WEEKLY
SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
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For
Sunday March 8, 2020
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A PRAYER FOR JUSTICE
(Calling to GOD for help)
(Habakkuk 1)
The Scriptures mention
nothing about the ancestry or place of birth of the Old Testament prophet
Habakkuk (Huh-BAK-uhk). His name means “embraced by GOD”, and history tells us
that he was both a poet and a prophet. His hatred of sin often compelled him to
cry out to GOD for justice. Ironically, that same sense of justice also led to Habakkuk’s
foolish challenge of the LORD’s plan of judgment on the nation of Judah, where
HE would use the evil pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces to ultimately
annihilate Judah in 586 B.C.
The book of Habakkuk deals with the age-old
problem of evil and human suffering in the world. Each chapter presents a very
striking contrast, and in the first two chapters, Habakkuk’s complaining, and
questioning technique is actually used to drive home a powerful message
concerning the coming judgment of the Almighty GOD in Heaven.
This terse book
begins with a cry of woe, as Habakkuk sees injustice running rampant in the
nation of Judah, and the people who were seeking righteousness, being overtaken
by the wicked. The law seems powerless to stop this madness, and it also seems
that the LORD HIMSELF has abandoned HIS chosen people to these evil circumstances.
Many of the
earlier prophets had also seen the societal injustices in Judah, and vehemently
spoke out and objected to them. However, years ago, while still under the
55-year reign of King Manasseh, the father of Josiah, the nation of Judah had
become committed to the idolatry and evil practices of the pagan nations around
them. Those prophets were not able to convince the people to abandon those practices,
any more than Habakkuk would be able to, with his warnings in his day.
Like Isaiah,
Hosea, Micah, and Zephaniah, Habakkuk ministered during the reign of King
Josiah, Judah’s last GODly king. Josiah came to the throne at the incredibly
young age of eight, and with the help of his queen mother, he was able to grow
up with a moral compass to guide him. As a result, when he was older, he
initiated many religious reforms, and a spiritual revival, in an attempt to
move the people of Judah, back towards GOD.
Sadly, Josiah was
not able to root out all of the deeply entrenched evil that had dug its way
into Hebrew society, and Habakkuk pleaded with GOD for an explanation as to why
HE had allowed this wickedness to persist, and the innocent to suffer for all
those years. He wanted to know why GOD would use a less righteous people
(Babylon) to punish, what he considered to be, a more righteous nation (Judah).
And even though there was already a precedent established with the downfall of
northern Israel to the Assyrians in 722 B.C., Habakkuk was still troubled by
what he felt was an overbearing moral issue.
In fact, even today, that is a concern about
GOD that still troubles a lot of Christians, that age-old question of, “Why HE
allows evil to exist and prevail in the world”. However, the answers we find in
this message of Habakkuk, clearly shows us that no one, good or evil, can
escape the disciplining hand of GOD, when HE decides to apply it.
Here in Habakkuk
chapter 1, taking up at verse 5, the LORD replies to HIS prophet’s complaint by
telling him HE will use the nation of Babylon, a superior military force, whose
own strength is their god, to devastate the nation of Israel, and, the rest of
the world as they knew it at that time
(Vs.5-11).
The Babylonians,
who literally enjoyed cruelty and violence, would sweep across the land,
building dirt ramps up against “walled cities”, including Jerusalem, and dragging
all of their brightest, and most prominent young citizens back to their own
land, and re-training them all to serve King Nebuchadnezzar in his kingdom.
This chapter ends
as it began, with Habakkuk firing off a series of complaints in the form of
questions for the LORD. Habakkuk felt that there were so many more unrighteous
people outside of Israel than there were within, and he couldn’t seem to bring
himself to understand why GOD was using one of those nations to punish them, a seemingly
more righteous nation.
Habakkuk seemed to miss the fact that, “to whom
much is given, much is required”. GOD expects much more (in the form of our
behavior) from those who pledge themselves to HIM, than HE does from those who
pledge themselves to the world, and its material gods.
In Deuteronomy
28, GOD specifies a number of punishing disasters that HE would use to discipline
Israel, if they fell out of line with HIS laws and precepts. Habakkuk has to
know that “defeat in war” is one of those forms of punishment (Deuteronomy
28:25-29). And so, without further hesitance, Habakkuk accepts the LORD’s
devastating announcement regarding Judah (v.13a). For he knows now that the
LORD’s punishment with this coming invasion will not spell the end of the Hebrew
nation.
However, Habakkuk
saw a more profound problem if the wicked Babylonians succeed in destroying Jerusalem,
and their gods then being exalted over the GOD of Israel. There would be “no
moral governor” supervising the affairs of mankind, anywhere on earth. Through GOD’s
punishment, Habakkuk reasoned, HE would seem to be allowing the wicked to
prosper, and thus raising doubt in the minds of HIS OWN people about HIS very existence
and superiority.
In the Hebrew,
the concept of the word “listen”, “shama”, (pronounced “shaw-mah”), means more than
just “hear”. In the biblical sense, when GOD says “listen” it implies that we
respond intelligently and understand HIM through our GOD-given human
properties. GOD always hears and understands our righteous prayers. And the
more we “listen”, and get to know HIM, the better we will understand “what to
pray for” and “how to pray”, to HIM.
We should always
pray that we will accept GOD’s Will being done in our lives on earth, just as
it is always done in Heaven, because of the obedience to HIS Will that is found
there. Sometimes GOD’s Will may be something that we don’t perceive as being right
in our own sinful eyes, however, we must accept the fact, like Habakkuk did,
that “GOD is always right”.
GOD is always
about “justice”, and when HE disciplines us, HE does it in righteousness, which
is the only way that HE operates. Bless the LORD our GOD, WHO can only make “right
decisions”. That is why we should worship and praise HIM every day, “through
our behavior, publicly and privately”, and not just “with our lips in public
only”. And the GOD WHO always hears and answers the prayers of “those who are
seeking righteousness”, will surely bless us with answers that will put us back
into, and keep us safely, within the boundaries of HIS Will.
A
Sunday school lesson by,
Larry
D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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