Habbakuk: How to complain to God and trust Him

We explore how honest lament can deepen faith through a full reading of Habakkuk and a reflection on waiting well. We trace the prophet’s complaints, God’s hard answers, and the steady joy that grows in the watchtower.

• permission to bring complaints to God
• Habakkuk’s first lament over injustice
• God’s answer through Babylon’s rise
• the watchpost posture and written vision
• living by faithfulness amid delay
• five woes against exploitation and idols
• prayer of remembrance and mercy
• rejoicing when the fields are bare
• waiting as active trust and alertness

What does waiting on the Lord look like for you today?

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Introducing Habakkuk’s Conversation

Habakkuk’s First Lament

God’s Startling Answer: Babylon

Habakkuk Questions Justice

Watchpost And The Vision

Woes Against Oppression And Idols

Prayer Of Awe And Deliverance

Waiting Well In The Watchtower

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. Mike here. Thanks for joining me. Have you ever complained to the Lord before? Have you ever felt free to do that? I hope you realize biblically, you can certainly complain to the Lord. A large percentage of the psalms is really just complaints about the situations and about the wrong that's being done to me. And God, why aren't you doing anything? Why are you waiting? Why aren't you acting like these sort of complaints? And look, God can handle it. He knows you're already thinking them. You're not protecting him or anymore if you don't say them. Like just talk to him. And in that process, I think we find a lot of clarity when we complain to the Lord, because then we look for answers from the Lord. And that's where we got to look in the first place. We see this exemplified here in the book of Habakkuk. We're going to be reading the entire book. Again, these minor prophets, they're called minor, not because they're not important, uh, not because they're not fun. I think they're kind of fun, but minor because they're short. So we're going to read all of Habakkuk here today, and we're going to see an example of a prophet where most of the content of this book is actually him complaining to the Lord. And then the Lord responds. And you know what? Habakkuk still has some questions and concerns. And so this book, more than the other minor prophets, kind of reads more of a conversation between Habakkuk and the Lord. It's less about, hey, you nation, you gotta shape up or else God's gonna wipe you out. This is more like Habakkuk sees what's going on in the world around him, and he goes to God with complaints. Yeah, like the world is bad. Also, God, what are you doing? I why why are things like this? Why are you not doing this? Why are you doing this? These sort of questions that if you have thought these similar types of complaints and concerns about God, but you haven't voiced them, hopefully you feel empowered through the reading of this book to go to God with your complaints and concerns and just open up the conversation. Let God do his gentle, wise, fatherly thing he does to guide you to a greater knowledge and understanding of him and how he works and guide you closer to his heart. That's the whole point. So I hope you enjoy this reading of Habakkuk 1 through 3. That's the whole thing from the New English translation. This is the oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. How long, Lord, must I cry for help, but you don't listen? I call out to you, violence, but you don't deliver. Why do you force me to witness injustice? Why do you put up with wrongdoing? Destruction and violence confront me. Conflict is present and one must endure strife. For this reason, the law lacks power and justice is never carried out. Indeed, the wicked intimidate the innocent. For this reason, justice is perverted. Here's the Lord's answer. Look at the nations and pay attention. You'll be shocked and amazed, for I'll do something in your lifetime that you will not believe, even though you're forewarned. Look, I'm about to empower the Babylonians, that ruthless and greedy nation. They sweep across the surface of the earth, seizing dwelling places that don't belong to them. They're frightening and terrifying. They decide for themselves what's right. Their horses are faster than leopards and more alert than wolves in the desert. Their horses gallop. Their horses come a great distance. Like vultures, they swoop down quickly to devour their prey. All of them intend to do violence. Every face is determined. They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. They mock kings and laugh at rulers. They laugh at every fortified city. They build siege ramps and capture them. They sweep by like the wind and pass on. But the one who considers himself a god will be held guilty. Hobakic voice is this. Lord, you've been active from ancient times. My sovereign God, you're you're a mortal. Lord, you've made them your instrument of judgment. Protector, you've appointed them as your instrument of punishment. You're too just to tolerate evil. You're unable to condone wrongdoing. So why do you put up with such treacherous people? Why do you say nothing when the wicked devour those more righteous than they are? You made people like fish in the sea, like animals in the sea that have no ruler. The Babylonian tyrant pulls them all up with a fish hook and he hauls them in with his throw net. When he catches them in his dragnet, he's very happy. Because of his success, he offers sacrifices to his throw net and burns incense to his dragnet, for because of them he has plenty of food and more than enough to eat. Will he then continue to fill and empty his throw net? Will he always destroy nations and spare none? I will stand at my watchpost. I will remain stationed on the city wall, I will keep watching so that I can see what he says to me and can know how I should answer when he counters my argument. Well, the Lord responded, Write down this message. Record it legibly on tablets so the one who announces it may read it easily. For the message is a witness to what is decreed. It gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out, even if the message is not fulfilled right away. Wait patiently, for it will certainly come to pass. It will not arrive late. Look, the one whose desires are not upright will faint from exhaustion, but the person of integrity will live because of his faithfulness. Indeed, wine may betray the proud, restless man. His appetite is as big as Sheol's. Like death, he's never satisfied. He gathers all the nations, he seizes all peoples. But all these nations will someday taunt him and ridicule him with proverbial sayings, woe to the one who accumulates what doesn't belong to him. How long will this go on? He who gets rich by extortion? Your creditors will suddenly attack, and those who terrify you will spring into action and they'll rob you. Because you robbed many countries, all who are left among the nations will rob you. You've shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them. The one who builds his house by unjust gain is as good as dead. He does this so he can build his nest way up high and escape the clutches of disaster. And your schemes will bring shame to your house, because you destroyed many nations, you will self destruct, for the stones and the walls will cry out, and the wooden rafters will answer back. Woe to the one who builds a city by bloodshed, he who starts a town by unjust deeds. Be sure of this, the Lord of Heaven's armies has decreed, the nation's efforts will go up in smoke, their exhausting work will be for nothing. For recognition of the Lord's sovereign majesty will fill the earth just as the waters fill up the sea. Woe to you who force your neighbor to drink wine, you who make others intoxicated by forcing them to drink from the bowl of your furious anger so that you could look at their naked bodies. But you'll become drunk with shame, not majesty. Now it's your turn to drink and expose your uncircumcised foreskin. The cup of wine in the Lord's right hand is coming to you, and disgrace will replace your majestic glory. For you'll pay in full for your violent acts against Lebanon, terrifying judgment will come upon you because of the way you destroyed the wild animals living there. You've shed human blood and committed violent acts against lands, cities, and those who live in them. What good's an idol? Why would a craftsman make it? What good is a metal image that gives misleading oracles? Why would its creator place his trust in it and make such mute, worthless things? Woe to the one who says to wood, wake up. And he who says to speechless stone, awake. Can it give reliable guidance? It's overlaid with gold and silver, it has no life's breath inside it. But the Lord is in his majestic palace. The whole earth is speechless in his presence. This is a prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet. Lord, I've heard the report of what you did, and I'm awed, Lord, by what you accomplished. In our time, repeat those deeds. In our time reveal them again. But when you cause turmoil, remember to show us mercy. God comes from Timan, the Holy One from Mount Paron. Sela. His splendor has covered the skies. The earth is full of his glory. His brightness will be as lightning, a two pronged lightning bolt flashing from his hand. This is the outward display of his power. Plague will go before him, pestilence will march right behind him. He took his battle position and shook the earth. With a mere look he frightened the nations. The ancient mountains disintegrated, the primeval hills were flattened. His are ancient roads. I saw the tents of Kushan overwhelmed by trouble. The tent curtains of the land of Midian were shaking. Was the Lord mad at the rivers? Were you angry with the rivers? Were you enraged at the sea, such that you would climb into your horse-drawn chariots, your victorious chariots? Your bow is ready for action. You commission your arrows. Selah. You cause flash floods on the earth's surface, and when the mountains see you they shake, the torrential downpour sweeps through. The great deep shouts out, it lifts its hands high. The sun and moon stand still in their courses. The flash of your arrows drives them away. The bright light of your lightning quick spear. You furiously stomp on the earth. You angrily trample down the nations, you march out to deliver your people, to deliver your special servant. You strike the leader of the wicked nation, laying him open from the lower body to the neck. Sale. You pierce the heads of his warriors with a spear, they storm forward to scatter us. They shout with joy as if they were plundering the poor with no opposition, but you trample on the sea with your horses, on the surging, raging waters. I listened and my stomach churned. The sound made my lips quiver. My frame went limp as if my bones were decaying, and I shook as I tried to walk. I long for the day of distress to come upon the people who attack us, when the fig tree doesn't bud, and when there are no grapes on the vines, and when the olive trees don't produce and the fields yield no crops, when the sheep disappear from the pen, and there are no cattle in the stalls. I'll be happy because of the God who delivers me. The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. He gives me the agility of a deer. He enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. This prayer is for the song leader. It's to be accompanied by stringed instruments. And that is Habakkuk. Here we see what it means to wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. What does that look like? It doesn't mean doing nothing. It doesn't mean giving him the silent treatment. It means engaging with the Lord in this conversation, these prayers of complaints if they need to be complaints. Arguments if they need to be arguments. God can handle it. Voice your complaints, voice your concerns, and then stand at your watchtower. I think that's a good position for the Christ follower to be in, in a watchtower, where you're looking and waiting for God's response, and you're looking and waiting for how the enemy is going to show up in your life. Looking out for attacks, looking out over your people, identifying sin, seeing them the way God sees them. And all of this is going to be very conflicting and confusing. You're going to end up like a back being like, why is it like this? I just see injustice. And God, I know you don't tolerate sin. Why are you tolerating sin? I see what the enemy's doing, and I'm trying to call it out. No one's listening. God, you don't seem to be doing anything. It can be frustrating to be at the watchtower, to see what's going on. And it's frustrating to not see God act the way you want him to when you want him to. And it's frustrating to know God's heart. It's frustrating to read the Bible, and in so doing, we we know God's heart. We're more familiar with how he sees things, and we go out and we see that this is not the way it's supposed to be. The world is not the way that it's supposed to be. People do not act according to God's heart. Even God's own people, even Christians, even the church, are not doing what they should be doing. And so we stand in our watchtower and we're like, what is going on? God, when are you gonna do something? And so we wait on the Lord. And waiting on the Lord looks like making our complaints, going to our watchtower, and then responding like Habakkuk did here at the end of his book. I'm just saying, you know what? I feel sick about this, I feel weak. I'm desperately looking forward to when sin does not have its grip on us like it does now. When I'm desperately looking forward to the times when people don't just openly mock and rebuke the Lord and his people. And right now it feels like we're in a famine, a spiritual famine. And yet, Habakkuk says, I'll rejoice because of the Lord, I'll be happy because of the God who delivers me. To recognize that the Lord is my source of strength is what it means to wait on the Lord. And like it says in Isaiah, those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. Waiting is not idle, waiting is hard work. Waiting is draining when we're waiting on the Lord. But he is more than able to refill the strength that we spend waiting on him, and much more. What does waiting on the Lord look like for you today? That's the thinking out loud thought for the day.