Habakkuk Reflections

I’m preaching through Habakkuk at Cross of Christ Fellowship, our church in Naperville. Here’s a few thoughts from my sermon prep:

-The theme of Habakkuk is ‘the righteous living by faith.’ or, ‘The righteous living by faith in God who is just, good, and sovereign even when it seems that God is absent or uninvolved.’

-What is the message of Habakkuk? The message of Habakkuk is that God is in control and calls us to WAIT on Him and walk by faith even when things appear dire and hopeless. God is at work and will one day bring about ultimate justice and victory over evil; God is unimaginably powerful and majestic. One day the Earth will be filled the knowledge of the glory of God (2:14) and today we ought to be silent before God as we acknowledge His justice and sovereign rule over history and our lives (2:20). Our response and prayer is to be modeled after Habakkuk’s in ch 3, where he humbly pleads for God to extend mercy (3:2), reflects on the power and character of God (3:3-14), and responds with godly fear, worship, waiting, and rejoicing (3:15-19).

-Prayers for our time in Habakkuk: I hope that our time in this book will lead myself and the congregation to ‘wait’ on the LORD and walk by faith in Him; I pray we will have a fresh glimpse of God’s sovereign rule; I pray our hearts would be amazed at God’s power; I pray that we would be encouraged by the transformation we even see in Habakkuk, who begins his work with complaints but ends with joyful faith and trust; I pray we would be more like Habakkuk in ch 3 as we place our faith and trust in God even if everything visible appears DIRE or DREADFUL; I pray that our worldview would be shaped by the reality of God’s good sovereign rule and a future where justice is completed and God’s victory over evil clearly seen and experienced.