Pointers on the Lesson, H omer A . K en t , T h .D. Helps for the Children, A llison A rrowood
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June 4, 1950 INVINCIBLE FAITH Hab. 1:1-4; 12, 13; 2:1-4; 3:17-19
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His tool. Thus God is about to act, but in this the perplexity of the prophet is only intensified, for he cannot under stand why God should choose as a scourge for Judah a nation that is worse than Judah. Did you ever face such a perplexity? In such cases one should realize that God makes no mis takes and in the end every one will receive his just deserts. The Solution of the Prophet’s Perplexity 2:1-4 The solution to the prophet’s problem is found in this section, particularly in verse 4: “ Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him; but the righteous [just] shall live by his faith” (R.V.). It may be true that the Chaldean is haughty, lifted up with pride, and most crooked of nations, yet God’s chil dren are not dependent upon their ac tions or attitudes for their true life. It may be that for a time they shall bring affliction and sorrow unto the lives of God’s own, yet they cannot bring real harm to their souls for the righteous live by faith in God. The unrighteous do not really live at all. They are merely feeding upon the husks of this world. God says, therefore, in effect “ Get your eyes off the world, its dis appointments and failures, take your eyes off the men with their sin and rebellion and put them on me, and you shall live.” No message is more needed today than this, “ The just shall live by [his] faith,” which is repeated three times in the New Testament. The Cure for All Perplexity 3:17-19 The prophet concludes his message with a poem of complete trust in God’s goodness in spite of all adversity. It breathes the same spirit as that voiced by Job who said in his affliction: “ Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.” Our lesson today would lead us to complete reliance upon God in every experience of life. T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
Pointers on the Lesson The name Habakkuk means love’s embrace. In keeping with his name, the prophet clung to God and His promises in the midst of the most adverse cir cumstances. There is similarity be tween the messages of the book of Habakkuk and that of Job. Both Habak kuk and Job were perplexed with the problem that God, who is just and om nipotent, at times permits the wicked to flourish while the righteous suffer afflic tion at their hands. Job’s problem was personal, while Habakkuk’s was na tional. Perplexity filled the heart of this prophet as he viewed the existing con ditions of his day and the way God was dealing with them. There was a b'g WHY in his life, and alone with God he found the answer to it. The Prophet’s Perplexity 1:1-4 Sin in many of its worst forms was rampant in Judah. Habakkuk did not un derstand why God did not do something about it. He was chafing under what seemed to him the' divine delay. He was saying within himself, “ Why doesn’t God bring judgment to bear upon the guilty ones? Why is divine action de layed?” Have you ever been in Habak kuk’s place? Have you ever felt in the midst of trouble or seeming injustice that Heaven must be unconcerned? Have you ever been perplexed at the silence of God in the presence of the apparent triumph of wrong over right, of suffer ing over peace? Have you ever won dered why God at times permits the wicked to prosper while some of the godly are left to suffer poverty and dis tress? Then you are able to sympathize with the viewpoint of the prophet. The Prophet’s Deeper Perplexity 1:12, 13 In verses 5-11 of the first chapter, the prophet learns that the people of Judah are to be punished through the means o f the Chaldeans whom God is to use as
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