Itty Bitty Bible Study – Habakkuk 1

My thoughts for the Itty Bitty Bible Study group on Facebook. (join if you’d like to get these in fb!)

IBBS Habakkuk Introduction

Habakkuk 1

Habakkuk 1:1-4 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
1 The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk’s First Prayer
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help
and You do not listen
or cry out to You about violence
and You do not save?
3 Why do You force me to look at injustice?
Why do You tolerate[a] wrongdoing?
Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
4 This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict the righteous;
therefore, justice comes out perverted.

Does this sound familiar? (read in a whining voice…or just a very sad, discouraged, or defeated voice, all are appropriate)
HOW LONG LORD????
WHY????
accusations about his tolerating wickedness….violence…oppression…strife and conflict.
“THIS IS WHY” as if we need to teach God a lesson! Uh huh.

I want to start this with worship….because tough topics need to have the promises included!

https://youtu.be/FUzx4oEmnxQ

Why does God let good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people?

Maybe part of the question is who does God consider bad and who does God consider good?

Let’s look at Job. He’s one of the guys that God says was good…and had some troubles!
Job 1

Job 1:8 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? No one else on earth is like him, a man of perfect integrity, who fears God and turns away from evil.”

First, you get backstage view of God and the enemy and how the enemy goes around trying to cause trouble for those who love God. God specifically points out his servant job who is perfect in all his ways. Now – this is key! God didn’t point out all the folks that were upsetting God…but he points out a man of perfect integrity!

The devil says “hahaha! it’s because you take care of him!”
So long and short of the story:
Satan is given permission to take things away from Job, and Job does not deny God or renounce him.
Satan is given permission to touch Job’s flesh but not to take his life, and Job continues to refuse to denounce God.
Job does get into depression, what I consider a suicidal depression because he wishes he was never born.
consider adding to this that he lost his children at that first testing. Just for clarity, he knew his children were not necessarily walking with the Lord or he wouldn’t be waking up everyday after their parties and trying to do sacrifices on their behalf. Still, these were his children! All gone in ONE event!

So, Job has lost all of his Earthly possessions, he’s lost all of his children, he has lost his health, and his wife is telling him curse God and die.

I’m thinking Job was in a position very similar to Habakkuk saying why are the wicked prospering!? What do you think?

Job 21
7 Why do the wicked continue to live,
growing old and becoming powerful?
8 Their children are established while they are still alive,[a]
and their descendants, before their eyes.
9 Their homes are secure and free of fear;
no rod from God strikes them.

A young friend, Elihu, speaks up:
Job 33
But I tell you that you are wrong in this matter,
since God is greater than man.
13 Why do you take Him to court
for not answering anything a person asks?[c]

Elihu clearly spelled it out:

Job 33 and I’m posting starting at 22:
22 He draws near to the Pit,
and his life to the executioners.
23 If there is an angel on his side,
one mediator out of a thousand,
to tell a person what is right for him[h]
24 and to be gracious to him and say,
“Spare him from going down to the Pit;
I have found a ransom,”
25 then his flesh will be healthier[i] than in his youth,
and he will return to the days of his youthful vigor.
26 He will pray to God, and God will delight in him.
That man will see His face with a shout of joy,
and God will restore his righteousness to him.
27 He will look at men and say,
“I have sinned and perverted what was right;
yet I did not get what I deserved.[j]
28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and I will continue to see the light.”

Elihu is speaking of all the times that the Lord allows things in order to bring us back from the pit!

Then, he speaks of Repentance:

Job 34
31 Suppose someone says to God,
“I have endured my punishment;
I will no longer act wickedly.
32 Teach me what I cannot see;
if I have done wrong, I won’t do it again.”
33 Should God repay you on your terms
when you have rejected His?
You must choose, not I!
So declare what you know.

The main point of Elihu’s discourse is that God is God…who are we to argue?
Then, God speaks out of the whirlwind…saying..where were you????

Job 40 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
40 The Lord answered Job:
2 Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.[a]
3 Then Job answered the Lord:
4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer You?
I place my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not reply;
twice, but now I can add nothing.

The last bit of Job has God reprimanding everyone but Elihu for how they keep telling Job that this is because of some sin. On the other hand, once Job hears completely what God has to say, Job repents of being proud and humbled himself before God. And then God blesses Job by multiplying all that he has before. Job 42

Why am I talking about Job in the book of Habakkuk?
First, as I said in the introduction, it is commonly misunderstood that God did not speak to man in the Old Testament.
Job is considered the earliest book – though Moses’ books do tell history prior to Job.
Elihu has a very clear picture of God’s purposes for man and for what HE does or allows to man.
There are those that consider Elihu a preincarnate Christ…but, whatever. His words are clarifying to the rest of Habakkuk 1!

Back to Habakkuk:

Habakkuk 1:5-6 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
God’s First Answer
5 Look at the nations[a] and observe—
be utterly astounded!
For something is taking place in your days
that you will not believe
when you hear about it.
6 Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,[b]
that bitter, impetuous nation
that marches across the earth’s open spaces
to seize territories not its own.

Habakkuk is not happy with this answer….

Habakkuk 1:12-13 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Habakkuk’s Second Prayer
12 Are You not from eternity, Yahweh my God?
My Holy One, You[a] will not die.
Lord, You appointed them to execute judgment;
my Rock, You destined them to punish us.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil,
and You cannot tolerate wrongdoing.
So why do You tolerate those who are treacherous?
Why are You silent
while one[b] who is wicked swallows up
one[c] who is more righteous than himself?

I’m not sure, but if Job would have responded similarly to Elihu had God not jumped in. In fact, you can read in Job all the times that Job argued!
Have you ever heard of folks saying that “You have the patience of Job” as if he was so patient? Read his book! In several versions! He’s not even in the Heroes of Faith Hall of Fame in Hebrews 11! Yet, Job was REAL – transparent – and he repented of his sin, and allowed God to restore him.

Habakkuk is making the determination who is righteous…or holier than others.

Are there others?
Joseph
Joseph is the favorite of his father, and has some sort of spiritual connection in that he gets dreams that are prophetic. Now as a teenager, he does not quite get when and where are the appropriate times to share these dreams, besides that nobody else is getting these dreams! Now, Joseph’s father, dreamed again, and hears from God at Bethel in Genesis 28. He also wrestled with God the night before he went to meet his brother Esau in Genesis 32. Joseph father, Jacob, had been used to hearing from God in several ways in order to be led as to what he should do. In fact, that situation where Jacob wrestled with the angel of God, his hip was affected in such a way that he limped for the rest of his life. Face-to-face interaction with God changes you!

Joseph had dreams AFTER the above interaction Jacob had with God! Genesis 37
Why didn’t Jacob believe that Joseph was actually having dreams from God? I don’t know. It doesn’t really matter. What matters is that if Joseph’s brothers’ unrighteous behavior had not happened, if Potiphar’s wife lies about Joseph had not occurred, Joseph would not have been in the prison with the Pharaoh’s servants and would not have been able to rise to the number two position, and save many from famine. Not to mention saving his own family. Which of course, was the whole point of those dreams when he was a teenager. Gen 42

One of the outcomes of Joseph bringing his family to Egypt to survive the famine was that eventually they forgot who Joseph was and the Hebrews were enslaved. Over and over and over in the Old Testament God delivers the Hebrews, the Israelites, the children of God. After a while, they become comfortable and they forget the god Who delivered them.

Even after years of being slaves to the Egyptians, and being miraculously delivered, when the going got a little bit tough, they accused Moses of bringing them out into the desert to let them die. Actually they were accusing God of bringing them out into the desert to let them die.

Over and over, when you read through 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings and 1st and 2nd Chronicles, you see how God raises up a people who love him and obey Him. Then the next generation or at most two generations later, He is forgotten and they go back to the Pagan ways. Prophets cry out to them the simple words of God, because they are the people of the words of God. They hear the word of God every week in the synagogue. But, it takes suffering for them to actually, personally, cry out to God, to recognize their sins, and to repent so that he will turn around and heal their land

2 Chronicles 7:14 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
14 and My people who are called by My name
humble themselves,
pray and
seek My face, and
turn from their evil ways,
then
I will hear from heaven,
forgive their sin, and
heal their land.

This is written to THOSE WHO ARE CALLED BY THE NAME OF GOD! not to the wicked.
Why would the people of God need to call out…or need healing in their land?
They are not walking with the Lord.

 

This image comes from Spiritual Inspirations, from their Bible Verses for Sunday. Psalm 91:14-16.  God gives us promises.  We cannot let go of that hope!

Just to be clear, not all that suffer are needing to be disciplined. In the next article, we will look at:
The Hebrews in Egypt…and the plagues that prepared them for the Exodus.(ok,yeah, they needed an attitude check)

Daniel and the Three Hebrew Children

Daniel 1 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
6 Among them, from the descendants of Judah, were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. 7 The chief official gave them other names: he gave the name Belteshazzar to Daniel, Shadrach to Hananiah, Meshach to Mishael, and Abednego to Azariah.

Paul in Prison – various texts

Jesus Crucified and the three days of thinking all was lost!

I’ve also written some things that might give you more things to think about.
IBBS Joel 1 call to repentance
IBBS Jonah into and Jonah 1 saying no to good and being disciplined(including my testimony of saying no)
IBBS Nahum intro about generation revival and the tendency for following generations to fall away

The key is that none is good –

Romans 3:10-12 Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
10 as it is written:[a]
There is no one righteous, not even one.
11 There is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away;
all alike have become useless.
There is no one who does what is good,
not even one.[b]

IBBS Ephesians 2:1-10 talks about the situation that we are in, and what God has done to remedy it. If there is any extra blog that you read, read this one! It talks about our victory by God through Christ Jesus!

If you have cried out to God in anguish, You are not alone!

I have sung this song…and here is the most amazing story behind it by the author.

Sometimes it takes a mountain by Gaither vocal Band

Hi!
My hope in the midst of despair and my joy in the face of depression is because of my relationship with Jesus Christ. If you do not have one, or are not sure you will join him in heaven, please check out these links.

Thanks for joining me in this journey,
In His hands and under His wings,
~Christi
Ps 63:7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.

“The Lord does not give me rules, but He makes His standard very clear.
If my relationship to Him is that of love, I will do what He says without hesitation.
If I hesitate, it is because I love someone I have placed in competition with Him, namely, myself.” – from My Utmost for His highest

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