Daily Devotion With Pastor Dan – July 30th, 2020
Habakkuk was a contemporary of Jeremiah and was written probably between 609 and 605 BC – a time of major upheaval. Assyria, the major world power that had destroyed the northern kingdom of Israel about one hundred years previously had fallen, and the Babylonians (Chaldean’s) were beginning to look threatening. The southern kingdom of Judah has had a mixture of good and bad kings, and are now filled with corruption. Writing fifteen to twenty years before Habakkuk in about 625 BC, Jeremiah assesses the state of his country (Jeremiah 5:26-29). After Jeremiah writes these words through the leading of the Holy Spirit, in 622 B.C. the High Priest (Hilkiah) (during the reign of Josiah) finds the Book of the Law in the temple (2 Kings 22:8-14) (2 Kings 23:1-3).
Josiah remains a godly king until his death in approximately 609 B.C. After Josiah’s death, the situation deteriorates rapidly and this is the situation Habakkuk finds himself in. Turbulence all around the known world where the hope for revival was fizzling out, where injustice and violence was prevailing. The description of this moral downfall fits very well with the reign of Jehoiakim, just before the evils of Judah brought Divine intervention in the form of Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kings 23:34 – 24:4).
Notice, the wickedness became like the days of Manasseh, which is the reason for the judgment upon Judah. Manasseh’s reign is described in (2 Kings 21:1-18)
Habakkuk felt as if God wasn’t listening to his plea, his cry for God’s intervention is seen in (Habakkuk 1:1-4). Notice, there are four characteristics of this cry:
1. It is a repeated cry Habakkuk does not just pray once “O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear?” Experienced by David (Psalm 13:1-2) Experienced by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 14:7-9)
2. An unanswered cry (so it seems) Despite his repeated cries, God seems to not hear his plea. Have you ever felt that way, that God is distant and does not hear your prayer? But He does! God hears the prayers of a righteous man. James tells us so, (James 5:16) says, Confess your trespasses to one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
Habakkuk was in sorrow and pain over the sin, evil, and the violence around him. Yet how easy it is to get used to the evil around us, it is so easy for us to become callous with what we see around us every day. At least there should be sorrow in us for the sin that surrounds us.
Habakkuk asks, “Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? Why do you make me look at all this? All this destruction and violence? Why? This cry from Habakkuk is simular to Job and Asaph’s plea (Job 21:5-16) (Psalm 73:1-16). The content of Habakkuk’s cry is there is no justice. God did nothing to judge the sin right away they assumed that He hadn’t noticed, that He didn’t care. His question was, “Why doesn’t God judge the wicked?” Why does God permit evil men and women to prosper? Isn’t that a good question in our day? I’m sure that many people have asked (even Christian’s), “Why doesn’t God judge the evil in our nation today”? Where is justice in a world full of, wars, crime, abortion, persecution, hunger, sexually deviant lifestyles, adultery, disobedience, love for pleasure, mocking of God on public airways and in college classrooms, etc.
Some might say, “How can we believe in the God of the Bible when there is so much darkness, so much tragedy, so much devastation in the world? “How can we live in a world like this”? “Is He God losing the battle with evil”? “If He’s in control, how can He let things like this happen”? “Is there a God”? “If there is a God, does He care”?
God’s Answer to Habakkuk is seen in (Habakkuk 1:5)…..Behold among the nations (heathen), and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you. The verb used in this verse for “work” indicates a diligent, continuous action. God literally says to Habakkuk – “I have been working all along, you just haven’t been aware of it”.
I have worked the solution – but not in the way you think – would even desire (Isaiah 55:8-9). God’s reply teaches us that everything is under His control, after all, He is Sovereign. He is both Creator and Sustainer. Without God, no action occurs (Ephesians 1:11) (John 15:5). Without God our very existence and the existence of all created things would cease (Acts 17:28) (Colossians 1:15-17).
So don’t fret with what is going on in the world today, He hears our prayers, and He is at work doing what is in accordance with His will.