Discover The Word

IDEA: If we expect to call others to faith, we must first learn to act in faith ourselves.

TEXT: “Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them for correction. You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with a hook, and catch them in their net, and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to their dragnet; because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?” (Habakkuk 1:12-17).

PURPOSE: To help listeners deal with the fact that faith is a struggle.

Have you ever kept a journal or a diary? Why or why not? Have you ever read someone else’s journal or diary? What can you learn from it?

I. The book written by Habakkuk is not a sermon but a diary that exposes his doubts.

It is the only book like it in the Bible. It is a rare look at the private diary of a confused preacher.

The diary exposed the prophet’s questions and fears. He had questions that must have made it difficult for him to minister effectively.

How could he call people to rejoice in God’s strength when his strength seemed invisible?

What happens when his understanding about God doesn’t measure up to the realities of life?

God is just, but He allowed evil to thrive in Judah.

Murder, stealing, the oppression of widows, and the shedding of innocent blood were everywhere and God didn’t seem to notice (Jeremiah 7:5-9).

God’s answer addressed Habakkuk’s concerns over Judah’s unjust leaders, but the answer didn’t get God off the hook with Habakkuk.

God is just, but He would use an evil nation, the Babylonians, to punish a less evil nation, Judah. The social order was out of alignment.

If God used Babylon in this way, people would think that God approved of Babylon’s evil behavior.

Could Habakkuk trust the God who acted like this?

II. What did it mean for Habakkuk to live by faith?

Before he could minister again, he had to wait to see that God’s plan would ultimately work out.