm going to use them to discipline you. This this was not what Habakkuk had in mind as he was looking for a solution to God. And so tonight we're seeing we're right here. It's it's his second complaint. And he's going, okay, but what about? That's where we're going to be. So turn in your Bibles to Habakkuk chapter 1 yet in verse 12. Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. And we're going to see Habakkuk's second complaint. Listen to how he responds to God's revelation. I'm going to bring Babylon to come and discipline all of you. Verse 12. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment. And you, O Rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent When the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he. Pause right there, we'll talk about this a little bit. Basically, Habakkuk is really struggling with God's solution that he's going to discipline the nation of Israel, Judah, by bringing the Babylonians. He's really struggling with this. Now, notice, though, what it is that bothers him, because Uh, it's not that he's upset that God would discipline Judah. In fact, he started praying. He's like, look at all the sin. Aren't you going to do anything? Uh, it's not that he's against discipline. No, he's pro discipline from God. The issue isn't how could God discipline this people? The issue he has is how could God discipline his people like this? In other words, by means of Babylon. Here's really the big complaint that he has. We'll get into this. If God is holy, how can he use a wicked nation to carry out his discipline? That's really the big idea he's asking us. It's a really interesting question to kind of look into for us. It's like, I want discipline, we need to be course corrected here, but how can God use a wicked nation to do this? It's kind of like he's trying to wrap his mind around two things that in his mind contradict. A, God is a just God, and when you're just, that means you don't just let sin run rampant. God is a just God. But second, God's promising to raise up wicked Babylonians. Doesn't that count as letting evil and wrong go unpunished? So that's I thought what God was just how can he just let the wickedness of the Babylonians run wild? So he's he's trying to fit these two things together in his mind, it doesn't make sense. So watch in verse 12, he appeals to God's holiness, he calls him, oh, Lord, my God, my holy one. He's saying, you're a holy God. And it's like he hears God's plan. God has said, yes, I've I've raised them up as as a judgment. And he says, OK, you've ordained them as a judgment, but that doesn't fit with your holiness. Verse 13, we find some more accusations, more accusations here. For the second time, he in this chapter, he accuses God of being idle. That's actually a pretty potent thing to say to God. God, why are you being idle or lazy while sin is running around? Why do you idly look at traitors? Verse 3 was the other time. He said, why do you idly look at wrong? The ESV translates it this way. Kind of the idea here in verse 13 is, God, you have pure eyes. And like what that means, God, let me tell you, is that you can't just look at wrong. Surely, since you're holy, that means you can't tolerate evil. So when it comes to Babylon, why are you just tolerating evil? Perhaps the most revealing moment is what he says here. How do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? See, it's interesting, he's willing to admit that his own people are violent and need to be disciplined, but he still thinks that they're better than Babylon. Perhaps that's part of the problem here. But he's really struggling, and it's this idea, like, how can God use a wicked nation to carry out his justice? to illustrate his point, highlight his point. Here's what he's going to do in the next couple of verses. He's going to tell God, as if God didn't already know, here's how bad they are. OK, that's where it's going to go. But let's pause here. We come back to one of the main takeaways, I think, from this book as a whole. And it's this. God often works in ways that seem absurd or unfair to us. Ways that we look at and say, God, you can't do that. That doesn't fit. God often works in this way, and we can feel, I think, similar to Habakkuk felt, that maybe God is being hypocritical. Fancy that, us humans feeling that God was hypocritical. But honestly, when God allows suffering in our life, we can feel that. We can feel like, God, you're not doing what's right. You're not being good. A lot of pain can really test your soul and my soul, can't it? Like if you've ever asked the question, how could you be good and allow fill in the blank? I think that's kind of what's going on with Habakkuk here. Part of why I love this book so much that God includes this. I think you and I, we have to face some questions ahead of time. You and I have to face questions like this. If God allows something devastating to happen to me, will I still worship God? If God allows the thing in my life that can't happen, and he lets that happen, is he still worthy of my worship? And that's what this book is. It's him wrestling with God, that question. You and I need to read this book and face those questions because Sometimes that happens in our lives. Now, the climax of the book comes in the last three verses of the book, and if you know the book, you know what verses I'm talking about. I don't want to spoil the climax here, but you can... I hear pages flipping, everyone's turning. It's his response where he says, you're worthy of worship. That's what we are to take away, I think, in a large part from this book. And these questions, if God allows the worst to happen to me, will he still be worthy of my worship? Habakkuk, eventually, as we'll see, agrees he is. Okay. So how can God use this nation to just discipline us, this wicked nation? Look at verse 14. You make mankind like the fish of the sea. like crawling things that have no ruler." So he's still kind of accusing God here. Okay, what does this mean? In what sense has God made mankind like the fish of the sea? What does that mean? Well, I think it comes in the second line, crawling things that have no ruler. In the sea, it's every fish for himself. When a shark is coming, the fish doesn't go to his ruler and ask for protection. This is like Fish eat fish world out there. Vulnerable is the idea. We have a phrase in our own language that we say, that was so easy, it was like shooting fish in a barrel. It's kind of like Habakkuk is saying, that's how vulnerable we are, God, and you put us in the barrel. You made mankind like the fish of the sea. Now, the whole rest of the chapter is going to be a fishing metaphor, so don't you love fishing metaphors, okay? We're the fish, you made us the fish, and Babylon is the fisherman coming to take us all away. This is speculation, but I wonder if he has in mind the death of Josiah, as he talks about those who have no ruler. Does he feel like Where did the good ruler go? Where did the good leadership go? And God, you made us vulnerable and here comes Babylon. So to tell God how this doesn't fit, you can't use them to discipline us because they're evil. He's going to talk about they're like this evil fisherman who's going to come and take us, the vulnerable fish, away. So he's going to talk about the evils of Babylon. Look at verses 15 to 17. says he brings all of them up with a hook. So we're the vulnerable fish. You put us sitting ducks as fish in a barrel. I'm mixing my metaphors here. You made us vulnerable, God. And Babylon, he brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet. So he rejoices and is glad. Therefore, he, Babylon, sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet. For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? Some interesting comments to be had about this section. Babylon had adopted some of the barbaric activities of the Assyrians. The Assyrians, when they would capture people, they would put a hook in the bottom lip of their captors and have a string tied and pull the captives home. Babylon did that too, so it's possible that Habakkuk, like he's seeing what's going to happen here, this would happen in just a few short years after he wrote. Verse 15, he drags them out with his net, gathers them in his dragnet. Don't make too much of this, but there's the stone relief in ancient Babylon that was of some of Babylonians' gods pulling captives home in a big net. So maybe that's another method the Babylonians used as kind of torture. They'd capture you, big net, drag you all the way back to Babylon. It's cruelty. And just like a fisherman rejoices when he's caught a big catch of fish, verse 15, and so he rejoices and is glad. So they come, hook in the mouth, put you in a net, drag you home and throw a big party. Life is good. Verse 16 talks about how they're kind of worshiping their tools of torture. talks about he sacrifices to his net, makes offering to his dragnet. It's kind of like these are the tools of the trade for Babylon and they're worshipping the tools that they use to capture children of God. and buy the net that helps them capture all the people home. It makes them rich. They live in luxury as food is rich. Listen, when you come to a nation and steal all their land and steal all their food and all their possessions, you're pretty rich and life is great. And so the picture here is, God, can't you see how evil these people are? Like they're going to come discipline us and throw a party and then worship not you, but another thing. And he ends his complaint with this. Verse 17, is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? God isn't is this never going to stop? Are you just going to let this evil go on? And so you see the logic of my God is holy and he's just and he brings about justice and God's just letting this wickedness come and against us, his own people. Um, it's hard. It's, it's hard for him to think this through. It's interesting though, you know, here he is describing the evils of Babylon, but God isn't unaware of the evil of Babylon. In fact, if you look at chapter one, it's interesting, God spends more time describing the evils of Babylon than Habakkuk does. God knows fully, full well the evils and wickedness of Babylon. And yet he still plans to raise them up. He says, I will raise them. I'm raising them up. So it's all the more puzzling for Habakkuk. But I want you to see what he does, because he sets an example, a good example to us. Have you in your own mind ever had questions or doubts about God and problems with God? What do you do when that's you when you say here's what God's like? It looks like he's acting like this and that doesn't mix. What do you do? Watch his example, this last point, bring your problems about God to God. Bring your problems about God to God. Look at chapter two, verse one. I will take my stand at my watch post. and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. This verse actually inspired the background for this series, a guy kind of on a wall, looking out, waiting for God, perhaps. He's asked some pretty severe questions so far. Let me review. How long won't you hear? How long won't you save? How long will you make me see violence while you sit idle? Why do you look idly at traitors? And will you just let Babylon killing forever? And now he sits down and waits. It says that he will wait for God's response. The NASB actually translates it an interesting way. It says, I will keep watch to see what He will speak to me and how I may reply when I am reproved." Perhaps, if that's the right translation, he's realizing he's kind of gone pretty far here. Perhaps God is going to now reprove him and rebuke him. And he's waiting for it. But listen, he's going to God for the answers. Look, there may be times when you or I have problems with God, complaints about God. We say, God, how can you do this? How can you let this happen? When that happens, bring your problems about God to God and let him shape your belief about what is true. I think that's another main takeaway for me from this book. One commentator I was studying said this about Habakkuk. Habakkuk, quote, revealed a mature wisdom in his determination that his response be shaped by what God himself would say. It is a wise man who takes his questions about God to God for answers. He's upset and confused about God. God's actions seem to him to be a severe contradiction. And instead of blaming God, slamming down the telephone, hanging up and walking away. He pours out his complaint and his heart and his confusion to God, sits down and says, now teach me. And let me learn from you. That's the story of this book, and you're going to see that's how it ends. God replies and he submits to God's perspective and says, OK, you are worthy of worship. We've got to allow God to shape what we believe. Okay, we're going to end there for tonight, the application points. Allow God to shape your belief when it comes to your doubts. Do you have doubts about God? Do you have problems with God? Do you take issue with how He's treated you or how He's acting in the world right now? Sometimes we're there and we're struggling piece to piece together. How can a good God allow fill in the blank? If that's you take heart, you're not alone. I love that God includes this kind of dialogue and and wrestling in the Bible. It's for us. It's so we can learn from it. Step one, pour out your complaint to God. I think it's okay to come to God and say, God, I don't even agree with all the stuff that's coming out my mouth. I don't even agree with all the stuff that's in my heart. But here it is. Step one, pour out your heart to God. Step two, wait, listen, allow God's perspective to shape yours. Allow God to shape how you think about him. I think the way God acts is this, in general, He gives some answers and doesn't give others. And he asks you to trust him. Here's the thing, if you have problems about God, issues, you take issue with God, you're never going to find peace or the right answer if you hang up the phone and run away looking for answers somewhere else. But if you allow your perspectives and problems and frustrations about God to be addressed by God and submit to his perspective, you will be able to worship him in the end. Last application, what is this? Sometimes just for the record, side note for the record, sometimes God uses wicked people to discipline his people, and that's actually not a violation of his holiness. And here's why, because in the end, God does judge everyone. If God did just turn a blind eye, and in the grand scheme of eternity, the wicked are not judged, that would be unjust, but that is not God. And so because of that, God sometimes does use the wicked to judge or discipline others. Sometimes that's how it works, and it's good to know that. All right, a lot here for us. Let's close in prayer. Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you for Habakkuk, and that we can bring our questions to you. You didn't reply with a burning fireball from heaven, but you brought answers. Help us to trust you and worship you in the end. And we pray all this in Christ's name. Amen.