Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I'm going to have you turn in your Bibles today to the book of Habakkuk. It's an Old Testament book, minor prophet. You might have to look that up in the index of your Bible. A lot of people just ignore these little minor prophets, but they have some very powerful messages. We've just finished our Gospel of John series, so I just felt compelled to move over to here. And I want to add one little word to the title of the sermon. How to Find Hope in Times of Despair. And I'm going to add and perplexity because I think in life there are times that we just do not understand what God is doing. Martin Luther, the great reformer of the church, a man of great faith, a man who pointed out some of the wrong direction, wrong ideas about salvation. The church had drifted into selling forgiveness of sins. Can you imagine? And think about it, Jesus dying for our sins, and it's a free gift. And so Martin Luther challenged. He was a priest, he challenged the church.
[00:01:00] But he was a man that also struggled with bouts of depression in his life. And ten years after his famous Nailing the thesis on Wittenberg Door Church, the 95 thesis that was pointing out some of the failings of the church, he probably struggled probably the most. Ten years later, as he was addressing things in his own physical body. It says in April of that year, in 1527, he had a dizzy spell. He was forced to stop preaching in the middle of a sermon. And then on the 6th of July, while he was having friends come for dinner, he felt an intense buzzing in his left ear. He went to lie down and suddenly he thought he was going to die. And he cried out to God in a loud prayer and said, okay God, if this is the moment, that's fine, I'm ready to go. Meanwhile, a month later, the plague, you know, the bubonic plague, some of the plagues that were hitting during Europe, it wasn't just a one time thing. I know the worst years came along, but this was later. They still had episodes of this plague. And so in August of that year, the plague struck his own community of Wittenberg. And the fear was so great in the village that many people started leaving the village. But Luther decided to stay. He made his home a hospital. He was caring for people that were sick. Even though his wife was pregnant. He transformed his home into a hospital. And he watched some of his closest friends pass away as a result of the plague. And even his young son became ill. But fortunately he recovered. And it was during that year that he probably going through some of the greatest trials, wrote one of the most beautiful hymns the church has ever heard. And it's called A Mighty Fortress Is Our God. And when he was talking about that in this song, he was talking about the spiritual battle that he was experiencing, because he described his depression as a battle against Satan. And he describes it this way. And though this world with Devil's Field should threaten to undo us, we will not fear. For God has willed his truth to triumph through us.
[00:03:18] The Prince of Darkness. Grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure. For, lo, his doom is sure. One little word shall fail him. You know, many saints have actually come to a place in their lives where it's been described as a dark night of the soul. It's a time of deep testing, maybe struggle. Some believers have even doubted they have felt abandonment of God. Probably the closest we can relate to is Jesus himself was. He was in the garden, what we call a Gethsemane experience, where Jesus was actually praying because he knew that he was going to go to the cross. He knew he was going to be crucified, and he knew that he had to willingly lay down his life and become a sin offering. Can you imagine? And he also recognized there was a moment that was going to happen that he would actually be abandoned by God. No human being has ever had that experience. God is always present in our world. But Jesus, at that moment when he was about to die, he became a sin offering, and God abandoned him. And he even prayed, my Father, why have you forsaken me? And it's reflected in Psalm 22. It says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? And I think there are moments in the Christian journey. There's moments of great joy, there's moments of great blessing, but then there's times of great trial. And sometimes we question what God is really doing when we're going through those adverse situations in our lives.
[00:04:48] And so when life is not working, when things don't seem to make sense, when what is happening seems to even conflict with what we believe about God, what do we do then? Sometimes God does things to really shake us up. It affects even our theological underpinnings at times. That's why it's so important that we have a deep understanding of Scripture. The more we spend time in the Bible, the more we spend time getting to know who God is, understanding God's ways. And I'm telling you, it's not just a superficial thing. It takes time to develop a relationship with God because God is a person who is infinite, and his understanding is beyond our understanding. As a matter of fact, the scriptures say that God's ways are not our ways. God's thoughts are not our thoughts. As high as the heaven is above the earth, so high and greater is God's thoughts above our own and his ways beyond our searching out. So what it means then is that we have to learn to trust God. That's such a powerful lesson. And we're going to discover that in the text we're going to look at today. So in this tiny book of three chapters, we find this incredible dialogue with a man by the name of Habakkuk, a Jewish prophet. And he was struggling with what was happening in his world. Evil was prevailing, sin was rampant, violence was unchecked. People that were righteous were suffering at the hands of the wicked.
[00:06:21] As a matter of fact, you know, it just.
[00:06:25] Even the question in his mind, it seemed like, basically, when we're doing the right thing and it doesn't seem to matter, how can we find hope in those moments? In other words, God, I'm your servant. I'm doing what you're asking me to do, but it feels like my life is coming unglued, it's falling apart. It's a question. And we raise those questions to God. And I'm grateful that these people in scripture had these experiences so that you and I can learn the lessons that they learned in their relationship with God so that we can apply them to our lives. And so here, as I said, in these three chapters, there's an incredible dialogue between the prophet Habakkuk and God. And it's regarding this issue of injustice in our world or why life is not always fair. How many have discovered life isn't always fair? A lot of unfair things happening in our world. You know, young person passes away. We look at that and we go, wow, that's just so unfair. You know, we could just keep going down the line. I imagine if we interviewed you all, you could tell me a whole bunch of unfair things that have happened in your life. And we begin to question, and we often question God, why do you allow these things? And how do we handle that when life is unfair, when things are difficult? And in the book, I think we're going to find two complaints and then an expression of gratitude that's flowing from the prophet. And I think it's a sign of his growth and maturity. So here's my word of wisdom and advice to you. If you're going to complain, complain to God, okay? Because if you're complaining to other people, nothing's going to change you. You're just going to become a complainer. And a lot of people want to avoid you after a while if you're just going to complain all the time. But if you complain to God, he can do things about it and he can make his ways known to us. He can begin to speak into our lives through Scripture. And I think that's so important. So here we're going to see in these three communications with Habakkuk and God, I call it a progression in his journey of faith. He's maturing, he's developing as he's going through these experiences. And so I'm going to argue that some of the hard things you're going through is part of a progression. God is bringing you through and he's doing something in your life. And we're going to see that in a few minutes. Let's take a look at the first communication. And it really reveals the condition of the times in which Habakkuk was living in. And I believe there's some parallels to the time in which we're living. And we do see many times evil prevailing, many times we see unjust things happening. We see people oppressing people, People are being victimized. We can see all of these things. So there's nothing really new that's happening. And that's why the Bible is so relevant here. He's basically saying to God, I don't get what you are doing. I don't understand what you're doing. So let's pick up the conversation here in chapter one and verses two and three. Says, how long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen. In other words, there's a silence. Now, how many have ever had it where you've prayed for something? No answer, no response. And sometimes God responds quickly. And then sometimes God seems like he's taking forever to respond. I've got some prayers that I've prayed for decades, and God still hasn't answered those prayers. But I'm still praying now because I know that prayer sits before God. It's like it's alive before God's presence. So time isn't an issue with him. But you and I are creatures of time, and it seems to take forever. Sometimes he says, or I cry out to you violence, but you don't save. In other words, there's bad things happening, but you're not addressing them. Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. There's Strife and conflict abounds. And then he says, on top of that, here's the problem. It seems like you're powerless to do anything. That's the appearance of it. It just seems like evil is winning the day. He says it in verse 4. Therefore the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted. And we recognize that when people who have they have no faith in God, they don't know who God is or they don't have a sense of moral ethics and they become leaders. Many times they're unethical, they pervert justice. There's new laws written, there are unjust laws. And it just seems like justice is being perverted. And that happens. It happens all over the world. It's happened all through history. This is not new stuff. This is what we need to know. We're always shocked. We think of ourselves as being hard done by, especially when we're the recipients of bad things. We just don't like that. And of course, Habakkuk, he's deeply concerned about this stuff.
[00:11:25] And then he's basically going to just say, this is all happening and it's a negative thing. I was going to say about Job here, but I'm going to move on because God's response to Habakkuk's prayer is that he's about to do something that is going to even seem more crazy to Habakkuk than ever before. It's like God, I can't believe what you're doing. You're doing the very opposite of what I anticipate you should be doing. He says, look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. This is God speaking back to Habakkuk. I'm going to do something. He says, I'm about to do something in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. This is really a radical thing. This is outside of your normal understanding of life. I'm raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who are going to sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. Now I'm going to take a pause here and give us a little history lesson. Because the Babylonian empire came into power and God had been warning his covenant people, the Jewish people from Judah, they had not been keeping their part of their agreement with God. They had been sinning against God. They had been violating the covenant. They had abandoned God. And God had been sending his messengers, prophets, spokespeople. He's been telling them, hey, you guys, you need to straighten out. You're breaking the covenant, and there's going to be a result for this, and it's going to be negative. God says, I'm going to withhold the rain. There's going to be famine. If you guys don't listen, I'm going to allow you to be conquered by other nations. They still weren't listening. And God kept sending messages, not just for a few years. God had been communicating with them for centuries, and they were just getting worse. So God finally said, I've had enough. I'm going to get your attention. I'm going to discipline you. It's going to be severe, but when we're done with the discipline, you're going to learn a whole bunch of good lessons. You're going to just totally change. You know, after the Babylonian captivity, Israel moved away from idolatry. She really did as a nation. She just moved away from it because this was such a profound lesson in her history. So God had been warning them, and now he was going to do something about them. And he is raising up the Babylonians. He said, there are feared and dreaded people. There are a lot of themselves, and they promote their own honor. In other words, it's all about themselves. He said, their horses are swifter than lepers, fiercer than wolves at dust. Their cavalry gallops headlong. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle, swooping to devour. They all come intent on violence. Their horns advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings, they scoff at rulers. They laugh at all the fortified cities. In other words, they're not even worried if you're going to put up a defense. Because you know what? They're going to crush you anyways. They're coming to destroy the people they're trying to conquer. They're going to build up earthen ramps. They're going to capture those cities.
[00:14:34] They're going to sweep past like the wind and go on guilty men whose own strength is their God. So in other words, the only God they fear is their own ability to have power. They're worshiping force and power. That's what they're doing.
[00:14:48] God now is going to raise up and use a nation. This is going to shock us. That's more ungodly than the people he's going to discipline. How many say that's kind of a shocking thing. You know, that's what Habakkuk goes, I don't get this. I mean, I know we need to change God, but this is ridiculous. I mean, you're going to use these bad guys that are more vile and worse and more brutal than we are, and you're going to come and have them, you know, deal with us. It was a little bit shocking to Habakkuk. He just could not connect the dots in his mind. He said, how can you use people that are more evil than we are to punish us? I mean, what are you going to do about those guys? You know, God always raises up people for a purpose.
[00:15:35] Eventually God's going to judge Babylon and he's going to destroy that empire. And he did. Historically, he totally destroyed them. But that's Habakkuk's complaint.
[00:15:45] Why does God allow evil? What a great question. I think we all ask that question. Why does God let evil happen? Let me give you a short answer. Why does God let evil happen? Okay. God created us in his image and he gave us a will. And you say, well, why is that dangerous? Because we can choose to do good or we can choose to do evil. As a matter of fact, God says, well, if he knew he was giving us a will that we could make a bad choice, why did he let us make a bad choice? Because if you don't have a choice, you can't truly love God. Isn't that interesting? You see, love is volitional. Love is a decision. You and I choose to love. And you and I choose to continue to love. Love is a decision of the will. We have to keep choosing and keep choosing to love. It's not a one time act. That's why it's so important. Yes, we make an initial decision. Yes, I'm going to follow Jesus. Yes, I'm going to trust Jesus. Yes, I'm going to marry this person. Yes, I'm going to love this person. But how many know? You got to keep choosing it. You got to keep choosing it. You got to keep choosing it. And that's a very important thing. And we're going to see that in this next complaint here. Because the second communication that Habakkuk brings out is that he's not getting the message. He's not picking up. He's not understanding God's response to his complaint. He goes, really? You're going to do this? So it is a shocking response. And God shocks Habakkuk. You know, I'm going to say this. God has an ability sometimes to really get ahold of us by shocking us. I was going to mention Job, I'll mention him now. But Job, you know, he was complaining because God had allowed all these problems in his life. And really, he didn't warrant any of those problems. God even evaluated Job, said he's blameless. But Job was being tested. And we know what happens at the end when Job is demanding God to be put on trial because Job felt like it was unjust of God to do that. God says, listen, Job, if you can answer my questions, I'll answer yours. How many know God can ask questions you and I can't answer? So then he goes on to describe at the end of the book of Job, all of these creatures that he created that are absolutely terrifying. And God says, tell me now, why did I do that? Why did I create that which is terrifying? Wow. How do you answer that question?
[00:18:09] So basically, God says, if you think you're worried about this, there's bigger things that are going on that you don't even understand. So he's explaining to Habakkuk here, yes, I know this is shocking you a little bit. So here's Habakkuk's response to God's telling him what's going to happen. He says, your eyes are too pure to look on evil. He's talking about God. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? It's a great question. Well, I'm going to say this simple answer there is. Judah had a greater revelation of who God was than the Babylonians. That's certainly. And you know, all judgment. When God's going to deal with somebody, you know who he starts with? The people who have the most information.
[00:19:02] The people that should know better. You know, if you're going to discipline people, you always start with the people that should know better. And then you deal with the people that don't know. See, see, I think the people that don't know, you teach them. And the people that know better, you need to discipline them. How is that?
[00:19:17] That's a good way of approaching problems. Because, you know, if people know better and they're not listening and doing what they're supposed to be doing, if you keep teaching them, they're not going to change. You've got to actually discipline them. They'll finally get it where somebody that doesn't know any different, then you got to explain it to them and teach them. You don't discipline somebody that has no clue what they're doing wrong. You explain it to them and teach them and train them. That's the right approach. So I found it interesting because I was doing a series of lectures. I was listening to lectures on Abraham Lincoln. And during this session, I discovered a whole bunch of things about Abraham Lincoln I thought was fascinating. First of all, he grew up in a very godly background. His dad was a Christian, but a very strict Christian, had some very strong theological ideas. And Abraham Lincoln as a young person rebelled against it. That's not unknown. A lot of young people rebel against the training of their parents. But he kind of rebelled against it, and he was quite bright, and he kind of ridiculed and mocked it. But how many know that life has a way of teaching you lessons? And Abraham Lincoln's life was not an easy life. If you study his life, he went through all kinds of difficulties, and eventually he became the President of the United States at a very difficult moment in their history. I'm reading another book right now on what they call the Founding fathers and their generation, and I discovered something I never really realized. It's always interesting studying and reading, but it's. You know, the American people, when they allowed slavery to come into their nation, they were never able to handle that. It became very problematic and very divisive. I don't know if you know that. And it started all the way back. Even before they broke away from England, they were still. They were dealing with that issues 80 years or so before the Civil War ever happened. And all they did was defer and postpone and compromise all the way until they got to the Civil Conflict, 1860. And Lincoln obviously got elected, and that triggered a whole movement in the south that these Southern states withdrew from the states, and there was a civil conflict. And now Lincoln is dealing with a divided nation. Talk about a great challenge to a country. You know, this is only about 87 years after their Declaration of Independence. So this is a crisis in their nation's history. And Lincoln now he's thinking about this whole story. And in his second inaugural address, he says some very profound things. First of all, Lincoln came to the conclusion. I was going to read a lot of this, but I'm just going to summarize it. Lincoln came to a conclusion, number one, that God was neither for the north or for the South. Do you know that a lot of the history of the church in the United States, all their division, was over the civil conflict and over slavery. Very fascinating. And both sides thought God was on their side. But you know what the reality was? God was on neither side. That's what Lincoln came to a conclusion. It's almost like the book of Joshua, when that angel appeared to Joshua just before they went into the promised Land. And he said, are you for us or against us? And you know what the angel said? Neither. In other words, that angel actually I believe was a theophany. It was a pre appearance of Jesus. And he said, no, I'm the captain of the Lord's host. You need to follow me. In other words, God is telling us something. We don't have God on our side. We need to get on God's side. That's the big lesson. And Lincoln kind of came to that conclusion. And then he said this. You know, it's interesting. He said, this war could have been averted, but it wasn't. You know, this war could have ended quickly, but it didn't. It raged on for four long years, and the casualties were so incredible. 600,000 people died in battle during the Civil War. A huge carnage of human life. And so in his second inaugural address, he says this.
[00:23:11] He believed. He shared his conviction that the reason for the war was God's judgment on a Nation for 250 years of imposing slavery on a people. He said, if we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which in the providence of God must needs come, but which, having continued through his appointed time, he now wills to remove, and that he wills, both north and south, this terrible war as a woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in the living God always ascribe to him. Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continues until all the wealth piled up by the bondmen's 250 years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as it was said 3,000 years ago, so shall it be said the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. What was he saying? Lincoln was basically saying, listen, God's judging us because of slavery, and that's why we've had this terrible war.
[00:24:25] That's a pretty shocking statement. How many think that's pretty shocking to come to that conclusion? And, you know, if we think of our own country right now, a lot of times we feel like, oh, nothing's ever going to happen. Listen, we have to take a look at our own behavior as a nation and some of the things we're doing and that God at any time could decide to really judge our nation.
[00:24:43] It's true. And A lot of times we put our hope in the wrong stuff, and we're going to see that in a minute.
[00:24:49] Now, what was the answer? Well, God gave. Well, Habakkuk realized, and God spoke to him about the necessity of waiting for God to bring the answer. It's interesting how Habakkuk's addressing the struggle and he decides to wait on God for the answer. But how many know waiting is very difficult for us? How many would like to say that patience is not one of your strong suits. That's not what you're good at. You're not very patient. You're struggling with patience. How powerful is that?
[00:25:23] It's interesting. In a book called now and Then, Henry Nouwen now and Then author Lucy Shaw says, I'm an impatient, restless person, slowing down and waiting seems like a waste of time. Yet waiting seems to be an inevitable part of the human condition. And Nouwen himself said, waiting is a period of learning. The longer we wait, the more we hear about him for whom we are waiting. In other words, waiting is not a bad thing. As a matter of fact, Eugene Peterson, when he's writing his translation, his paraphrase of the Book of Romans, he says, this waiting does not diminish us any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother.
[00:26:05] We are enlarged in the waiting.
[00:26:10] During a time of waiting, God is vibrantly at work within us. So you say, well, what is God doing while I'm waiting?
[00:26:19] Well, I think he's teaching you lessons.
[00:26:22] Number one, he's teaching you to be patient. How many know that's a hard lesson to learn. Number two, he's teaching endurance. He's teaching be patient, to be enduring, to learn how to trust.
[00:26:36] How many know when you're not seeing what God work in the way you want him to, you're just waiting and waiting. Something has to happen. And here's the answer that God gave to Habakkuk. Habakkuk said, I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. I will look to see what he will say to me and what answer I am to give to this complaint. And here's God's answer to his distress.
[00:26:59] He says, what sustains us in our hour of crisis and gives us confidence in God is simply this. Then the Lord replied, write down the revelation and make it plain with tablets so that a herald may run with it, for the revelation awaits an appointed time. In other words, God will come through an answer. We know that. But how many here can say, like me, I've been Praying for sometimes decades. And the answer hasn't come yet. But you know what? God is outside of time. So for him, it's right in the moment. Even the prayers you've prayed decades ago, it's still before God. This is amazing to me. We can even forget about our prayers. I think of Zechariah and Elizabeth praying for a child.
[00:27:42] They were past childbearing years. They had forgotten about this prayer. And you know, the angel showed to Zachariah in Christmas season. What did he say? I've heard your prayer.
[00:27:51] You know, I'm going, which one? God, I prayed a lot of prayers. You're going to have a son.
[00:27:56] That was a prayer I prayed a long time ago. I don't know if we still. You know what I mean?
[00:28:02] This is way beyond.
[00:28:04] We have a deadline in our minds and it's not happening yet. Well, it showed up. Then he goes on to say, see, he is puffed up. His desires are not upright. But the righteous will live by his faithfulness. And some translations say, will live by his faith. And Paul quotes that in the book of Romans, and the writer to Hebrews quotes that same quote. The righteous will live by their faith. You know, that word can be translated faithfulness. That was a very interesting thing because in the Hebrew language, faith and faithfulness are the same idea. It's very powerful. How do we live? We live by faith. What is faith? Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. We live by faith. In other words, we live in a sense of continuous, anticipated hope that God's going to answer and do something.
[00:28:57] We are living by being faithful. We are living by continuing to trust God.
[00:29:06] That is the answer that Habakkuk got from God. God says, listen, just be faithful. Just be faithful. Yeah, but I don't understand what you. Just be faithful. Yeah, but I want to know. Just be faithful.
[00:29:17] You see, how many know? When you're just patient and faithful with God, things start happening, he says. He goes on to talk about, indeed, wine betrays him.
[00:29:32] I don't have that verse there. Okay, let me just go over here.
[00:29:37] It says, because he's greedy as the grave, and like death, is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captives all the people.
[00:29:46] So, yeah, in these opening verses of chapter two, the question raised by the prophet is, how long is this going to continue? And God reveals his heart against the sins in the lands of Judah. He says, you know why I'm doing this? And then he lists five things, and I'm just going to briefly go by them. First of all, the issue of greed, verse 6. Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion. How long must this be going on? Woe to those who are using unethical means to acquire earthly wealth. Woe to him who builds his house or his realm by unjust gain and sets his nest on high to escape the clutches of ruin.
[00:30:35] What is really being stated here? Simply this, look out. If you're trying to build your life on money as your final security, it could disappear real fast. You see one of the challenges in our society, especially in Canada. We've had a long time of amazing security and we have grown very.
[00:31:02] We have a false sense of security. That's the best way to say it. You know, the people that are living in the Ukraine right now, they lost everything. Their whole life is upside down just like that. Everything they built their life on.
[00:31:16] Boom. A war comes along and it destroys everything.
[00:31:20] I think that we're, you know, sometimes we're looking to the wrong things in our lives. And I'm going to just say this to us. I'm not against, you know, people setting money aside. I believe in all that. That's not the point I'm getting at. The point I'm getting at was when we make that our ultimate security, we're going to be disappointed because that's very fleeting, that's not enduring. It is a measure of security, but it's not the ultimate security. It can all be taken away. Your life can be taken away, your plans can be destroyed. It all happens to us. That's my point. So how do you find hope in a distressful and a perplexing situation? You have to build your life on the right foundation and it has to be on God.
[00:32:02] It says woe to those who resort to violence to accomplish their aims. You know, I just put down notice a progression. What started as a wrong heart motive to trust in earthly resources diminishes the capacity to exercise sound judgment. And now the greedy are using violent means to acquire ill gotten gains.
[00:32:22] Because you know when you have the wrong thinking, eventually it plays out. That's what I'm getting at. And there's a progression to all of our thinking and all of our behavior. We need to understand that. And then they moved from violence to seduction and says woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pours it from their wineskin until they're drunk so he can gaze on their naked bodies. Wow.
[00:32:45] You know, we're living in a very sad state of affairs in our nation. Why is that? This is a very central culture.
[00:32:54] And, you know, a lot of what's sustaining all of these ills and evils. I'm going to tell you what is sustaining it is our sinfulness.
[00:33:02] Because the moment you have people who are not going to consume the wrong things, it puts an end to the sin industry.
[00:33:10] I will just give you an example. We would not have a problem with pornography and sex trafficking. Or we could go on and talk about gambling. If people were not addicted to these behaviors, all of those industries would collapse. But some of these industries are making more money than the gross national product of many of the countries in the world. That's how sad it is. And we can sit down and we can say, those things are evil. Yes, they are evil. But really it starts inside of the human heart.
[00:33:47] And, you know, I've been a pastor a long time now, and I know that a lot of these issues are things that Christians even struggle with. And I think we need to be aware of that kind of stuff. It goes on here to say the final woe reveals where the trust in worship is. In Habakkuk 2. 19, he says, Woe to him who says, to wood, come to life, or to a lifeless stone, wake up. Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver. There's no breath in it. In other words, they are creating their own gods and they are trying to hopefully find life from those gods. That is what idolatry is. I want you to hear something.
[00:34:23] You and I can create our own gods, too. It is that which we are putting our trust in and hoping we will get life from it. But it doesn't give us life. But I am going to move beyond all of this now because I want to get to the point here. And the third point, I'm running out of time. The final communication is a prayer, and it's an expression of incredible faith. So he's made out, he's poured out these two complaints, and then Habakkuk's response to God is one of awe. You know, that's the best way to describe what worship is. Worship is having an awe of God. Like, we're wowed. And now he prays for a spiritual transformation to come upon the land. Here in Habakkuk 3. Two, he says, Lord, I've heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time. Make them known in wrath. Remember mercy Now I'm going to just say this. And I was really struck with something Kenneth Barker wrote. He said this Israel based its religion on the work of God, on its past, what God had done than any mystical experience. The prophet now bases both his confidence and his position of the work of God in the past. How God led them out of Egypt, how God did all these miracles. He's looking back to that moment. He says, this is the God you are, not just what you were, this is who you are. And you're that same God today. And that's what we need to understand, folks. We sometimes look at our Bibles and say, yeah, God did that then, but will he do it today? And what we need to recapture in our thinking is he's the same God. He's not changed. And we need to start looking at God and saying, God, you are in the present moment, you are the same God. You're the God of salvation. You're the God that delivered a nation. You're the God that heals the sick. You're the God that does this. We need to understand that God is in the. And we need to pray. God, we know of your fame. We stand in awe of your deeds. Repeat them in our day.
[00:36:34] Okay, let me move on. Despite personal fears, the prophet now says, okay, God, I get what you are doing now.
[00:36:42] It doesn't mean I like what you are doing, but I get it. I understand what you are doing. You are going to discipline us. And he probably makes some of the most profound statements of faith in the entire Bible. And I want to close with them. Look at verse 16. I heard and my heart pounded. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled. What's he talking about? He says, I'm waiting for this judgment and I'm scared out of my mind. That's what he's saying, right? Babylonians are coming. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. In other words, he said, I'm going to look past the moment they come and invade us. I'm going to look to the moment when you bring retribution to that nation, because you will one day.
[00:37:31] In other words, you and I don't have to worry about how people treat us because God's going to address all those injustices anyway. That's why as Christians, we need to overcome evil by doing good. That's the reason. And then we come to his confidence in his prayer. These are the verses. I. Oh, I'll just read them.
[00:37:48] Okay.
[00:37:51] Habakkuk 3:17. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes in the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. What's he describing?
[00:38:05] A time of nothing, a time of barrenness, a time of judgment, a time of pain, a time of loss, a time of grief, a time of sorrow. He says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
[00:38:19] He's not rejoicing in God because the circumstances are great. He's rejoicing in God despite everything that's happening to him. He says, yet will I rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my Savior. Can I just say, if you're in a terrible time right now, you're perplexed, you're in despair, you're struggling. I want you to do something. I want you to look up. I want you to say, I'm going to stop looking at the problem. That's one of our biggest problems. We just keep focusing in on the problem. I want you to look higher. Jesus said, when you see all these problems in the world, this is where most Christians are looking right now, at all the problems in the world. I want you to look up, tilt your head, lift up your head. Jesus said, my redemption is drawing near.
[00:38:58] We got to look up, say, okay, God, you're the answer. A lot of us are looking for humans to be the answer. They're not the answer. We got to look higher. He says, the sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to tread on the heights. You know what that tells me? He wants to raise us above the situation. How many want to walk on water?
[00:39:25] You know, like Peter did? How many want to walk on your troubles?
[00:39:30] Instead of sinking? You know, some of you are going, I feel like I'm drowning, Pastor.
[00:39:35] No, instead of drowning, let's walk on the water.
[00:39:40] Even though God may not change my circumstances, right now I'm walking with God. I'm treading in the high places.
[00:39:48] He's strengthening me so that I can handle what's happening. I'm going to say this. One of the main reasons why you're walking through a trial right now is God's strength strengthening you.
[00:39:58] Because you know, what you're handling today, that's crushing you. If it comes back tomorrow, it won't hit you the same way because you're stronger now. You understand things. You've learned about the nature of who God is, and that's really powerful.
[00:40:17] So what is he declaring? That though things are difficult, he would worship God regardless and God would see him through this season in their lives. Let's stand.
[00:40:31] I don't know what season you're in.
[00:40:34] Maybe you're in a time of distress, despair, perplexity, depression. All of these things strike us as Christians. We're not immune from them. Isn't that true? Come on, let's be honest. We're not immune from these things.
[00:40:50] But God is greater than our trouble. God is greater than our problems. And God is doing something as you're crying out, oh, God, oh, God.
[00:41:01] Some of you are saying, God, would you come? I'm hurting right now. God, I'm in distress. I'm in despair.
[00:41:08] And God is maybe not answering right away, but I'm telling you what he's doing. He's not ignoring you. He didn't ignore the prophet. He's enlarging. He's enlarging you.
[00:41:20] He's doing something inside of you. He's creating power inside of you. He's changing you from the inside out. See, Christianity teaches a change from the inside out.
[00:41:34] You know, the rest of the world, it's just pressure from outside trying to make you be squeezed and conformed into a certain image. But God comes about transforming us from the inside out. You know, it's really powerful.
[00:41:50] The world wants deliverance from all trouble.
[00:41:53] But Jesus said, in the world, you're going to have trouble. That's reality.
[00:41:58] We're going to have trouble in this world. But be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. God can give us joy and hope and strength in the middle of your challenge right now. And I want to pray for you with every head bowed. How many here today say, you know, Pastor, I'm walking through what you're talking about. I'm in a time of perplexity or despair or discouragement.
[00:42:19] Maybe you're struggling with doubt even. It's okay. We all walk through those seasons.
[00:42:26] But right now I'm going to ask God to help you walk through the season. Lord, I pray for my brothers and my sisters right now that you're going to strengthen them by your spirit and their inner being. They're going to be strong in you and in your mighty power that you're going to help them overcome all the foes, the foes that come against our minds, the foe of anxiety and despair and frustration and anger and hurt and sadness.
[00:42:51] And, Lord, I just pray today that you would pour out your life within us, your presence, Lord, that our eyes would move from our troubles and our trials, but they would look up and that we would see that you're greater than all of this, Lord, and you're all powerful, you're all knowing, and that you're doing a work. And we're going to celebrate you despite what's happening to us. Fill our hearts with joy, because the joy of the Lord is our strength. And I just pray, fill hearts with joy today that we'll experience such hope, such joy, such peace, such grace, such love that you will help us walk through this season in our life. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave today.
