Habakkuk 1:1-2:4 (p. 929)

Living by Faith in the Face of Evil

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I'd like to read an exchange of letters between a new apartment manager and his friend who owns the building. To protect the identity of the correspondents, I'll just use initials.

Friday, May 29

Dear G.D.,
I moved in yesterday, and the apartment is perfect. Quiet, bright and sunny, with a great view of the park. I love the trees out front. The other tenants are great. Several helped me move in. I can't tell you how much I appreciate your kindness in offering me this place. I am thrilled. Thanks so much.
Fondly,
H.B.

Monday, June 1
Dear G.D.,
I haven't slept much since my last letter. Friday night my neighbors one floor up were dancing to bongo drums all night. Saturday the tenants in 324 organized a toga party on the front lawn. The fun started about 10 Saturday night and ended at 4 a.m. That was when the fire department came to check out the bonfire. They came just in time. The trees out front are gone, but the building is mostly intact.
Sincerely,
H.B.

Monday, June 8

Dear G.D.,
This is not an apartment building, it's a shopping mall. You can buy drugs on the second floor. There's a fire arms shop and shooting range on the third floor. My floor is a 24 hour dance club and we have a penthouse casino. Do you have any idea what kinds of things go on here? The police are afraid of the place. So am I. Any advice?
Wish you were here,
H.B.

Tuesday, July 14

Dear G.D.,
There are bullet holes in my windows. Two people are hospitalized after a fight in the lobby last night. Poor Mrs. Garfield has been mugged twice outside her apartment. Your security guards are mobsters. I have hardly slept in weeks. I can't put up with this much longer. WHERE ARE YOU?
desperately yours,
H.B.

Monday, August 3
Dear G.D.,
How long must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out "violence" but you do not save?
Wearily, H.B.
Friday, August 7
Dear H.B.,
So good to hear from you. The problems you describe are familiar to me. I had foreseen them and I have been planning to intervene for sometime. However, I have decided to take a rather unusual approach to the situation. Because the tenants are so completely out of hand, I have made arrangements to turn the building over to a street gang. This may come as a surprise to you, especially since the particular gang I have in mind is rather new. I assure you, however, that they make up for inexperience in sheer ruthlessness and violence. They are really a terrible bunch of thugs. The troublemakers in your building will be no match for them. I don't want you to be surprised when they come. Be assured that they have my full blessing to do what they like with the both the building and the people in it. I hope this answers your questions,
Lovingly,
G.D.

I could go on, but I'll stop there. This entirely fictional exchange of letters illustrates the problem that the Prophet Habakkuk faced. God, it seemed, was like an absentee landlord.

Read Hab. 1:1- 4

Here we have Habbakuk's first problem. The nation of Judah is falling into corruption and decay. But God seems silent in the face of evil. Like an absentee landlord, he doesn't respond. He seems to turn a blind eye to the evil and injustice around.

So the prophet cries out in desperation. And then, finally , God does respond. But when he does, it creates an even bigger problem:

Hab. 1:5-11

This is hardly the solution that Habakkuk was expecting. God was going to deal with the evil in Judah with an even greater evil -- the Babylonians. It's very much like our landlord dealing with tenant problems by calling in a band of thugs.

So NOW Habakkuk has a double problem:
First, God was silent when Habakkuk thought he should do something.
Then, when God did intervene, the cure was worse than the disease.

So after a stunned silence Habakkuk cries out again to God.
His prayer is summed up in verse 13:

Your eyes are too pure to look on evil;
you cannot tolerate wrong.
Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?
Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?

In other words: How can a good and sovereign God allow evil -- And it isn't just a matter of allowing it, in the case of the Babylonians, God seems to be causing evil.

This is one of the great philosophical and theological problems of all time. And having set up this problem for us in chapter 1 of Habbakuk, God has a splendid opportunity to give us a clear answer. He has two more chapters in which to explain himself and to solve once and for all the problem of evil.

And what does he say?

Listen to God's response 2:2-4
The key verse here -- in fact the key verse for the whole book is at the end of verse 4

-- the righteous will live by his faith.

Now this happens to be one of the most important and influential verses in whole of scripture, but WHAT is it doing here. Habakkuk asks, Why do you, a holy God, allow evil; God answers: The righteous will live by faith. What could he possibly mean?

I think this is what God is saying: He's saying "You know, its none of your concern why I do things the way I do. You will never figure me out. You can ask all the questions you want. But If you want life you will just have to trust me." In other words, what we need is not so much to UNDERSTAND God's actions as to simply TRUST him.

Remember the story of Abraham. How God told him to sacrifice his son -- his only son, Isaac -- the child of the promise -- the child on whom all of his hopes rested. Abraham trusted God even though it made no sense to him. He obeyed God in faith and scripture tells us that because of that faith God considered him righteous.

And that, I think is exactly what living by faith means -- it means trusting God when you have no idea what he is up to. Living by faith simply means trusting in the goodness of God regardless of how bad things look.
OK, so that's WHAT living by faith means. The bigger problem is HOW? How do we apply this day to day life?

I'd like to suggest a few simple ways that Habakkuk shows us how to live by faith in our every day lives. You may want to think of them as faith-building exercises:

1. FAITH-BUILDING EXERCISE #1 -- Cry out to God.

A child, when he needs help, does not first think -- Hm, I wonder if it makes sense to cry. Perhaps my Mom is too far away. Perhaps she will be too busy. Perhaps I don't really have a mother and my inclination to cry is simply a projection of my unconscious desire for maternal love. No -- when a child needs help, He just cries out for Mom.

Similarly, Habakkuk's first response to his problem was not to try to sort the problem out intellectually. He did not set out to write a book on why bad things happen to good people.

No, his response was much more simple and direct: He cried out to God. He said, God this is a problem for me. I know you are holy and righteous, but what I see around me doesn't fit with that. And by crying out to God he was showing that he really believed that God is holy and righteous -- in spite of the evil around him.

In every moment of difficulty we have the choice of either crying out to God or turning away from him. When we cry out we show that we trust that he will not always remain silent.

So the first challenge of living by faith is simply to trust God enough to pray.
I tried to teach this to my kids a couple of months ago. Our children, especially Stephen, beg for ice-cream most nights. And if he is told no, Stephen falls into deep despair. It ruins his whole night.

Sometimes in order to avert disappointment he will not even ask -- he will simply say, "Oh yeah, we already had a treat today, so I know we won't be able to have icecream."

One night this happened and I said to Stephen, "Why don't you pray for icecream -- why don't you ask God?" He was not going to be taken in. He was absolutely sure that God would not answer such a prayer. So he would not pray for it.

So I prayed on his behalf, that he could have ice-cream that night. And what do you know -- God came through.

Most of us, most of the time are like Stephen was that night. We don't even have enough faith to want to pray.


2. FAITH BUILDING EXERCISE #2 -- wait

Imagine I were to say to you all at the end of the service, I want all of you to wait right here -- I will come back. I promise. Don't leave before I get back. And to every one of you that is still here when I get back, I will give $100. Now most of you would laugh and leave. Why? Because you don't trust my promise -- and with pretty good reason. Some of you more gullible ones might stay for a bit. You know who I bet would still be hear when I came back? I bet my family would be here.

And it wouldn't be because of the $100 -- it would be because they have a relationship with me. They believed my promise. In the same way, those who live by faith will wait patiently for God because they trust the promises and character of God.

So the very first thing that God tells Habakkuk to do is simply to wait:

2:3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay.

In other words -- don't judge by the way things appear. Evil may seem triumphant now. It may seem as though the wicked are in complete control. But if you really believe that I am righteous, believe and wait.

Then at the end of the book we get Habakkuk's response:

3:16 I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.

Those who live by faith are willing to wait. When we wait patiently for God we demonstrate our faith that he is true to his promises.

3. FAITH BUILDING EXERCISE #3 -- Rejoice in all circumstances

Look at ch. 3:17-18

Here is the acid test of living by faith. If God took away all the good things that you enjoy and depend on, would you still call him good? If you were stripped of everything you delight in other than him, could you rejoice in Him?

The key to joy in our lives is to focus our faith on God rather than on what we want from God. Do you see the difference?

You see in our every day lives our tendency is to focus our faith on the good things that God gives -- we have faith that he will provide a house, we have faith that he will heal, we have faith that he will provide relationships. And all of these are good things.

But what if we don't get these things? Where will our faith be then? The goodness of God cannot be measured by what he does FOR us. No, God is goodness IN HIMSELF. He is the supreme good against which all other good things fade in importance. In fact all good things are just a pale reflection of the true goodness that is his alone.

What does this mean for living by faith? It should mean that, like Habakkuk, we can rejoice in God -- we can declare his goodness -- whether he gives us good things or not. Whether he gives or takes away. He is good quite independent of what he gives us, and our faith must be focussed on him and not on his gifts.

And that is the secret of JOY in the Christian life -- because our circumstances will constantly change, but God himself never changes. Have faith in circumstances and you will be tossed like a leaf in the wind. Have faith in the goodness of God alone and you will have a steady spring of joy within you.

Paul says this same thing in Phil. 4:11-12:
I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.


CONCLUSION

Finally, a word of application:
I'd like you to think of some challenge to your faith. Something that makes you ask where is God in this situation?

-- it may be a loss of some kind -- a death, a lost job, a friend who has moved
-- it may be a difficult relationship or family situation
-- it may be an injustice that has been done to you
-- it may simply be uncertainty about the future

Now take that problem, and apply the disciplines of living by faith:
-- cry out to God about it; say, "God, I don't understand. It doesn't make sense to me, but I trust you."
-- wait patiently for God -- say, God, I trust you with this problem, and so I will wait on you.
-- rejoice in God irregardless of circumstances -- say, "God, though you take everything away from me, I will still have you, and that will be enough because you are my joy."