Reveal Day 2 Until He Appears: Digging Deeper
Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
Habakkuk 1:1-4
1The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk saw. 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* 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.
Original Intent
1) What should we do when we call out to the Lord, but He does not save? (verse 2)
The prophet Habakkuk had a problem. Commentator J.M. Boice describes his scenario like this, “He had lived through a period of national revival followed by a period of spiritual decline.” Under King Josiah’s reign, the nation of Judah followed God, but under successive kings, the country fell into sin. Distressed by the immorality and injustice all around him, Habakkuk called upon God to save His people. He implored, “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?” (Habakkuk 1:2) Habakkuk grew frustrated that His holy God was not stepping in to rescue the faithful from their broken situation. He wanted the Lord to swoop in and restore His people, but that was not God’s plan. When God told Habakkuk His plan included letting the Babylonians (or Chaldeans,) attack and conquer the nation as part of His judgment, Habakkuk was horrified (Habakkuk 1:6-12) This was not salvation! This would be the end of the world as he knew it. Habakkuk wondered, and pressed back, at God’s plan, so he went up into a watchtower to seek and wait on the Lord for a better answer. (Habakkuk 2:1) God patiently answered Habakkuk, explaining His plan and telling His prophet that the righteous will live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4) Eventually, Habakkuk was reconciled to the fact that God is sovereign. As a result, Habakkuk was able to rejoice in God and the strength He gives (Habakkuk 3:18-19) For a long time, God seemed unwilling to save the nation of Judah, and when His plan finally came to Habakkuk, it seemed worse than the current situation, but the prophet pursued God and His ways. God granted him this clarity, not in full, but in part, along with peace about God’s design over Habakkuk’s. God welcomed Habakkuk’s questions as he struggled to understand God’s plan, and He encourages the same from us. God promises if we call to Him, pray to Him, and seek Him with all our heart, we will find Him. (Jeremiah 29:12-13)
2) Why would God tolerate wrongdoing? (verse 3)
The prophet Habakkuk is heartsick at the sin and injustice he sees all around him. He wonders why a just and holy God would put up with such wickedness. In Habakkuk 1:3 he asks, “Why do you force me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and violence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.” When Habakkuk discovered God’s plan for dealing with Judah’s wickedness was to hand them over to the Babylonians, he was shocked and dismayed. (Habakkuk 1:12-13) Author R. C. Sproul explains, “Habakkuk couldn’t understand how God could use the evil Babylonians to chastise His people, when it seemed from a human perspective that the Lord’s purposes for Israel had failed and His faithful servants would not be vindicated. God responded that those He regards as righteous live by faith (Habakkuk 2:4).” God taught Habakkuk he could have faith in Him regardless of the situation. Often, it seems like God is letting the bad guys get away with evil and it’s hard to accept that His plan isn’t to wipe them all out or bring them all down. Sometimes, like in the days of Habakkuk, evil seems to go unchecked and God’s plan to deal with it seems slow and difficult to accept. We wonder, “Where is God?” or “When will He act?” Author Ravi Zacharias assures us, “It is not that God has absconded or is absent; it is that there is a divine purpose behind His visibility or invisibility. If one can rightly read the clues, the mystery is opened up in profound ways. Just as evil can be understood only in the light of the ultimate purpose, so also must God’s presence or seeming absence be judged on the basis of His purpose.” We can trust that God has a purpose for what He is doing and what He allows, even when we can’t envision it at the time.
3) How can justice come out perverted? (verse 4)
Habakkuk 1:4 reads from the prophet, “This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” The prophet Habakkuk abhorred the fact that God’s laws were being ignored and His people were flagrantly sinning and injuring one another. He watched in despair as those in authority either did nothing or participated in the abuses. Author Jack Arnold explains, “In all of Judah, the Mosaic Law was of no effect. Literally, this says the law was “frozen” or “chilled.” Wickedness numbs the Word of God. Law was on the books, but it was not enforced. Law had no authority. Because of unrighteous judges, the Law was made ineffective.” There was no justice in the land, only a perverted version bearing no resemblance to the righteousness laid out by the laws of God. When Habakkuk asks God why He doesn’t intervene, the answer God gives brings even more distress because He plans to send the wicked Babylonians to conquer the disobedient people of Judah. (Habakkuk 1:6) God eventually helps Habakkuk see His punishment as just. As author Chuck Swindoll notes how the story of Habakkuk “reminds us that while God may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things for our good (Romans 8:28).” Even when it seems like everything around us is wicked and falling apart, God has a plan for true justice to be enacted. It may not be on the timetable we want or in the manner we prefer, but God will always bring about true justice.
Everyday Application
1) What should we do when we call out to the Lord, but He does not save? (verse 2)
My friend struggles daily with physical ailments. She stays strong for her family, but she grows desperate for relief from her pain. Remaining hopeful is hard when no end is in sight. She longs to know why God hasn’t yet answered her prayers for healing. We have all been in similar situations, desperate to break free from persistent struggles with no coming relief. Habakkuk experienced this enigma as well. He continually called on God to save his wayward nation, but instead of the hoped-for rescue, God revealed a plan that would greatly devastate Judah. (Habakkuk 1:2-11) Habakkuk struggled to accept God’s decision and questioned His drastic plan. (Habakkuk 1:12-17) Author Jennifer Rothschild notes, “because God loved His prophet perfectly, He didn’t give His prophet the perfect answer that Habakkuk wanted to hear, He gave him something better. He lifted Habakkuk’s spirit and gave him perspective.” This truth can be hard to accept, as it was for Habakkuk. No one wants to go through hard things that will undoubtedly bring pain and will forever change us. Habakkuk knew God’s plan would mean hardship and suffering, but he also recognized God requires the righteous to live by faith. (Habakkuk 2:4) Habakkuk knew he could trust his life and his nation to God because of His faithful, unchanging character. Jesus had this same experience in the garden of Gethsemane as He prayed deeply before being turned over to His accusers. Matthew 26:38-39 tells us, “He said to them, ‘I am deeply grieved to the point of death. Remain here and stay awake with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell face down and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’” How remarkable that Jesus Himself prayed for a resolution He wanted, but accepted the will of the Father instead! God cares about our situations and our desperation. We can trust He is in control even when He seems not to answer, or when He gives an answer that we don’t like. Though we may neither agree nor understand, we can always trust His perfect will and faithful character.
2) Why would God tolerate wrongdoing? (verse 3)
If God controls everything, why allow tragedy and sickness? Of course, even acknowledging there is evil supposes there is also good, and this is where God comes in! Author Ravi Zacharias points out, “Transcending value and justice must come from a Person of transcending worth and an ultimate law or value-giver. The only reason people have intrinsic worth is that they are the creation of One who is of ultimate worth and the perfect lawgiver. That person is God.” So, we only know about good because God is good. But why does He allow evil in the world? Evil entered the world when Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God. (Romans 5:12) As a result, the world came under the sway of the evil one (I John 5:19, Luke 4:6) and humans became objects of attack from the devil (1 Peter 5:8). God’s plan to save fallen humanity from the eternal consequence of their sin was the sacrifice of His Son, Jesus. This work of Christ on the cross destroyed the power of sin and death, thwarting Satan’s plans for those who trust and believe in the Name of Jesus. (Hebrews 2:14) However, we still live in a sinful world, which Satan still rules for now. He still wages war against us, tempting us to give in to sin. At the second coming of Christ, evil will be vanquished forever when Satan is bound and thrown into the abyss of Hell. (Revelation 20:1-3) Pastor Tony Evans explains, “God is holy; He can’t skip over our sin. He can’t tolerate evil, and we are all evil because of our sins. So for us to be able to draw near to God, Jesus’ death on the cross had to take place.” God’s plan for us involved a loving relationship with Him in a world without evil. Though sin kept us from God, He lovingly provided a bridge between Himself and humankind, this is Christ Jesus! Though we live in a world where evil exists, we hold tight to the hope of a future with Jesus where evil is no more (Revelation 21:3-4)
3) How can justice come out perverted? (verse 4)
I was a substitute teacher before having a full-time teaching job. I learned a lot about classroom discipline in those few months! Kids tested how far they could push the rules. It was obvious which classes had no rules and were confident they would face no real consequences when the teacher returned. I soon arrived at every job assignment with a backup lesson and rules of my own, just in case. I’ve had days in the classroom (even under my own management), when I was nearly as dismayed and distressed as Habakkuk when he watched the laws of God being flouted and justice being perverted making it unfair and ineffective. (Habakkuk 1:4) I have felt frustrated with God when it appears He is doing nothing about injustice. (Habakkuk 1:1) I wondered how I was supposed to teach grammar to kids hungry from poverty or neglect, who were under house arrest for serious crimes, who suffered with addiction, were victims of abuse, or were pregnant and scared. Why would God let such bad things happen to these kids? Why didn’t He stop the evil? Author Margaret Manning writes, “In our world of unanswered questions or in the difficult places where the answers are not what we want to hear, we are called to rest in this wordless place beyond answers . . . we can rest in God’s faithfulness from ages past. The wordless place can be for us the place of trust, instead of fear.” When I took my worries about my students to the Lord, I realized He could be trusted with my burdens for them. In the waiting, I understood He had provided each child with teachers, counselors, and coaches who cared, including myself! Some of us were just doing our jobs well, but some of us were also trying to be the hands and feet of Jesus to our students. We could not proselytize, but we could pray for them and speak truth over them. We could provide respite from the cruelties of the world every day by extending Jesus’ comfort. God saw their distress, and he sent people to help them. He brought true justice through His people.
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
several times
3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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