“Though the harvest never comes…  I still will praise You!”  Habakkuk 3:17-19

History Is in God’s Hands
“Yet I Will Praise Him!”
Habakkuk 3:1-19

Wayne J. Edwards, Pastor

• In 722 B.C., God allowed the Assyrian armies to capture the Northern Kingdom of Israel, and take many thousands of Israelites captive.
• In 605 B.C., God allowed the Babylonians to lay siege to Judah, the Southern Kingdom of Israel, and take many thousands more as captives.
• Habakkuk, whose name means “Embrace,” or “Embracer,” had a problem with God using a heathen nation to chastise His own people.
• Although he was concerned about the sinfulness of the Israelites, and especially their lackadaisical attitude toward the things of God, he could not understand why a Holy God would approve of such violence and bloodshed to bring the Israelites to repentance.
• Habakkuk did the only thing he could do in the light of what God had revealed to him, and that was to take his troubles to the Lord in a time of concentrated prayer.
• This is the call God is extending to every true believer today!

1. Why God Allows Wickedness Among His Own People – Habakkuk 1:2-4 – “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?”

• Habakkuk was sensitive to the increasing sinfulness of God’s people.
• Each time he entered the city of Jerusalem:
  • He saw their “iniquity,” and it grieved his heart to see them sin against God.
  • He saw the “violence, strife, and contention,” that their iniquity caused others, and it troubled his soul.
• Habakkuk asked God why He was not doing something to call His people to repentance.
• In verses 5-11, Habakkuk was astounded at God’s response, for at that very time, God was raising up the evil nation of Babylon to bring His people to repentance.
  • Babylon was the first great world empire – the head of gold on the statue Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, that Daniel interpreted.
  • It was the most powerful of the five world empires, and because of its mighty power, the Babylonians thought they were superior to every other race.
  • Their army was cruel and violent – they feared no one, for they believed their power came from their gods, and they believed their god was more powerful than any other god.
• When Habakkuk heard what God was going to do, and how He was going to do it, he asked God a second question.

2. Why God Uses a Wicked Nation to Punish the Wickedness of His Own People? – Habakkuk 1:12-2:1 – “You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and You cannot look on wickedness.”

• Habakkuk never dreamed God would use a nation as wicked as Babylon to chastise His own people – their sins were much greater than the sins of Judah.
• When Habakkuk realized what God was going to do:
  • He reminded God of His holiness – verses 12-13 – How could God approve of what Babylon was about to do?
  • He returned to his watchtower for prayer – 2:1 – Habakkuk would commit this to prayer and trust in God’s sovereignty.
  • This is the position every Christian needs to assume regarding the 2020 election.

    Because of the increasing sinfulness of God’s people, and their apathy toward the things of God, America is under God’s judgment.

• Is God preparing to allow the Chinese Communists to bring the Christians in America to repentance?
• While the Covid crisis is being controlled through therapeutics, globalists want to keep the fear of the virus alive to reflect the need for a Marxist-Socialist government to care for everyone.
• While the economy is recovering from the Covid crisis, globalists want to keep the economy from growing to help them achieve their goal of converting America into a Marxist-Socialist nation.
• The main concern is the nation of China, who seems to be behind it all, or the beneficiary of it all, should President Trump not be re-elected, and the democrat-Marxist-Socialists win.
• According to a report in Newsweek, “The Chinese Communist Party is not out to destroy the United States, but rather to change or subvert it from within.”
• What effect would such a change have on Christians in America?
  • The Chinese Communist Party tolerates Christians because there over 100-million of them in China.
  • The Chinese Communists publish their own Bible, and enforce their own version of Christianity.
  • Christian churches in China cannot display crosses, but rather they must post pictures of communist leaders.
  • Those Christians who do not follow the rules will be persecuted, sent to labor camps, or just disappear, and those churches that do not obey the rules will be torn down.
  • Over 2-million people, including some Christians, are working in slave-labor camps.
• By every measure, America is a nation saturated in selfishness, and afflicted with apathy toward the things of God.
• As it was in Habakkuk’s day, very few people, even among those who claim to be Christians, believe God will allow America to be defeated, or subdued by another nation.
• No one can say for sure that God will allow Chinese Communists to carry out His judgment upon America, but it is obvious they have been setting the stage for such a take over for many years.
• Must Christians be forced to “bend the knee” before an ungodly nation to remind us of our unwillingness to “bend the knee” before a Holy God?

    God answered Habakkuk’s questions:

• God assured Habakkuk of His sovereignty over human history – Chapter 2:3 – God will carry out His will, in His way, and in His time.
• God stated a principle the Apostle Paul quoted three times in his epistles – Chapter 2:4 – “Behold the proud! His soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith.”
• Even when we cannot understand what God is doing, or why He is doing it in the way He is doing it, we must trust that He is working all things together for our good, and for His glory.
• Therefore, we can face the future in belief, or in unbelief:
  • Unbelief – thinking God has abandoned us and left us here to fend for ourselves.
  • Belief – depending upon God and trusting in His Word, even though we cannot see His hands at work.
• God also assured Habakkuk that He had already determined what He was going to do with Babylon, and around 500 B.C., the Persian Empire defeated the Chaldean’s and conquered Babylon.

 Habakkuk’s conclusions:

• Even though he did not understand it all:
  • Why God allowed His people to wander so far from their covenant with Him.
  • Why He was allowing an ungodly nation to punish His own people for their ungodliness.
  • Why He was going to punish Babylon for carrying out His discipline upon His own people.
• Habakkuk believed in the sovereignty of God, and in His eternal righteousness – that He would never do anything that would be contrary to His absolute holiness.
• Therefore, Habakkuk said he would trust in God, praise God, worship God, and keep silent before Him.

“Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.”

 Habakkuk 3:17-19