Habbakuk Struggles to Understand God’s Plan.

Habakkuk’s struggles to understand God’s plan to use the Babylonians to punish the nation. Gary explains how Habakkuk wrestled with God’s plan.

The Babylonians and Chaldeans

When we come to Habakkuk 1:12, he is wrestling with what he has heard from God in verses 5 to 11.
God has described the Babylonians and Chaldeans, what they’re like and how fast they move and their
violence, how terrible they are. And Habakkuk’s now wondering how God could possibly allow those
people to come and judge Israel, to do all this damage to the nation of Israel.

He is wrestling with what he knows in terms of what he’s been taught, what he’s heard, what he’s read in the past, about the character of God, and he’s really, we would say, bent out of shape as he tries to make sense of this.

In verses 12-17 Habakkuk is speaking, he says,

“Are You not from everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for judgment; O Rock, You have marked them
for correction.   You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness. Why do You
look on those who deal treacherously, and hold Your tongue when the wicked devours a person more
righteous than he? Why do You make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler
over them? They take up all of them with a hook, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their
dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice to their net, and burn incense to
their dragnet; because by them their share is sumptuous and their food plentiful. Shall they therefore
empty their net, and continue to slay nations without pity?”

Habakkuk 1:12-17

Habakkuk Wrestling

So Habakkuk starts by wrestling with what he knows about God. He understands, as he says in the
middle of verse 12, that God had made a covenant with Israel. He promised them a future, and so he
says, we shall not die. He recognizes the character of God, that he is eternal, everlasting, that he is his
God, my God. And that he is the holy one, but he recognizes, too, that he has appointed the children of
Israel for judgement and for correction.

As he wrestled with current events in verses 2-4, he recognizes that God is responding and going to do something about it. But in verse 13 he expresses wonder or amazement or questioning. How could this be?

He talks about the fact that God is pure and holy and cannot look on evil and wickedness. How could God use the Babylonians, who are pagans, who are violent, who are wicked, as he has described, terrible and dreadful? How could God use those people when he is a holy and righteous God. How would God allow wicked people to invoke or bring judgment on those who are more righteous?

Babylonians and Fishing

Then Habakkuk goes on to describe how he sees the events unfolding, and he compares the Babylonians
to a fisherman. His description in verses 14 to 17 are like a parable, like a picture. He sees the Israelites
like fish and he sees the Babylonians like a fisherman.

In verse 15 they use a hook, and obviously with some bait, but they also use a net, a dragnet. And obviously if you throw a dragnet in and pull it behind the boat, you’re going to catch all sorts of fish. The fish have no chance, they don’t see the net coming. They can’t fight against it. They can’t get out of it once they are caught. And so he says in verse 15, “they catch them in their net and gather them in their dragnet.” And then he says they’re happy and rejoice, fishermen who have a good catch are happy and rejoice.

But remember, he’s talking about the Babylonians and he’s giving us a parable, an illustration. But then he goes on to say they worship their net and their dragnet. They think that it’s their god and their mechanics, their inventions that have got them the victory and they can continue.

When God is Silent

Habakkuk asks the question in verse 17,

“shall they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity?”

Habakkuk 1:17

The Babylonians functioned as a Kingdom for many years. They conquered many
nations, and so Habakkuk is wrestling with these things.

Perhaps in our life, at times we wrestle with things that are happening and we can’t understand how things happen to us or our family or friends or even nations, and why God is silent. And why God allows wicked people sometimes to triumph over decent or good people, but Habakkuk’s going to stand aside and listen to what God has to say. That’s often what we need to do, stop, and look in the Scriptures and listen to God

Have you ever wrestled with God over something? We would love to hear from you. Comment below or contact us at HopeStreamRadio.