HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1201
HAB AKKUK 1
page 831
God is just, and therefore justice will prevail and so will the godly. This is our great hope
and assurance from God.
Key verses in Habakkuk
1:2, 5 How long, O Lord, must I
call for help? But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but
you do not come to save. . . . The
Lord replied, “Look around at the
nations; look and be amazed! For
I am doing something in your own
day, something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.”
2:4 “Look at the proud! They trust
in themselves, and their lives are
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crooked. But the righteous will live
by their faithfulness to God.”
grapes on the vines; even though
the olive crop fails, and the fields
lie empty and barren; even though
3:2 I have heard all about you,
the flocks die in the fields, and the
Lord. I am filled with awe by your
cattle barns are empty, yet I will
amazing works. In this time of our
rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful
deep need, help us again as you
in the God of my salvation! The
did in years gone by. And in your
Sovereign Lord is my strength!
anger, remember your mercy.
He makes me as surefooted as
3:17-19 Even though the fig trees a deer, able to tread upon the
have no blossoms, and there are no heights.
This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision.
Habakkuk’s Complaint
2 How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,
but you do not come to save.
3 Must I forever see these evil deeds?
Why must I watch all this misery?
Wherever I look,
I see destruction and violence.
I am surrounded by people
who love to argue and fight.
4 The law has become paralyzed,
and there is no justice in the courts.
The wicked far outnumber the righteous,
so that justice has become perverted.
The LORD’s Reply
5 The Lord replied,
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“Look around at the nations;
look and be amazed!*
For I am doing something in your own day,
something you wouldn’t believe
even if someone told you about it.
I am raising up the Babylonians,*
a cruel and violent people.
They will march across the world
and conquer other lands.
They are notorious for their cruelty
and do whatever they like.
Their horses are swifter than cheetahs*
and fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their charioteers charge from far away.
Like eagles, they swoop down to devour
their prey.
1:5 Greek version reads Look, you mockers; / look and be
amazed and die. Compare Acts 13:41. 1:6 Or Chaldeans.
1:8 Or leopards.
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“On they come, all bent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind,
sweeping captives ahead of them like
sand.
They scoff at kings and princes
and scorn all their fortresses.
They simply pile ramps of earth
against their walls and capture them!
• Doubt
HA B A K K U K 1:12-17
Am I still a Christian if I have doubts?
In reply to Habakkuk’s complaint about
the injustices committed in Judah
(1:2-4), the Lord, not at all oblivious to
the situation, announces his plans to
send Babylon to punish his people
(1:5-11). Habakkuk can’t believe what
he is hearing. The Babylonians were
worse sinners than the people of Judah!
How could God use them to judge the
Jews? Either God’s plan was wrong or
God wasn’t just. Yet, even as he voices
these doubts, Habakkuk does not receive God’s condemnation, but God’s
companionship.
Doubt is a normal part of a life of faith.
Like Habakkuk, we must bring our doubts
directly to God with a passionate desire
to know the Lord and the truth. Doing this
expresses the conviction that, even with
our misgivings, we have nowhere to turn
but to God. Thus, when we go to God
with our questions, we are not holding
him at arm’s length with skepticism—we
are embracing him despite our doubts.