-Many of you know my love for coffee, but my coffee drink of choice took a while to become solidified. It came during seminary where I needed the coffee because I was working in WY and commuting to school south of Denver which was 2 hours away. So I’d get up at 3:30 to get a cup of coffee with Cara (who I was dating) then drive to school and sleep in my car for an hour or 2, then go to class all day. And when I say all day I mean it, I’d schedule all my classes to be on 1 day so I didn’t have to drive down more than 1 a week. But that also meant that by the afternoon I was DRAGGING! And coffee shops don’t keep making fresh coffee all day, so when I’d go to Starbucks in the afternoon to try to stay awake for the later afternoon classes the coffee tasted metallic because it had been sitting in the urn for a while, but when you’re desperate, you’ll drink anything! But my life was changed forever when I went to Starbucks one afternoon with my best friend from seminary. He told me about an Americano, which is called that because Americans can’t handle straight espresso, so we water it down. At the time, it was the same price as buying a regular cup of coffee, AND you could order it with extra shots to get even more caffeine (yet another reason Caribou is superior to Starbucks, Starbucks doesn’t add any more shots of espresso to their bigger drinks). So since that afternoon, my drink of choice has become a grande quad americano with a splash of heavy cream.

-Let me explain what all those words mean: grande at the bucks is a medium, 4 shots is the number of espresso shots (normally they add 2), americano is espresso with hot water, splash means just a little bit, and heavy cream is basically milk with extra fat in it. Nothing super fancy or out of the ordinary, or so I thought. But I have had SO much trouble getting this thing ordered throughout my life that I’ve had to change the way I order it multiple times. 

-I was first introduced to is as a quad Americano, quad being 4 shots, until a fateful day when I had bought a new vehicle in San Diego and was preparing to drive that vehicle back to Colorado through the night. A friend and I made it to Las Vegas and stopped for food and coffee so we could make it through the whole night, stopped at a Starbucks that was PACKED, like so packed that it took 15 minutes to get up to the counter to order. So I went to order my drink at the counter after all this waiting and just wanting to get on the road, I ordered my 2 quad Americanos with a splash of heavy cream, looked at the price and thought “that’s not right” because Starbucks make you pay extra for those additional shots. So I asked “did you get the quad?” And very shortly back, the barista said, “YES, I got it!” clearly she didn’t want to talk! So I moved over to the end of the bar to wait for my drinks, and after waiting ANOTHER 15 min, I heard “I’ve got 2 Americanos for Quad!” Clearly that barista didn’t know what a quad americano was. So from that point forward, I decided to be more explicit: I always ordered a grande 4 shot Americano with a splash of heavy cream. Little did I know that even that had the potential to be misinterpreted!

-The next issue was when I was at a pastor’s conference in Indianapolis. Now if you’ve never been to a pastor’s conference, one of the realities is pastors LOVE coffee, so any break time is a mad rush to the coffee shops where the lines wrap around the block. That means you’re waiting a LONG time to get up to the counter to order your coffee! So once again, after waiting 15 minutes to get to order my drink I ordered my grande 4 shot americano with a splash of heavy cream. The barista didn’t ask any questions, the price of the drink looked right this time, so I moved down the bar to wait for the drink to come out. After waiting another 10 minutes, the grande 4 shot americano came out to the bar. I took my first sip (because sometimes they forget to add the cream) and it tasted like pure sugar, it was GROSS! I thought they messed something up, so I looked at the order sticker on it, and it said grande americano 4 shots, with Splenda. You tell me how splash can sound remotely like Splenda, but I wasn’t going to drink that nonsense, and I couldn’t get the attention of anyone working because the line was so long, so I gave it to my dad and struggled to stay awake during the next session. Which means, in order to ensure I’m getting what I actually want I either order through an app, or else I make sure I say I’m ordering a grande (medium) americano, with a little bit of heavy cream, and I also use my fingers to demonstrate a little just to ensure there’s no misunderstanding!

-Now, what does my coffee debacle have to do with Habakkuk? Habakkuk has to do with the issue of what do we do when it seems like God is misunderstanding us? Or worse, when it seems like the punishment God doles out isn’t fair. Or how can God be good when there’s so much evil in the world? Have you ever wrestled with those questions, or heard people asking those questions? Let’s read chapt. 1 as we hear Habakkuk asking God those exact questions:

READ/PRAY (pg. 832)

1. The Message of Habakkuk

-As we’ve seen with a number of the prophets, we don’t have a lot of information about Habakkuk! There is an apocryphal account about Habakkuk in the expanded version of the book of Daniel that Roman Catholics use. I’ll read it to you, just so you can hear why historically the Apocrypha wasn’t considered to be on the same level as the other Scriptures: 

-In Judea at that time, there was the prophet Habakkuk. Having prepared a stew and mixed it in a bowl with some bread, he was on his way to take it to the reapers in the field. ³⁴ The angel of the Lord instructed him, “Take the meal you have prepared to Daniel who is in Babylon in the lions’ den. ³⁵ Habakkuk replied, “Sir, I have never been to Babylon, and I do not have any idea where the den is.”³⁶ Thereupon the angel of the Lord grasped him by the crown of his head and, carrying him by his hair, with the speed of the wind, set him down in Babylon above the den.

³⁷ Habakkuk shouted, “Daniel, Daniel, take the food that God has sent to you.”³⁸ Daniel said, “You have remembered me, O God. You have not abandoned those who love you.” ³⁹ He then got up and began to eat. Meanwhile the angel of the Lord immediately carried Habakkuk back to his own country.

-Let’s look at what Habakkuk’s original message is: 

1. Conversing with God (1-2)

-Most of the book is a look at Habakkuk’s conversation with God, where Habakkuk asks questions of God that at first glance might make us slightly uncomfortable, or at least they should make us slightly uncomfortable if we’ve been paying attention to the rest of these prophets. Remember that much of the work of the prophets is calling people to pursue justice, defined as God defines it: rightly ordered lives and affections that lead to the flourishing of humanity under God’s rule and reign. 

-So Habakkuk’s questions are shocking: he’s asking God why there isn’t justice taking place around him. Even God’s people are marked by violence, injustice, and wrongdoing, and it appears to Habakkuk that God isn’t doing anything about it! But then he risks going even further where he tells God: this is why the law is ineffective. Isn’t the law the thing God gave His people to bring about justice? Isn’t the law the way God’s plans and rule will be carried out among His people? Think of all the Psalms we have that talk about how much David LOVES God’s law, or how many of the prophets are calling people to go back to God’s law to recover their identity as God’s chosen people. But here we see Habakkuk telling God that His plan isn’t working! Quite the claim, isn’t it? A prophet who, instead of speaking on behalf of God to the people is complaining to God on behalf of the people! I actually like the way the ESV translates this verse:

-The law is described as paralyzed or lacking power. It can’t accomplish what it needs to so that the people and the nation are marked by the wrong things instead of being a reflection of God. And because the law is paralyzed, justice is stuck, and the justice that is going out is described as “perverted.” We’ve seen that in our country during the lifetimes of some of you in this room! Think back to some of the civil rights issues that were taking place in 60s. Our nation had police officers, judges, and courts, but was true justice taking place? No! The justice that was going forth was “perverted.” Habakkuk says that the same thing is happening in his day, and he’s asking God to intervene. 

-And God responds that He has a plan, but it’s not something anyone would expect, and definitely not something Habakkuk is going to like! God is going to use an even more unjust nation to punish His people. He warns that the Chaldeans (or the Babylonians, both names refer to the same group) are coming, and He knows they’re not kind, look at how they’re described by God: 

-And that’s just the start of their depravity, God goes on to describe all the ways they look down on others, and He ends by saying their so confident in themselves that they think their god is their strength. Habakkuk wanted justice, but not like this!

-So we get to hear his response, he starts acknowledging who God is: the eternal one, the one who is in charge of justice, who knows nothing of evil and who refuses to tolerate wrongdoing. But in this case, it sure seems like God is tolerating the Chaldeans, doesn’t it? He’s allowing their civilization to rise up and flourish, AND allowing them to “swallow up” God’s own people. And yes, God’s people might be bad, but they’re not THAT bad when you look at how the Chaldeans are treating other people. Surely Habakkuk must have misunderstood something in what God said, right?

-He goes on to compare the Chaldeans to fisherman who fish among the peoples to drag them into the boat, and then empty their nets by killing these people “without mercy.” But Habakkuk knows that God will answer him, so after asking all these questions of God, he decides to wait and watch to see what God determines to do. And God does respond! 

-God tells Habakkuk that he’s going to be like Moses, he’s going to take God’s words and put them on a tablet so that it can be passed down through the generations. And it needs to be written down because it’s going to take a while to come to fruition, so as they’re waiting, they have the promise from the Lord that even though Chaldeans have been chosen to discipline Judah, they will similarly be disciplined someday in the future.

-But one of the keys to this section is the end of vs. 4: the righteous one. Depending on which translation you have may say either faith or faithfulness which gets to the 2 components of what is being described here: first is the reality that we must put our faith in God, secondly it also means we must trust in the faithfulness of God. It is something we have to do and something God does. Part of the reason I think this is the key to this section is because it comes up 3 times in the NT: Paul quotes this verse in Rom. 1:17 and Gal. 3:11 and then the author of Hebrews quotes it in 10:38, and I think all 3 of these quotes are similarly referring to both the faith we need to have in God and the faithfulness that God has extended to His people, even when things are difficult (as they are with Habakkuk).

-And just as God tells Judah the consequences for their lack of justice, He goes on to tell exactly what will happen to the Chaldeans, and this section is referred to as 5 “Woes,” which one commentator said could be read as “Alas” or “How terrible” and each woe is something the Chaldeans do to others, which will eventually come back on them. I took this summary from the ESV Expositor’s Commentary, I think it’s a helpful summary (just as a reminder, I upload these slides after I preach every week, so feel free to go look at them afterwards!)

-And look where these “woes” end up: in contrast to these earthly issues, the Lord is in His holy temple, which means no earthly army can compete with Him, all creation can do is stand in silent awe of God.

• Habakkuk’s Psalm (3)

-This book then takes what seems to be an abrupt shift and ends on a Psalm (labeled a prayer) by Habakkuk. In fact, some scholars argue that this shouldn’t even be included in this book because it’s SO different from the rest of the book. Remember that we’ve seen Habakkuk questioning God’s oversight of His creation, but this prayer seems more positive, doesn’t it? But I think that those who are saying it doesn’t fit the context of the book don’t understand the way Christians are supposed to respond to God. God invites us to bring our complaints to Him, to realize that this world is difficult, but even in the midst of that difficulty we can still trust in our God. That’s what Habakkuk is doing! He’s acknowledging that he’s shared all his concerns, and now he trusts that God will do what is good and right for him. I’m going to read the whole thing: 

-Did you hear Habakkuk’s response to God’s vision; it starts in vs 16. Just as we’ve read in previous weeks that God’s enemies were terrified, here we see that Habakkuk was terrified. And do you notice that he doesn’t ask to be spared from the persecution? The difficulty, the stress, the persecution is all guaranteed to happen, but the Christian hope isn’t to be removed from the hard things, the Christian hope is to ask God to allow you to persevere through the difficulty. He says that even though the day of distress is coming, he’s going to try to endure.

-This also becomes his hope throughout the difficulty that’s coming, and the end of the book gives us a hopeful note too. Starting in vs. 17 he goes through a list of things that are lacking, they’ll have no food, no jobs, no sheep or cows, everything will be taken away. But in the midst of that poverty he will celebrate in Yahweh and rejoice that God is his salvation because if we have God, then we can be content.

-God will gives strength to His people even in the midst of suffering and persecution. That’s why Paul says we can rejoice always, that’s what Habakkuk is getting at here. Friends, we can trust in God’s provision in our lives. Even when you’re facing a difficult medical diagnosis, or you’re looking for a job, or you’re facing family strife God will help you endure through it, you can trust in Him because He is good.

• Is God Good?

-There’s a line that I’ve heard from the former director of InterVarsity who said: 

-This is part of the reason church is so important, because we all walk in through those doors each week in different places, and we need the encouragement of our church family to endure when the suffering comes, because I don’t know when or what you’ll face, but something will come up that will incredibly difficult for you that will cause you to ask if God is good.

-And you’re not along in that question, previous generations tended to ask if God is true, but that doesn’t seem to be the case today, today the primary question people ask is: is God good? And if He is good, then how do we deal with evil or bad things happening? I’ve said this for a while, but I just heard it again in a podcast this week: COVID19 was the first national tragedy that didn’t lead to any sort of revival in our country, I think because people were asking this question. 

-Friends, this is one of the biggest questions that we have to deal with in our faith. But don’t forget that this isn’t just a problem for Christians, this is problem for any and everyone to figure out! What do we do with the evil in the world? And I believe beyond reasonable doubt that the Christian answer provides the best answer to that question! Because the Christian answer is that the world doesn’t operate the way it was intended to, and anytime you go to a funeral you see that reality! Death is an enemy to be destroyed, and anytime someone dies, something within us screams out that it’s not right! And thankfully, God is in the business of redeeming and restoring His creation.

-One of the most beautiful things about the Christianity is it’s meant to be a redemption project, where when we’re saved, we get to be a part of God’s plan to renew and restore the broken world. We aren’t saved to just sit back and wait for Jesus to come back, we’re supposed to be at work letting God’s will be done here and now just like it’s taking place in heaven, and that also means we need to walk through difficult seasons in our lives as Christians, knowing that God will bring good out of our struggles. WE are often the means God uses to bring good into His creation.

-This is why it’s so important for us to know who God is and what He’s like! God is so good that He didn’t leave us to our own ways to try to come back to Him, He sent His son to bear the penalty for the sins of the world. Jesus faced eternal injustice so that we wouldn’t have to. That’s the Christian response to evil and injustice: our Creator willingly taking on Himself the consequences for our sin and the evil that we committed to allow us to be made new creations. Suffering is going to come for all of us, that’s why we need to use the times where we’re not suffering to draw near to God so that when we walk through the darkness, we can remember these truths, and have a church family who can help list us up when we’re tired, who can remind us that even when things look difficult, even when we’re facing persecution, God is good.