CAN GOD USE THE UNGODLY?

Habakkuk 1:5-11

^5 “Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.

For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

^6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.

^7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

^8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;

^9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.

^10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them.

^11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

INTRODUCTION:   

On the hazy night of July 16, 1999, at the age of 38, John F. Kennedy, Junior (John John) was killed along with his wife, Carolyn, and his sister-in-law, Lauren Bassett, when the aircraft he was piloting, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean en route from Eessex County Airport, in West Caldwell, New Jersey, to Martha’s Vineyard.  The National Transportation safety Board investigation ruled the probable cause to have been “spatial disorientation”.  In short, Kennedy trusted his instincts instead of his instruments.  We often do the same!

Our natural observation of circumstances will sometimes lead us to believe that God is inattentive to our plight, indifferent to our pain and inactive to our prayers.  But our natural observation can mislead us. 

Habakkuk’s natural observation of circumstances had misled him. 

·        What he saw was unchecked violence in the land, rampant injustice in the courts, strife and conflict all around and a legal system paralyzed to do anything about it.  What he concluded was that God was unaware of the plight of His people or unable to do anything about it.

·        When Habakkuk confronted God with his questions and his conclusions, God told him that He was going to correct the conditions that concerned Habakkuk.  But He was going to do it in His own time and in His own way.  He was going to send the wicked Babylonians to exact punishment on the people of Judah.

·        Habakkuk thought that made even less sense than allowing evil to go unchecked.  Why would God use an ungodly nation to punish His chosen people?  That made no earthly sense!

But that’s the point, isn’t it?  It makes no earthly sense.  But from heaven’s perspective, it made perfect sense.  So here is the principle: rather than viewing our circumstances through our own perspective, we must view them as God does.  To do so, we must:

I.                    SEE WITH THE EYES OF GOD (1:5a)

^ Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed.

The science of ophthalmology has identified several conditions of the eye that can affect the way we see.  Among the most common of these conditions of the eye are myopia, hyperopia and presbyopia. 

·        Myopia is nearsightedness.  Persons with myopia can see things that are very close to them much better than they can see objects that are farther away.

Many people suffer from spiritual myopia.  They only see clearly that which is close to them.  As a result, they are much more focused on themselves than anyone else.

People with spiritual myopia also see the present more clearly than they do either the past or the future.  They tend not to plan for eternity because that just seems too far off.

·        Hyperopia is farsightedness.  Persons with hyperopia see objects at a distance much better than they can see objects that are close to them.

Have you ever known anyone with spiritual hyperopia?  The focus of their faith seems to be almost entirely “pie in the sky by and by when I die.”  As someone else has observed, they are so heavenly minded they are of no earthly use.

·        Presbyopia is simply an inability to focus.  People with presbyopia wear bifocals because they need one prescription to focus on objects at a distance and another to focus on objects that are near.

Let me tell you, if our memories of what we’ve done are clearer than our vision for what we need to do, we are suffering from spiritual presbyopia.

The traditional way to correct any of these conditions of the eye is to fit the person with corrective lenses: glasses or contacts.  A corrective lens will remedy the condition and restore vision to 20/20.  Spiritual vision that has been restored to 20/20 will enable us to see as God sees.  And the corrective lens to permit this is God’s Word. 

God invited Habakkuk to look at the nations and watch.  My goodness, that’s exactly what Habakkuk had been doing: looking at the nations and watching.  But God’s invitation was to look at the nations the way He looks at them and to see them as He sees them.  To enable Habakkuk to do that, God gave him His Word.  And God’s Word is what enables us to see as God sees.

II.                  THINK WITH THE MIND OF GOD (1:5b)

I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.

In Mark 8:27-33, Jesus had a conversation with Simon Peter that should be of interest to us.

^27 Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, “Who do people say I am?”

^28 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.”

^29 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”

Peter answered, “You are the Christ.”

^30 Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.

^31 He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. ^32 He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.

^33 But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

This incident forces us to recognize that not everyone who is a disciple of Jesus, not everyone who is following Jesus, is thinking with the mind of God.  If we are going to understand God’s ways in our world, we will need to think of the peoples of the earth with the mind of God. 

With the natural mind, Habakkuk would not be able to comprehend what God was about to do.  There would be no way on earth it would make sense.  But that is clearly the point.  There was no way on earth it would make sense.  But these plans were not being made on earth.  They were being made in heaven by God, Himself.

It is not natural for us to think like God thinks but it is possible for us to think like He does.  To learn to think with the mind of God requires that we saturate ourselves with His thoughts and become familiar with His work in history.  The most reliable place to find a record of God’s thoughts and His acts is in the Bible.  The more familiar we are with the Bible, the more likely we will think with the mind of God when faced with the puzzles, dilemmas and enigmas of life.

III.                TRUST IN THE WORK OF GOD (1:6-10)

^6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.

^7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.

^8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour;

^9 they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.

^10 They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them.

God’s strategy for correcting the sins of His children was to use the wicked, sinful Babylonians to bring punishment on the people of Judah.  From the viewpoint of Habakkuk, one of God’s chosen children, that seemed unbelievable.  In fact, God had warned Habakkuk, “I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe.” 

In Acts 13, the historian, Luke, relates a sermon preached by the apostle Paul in the city of Antioch in Pisidia.  The conclusion to Paul’s sermon is recorded in verses 38-41.  Paul refers back to our text for this morning.  Paul said:

^38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. ^39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses. ^40 Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

^41 “‘Look, you scoffers,

wonder and perish,

for I am going to do something in your days

that you would never believe,

even if someone told you.’”

It is remarkable, incredible and nearly unbelievable that God would offer salvation to sinners such as I; such as you; such as we are.  What God has done, we would not have believed if someone had told us in advance. 

We have not been asked to believe the prediction about something that seems too good to be true.  We are invited to draw near to a stable and look with wonder, to kneel at the cross and watch in awe, to visit an open tomb and see and believe.  We’ve not merely been told: we’ve been shown.  What is left is for us to trust in the work of God.

IV.               WAIT WITH PATIENCE OF GOD (1:11)

^11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

The apparent triumph of the Babylonians was to be short-lived.  God told Habakkuk that they would advance like the desert wind but that they would sweep past like the wind and go on. 

History proved what God predicted.  The Babylonians overwhelmed the Jews and carried off many of them into captivity.  But after less than sixty years, the Babylonians were defeated by the Persians and God’s people were restored to the land God had promised them.

During the sixty years of captivity in Babylon, I’m sure the Jews became distressed, dispirited and discouraged.  When their prayers for deliverance were not immediately answered, they probably thought God had forgotten them or, worse yet, had forsaken them.  Sixty years is a long time from a human point of view. 

But sixty years is not a long time when compared with eternity.  We tend to want God to act now in response to our pleas.  What we fail to recognize is that seeing our problems with the eyes of God, thinking about them with the mind of God and trusting in the works of God, we will be able to wait with the patience of God as He accomplishes His will and fulfills His objective.

Our insistence on getting our way on our timetable reveals a woeful lack of maturity and godliness on our part.  And it is possible that the very reason we experience some of the trials we experience is so we will learn to wait with the patience of God.

CONCLUSION:      

It is a dangerous thing for a pilot to “fly by the seat of his pants”, trusting his instincts instead of his instruments: it can cost him his life.  It is even more dangerous for a person to “live by the seat of his pants”, trusting his instincts instead of his Lord: it can cost him his soul!

Our invitation song says to only trust him.  Some people don’t like to sing this song because they believe the emphasis is on only trusting him.  But I chose to place the stress on only trusting him…and no one else.  Do you?  Will you?

Back to Sermons