
Habakkuk, Part 1: What On Earth Is Happening!?
Habakkuk 1:1-17
Dr. Kevin D. Glenn – Lead Pastor
What do we do with the conflict between whom we believe God to be and what we see happening around us? How do we process and respond when God’s ways just don’t make sense? And how do we continue to live faithfully on this earth when we don’t understand what on earth God is doing?
We are not the first people to wrestle with this. In fact, a faithful prophet of God, named Habakkuk lived between the tragedy of the fall of Israel and the impending fall of Judah. Habakkuk was honest, bold, and extremely raw in how he interacted with God and others when everything normal was gone, and a new normal was taking shape.
In this first message, we’ll see what Habakkuk saw, what he did, what he heard, and what it means to be faithful in difficult times.
1.What on earth was going on!?– Habakkuk 1:1-4, 14-17, Ecclesiastes 9:12
• Habakkuk saw evil times: Injustice reigned, uncertainty was the certainty, and being faithful seemed to be a waste, even a liability.
• What we see happening around us can lead even the most faithful follower to feel that God, who promised to never leave us and never forsake us, has done both.
2. What on earth did he
• He practiced
• Bold
o “God is not being approached with courtesy and respect. Habakkuk is in absolute anguish.” – Francis I. Anderson
• Faithful
o “These prayers make no more sense than Peter’s New Testament statement to Jesus, ‘Depart from me, O Lord.’ But the very presence of such prayers in the scripture are a witness to God’s understanding; he knows how we speak when we are desperate.” Derek Kidner
3. What on earth did he
• God is working above and beyond our normal.
• We must be prepared for answers we don’t like, nor understand.
4. What on earth did this
• What God said to Habakkuk – that principle finds its ultimate fulfillment in the gospel of Jesus; who shows us perfectly what it means to faithfully wrestle with and ultimately trust in God.
Questions to Ponder
• Have you ever felt a disconnect between what you expect and what you experience in your faith?
• How do you respond to his bold and honest prayer?
• Talk about wrestling with God. Do you? Should we? How does that look in your life?
• How does Habakkuk’s prayer challenge both the legalistic idea that God should never be questioned, as well as the humanistic idea that God must always be understood?
• Discuss the quote from Derek Kidner. Have you ever prayed like Habakkuk, Jeremiah, David, Malachi, Peter, or others who openly wrestled with God? If not, why not?
• Have you ever come to realize God was at work beyond your capacity to understand? Talk about that. How might your experience help others. How might it help you in your own walk?