August 9th, 2026 | The Forgotten Files - Habakkuk | Doug Tsuji | MBC Online

Habakkuk comes into a moment where Judah has already seen the Northern Kingdom fall, and the question sitting underneath the whole thing is plain: if God promised the land, how can his people lose it? The covenants give the answer. The Abrahamic covenant gave land, seed, and blessing as a promise God carried on himself. The Mosaic covenant brought real obligations, real obedience, and real covenant curses when Israel said, “All the words that the Lord has spoken, this people will do.”

Judah has broken that covenant badly. Manasseh has filled the land with high places, Baal worship, Asherah poles, mediums, necromancers, and even child sacrifice. The same Amorite wickedness that Israel was supposed to drive out has infected Judah, and now Judah has become worse than the nations before them. God has been long suffering, but God is also just, and the dish is about to be wiped and turned upside down.

Habakkuk does something a little different from the other prophets. Habakkuk comes to God first and says, “What’s up?” He sees violence, iniquity, paralyzed law, and perverted justice among God’s own people. Habakkuk is basically saying, “God, your people are cheating on you. Why don’t you do something?” When God’s people are faithless, the omnipotent God can look impotent.

God answers, but the answer is not the kind that goes on a mug. God says he is doing a work in Habakkuk’s day that would not be believed if told. He is raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, that bitter and hasty nation, to judge Judah. Habakkuk’s second complaint is just as honest: the cure looks worse than the disease. The Chaldeans are worse than Judah, and they worship their own net, their own power, their own tools, like a fisherman worshiping his rod.

God tells Habakkuk to write it down plainly: the proud soul is puffed up, but the righteous shall live by faith. Faith is not blind, and faith is not about the quality of the believer’s grip. Thin ice will not hold even strong faith, but thick ice will hold weak faith. The object of faith matters. Jesus, the founder and perfecter of faith, carries what human goodness cannot.

Habakkuk refuses to read circumstances like tea leaves. Jesus is not Santa Claus, handing out coal and presents based on visible behavior. God is doing his work, even when bad people win for a moment and God’s people suffer for a moment. Habakkuk ends in the dark, but not in despair: though the fig tree does not blossom, yet joy remains in the God of salvation.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Covenants explain Judah’s exile The land came by promise, but staying in the land was tied to covenant faithfulness. Judah did not lose the land because God forgot Abraham, but because Judah broke the Mosaic covenant and earned covenant curses. God’s judgment did not cancel his promise, but it did expose the seriousness of his holiness. [09:32]
• 2. Faith rests on its object Faith is not powerful because it feels strong, sounds confident, or looks impressive. Thin ice cannot hold a person no matter how hard that person believes, but thick ice can hold even shaking feet. The righteous live by faith because God, not faith itself, is strong enough to carry them. [25:59]
• 3. Good works cannot carry righteousness The puffed up soul wants to contribute, even by saying Christianity is mainly following Jesus’ teachings. Obedience matters, but imperfect obedience cannot meet the standard of a perfect Father. Rest comes only where Christ’s finished work is received by faith, not where human effort tries to become enough. [38:59]
• 4. Circumstances are not tea leaves Bad things happening to God’s people do not prove God has abandoned them, and good things happening to wicked people do not prove God approves of them. Habakkuk shows that temporary blessing can end in curse, and temporary affliction can still sit inside God’s saving purpose. God’s people are not given every cause, but they are given the certainty that God has never lost control. [40:54]
• 5. Honest prayer belongs before God Habakkuk does not hide confusion, anger, or grief behind religious polish. The prophet brings the hard question straight to God: “Where are you?” God’s answer may not always feel satisfying in the moment, but his character gives rest when the fig tree does not blossom.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [01:30] - Habakkuk and the Minor Prophets
• [04:43] - Judah After Israel’s Fall
• [05:40] - Why God’s People Lose the Land
• [06:19] - The Abrahamic Covenant Promise
• [08:16] - The Mosaic Covenant Curses
• [10:03] - Manasseh and Judah’s Corruption
• [14:27] - Habakkuk Brings His Complaint
• [19:30] - God Raises Up the Chaldeans
• [20:56] - When the Cure Looks Worse
• [23:54] - The Righteous Live by Faith
• [36:43] - Christianity Is Not Self-Merit
• [39:25] - Do Not Read Circumstances Like Tea Leaves
• [45:16] - Yet Joy in the God of Salvation

Bible Reading

Habakkuk 2:4
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.” [23:54]

Habakkuk 1:2-4
“O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you ‘Violence!’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.” [15:52]

Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” [45:05]

Exodus 24:3-8
“Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the rules. And all the people answered with one voice and said, ‘All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.’ And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the LORD. And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, ‘Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.’” [08:27]

Observation questions

1. In Habakkuk 1:2-4, what specific problems does Habakkuk say he sees in Judah, and what does he say has happened to the law and to justice? [15:52]
2. In Exodus 24:3-8, what did the people of Israel promise, and how was blood used in the covenant ceremony? [08:27]
3. In Habakkuk 2:4, what contrast is made between the puffed up soul and the righteous person? [23:54]
4. In Habakkuk 3:17-18, what kinds of losses are listed, and what choice does Habakkuk make in the middle of them? [45:05]

Interpretation questions

1. If the land was given by God’s promise, why could Judah still be driven out of it? How do the covenants help explain that without making God unfaithful to his promise? [09:32]
2. Habakkuk brings his complaint to God before speaking to the people. What does that suggest about the place of honest prayer when someone is confused by evil, delay, or suffering? [19:10]
3. “The righteous shall live by faith” is set against the puffed up soul. What does that say about the difference between trusting God and trusting personal strength, goodness, or control? [25:59]
4. Habakkuk struggles with the fact that God would use the Chaldeans, who were worse than Judah, as an instrument of judgment. What does that reveal about how limited human judgment can be when trying to read God’s purposes from current events? [40:54]

Application questions

1. Habakkuk prayed, “How long?” and “Why?” Where has that kind of prayer become real lately—in family life, health, work, church life, or private battles? What would it look like to bring that honestly to God instead of keeping it buried? [46:09]
2. The puffed up soul wants to contribute something to its own standing before God. Where is the strongest temptation right now to rest in personal goodness, discipline, knowledge, or reputation instead of resting in Christ? [39:25]
3. Faith rests on its object, not on the strength of the believer. When faith feels weak, shaky, or tired, what helps a person look away from the quality of that faith and back to the strength of God? [25:59]
4. Circumstances are not tea leaves. Is there any situation right now where suffering is being interpreted as proof of God’s absence, or success is being treated as proof of God’s approval? How might Habakkuk help correct that way of thinking? [39:25]
5. Good works matter, but they cannot carry righteousness. In everyday life, how can obedience be pursued seriously without turning the Christian life into self-merit or exhaustion? [38:59]
6. Habakkuk ends with joy even when the fig tree does not blossom. What would “yet I will rejoice in the LORD” look like in a concrete way this week if the hard situation does not change? [45:05]
7. God has never lost control, even when his ways are hard to understand. What part of life most needs that reminder right now, and how can the group help one another keep trusting God there? [43:07]