Good Morning,

We are going to begin a new book this morning. In the first four verses we are going to see a common experience that all of us have had at one time or another.

Habakkuk seeing what is going on around him cries out to the Lord by saying: ..." How long O Lord must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you Violence, but you do not save? Why do you make me to look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are before me: there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the Law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted." Habakkuk had long been complaining to the Lord of the sin that was in Judah and also in the nations around him. He felt that the Lord was not hearing his prayers for judgement because it appeared they continued to prosper. It is much like Jonah when he preached judgement and since the people responded God had mercy. Jonah to was very upset at God. How often do we get upset when it seems that those who really rebel against the Lord seem to have more than we do who try to live a life pleasing to God. He never promised us that Christianity would be easy and that we would be rich. Would we rather "gain the whole world and lose our souls", or "count it all joy to suffer for the sake of Christ". Maybe what we need to do is not what Habukkuk did, but instead look at them through the eyes of the Lord and pray that they will see the error of their ways. This will help us have a burden for them and thus be able to intercede for them before God. May we all have eyes like Our Father in heaven.

It has been a long time since our last correspondence as I have taken off a few months. We last looked at the first four versus in Habakkuk in which we saw him complaining unto the Lord for everything that has come upon the people of Israel. When you look at his predicament it is not unlike ours. We to often complain about all the things that we must go through; however, look at the Lord's answer in the next few verses. "Look at the nations and watch-- and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own." He then in the next versus describes just how ruthless they will be. What an answer. I'm sure that Habakkuk thought the Lord would alleviate the suffering and instead He says that He is going to increase it . Confusion must have completely engulfed him just as it would us. Why would God, Our Father, answer his child this way? In many ways this shows that indeed "God's ways are not our ways", and yet through all this we can have the assurance that He is sovereign and in control. The answers we get in our own prayer life is often not what we expect and yet as we look back it was exactly what we needed. May we trust the Lord and realize whatever He allows to come our way He will give us the strength to go through it.

Again we find Habakkuk pleading with the Lord for mercy based upon the fact that He is an all powerful God. In versus 12 & 13 we read: "Lord are you not from everlasting? My God my Holy One we will not die. O Lord you have appointed them to appoint judgement; O Rock you have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look to evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?..." We see Habakkuk appealing to God's power and holiness trying to have him stop the punishment that is about to come upon them. He cannot understand how such a holy God could ever allow this to take place. What he forgets is that the Israelites have turned there back on God and the punishment they are about to receive they brought upon themselves; and yet He still tries to understand why God would use such treacherous men to punish them. This is not the first time this has happened. Many times in the Old Testament God used Israel's enemies to bring them down. One example is found in Isaiah where He allows the Assyrians to almost completely destroy them because of their disobedience. I don't think much has changed today. We still look at the world and wonder why God is allowing the wicked to prosper and also persecute His children. " Our ways are not His ways" the Scripture tells us and sometimes that is very difficult for us to accept. We must know that the Lord loves us with an everlasting love and no matter what may take place here, someday we will spend an eternity with Him. We need to get our eyes off the temporal and get them on the eternal. Remember " What good is it if a man gain the whole world and lose his soul". Let the world have their temporal excitement, remember our joy is eternal.

Again Habakkuk is trying to understand why God allows things to go on that are against His Nature. In versus 14&15 we read: "You have made men like fish in the sea, like creatures that have no ruler. The wicked foe pulls them all up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet:and so he rejoices and is glad". All that Habakkuk can see is what is taking place in front of him. He does not see what God is doing behind the scenes and also seems to feel that they are being punished unjustly. If you look at the time period of Israel and Judah they were almost in a constant state of rebellion and in actuality are being chastised by God. However Habukkuk only sees it as punishment and not discipline. Because of the way he looks at the situation he feels that God is dealing unjustly with them and is angry. A man said it best:" Character does not reach its best until it is controlled, harnessed and disciplined."God's plan is so much larger than ours and sometimes we have to realized we will never understand it and accept it by faith. Finally, Habakkuk comes to that conclusion in chapter 2:1 when he says "I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what He will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint". He understands that God will reveal His answer in do time and that he then will have an answer so that he will be able to give a response to his complaint. We do not have to through our arms up when we don't understand God's plan, we need " to be still and know that He is God" and wait on His response. This allows us to relax and trust in Him.

We have seen in Chapter one that Habakkuk feels that the Lord is continually punishing innocent people and the very people He loves. This disturbs him and he begins to question God. In this chapter the answer comes to the questions he has raised. In versus 2&3 we read: "Then the Lord replied: Write down the revelation and make it plain on the tablets so that a herald may run with it. 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 not delay." Habakkuk is going to receive the answer he has been waiting for and is instructed to write it down. It is apparent that the reason it needs to be written down is because this is not going to be fulfilled immediately and they will have a written form to fall back on when they begin to wonder why it is not taking place. Also you see that when someone reads the tablets they are to take the message to others so that they also will be prepared for what is about to happen. In the missionary conference we heard Pat Brown continually say that when she had a decision to make or a question she may have she would always find a Scripture to answer it. Friends the Lord may not always reveal His will or give us an answer exactly when we want it, but he has given us his word. We need to know that in "His fullness of time" He will reveal to us His will. We need to write it down what He gives us and no matter how long it will take we must not lose faith. His word is true and faithful and we know that it will come to pass. Let's be like Habakkuk and write down what the Lord has spoken to us so that if we become impatient we know that the promise is still sure.

I trust that now that the new year is underway that all is going well with you. May this be a blessed year in which the Lord will work completely in all of our lives.

In Habakkuk 2: 4-6 we see one of the greatest sins that confront us everyday. We read: "See he is puffed up, his desires are not right, but the righteous shall live by faith, indeed wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations, and takes captive all the peoples...." Here we see the king of the Chaldeans being described as someone who is arrogant and puffed up to the point that nothing can satisfy him. Pride has taken him to such a point that no matter how many nations or people he holds captive it is not enough to satisfy him. The Lord in verse seven says "woe to him... who continues to live for himself and his own satisfaction of all his evil appetites.
This is a lesson we must learn everyday of our lives. It is so easy to think of ourselves first and then of others whereas the Lord says we must always put others before ourselves. What would we have done if Jesus would have had this attitude toward us? We would still be doomed to and eternity in hell, but praise God Jesus conquered pride and died for us so that we can spend an eternity with him. It is so easy to look at the world and say they are proud and selfish and want everything their own way. However in the church we see sometimes the same attitudes. We feel that if things do not go the way we want them, then we do everything we can to get our own way instead of asking the Lord if this is right or wrong according to Scripture. I trust that this coming year we will all be more concerned about others and allow the Lord to lead us in every area of our life. For the Lord says here " the just shall live by faith"; faith that He will lead us in everything because He can be fully trusted by us.

This week we begin to see that Habakkuk's question of how long will this tribulation take place begin to be answered. In Habakkuk 2: 6-8 we read:" Will not all them taunt him with ridicule and scorn by saying,`Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion. How long will this go on?`... Because you have plundered many nations they will plunder you, for you have shed man's blood..." We see here very vividly that the Lord tells Habakkuk that the very people that the Babylonians have destroyed, killed and plundered all they had, will also be the same people who will reap revenge upon them. Isn't it fitting that those who have caused them to suffer will rise up some day and destroy this empire. Often we look at the world and say:" How long Lord can this sin and rebellion go on"? The answer is the Lord knows exactly how long and we need to trust Him so that we can have peace in this life. Where we find our answer to this question is in the book of revelation where we see the Lord returning to the earth with all His saints, that is you and me, to see those same people that rebelled be destroyed by the Word of the Lord. The Lord knows our struggles and heartaches and wants us to place our trust in Him so that He can even now give us peace. Let us always remember that He is on the Throne.

We continue to see today how the Lord answers Habakkuk's request about how long Israel will suffer. In Habakkuk 2; 9-11 we read :" Woe to you who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the church's ruin You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life..." We see in these versus the way that the Chaldeans gained their wealth. They would destroy the city, kill the people and take all their wealth. They would become rich at the expense of others. Their would be nothing left of the cities and many families would be completely destroyed. Today we may not have this type of mass murder to get rich in this country, but we do see many people destroy the reputations or companies of others to be sure they have great wealth. Oftentimes we who are struggling look at this and cry out the same way. Habakkuk is telling us that no matter how rich and powerful people may seem to us on earth, the Lord has the last word. Our day of riches untold in Christ is coming, so let's not fret if the wealth that we see others have is not our own. In a small town in England the Mayor who is elected is weighed when he takes office. After his term is up he is weighed again to see if he got fat at the peoples expense. Yes, many people do get fat at others expense, but God will judge all.

We continue to see today how the Lord answers Habakkuk's request about how long Israel will suffer. In Habakkuk 2; 9-11 we read :" Woe to you who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the church's ruin. You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life..." We see in these versus the way that the Chaldeans gained their wealth. They would destroy the city, kill the people and take all their wealth. They would become rich at the expense of others. There would be nothing left of the cities and many families would be completely destroyed. Today we may not have this type of mass murder to get rich in this country, but we do see many people destroy the reputations or companies of others to be sure they have great wealth. Oftentimes we who are struggling look at this and cry out the same way. Habakkuk is telling us that no matter how rich and powerful people may seem to us on earth, the Lord has the last word. Our day of riches untold in Christ is coming, so let's not fret if the wealth that we see others have is not our own. In a small town in England the Mayor who is elected is weighed when he takes office. After his term is up he is weighed again to see if he got fat at the peoples expense. Yes, many people do get fat at others expense, but God will judge all.

We now come to the fourth woe to the nation who has persecuted the people of God. In versus 15-17 we read: " Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring from the wineskin till they are drunk, so they can gaze on there naked bodies... The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man's blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them." As the answer to Habakkuk's question of how long the Lord will let this go on; the Lord continues to show him how violent His judgement will be. Here he is judging them for their base and degrading treatment of these nations. The immorality and murder of not only humans, but animals was terrible in the sight of God. The Chaldeans would have the nations of God do things that were degrading to humanity and to the creation the Lord brought into existence. We see very clearly that the very things they inflicted on the people of God will be inflicted on them even worse. When we again look at our nation we see much of the same sins that were in Habakkuk's time. The internet has all kinds of base and immoral material available to anyone, and this affects their minds and hearts till they must not only look at it but experience it. We need to know that just like in Habakkuk's time the Lord will judge this type of rebellion and when He does many will suffer beyond anything they could imagine. We must do all we can not to be swallowed up in all this sin and remain pure of heart. Remember to put on the full armor of God and He will protect us.
Blessings on you,

Hanukkah now makes a statement that is so applicable today as we look at our world. In verse 18 we read: " Of what value is an idol since man has carved it? Or an image that teaches lies? For he who makes it trusts in his own creation; he makes idols that cannot speak." The Lord is trying to let Hanukkah know that all the so called gods that the Chaldeans have are all made by man. They cannot speak and since man made them they will only tell them what they want them to. They themselves are really the idols and gods that teach the people. In contrast you have a God who created all that is far above anything in the world. More than that He is alive and can direct your life. In Romans chapter one the same thing is said by Paul when he says: " They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the creator..." A missionary came home and put his curios out on a table for missionary conference. They consisted of watches, rings,money, gold and all kinds of trinkets. The people were expecting to see all kinds of native artifacts and were surprised. He said these are the things the people I minister to worship. I wonder if we look at our world and specifically our country and own lives, are these the same thongs that sometimes we worship. Has or possessions become more important to us than our Lord God. I trust that we will always remember that the Lord created and gave us all we have and we should always worship and thank Him " the author and finisher of our faith".

We now come to the final woe of the Lord to the Chaldeans. In Habakkuk 2: 19-21 we read: " Woe to him who says to wood `Come to life!.' Or to a lifeless stone Wake up! Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; their is no breath in it. But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him." Here we see the Lord trying to impress upon Habakkuk that there is a huge difference between the gods of the Chaldeans and his God. Their god He says is nothing but wood or stone covered with gold and silver. They cannot speak, give wisdom or even hear what they are saying. We see the same thing in the world today. Many choose to worship gods such as money, power, sports or any other thing that really has no life. They feel the more they have of this the happier they will be. However, we see these same people looking for something real and substantial in their lives. Habakkuk is told that his and our God is different. He can hear, answer, lead and empower us to a new life. He says we are to be silent before Him and let Him speak. It is like going to the jewelry store and buying a gold necklace. You can buy one that is plated and it looks real, but soon the plating wears off and the real metal is shown. However, when you buy the real thing it will always look like gold. Let's not settle for any other God except the true one and worship Him.

As a review Habakkuk is still trying to wonder why the heathen is prospering when they worship other gods. He allow Habakkuk to get these questions out then in versus nineteen and twenty the Lord answers him by saying: " Woe to him who says to wood, Come to life! Or to lifeless stone, Wake up! Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it. But the Lord is in His holy temple; let all the earth be silent before Him." Here we see very clearly that the gods of the heathen have no power, but are really stone and wood covered in gold. Even though they give them power and personality they have none. People can make all kinds of claims but that doesn't necessarily make them true. Today we have all kinds of people proclaiming they either have absolute power or some object they posses does. This doesn't make it true. Of all the religions in the past, present and future there is only one which serves a living Savior and that is Christianity. All other gods ar objects of power are dead or inanimate. The Lord tells Habakkuk that He is in His temple and that when we approach Him be silent and know that He is God. In the midst of all the belief systems in the world let us hold our ground and know that Our God is the true God and He is in control of all things.

Please pray for our community and that the Lord will give us a burden for it.

Habakkuk now switches to lifting a different kind of prayer to the Lord. After complaining for the first two chapters of how unfair it is to allow them to suffer, the Lord's promises become more aware to him. In the first three versus we read: " Lord I have heard your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in or day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Peran." Habakkuk begins to concentrate on who God is and all that He has done in the past. It is so easy to get caught up in the everyday activities of the world and almost get to the point to where we forget about who God really is. When Habakkuk complained all he could do was see the injustice to him and his people, but when he began to concentrate on who The Lord really is then he saw the many blessings He had bestowed upon them. His entire way of looking at situations changed, because now he saw The Lord as greater than his problems. Let's never fall into the same trap as he did and remember that he is able to greater things than we can ever imagine. Nothing in this world is to large for the Lord to intervene in and give us peace of mind.

Habakkuk: 3a-4
With all the problems that Habakkuk experienced and on top of this the Lord telling him that things were going to get worse, Habakkuk finally begins to praise the Lord for who He is. One of the tragedies today is that people often praise The Lord for what He has done and when things are going badly, we have a tendency to forget that He still deserves our praise. Listen to how Habakkuk praises Him: " His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise: rays flashed from His hands, where His power was hidden". Habakkuk finally realizes that no matter what is happening around Him the Lord is still great and mighty. He compares it to a glorious sunrise that we see. When you are up early in the morning and the sun just comes up it is a beautiful picture. The rays flashing before your eyes almost to the point where you cannot look. Colors of all kinds dance around the sky. We have lives sometimes that are dark and dreary. We can't seem to see any break in the attacks of satan, and yet in the midst of this the Lord doesn't change. This is when we really need to praise Him and see Him as the sunrise so that His love can flood our souls. Let's not let the world dictate how we see God, but let us always see and experience His great power.

Habakkuk 3:3b-7
As Habakkuuk continues his journey in trusting God, He continues to praise The Lord for His omnipotence. In vs 4b-7 he prays: " rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden... He stood and shook the earth; He looked and made the nations tremble... I saw the tents of Cushan in distress; the dwellings of Midian in anguish." Habakkuk is trying to come with the age old question of just because things don't go my way is God still at work. As he looks back at all the Lord has done He begins to realize the almighty power that is the Lords'. He knows the lightning and thunder come from Him, the earth shakes and nations crumble because of only Him. When he ponders these things, then it is easier to understand that even though the world and his enemies are surrounding the Israelites, God is still at work. He and He alone is in control and no one or anything can change that. All of us have things that happen and we don't understand why this may be happening. We can give a hundred reasons as to why the Lord should reconsider. However, what we must do is begin to ponder the greatness of God like Job finally did and the same result will happen. We will look at the greatness of God and realize He is in control, and in His time He will reveal all the answers to our questions. Faith and trust in God is easy when things go the way we want, true faith trusts God when they don't go our way. Remember we are His children and He will always take care of us.

Habakkuk 3:8-13
As Habakkuk continues to pray to The Lord, he asks a few questions of God then begins to proclaim once again how powerful Our Lord is. I will not write down all these verses, but here are some that will allow you to see his description of God. Verses seven through fourteen states: " Were you angry with the rivers O Lord? Was your wrath against the streams?... You split the earth; the mountains saw you and wreathed... Sun and moon stood still in the heavens at the glint of Your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear... You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one..." Habakkuk once again is reassuring himself and the people of Israel that The Lord is in control of the entire earth. He begins in this section of proclaiming through a series of questions that God is indeed in control of all nature and will use whatever means to protect Israel and His annoited one the King who follows the lineage of David. The Israelites continue to worry that the Chaldeans will destroy them and their king, however Habakkuk reassures them that God is in control and will sustain them until victory is theirs. It is the same today in every way. We will have battles in our life, but just as The Lord protected them He will sustain us and protect us. We need to rely on The Lord's strength and not our own. Then and only then will our confidence soar over all obstacles. May we have this confidence always.

As we continue our study in this book, again we will see how Habakkuk, as he prays, realizes the destruction that is about to come upon his enemies. In the following verses we read: " You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters. I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, my legs trembled;...". Habakkuk very clearly has been asking the Lord to defeat his enemies and finally the Lord gives him an idea of how this will take place. He says their will be so many warriors that the waters will turn brown; and the destruction will be so great that the fear of God will cause the legs of Habakkuk to buckle. Many times we wonder when the Lord will exact His punishment on the nations. How long will it take for Him to revenge His name. We may not know when, but we know He will. However, when we see Him do it I beleive we will be like Habakkuk. Fear will stike our hearts because of the power shown by the Lord. We need to minister to these people so that they will not have to endure the wrath of God. We must not wait for judgement, but rather show the love of Christ in our lives so these might come to know Him. In Georgia where I went to school there was a beautiful falls that when it fell you could see the grandeur of God in it; however, one night when the dam broke and the water came over that same falls and killed thirty-eight people all we experienced was horror. The same falls but different emotions felt. We may want to see the Lord's wrath, but if we do we may respond the same way and that is in fear and trembling. Be careful what we ask for in our prayers.

I trust that your holidays were a blessed time for all of you and this year will be one filled with the presence of God and His blessings.

We will conclude Habakkuk this morning by looking at the last three verses of chapter three. He concludes his book by showing the Israelites that He is the All-sufficient God. In chapter three, verses 17-20 we read: " Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crops fail and the fields produce no food,... yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The sovereign Lord is my strength...". Throughout the book, Habakkuk is telling how God's people are being attacked and ravished continually. Here, he talks of crop failure, no food, cattle or the necessities of life available. Yet because of his faith in God he says he will rejoice. He finally comes to a truth that is greater than any he knew before; and that is circumstances do not determine how we feel. The world we live in today is not a secure place. Look at Israel, Russia, the stock market and the morality in our nation. This could be reason to be depressed. Yet, because The Lord is on the throne we can rejoice in Him because nothing, not even death can separate us from Christ. Remember this year that no matter how bad things may get, the Lord will always be there to sustain you.

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