December 6, 2021

When Wrestling Leads to Greater Strength

Habakkuk 1–3

Cristin Tippin
Monday's Devo

December 6, 2021

Monday's Devo

December 6, 2021

Central Truth

Like He did with Habakkuk, the Lord allows us to wrestle with issues that test our faith, which ultimately leads to an even greater trust in our Lord.

Key Verse | Habakkuk 3:17-18

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk 1–3

The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.

Habakkuk's Complaint

O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
    and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
    and you will not save?
Why do you make me see iniquity,
    and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    strife and contention arise.
So the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
    so justice goes forth perverted.

The LORD's Answer

“Look among the nations, and see;
    wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
    that you would not believe if told.
For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
    that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
    to seize dwellings not their own.
They are dreaded and fearsome;
    their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    more fierce than the evening wolves;
    their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
    they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
    all their faces forward.
    They gather captives like sand.
10  At kings they scoff,
    and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
    for they pile up earth and take it.
11  Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
    guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

Habakkuk's Second Complaint

12  Are you not from everlasting,
    O LORD my God, my Holy One?
    We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
    and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13  You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
    and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
    and remain silent when the wicked swallows up
    the man more righteous than he?
14  You make mankind like the fish of the sea,
    like crawling things that have no ruler.
15  He 1 1:15 That is, the wicked foe brings all of them up with a hook;
    he drags them out with his net;
he gathers them in his dragnet;
    so he rejoices and is glad.
16  Therefore he sacrifices to his net
    and makes offerings to his dragnet;
for by them he lives in luxury, 2 1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat
    and his food is rich.
17  Is he then to keep on emptying his net
    and mercilessly killing nations forever?

I will take my stand at my watchpost
    and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
    and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

The Righteous Shall Live by His Faith

And the LORD answered me:

“Write the vision;
    make it plain on tablets,
    so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
    it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
    it will surely come; it will not delay.

Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
    but the righteous shall live by his faith. 3 2:4 Or faithfulness

Moreover, wine 4 2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth is a traitor,
    an arrogant man who is never at rest. 5 2:5 The meaning of the Hebrew of these two lines is uncertain
His greed is as wide as Sheol;
    like death he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations
    and collects as his own all peoples.”

Woe to the Chaldeans

Shall not all these take up their taunt against him, with scoffing and riddles for him, and say,

“Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own—
    for how long?—
    and loads himself with pledges!”
Will not your debtors suddenly arise,
    and those awake who will make you tremble?
    Then you will be spoil for them.
Because you have plundered many nations,
    all the remnant of the peoples shall plunder you,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

“Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
    to set his nest on high,
    to be safe from the reach of harm!
10  You have devised shame for your house
    by cutting off many peoples;
    you have forfeited your life.
11  For the stone will cry out from the wall,
    and the beam from the woodwork respond.

12  Woe to him who builds a town with blood
    and founds a city on iniquity!
13  Behold, is it not from the LORD of hosts
    that peoples labor merely for fire,
    and nations weary themselves for nothing?
14  For the earth will be filled
    with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
    as the waters cover the sea.

15  Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink—
    you pour out your wrath and make them drunk,
    in order to gaze at their nakedness!
16  You will have your fill of shame instead of glory.
    Drink, yourself, and show your uncircumcision!
The cup in the LORD's right hand
    will come around to you,
    and utter shame will come upon your glory!
17  The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,
    as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them,
for the blood of man and violence to the earth,
    to cities and all who dwell in them.

18  What profit is an idol
    when its maker has shaped it,
    a metal image, a teacher of lies?
For its maker trusts in his own creation
    when he makes speechless idols!
19  Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, Awake;
    to a silent stone, Arise!
Can this teach?
Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver,
    and there is no breath at all in it.
20  But the LORD is in his holy temple;
    let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Habakkuk's Prayer

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

O LORD, I have heard the report of you,
    and your work, O LORD, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it;
    in the midst of the years make it known;
    in wrath remember mercy.
God came from Teman,
    and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah
His splendor covered the heavens,
    and the earth was full of his praise.
His brightness was like the light;
    rays flashed from his hand;
    and there he veiled his power.
Before him went pestilence,
    and plague followed at his heels. 6 3:5 Hebrew feet
He stood and measured the earth;
    he looked and shook the nations;
then the eternal mountains were scattered;
    the everlasting hills sank low.
    His were the everlasting ways.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
    the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
Was your wrath against the rivers, O LORD?
    Was your anger against the rivers,
    or your indignation against the sea,
when you rode on your horses,
    on your chariot of salvation?
You stripped the sheath from your bow,
    calling for many arrows. 7 3:9 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain Selah
    You split the earth with rivers.
10  The mountains saw you and writhed;
    the raging waters swept on;
the deep gave forth its voice;
    it lifted its hands on high.
11  The sun and moon stood still in their place
    at the light of your arrows as they sped,
    at the flash of your glittering spear.
12  You marched through the earth in fury;
    you threshed the nations in anger.
13  You went out for the salvation of your people,
    for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
    laying him bare from thigh to neck. 8 3:13 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain Selah
14  You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,
    who came like a whirlwind to scatter me,
    rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.
15  You trampled the sea with your horses,
    the surging of mighty waters.

16  I hear, and my body trembles;
    my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
    my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
    to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk Rejoices in the LORD

17  Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
18  yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19  God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer's;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed 9 3:19 Hebrew my stringed instruments.

Footnotes

[1] 1:15 That is, the wicked foe
[2] 1:16 Hebrew his portion is fat
[3] 2:4 Or faithfulness
[4] 2:5 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll wealth
[5] 2:5 The meaning of the Hebrew of these two lines is uncertain
[6] 3:5 Hebrew feet
[7] 3:9 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain
[8] 3:13 The meaning of the Hebrew line is uncertain
[9] 3:19 Hebrew my stringed

Dive Deeper | Habakkuk 1–3

As I read the cries of Habakkuk within just the first few verses, I breathed a sigh of relief as I was reminded that I, too, can approach the throne of God, even with my fears and my doubts and my questioning.

Sometimes our circumstances appear to contradict what we know to be true of the Lord. When we face blatant injustice that appears to go unpunished and it seems like the Sovereign Judge and Ruler is idly standing by, our faith is tested. And Habakkuk demonstrates how we can openly and honestly wrestle with God.

How comforting to know that God allows us to approach His throne in this way. But being rich in mercy, He does not leave us in our doubts, wondering, or questioning. No, He patiently responds to Habakkuk and reminds him of who God is and what God has done.  

In Habukkuk 1:5, God tells Habakkuk to look at all that the He has already done! Recall the ways in which God has provided, protected, guided, and redeemed. Remember the ways in which He has been faithful.

But He doesn't stop there. God also challenges Habakkuk with the statement that "the righteous shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4) At some point we must choose faith. When our circumstances test our faith, we must choose to believe that He is who He says He is. I love how a college professor defined faith as "choosing to believe the Word of God is true regardless of our feelings, our circumstances, or societal norms." Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen."

And after God takes the time to respond to Habakkuk's cries, Habakkuk praises God and proclaims his increasing faith. A faith that leaves him rejoicing in God and finding strength in Him. What a contrast the last few verses in the book are to the first few. Because the Lord allows us to wrestle with Him when we are challenged in our faith, we are left with an even greater trust in our Lord. 

Discussion Questions

1. Have you encountered a time when your circumstances appear to contradict what you know to be true of God? 

2. Do you feel like you can approach the throne of grace with your doubts or fears or questions? 

3. What work has the Lord done in your life that you wouldn't have believed if you had been told about it?