Habakkuk 1

The name "Habakkuk," means embrace. I suppose a hug is an embrace; friends like a hug. We are first embraced and loved by God. Then we can help others. The time of Habakkuks ministry was from after the fall of Nineveh in 612 B.C. and the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. Like many today, Habakkuk sees the evil around him and the injustice and he asks the LORD,  why? A key verse is :

 Hab 2:4  Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.

Paul referred to this quote:

Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

The LORD will bring judgment against the proud. He does know what is going on. He is God Almighty and we can rejoice in him.

Habakkuk like many asked questions about all the evil in the world. Why does God allow the evil to happen?

Hab 1:1  The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see.
Hab 1:2  O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!

Lam 3:8  Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

 

Mic 2:1  Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.
Mic 2:2  And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

Hab 1:3  Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.
Hab 1:4  Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

We have wickedness in high places as well, we are in times like this now.

Jer 12:1  Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

Hab 1:5  Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you.

God always makes things right, but not usually in our time or how we expect it.

Isa 29:14  Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.
Isa 29:15  Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?

Eze 12:22  Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel, saying, The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth?
Eze 12:23  Tell them therefore, Thus saith the Lord GOD; I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel; but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision.
Eze 12:24  For there shall be no more any vain vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.
Eze 12:25  For I am the LORD: I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass; it shall be no more prolonged: for in your days, O rebellious house, will I say the word, and will perform it, saith the Lord GOD.
Eze 12:26  Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
Eze 12:27  Son of man, behold, they of the house of Israel say, The vision that he seeth is for many days to come, and he prophesieth of the times that are far off.
Eze 12:28  Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; There shall none of my words be prolonged any more, but the word which I have spoken shall be done, saith the Lord GOD.

The LORD used enemy nations to correct his nation and the proud. The LORD may even send the devil, but for a purpose, like to his servant Job, to prove him. Job lives, but evil and satan are doomed.

Hab 1:6  For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwellingplaces that are not theirs.
Hab 1:7  They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.
Hab 1:8  Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat.
Hab 1:9  They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand.
Hab 1:10  And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it.

Prosperity could be a curse if it takes your heart away from God.

Pro 19:23  The fear of the LORD tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil.

Deu 28:47  Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Deu 28:48  Therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
Deu 28:49  The LORD shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
Deu 28:50  A nation of fierce countenance, which shall not regard the person of the old, nor shew favour to the young:
Deu 28:51  And he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy land, until thou be destroyed: which also shall not leave thee either corn, wine, or oil, or the increase of thy kine, or flocks of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee.

Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.

Hab 1:11  Then shall his mind (wind) change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

The word for mind is "wind," Winds can mean spirits and not all spirits are of God. A foul spirit worshipped and a prideful heart, these bring the judgment of the LORD.

Dan 5:4  They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone.
Dan 5:5  In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaister of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote.
Dan 5:6  Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another.

Another question

Hab 1:12  Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.
Hab 1:13  Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he?

Give Almighty God his glory and praise that he deserves.

Deu 33:27  The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.

Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.

Psa 93:1  The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.
Psa 93:2  Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.

Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

Isa 10:12  Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks.

The wicked gather people as fish in a net. Nazi Germany called God's people the Jews, verman, making them less than human. The destroyed them like infected rats. 

Hab 1:14  And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
Hab 1:15  They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad.

Hab 1:16  Therefore they sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous.
Hab 1:17  Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?

Evil left alone only makes more evil. There is a righteous God who watches. He is long suffering, but he will avenge His people. We do not make evil people our gods. We do not depend on those who are evil, but we trust the LORD. The proud make themselves a god.

Deu 8:17  And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

Eaglewings Ministries