1 00:00:00,640 --> 00:00:02,840 What do you do when God doesn't make sense? 2 00:00:05,160 --> 00:00:07,560 If you're not a believer in Jesus, you might be thinking, 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:08,840 well, I don't have to do anything. 4 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:13,920 God doesn't make sense. That's why I don't believe in 5 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,280 him. Problem solved. 6 00:00:18,040 --> 00:00:21,160 But if that's you, I've got a challenge for you. 7 00:00:22,240 --> 00:00:26,080 I want you to think of a question that in your mind 8 00:00:26,080 --> 00:00:29,200 serves as kind of a defeater to belief in God. 9 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,920 Well, the God of the Bible can't really exist, because how could 10 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:36,160 this be the case? Whatever that question is for 11 00:00:36,160 --> 00:00:42,320 you, Can you imagine ever receiving a satisfying answer to 12 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:48,280 that question? If you did, would you change 13 00:00:48,280 --> 00:00:49,800 your mind and start believing in God? 14 00:00:52,680 --> 00:00:56,720 But if you are a believer in Jesus, what do you do when God 15 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:00,280 doesn't make sense? It might be you're struggling to 16 00:01:00,280 --> 00:01:01,640 understand something in Scripture. 17 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:03,840 You're kind of stuck on it. You just can't get it out of 18 00:01:03,840 --> 00:01:06,600 your mind. It might be you're wrestling 19 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:09,840 with an evil you see in the world around you, and you're 20 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:11,560 wondering how God could let it happen. 21 00:01:13,320 --> 00:01:15,640 It might be that the circumstances of your own life 22 00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:21,040 are painful and overwhelming and confusing. 23 00:01:22,400 --> 00:01:26,200 One or more of those factors could lead you to ask God, what 24 00:01:26,200 --> 00:01:29,200 are you doing? Why are you allowing this? 25 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:35,560 Given all that I know is true of you, how could this be 26 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:39,480 happening? This morning we continue our 27 00:01:39,480 --> 00:01:42,440 series in the Old Testament prophetic book of Habakkuk. 28 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:45,600 We're going to look at chapter one, verse 12 through chapter 2, 29 00:01:45,600 --> 00:01:47,840 verse one. In the first sermon, which 30 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:52,040 covered verses one to four, we heard Habakkuk's anguished cry 31 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:55,000 to God. He lamented the wickedness and 32 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:59,080 injustice that he saw all around him, and he accused God of 33 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,680 sitting idly by and doing nothing about it. 34 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,400 Last week, in verses 5 to 11, we heard the Lord's answer. 35 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,160 He's not doing nothing about it. Instead, he's going to do 36 00:02:11,160 --> 00:02:14,880 something shocking about it. He's raising up the Babylonians 37 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:18,560 as a new superpower on the world stage, and he's going to use 38 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,160 them to come and conquer Judah. God is going to punish his 39 00:02:22,160 --> 00:02:23,960 people through this wicked empire. 40 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,680 He's going to use the Babylonians, greedy imperialism 41 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:31,680 to carry out his own righteous judgments. 42 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,960 So that's an answer to Habakkuk's prayer, but it's not 43 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:40,320 the answer he was looking for before. 44 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:42,640 Habakkuk was confused about God's inaction. 45 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,440 Now he's puzzled by God's action. 46 00:02:48,320 --> 00:02:51,880 How can God use wicked pagans to punish his people? 47 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:55,080 Doesn't that make the cure worse than the disease? 48 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:01,680 Please follow along as I read Habakkuk chapter one verse 12 to 49 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:09,880 chapter 2 verse one. Are you not from everlasting? 50 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:15,680 Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. 51 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:22,480 Oh Lord, you have ordained them as a judgement, and you, O rock, 52 00:03:22,480 --> 00:03:25,560 have established them for reproof. 53 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:33,520 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look it 54 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:41,520 wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remains silent when 55 00:03:41,520 --> 00:03:45,920 the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? 56 00:03:47,920 --> 00:03:51,360 You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things 57 00:03:51,360 --> 00:03:54,240 that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a 58 00:03:54,240 --> 00:03:56,920 hook. He drags them out with his net. 59 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:02,400 He gathers them in his dragnet. So he rejoices and is glad. 60 00:04:04,040 --> 00:04:08,360 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his 61 00:04:08,360 --> 00:04:13,360 dragnet, for by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. 62 00:04:14,920 --> 00:04:19,680 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing 63 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:28,320 nations forever? I will take my stand at my watch 64 00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:37,320 post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what 65 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:43,160 he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my 66 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:51,280 complaint. In our passage, Habakkuk again 67 00:04:51,280 --> 00:04:56,080 turns to lament. He again wrestles with God in 68 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,160 prayer. Habakkuk's honest cries and 69 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,960 questions to the Lord are a model for us of what we should 70 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:07,080 do when God's ways don't make sense. 71 00:05:07,600 --> 00:05:11,680 Our passage is 3 sections. In verses 12 and 13, Habakkuk 72 00:05:11,800 --> 00:05:14,920 confesses his faith in the Lord and renews his complaint. 73 00:05:16,360 --> 00:05:20,720 In verses 14 to 17, Habakkuk expands on his complaint, crying 74 00:05:20,720 --> 00:05:23,760 out to the Lord about the injustice of Babylon's 75 00:05:24,040 --> 00:05:27,080 conquests. And then in verse 1 of chapter 76 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:32,040 2, Habakkuk resolves to wait for God to speak. 77 00:05:32,640 --> 00:05:34,960 Here's the burden of our passage in one sentence. 78 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:42,520 When God's ways don't make sense, wrestle with him, then 79 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:48,160 wait for him. When God's ways don't make 80 00:05:48,480 --> 00:05:54,440 sense, wrestle with him, then wait for him. 81 00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:57,600 The sermon will have three points. 82 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:00,720 In the 1st 2, we see how Habakkuk wrestles with the Lord. 83 00:06:01,840 --> 00:06:09,240 In the third, he waits for him, .1 Confess your trust and 84 00:06:09,240 --> 00:06:11,680 confusion. What should you do when God's 85 00:06:11,680 --> 00:06:16,160 ways don't make sense? Confess your trust and 86 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,960 confusion. That's what Habakkuk models in 87 00:06:18,960 --> 00:06:21,480 verses 12 and 13. Look first at verse 12. 88 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:25,640 Are you not from everlasting? O Lord, my God, my holy one, we 89 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:29,040 shall not die. O Lord, You have ordained them 90 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:33,520 as a judgement, and you, O Rock, have established them for 91 00:06:33,520 --> 00:06:37,560 reproof. Hear Habakkuk prays again, and 92 00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:41,560 he begins his second prayer by confessing his confidence in 93 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:47,120 God's character and purposes. Habakkuk's spiritual posture 94 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,520 here is complex. He's perplexed, he doesn't have 95 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,480 answers, and he is about to ask God some very pointed questions. 96 00:06:57,360 --> 00:07:04,600 But he begins by confessing what he knows is true of God. 97 00:07:05,320 --> 00:07:08,400 Habakkuk first confesses that God is everlasting, just like we 98 00:07:08,400 --> 00:07:12,360 read earlier in Psalm 90. Why does that bring hope or 99 00:07:12,360 --> 00:07:15,600 comfort? Because if God is everlasting, 100 00:07:16,600 --> 00:07:20,560 then so is his love. If God is everlasting, then so 101 00:07:20,560 --> 00:07:22,960 is his commitment to do good to his people. 102 00:07:23,520 --> 00:07:29,400 If God is everlasting, then His love for us will never run out. 103 00:07:31,120 --> 00:07:34,960 That's why, Habakkuk affirms, we shall not die now. 104 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:40,000 Some people in Judah will die. God will inflict suffering and 105 00:07:40,000 --> 00:07:43,400 death and exile as temporal punishments for the people's 106 00:07:43,400 --> 00:07:45,880 sins. But Habakkuk has a longer 107 00:07:45,880 --> 00:07:48,360 horizon in view. When he says we shall not die, 108 00:07:48,600 --> 00:07:51,800 he means that it is impossible that the Lord would utterly wipe 109 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:54,640 them out. The Lord will not 'cause them to 110 00:07:54,640 --> 00:07:59,120 utterly perish. He will preserve a remnant and 111 00:07:59,120 --> 00:08:00,640 renew them. Why? 112 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:06,160 Because his love is as everlasting as his life. 113 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:14,440 As one commentator put it, in God's eternity lies his people's 114 00:08:14,600 --> 00:08:21,120 security. God's love is as unchanging as 115 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:27,200 his eternal being. So Habakkuk concludes that the 116 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:32,120 judgement God is about to inflict will be neither total 117 00:08:32,799 --> 00:08:36,400 nor final. And he rightly concludes that 118 00:08:36,400 --> 00:08:39,600 this will be a judgement. That's what he says in the 119 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,640 second-half of verse 12. He acknowledges that the Lord is 120 00:08:42,640 --> 00:08:45,640 going to use the Babylonians to carry out his judgement against 121 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:49,320 his chosen people. But notice the second way that 122 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:51,040 Habakkuk describes that judgement. 123 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:57,200 He says, And you, O rock, have established them for reproof. 124 00:08:57,600 --> 00:09:02,400 What's reproof? Just a slightly archaic word for 125 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:06,160 correction. It's training that means to turn 126 00:09:06,160 --> 00:09:11,520 someone from evil to good. It's discipline that aims to 127 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:14,240 change the direction of someone's life. 128 00:09:14,760 --> 00:09:19,400 God will punish Judah for their sins, but His purpose is not 129 00:09:19,400 --> 00:09:25,240 only to punish, it's also to purify, it's also to purge and 130 00:09:25,240 --> 00:09:28,120 renew. God's judgement of His people 131 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:31,400 will aim not at their destruction, but at their 132 00:09:31,400 --> 00:09:39,160 transformation and restoration. But Habakkuk still has a problem 133 00:09:39,480 --> 00:09:46,680 with this coming judgement. Verse 13 You who are of purer 134 00:09:46,680 --> 00:09:51,320 eyes than to see evil and cannot look it wrong, why do you idly 135 00:09:51,320 --> 00:09:54,280 look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows 136 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:56,400 up the man more righteous than he? 137 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:01,720 Now here again Habakkuk starts from what he knows is true of 138 00:10:01,720 --> 00:10:03,880 God. He knows God is holy. 139 00:10:04,240 --> 00:10:06,560 He knows God is rightly determined to punish sin. 140 00:10:06,560 --> 00:10:08,280 That's why he's going to punish his own people. 141 00:10:08,720 --> 00:10:13,360 But if God is so righteous and holy, then how can he tolerate 142 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:18,280 the evil of the Babylonians? When Habakkuk says that God is 143 00:10:18,280 --> 00:10:22,600 of purer eyes than to see evil, he doesn't mean it's physically 144 00:10:22,600 --> 00:10:26,480 impossible for God to see evil. He means that God's holiness 145 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:30,760 compels him to act against evil. He doesn't tolerate evil. 146 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,920 He doesn't wink at it. God doesn't say boys will be 147 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,840 boys, Evil empires will be evil empires. 148 00:10:38,200 --> 00:10:39,400 What are you going to do about it? 149 00:10:40,840 --> 00:10:46,640 Habakkuk knows that sin is a personal affront to God. 150 00:10:46,880 --> 00:10:50,440 He knows that God's holiness and human sin do not match and will 151 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:55,960 not mingle. So why is God sitting around 152 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,400 doing nothing about the Babylonian sin? 153 00:10:58,600 --> 00:11:02,440 Why is he idle and silent about them? 154 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:06,640 Habakkuk calls the Babylonians traitors, meaning they're 155 00:11:06,640 --> 00:11:09,760 treacherous, they're deceitful. And so Habakkuk is basically 156 00:11:09,760 --> 00:11:14,040 saying, sure, we're really bad. That's what I was saying before. 157 00:11:14,080 --> 00:11:18,880 But aren't they worse? Isn't it a problem for you to 158 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,760 use them to judge us? Doesn't that imbalance the 159 00:11:22,760 --> 00:11:25,840 scales of justice? Doesn't that make it seem like 160 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,280 you approve of them or you're on their side? 161 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,400 No. As we continue to meditate on 162 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,560 verse 13, I want us to focus first on what Habakkuk knows, 163 00:11:37,680 --> 00:11:42,720 then on what he doesn't know. What does Habakkuk know? 164 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:48,480 He knows that God is holy. God's holiness is hard for us to 165 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,680 grasp. If you're not a believer in 166 00:11:50,680 --> 00:11:52,920 Jesus, you might think, what's the big deal? 167 00:11:53,120 --> 00:11:56,800 Why does God get so worked up about sin? 168 00:11:57,600 --> 00:12:00,320 Here's an analogy that might help just a little. 169 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:05,160 Cancer patients are often immunosuppressed. 170 00:12:05,640 --> 00:12:10,240 If they're exposed to even the smallest amount of germs or some 171 00:12:10,240 --> 00:12:14,440 other means of infection, they could contract an illness that 172 00:12:14,440 --> 00:12:17,840 could kill them. And so some cancer treatment 173 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:21,520 centers have incredibly strict sanitation protocols. 174 00:12:21,840 --> 00:12:24,360 Only a doctor or a nurse can go in, and only after they've been 175 00:12:24,360 --> 00:12:26,800 totally sanitized and only wearing special gear and nobody 176 00:12:26,800 --> 00:12:28,880 else is allowed in. And the room is vacuum sealed 177 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:32,840 because you don't want even the tiniest little bit of a 178 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:35,400 potential contaminant to get in there. 179 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,960 That's to keep out the possibility of a deadly 180 00:12:40,280 --> 00:12:44,880 infection. According to Scripture, sin 181 00:12:45,120 --> 00:12:51,800 itself is a deadly infection. It's toxic and it's lethal. 182 00:12:52,440 --> 00:12:57,320 God is utterly opposed to sin. He cannot and will not tolerate 183 00:12:57,320 --> 00:13:03,240 even the tiniest microbe of it. God's intolerance of sin is a 184 00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:06,880 good thing. His intolerance of sin manifests 185 00:13:06,880 --> 00:13:09,720 His goodness. God's utter opposition to all 186 00:13:09,720 --> 00:13:14,480 sin is the only ultimately stable moral baseline for this 187 00:13:14,720 --> 00:13:18,720 universe. It's good that God doesn't 188 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:23,160 tolerate sin, just like it's good that an oncologist doesn't 189 00:13:23,160 --> 00:13:27,000 tolerate any infections that could attack their patients. 190 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:31,400 Now God's holiness impels him to eliminate sin. 191 00:13:32,360 --> 00:13:37,880 One aspect of that eliminating sin is punishing sinners. 192 00:13:38,840 --> 00:13:41,680 God is our creator. God is our ruler. 193 00:13:42,040 --> 00:13:46,760 God is our Lord and Master. He rightly demands that we live 194 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,360 for Him. He rightly commands that we live 195 00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:52,520 according to his ways. He designed this universe. 196 00:13:52,600 --> 00:13:56,640 He wrote the owner's manual. He knows all the proper 197 00:13:56,640 --> 00:13:59,600 instructions for operating it according to its design. 198 00:14:00,240 --> 00:14:02,840 But sin says no thanks, I know how to do better. 199 00:14:03,280 --> 00:14:06,360 Sin says, no thanks, I'll put myself in charge around here. 200 00:14:06,720 --> 00:14:11,560 Sin says no, actually, God, you know what I know better than you 201 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,160 that deserves punishment. That's rebellion. 202 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,480 That's not the kind of thing that God should just sweep under 203 00:14:17,480 --> 00:14:19,880 the rug. And so God is, as Habakkuk 204 00:14:19,880 --> 00:14:23,960 confesses, of purer eyes than to see evil. 205 00:14:24,320 --> 00:14:27,520 The ultimate expression of that aspect of God's holiness will be 206 00:14:27,800 --> 00:14:31,840 that he will punish forever in hell all those who persist in 207 00:14:31,840 --> 00:14:35,080 unrepentance, all those who refuse to turn from sin and 208 00:14:35,080 --> 00:14:39,480 trust in Jesus. That will be the sad and scary 209 00:14:39,480 --> 00:14:44,280 fate for everyone who refuses His mercy and grace in Christ. 210 00:14:45,600 --> 00:14:46,880 But that's not the end of the story. 211 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:50,440 God is holy. God is also merciful. 212 00:14:50,440 --> 00:14:52,960 God is righteous. God is also loving. 213 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:57,080 And He sent his Son into the world to pay the price on the 214 00:14:57,080 --> 00:15:00,000 cross for the sins of all those who had turned from sin and 215 00:15:00,000 --> 00:15:01,960 trust in him. He sent his Son into the world 216 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:06,000 to bear the full weight of his wrath against sin, so that the 217 00:15:06,000 --> 00:15:10,600 whole burden of sin could be eliminated on Christ and there 218 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,880 wouldn't be anything left to pay, anything left to suffer, 219 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,560 anything left to do for all those who turn from sin and 220 00:15:15,560 --> 00:15:17,920 trust in Him. And he rose Jesus from the dead 221 00:15:17,920 --> 00:15:22,120 on the third day, proving the effectiveness of that payment, 222 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:26,600 that offering, that sacrifice, that sin elimination, that 223 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:31,320 wrath, exhaustion. Now Jesus reigns in heaven, and 224 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,160 He commands all people everywhere to turn from sin and 225 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:37,000 trust in Him. If you do not yet believe in 226 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,880 Jesus, begin now. If you've not yet turned from 227 00:15:40,880 --> 00:15:45,040 sin and trusted in Christ, refuse to live for yourself any 228 00:15:45,040 --> 00:15:48,640 longer and give up yourself fully to Him. 229 00:15:49,960 --> 00:15:54,520 Looking back over verses 12 and 13, what does Habakkuk know? 230 00:15:54,520 --> 00:15:57,640 He knows that God is holy. He knows that God is eternal. 231 00:15:57,840 --> 00:16:00,400 He knows that God is the covenant Lord of his people, and 232 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:04,160 he confesses all that to God. So there's a lesson here for 233 00:16:04,160 --> 00:16:08,120 those of us who believe when God's ways don't make sense, go 234 00:16:08,120 --> 00:16:10,920 to him in prayer and start with what you know. 235 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:13,240 Start with what you know is true of Him. 236 00:16:13,560 --> 00:16:16,800 Tell God the truth about God as a way of driving that truth 237 00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:21,520 deeper into your own heart. Separate what you know from what 238 00:16:21,520 --> 00:16:23,840 you don't know. Leave what you don't know over 239 00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:28,400 here for just a minute and confess the truth of God. 240 00:16:29,960 --> 00:16:32,320 Now, what is a bat? Kick not know. 241 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,840 What does he not know? He doesn't know how God's 242 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:41,960 holiness can square with his use of the Babylonians as an 243 00:16:41,960 --> 00:16:46,920 instrument of judgement. He doesn't know how God can 244 00:16:46,920 --> 00:16:51,160 sinlessly use the sinful to punish sin. 245 00:16:52,120 --> 00:16:56,560 It doesn't make sense. And so he asks God these sharp, 246 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:01,560 pointed questions. Why do you idly look at traitors 247 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:03,920 and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more 248 00:17:03,920 --> 00:17:08,480 righteous than he? Now, in one sense this is an 249 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,520 accusation. It is a complaint. 250 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,119 It finds some fault with God's ways. 251 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:22,319 But it's crucial to recognize that Habakkuk is not expressing 252 00:17:22,319 --> 00:17:26,000 A settled conviction. Habakkuk is not stating A 253 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:31,120 verdict. He is not pronouncing judgement 254 00:17:31,440 --> 00:17:33,640 on God. Instead, what's he doing? 255 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:43,560 He's asking a question. Habakkuk here is not asking a 256 00:17:44,400 --> 00:17:49,000 gotcha question. He's asking a genuine question. 257 00:17:49,960 --> 00:17:52,720 We all know the difference. Sometimes you ask a question to 258 00:17:52,720 --> 00:17:56,800 try to trap someone or expose them or kind of show that you're 259 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:58,400 in the right and you've got their number. 260 00:17:58,640 --> 00:17:59,720 That's not what Habakkuk's doing. 261 00:18:00,160 --> 00:18:04,640 He's asking a real question when you direct them at God. 262 00:18:05,240 --> 00:18:07,320 Gotcha questions come from unbelief. 263 00:18:08,520 --> 00:18:10,680 Genuine questions come from faith. 264 00:18:11,160 --> 00:18:15,480 It's not that God forbids you from asking questions. 265 00:18:16,320 --> 00:18:21,640 Instead, genuine questions lead from struggling faith to deeper 266 00:18:21,640 --> 00:18:29,160 faith, whereas gotcha questions lead from unbelief to hardening 267 00:18:29,160 --> 00:18:36,240 in your unbelief, notice that Habakkuk doesn't let what he 268 00:18:36,240 --> 00:18:39,320 doesn't know swallow up what he does know. 269 00:18:40,360 --> 00:18:43,840 He doesn't say, if you're so holy, how could you do this? 270 00:18:45,240 --> 00:18:52,480 Instead he says, I know you're holy, so how could you do this? 271 00:18:53,800 --> 00:18:58,800 How can you remind yourself of what you know is true of God 272 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:00,880 when what you don't know is overwhelming? 273 00:19:01,880 --> 00:19:05,040 One way to do that by hard times is simply by listening. 274 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:08,480 Listen to an audio book of scripture. 275 00:19:08,480 --> 00:19:10,760 Listen to an audio recording of the Psalms. 276 00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:14,440 The ESV app for free has several different people who have read 277 00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:16,160 through the whole Bible. You can just pick whichever 278 00:19:16,160 --> 00:19:18,440 reader you like best. Put it on in your car. 279 00:19:18,440 --> 00:19:20,880 Put it on in your office. Listen to Scripture. 280 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,080 You can also listen to hymns or other edifying music to refresh 281 00:19:24,080 --> 00:19:26,720 your mind and soul when sorrow threatens to overwhelm you. 282 00:19:27,160 --> 00:19:31,400 How can you get reminders of the truth you know filtering into 283 00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,800 your soul when you're struggling to believe that God is good? 284 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:39,400 In verse 13, Habakkuk is asking the Lord genuine questions. 285 00:19:39,600 --> 00:19:42,200 And as we're as we'll see, he's going to prove that his 286 00:19:42,200 --> 00:19:45,440 questions are genuine by patiently waiting for an answer. 287 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,640 The English pastor David Pryor powerfully summarizes Habakkuk's 288 00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:51,520 attitude toward God in these verses. 289 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:56,600 Habakkuk is not a drowning man about to go under for the last 290 00:19:56,600 --> 00:19:59,640 time. Paradoxically, his very strong 291 00:19:59,640 --> 00:20:04,680 inner security as a person beloved by and belonging to God 292 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:09,520 releases him to batter the gates of heaven and berate the living 293 00:20:09,680 --> 00:20:12,360 God. There has always been this 294 00:20:12,360 --> 00:20:16,960 important distinction between bitter cynicism and believing. 295 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:24,040 Confrontation 1 is a denial that refuses to believe the other, a 296 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:31,160 belief that refuses to deny. One makes assertions and will 297 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:37,040 not stay for an answer. The other makes assertions and 298 00:20:37,040 --> 00:20:40,320 will not move until there is an answer. 299 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:47,320 When God's ways don't make sense, wrestle with Him. 300 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:51,080 Confess your trust and confusion. 301 00:20:51,400 --> 00:20:53,440 Don't just Mull over your questions in your mind. 302 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,120 Don't just talk to others, talk to God. 303 00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:05,400 Bring God your questions and wait for an answer. 304 00:21:06,280 --> 00:21:10,160 Some problems and questions and sorrows are so big that they're 305 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:13,440 like mountains. Let's say your faith is like a 306 00:21:13,440 --> 00:21:16,560 railroad and you're trying to lay out tract, keep going in the 307 00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:20,640 Christian life, but you come up against a mountain, a mountain 308 00:21:20,640 --> 00:21:24,960 of pain, a mountain of sorrow, a mountain of confusion, a 309 00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:27,720 mountain of doubt. What do you do? 310 00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:32,360 Well, can't go around, it's too far. 311 00:21:33,480 --> 00:21:39,200 Don't want to quit. The only way around is through 312 00:21:40,320 --> 00:21:42,840 prayers like the one Habakkuk is praying. 313 00:21:43,120 --> 00:21:47,640 Prayers of lament are like dynamite that explode away 314 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:52,000 through the mountain so that your faith can keep going. 315 00:21:52,880 --> 00:22:00,040 Lament is how your faith finds a way through the mountain of pain 316 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,200 and suffering. As we saw two sermons ago, 317 00:22:04,480 --> 00:22:07,440 lament is prayer in pain that leads to trust. 318 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:14,800 It's four steps or stages are turn, complain, ask, trust, turn 319 00:22:14,800 --> 00:22:20,720 to God, start praying, complain, let him know what's wrong, ask, 320 00:22:20,840 --> 00:22:23,440 make a petition, make your request, what do you need from 321 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,200 Him and trust resolve to wait patiently. 322 00:22:28,120 --> 00:22:30,920 Here in verses 12 and 13, we see back and clearly do those first 323 00:22:30,920 --> 00:22:35,240 two turn complain. This time his complaint takes 324 00:22:35,240 --> 00:22:37,720 the form of a question. It's what's bothering him, so he 325 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,520 gets it off his chest by asking God. 326 00:22:41,760 --> 00:22:45,360 Do any of God's ways not make sense to you right now? 327 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:48,920 Is there any sorrow or suffering in your life that's so big that 328 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,240 it makes it hard for your faith to reach past it and keep 329 00:22:51,480 --> 00:22:54,960 clinging to God? If that's even remotely the 330 00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:58,320 case, what you need to do is wrestle with God. 331 00:22:59,200 --> 00:23:02,760 Confess your trust and confusion, and in order to do 332 00:23:02,760 --> 00:23:06,240 that, you need to carve out time for unhurried prayer. 333 00:23:06,960 --> 00:23:09,960 You need to give yourself time before the Lord to gather the 334 00:23:09,960 --> 00:23:12,320 broken pieces of your soul together and present them to 335 00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,840 Him. You need to take time to pour 336 00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:19,360 out your heart to God in prayer. You can't do that if you're not 337 00:23:19,360 --> 00:23:24,000 praying at all, and it's really hard to do that in two rush 338 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:25,320 minutes just before you're getting out the door and 339 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,400 starting the work. Set aside time to wrestle with 340 00:23:29,400 --> 00:23:32,520 God in prayer. There's all the difference in 341 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:36,000 the world between a question rattling around your head and a 342 00:23:36,000 --> 00:23:39,080 question you utter to God. There's all the difference in 343 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:41,520 the world between pain that keeps tearing you apart inside 344 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,520 and pain you pour out to God. Questions that only rattle 345 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:51,160 around your head will eventually harm you. 346 00:23:52,440 --> 00:23:58,000 Questions that you pour out to God will eventually help you. 347 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:03,160 When God's ways don't make sense, confess your trust and 348 00:24:03,160 --> 00:24:07,280 confusion. And it helps to name the sources 349 00:24:07,280 --> 00:24:09,760 of your confusion as specifically as you can. 350 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,280 Which brings us to .2. Lament the evils you see. 351 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:22,200 When God's ways don't make sense, lament the evils you see. 352 00:24:23,320 --> 00:24:25,440 That's what Habakkuk does in verses 14 to 17. 353 00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,840 Here's verse 14. You make mankind like the fish 354 00:24:30,840 --> 00:24:33,880 of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. 355 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:36,920 Here Habakkuk takes God at his word. 356 00:24:37,400 --> 00:24:40,760 The Lord says he's raising up the Babylonians to trample down 357 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,400 other kingdoms of the earth and come take Judah captive. 358 00:24:43,400 --> 00:24:45,200 And what are the Babylonians doing? 359 00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:48,040 They're they're hauling in captives like fish in a net. 360 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,760 They're turning humanity into an undifferentiated mass of 361 00:24:51,760 --> 00:24:53,280 victims. Like you would just take a huge 362 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:57,000 catch of fish and dump them all out on the seashore. 363 00:24:57,600 --> 00:24:59,600 This is a reversal of the created order. 364 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:04,600 According to Genesis 126 and 27. God created the human race and 365 00:25:04,600 --> 00:25:07,920 appointed us rulers over, among other things, the fish of the 366 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,280 sea and the animals that creep or crawl on the ground. 367 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:17,120 But the Babylonians demote and degrade human beings so that we 368 00:25:17,120 --> 00:25:19,640 become like the creatures we should be ruling over. 369 00:25:20,520 --> 00:25:24,960 How can God preside over this reversal of creation? 370 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:32,840 How can God ordain and tolerate this degradation of humanity? 371 00:25:34,720 --> 00:25:38,320 In verses 15 to 17, Habakkuk goes into more detail about the 372 00:25:38,320 --> 00:25:42,320 Babylonians injustice and idolatry. 373 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:46,680 Verse 15, he brings all of them up with a hook. 374 00:25:46,680 --> 00:25:50,280 He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet. 375 00:25:50,280 --> 00:25:55,480 So he rejoices and is glad Habakkuk continues to use 376 00:25:55,480 --> 00:25:59,000 fishing as a metaphor for Babylon's military conquests. 377 00:26:00,280 --> 00:26:04,440 But it isn't only a metaphor. One particularly cruel practice 378 00:26:04,440 --> 00:26:06,960 the ancient Babylonians had was that when they captured people 379 00:26:06,960 --> 00:26:10,400 in war, they would sometimes stick a fishhook through their 380 00:26:10,400 --> 00:26:14,000 lower lip and then string them together and lead them back to 381 00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:15,920 Babylon. Single file. 382 00:26:18,560 --> 00:26:21,400 The three actions mentioned in verse 15 are an escalating 383 00:26:21,400 --> 00:26:24,040 series. First fishing with a lion and 384 00:26:24,040 --> 00:26:27,160 hook, then a net like what a couple of people might throw out 385 00:26:27,160 --> 00:26:29,440 of a boat. And then a dragnet which is 386 00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:31,920 hundreds of feet wide and you would use it to trawl along the 387 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:35,280 the floor of a river or an ocean and just gather up every single 388 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,960 living creature that got in the way of the net. 389 00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,160 That's what the Babylonians terrifying military conquests 390 00:26:41,160 --> 00:26:43,720 were like. Nothing could escape from their 391 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:50,120 net. Sin dehumanizes its victims. 392 00:26:51,160 --> 00:26:55,120 It refuses to treat them with the dignity they deserve. 393 00:26:55,840 --> 00:27:00,680 Every sin against another human being is ultimately a failure to 394 00:27:00,680 --> 00:27:04,240 recognize the image of God in them all. 395 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,200 Sin against another person, in one way or another, treats its 396 00:27:08,200 --> 00:27:15,760 victim as less than human. In what ways are you ever 397 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:21,120 tempted to use or degrade other people to get what you want? 398 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,400 Verse 15 says that this dehumanizing, greedy plunder 399 00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,000 made the Babylonians happy. They rejoiced in it. 400 00:27:32,680 --> 00:27:34,880 They rejoiced in their cruelty, and they also rejoiced in what 401 00:27:34,880 --> 00:27:39,000 it got them. Verse 16 Therefore he sacrifices 402 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:41,480 to his Nets and makes offerings to his dragnets. 403 00:27:41,480 --> 00:27:45,280 For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. 404 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,800 So this is this is picturing the Babylonians offering religious 405 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,120 worship to their implements of war. 406 00:27:52,720 --> 00:27:54,280 It's a metaphor. It's a parody. 407 00:27:55,040 --> 00:27:59,840 Their military net and dragnet effectively became their gods. 408 00:28:00,120 --> 00:28:03,480 They were their means of plundering helpless peoples. 409 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:06,440 As we saw last week in verse 11, they worshiped their own 410 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:08,560 military strength. They worshiped. 411 00:28:08,560 --> 00:28:12,520 We gave them victory and wealth. Their gods supplied their 412 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:17,480 appetites, and so their victories hardened them in their 413 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,400 idolatry. Hey, look, these gods are great. 414 00:28:21,000 --> 00:28:24,080 They keep coming in clutch for us, keep getting us what we 415 00:28:24,080 --> 00:28:27,560 want. They worshipped what gave them 416 00:28:27,760 --> 00:28:34,640 prosperity and pleasure. As we see in verses 15 and 16, 417 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:39,640 idolatry and injustice always go hand in hand. 418 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:41,720 Here. The Chaldeans, the Babylonians, 419 00:28:41,720 --> 00:28:43,840 express the very essence of idolatry. 420 00:28:43,840 --> 00:28:47,840 As Paul says in Romans 125, they worshipped and served the 421 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:51,080 creature rather than the Creator. 422 00:28:51,960 --> 00:28:55,280 They don't just dehumanize others, there's slavery to their 423 00:28:55,280 --> 00:29:00,240 passions, and their worship of idols dehumanize themselves. 424 00:29:01,200 --> 00:29:03,960 Habakkuk clearly sees this is all wrong. 425 00:29:05,400 --> 00:29:07,760 Does God see it too? He must. 426 00:29:08,240 --> 00:29:10,440 He has to. He's God. 427 00:29:10,720 --> 00:29:13,200 But then why doesn't he do something about it? 428 00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:15,560 Why does he let it keep happening? 429 00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:18,680 That's a backwards question in verse 17. 430 00:29:20,480 --> 00:29:25,240 Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing 431 00:29:25,240 --> 00:29:28,600 nations forever? Rinse, wash, repeat. 432 00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:30,840 Is Babylon just going to keep getting away with it? 433 00:29:31,680 --> 00:29:35,880 Here again, we see Habakkuk's mixture of trust and confusion. 434 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:38,800 It's not that his faith is weak, but that it's desperate. 435 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:43,440 Habakkuk is perplexed, but he's not driven to despair. 436 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:48,000 The fact that Habakkuk asked God a question reveals that he's 437 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:52,880 still at a loss. But the fact that Habakkuk asks 438 00:29:52,880 --> 00:29:56,200 God a question shows that he hasn't given up. 439 00:29:57,040 --> 00:30:00,960 He isn't walking away. He refuses to release his grip 440 00:30:00,960 --> 00:30:02,760 on God. Instead, amid all of his 441 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:04,520 confusion, he clings even tighter. 442 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:08,800 Habakkuk's question is itself a way for him to cling to God 443 00:30:08,800 --> 00:30:11,840 instead of falling away. Habakkuk's question is a way of 444 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:15,120 saying, like Jacob wrestling with the Angel, I will not let 445 00:30:15,120 --> 00:30:20,400 you go until you bless me. Habakkuk believes that God is 446 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:21,640 good. He believes that God is 447 00:30:21,640 --> 00:30:23,640 sovereign. He believes that God is holy. 448 00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:26,560 He just can't square that with what God is doing. 449 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:30,880 And so he asks, he asks the sovereign Lord of the universe 450 00:30:30,880 --> 00:30:33,840 how long he's going to let evil people get away with it. 451 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,920 Do you see the pressure built up in Habakkuk's soul? 452 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:43,800 He's crushed between strong opposing forces. 453 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,200 On the one hand is God's holiness, God's sovereignty, 454 00:30:46,200 --> 00:30:48,440 God's goodness. On the other hand is the evil of 455 00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:50,800 the Babylonians, their wickedness, their idolatry. 456 00:30:50,800 --> 00:30:52,000 They just keep getting away with it. 457 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:56,840 And Habakkuk is crushed between. The pressure is intense. 458 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:02,520 It's unbearable. What opposing forces are causing 459 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:05,000 pressure in your soul to build up? 460 00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,200 What suffering and confusion are squeezing you and causing 461 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:16,640 spiritual pain? Remember, lament is a divinely 462 00:31:16,640 --> 00:31:20,480 provided release valve for your soul. 463 00:31:20,920 --> 00:31:26,200 Lament is godly venting. Mulling on your own thoughts 464 00:31:26,200 --> 00:31:29,240 won't release the pressure. Telling another person might 465 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,240 help some, but it won't do the whole trick. 466 00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:35,000 The only way to relieve that dangerous buildup of conflicting 467 00:31:35,080 --> 00:31:38,520 forces in your own soul is to let it all out to God. 468 00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:43,320 If you struggle to pray, and especially if you struggle to 469 00:31:43,320 --> 00:31:45,880 pray in a more personal way like this, like Habakkuk's doing, 470 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,240 here's my advice. The easiest way I can think of 471 00:31:49,240 --> 00:31:54,920 to start praying more and to pray more earnestly is to find 472 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,240 the pressure points in your soul and release them through lament. 473 00:31:59,880 --> 00:32:03,960 Go where the pressure has built up and turn on the vent. 474 00:32:06,040 --> 00:32:09,120 When you go to a doctor with some acute pain, what are the 475 00:32:09,120 --> 00:32:13,720 first two questions they ask? Where does it hurt and how much? 476 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:19,840 Find the places in your soul that hurt the most and tell God. 477 00:32:20,840 --> 00:32:23,600 Tell them where it hurts. Tell them how much. 478 00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,840 Tell them why. Then what do you do? 479 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:33,440 Once you've wrestled with God like that, once you've confessed 480 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:36,240 your trust and confusion and you've lamented the evils you 481 00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,560 see, what do you do? There's only one thing to do. 482 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:45,640 Point #3 wait for God's answer. That's what Habakkuk does in 483 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,240 chapter 2, verse 1. And that's what we all need to 484 00:32:48,240 --> 00:32:52,200 do. Wait for God's answer. 485 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,600 Here's chapter 2, verse one. I will take my stand at my watch 486 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:04,840 post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what 487 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:11,280 He will say to me and what I will answer concerning my 488 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:17,520 complaint in the book so far. Habakkuk prayed and the Lord 489 00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:20,000 answered. The Lord's answer was troubling, 490 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,520 so Habakkuk prayed again. What do you do when you've 491 00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:26,560 committed the burden of your heart to the Lord in prayer? 492 00:33:28,000 --> 00:33:31,120 You wait for Him. You wait for Him to answer. 493 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:36,640 If you've given the problem to the Lord, then waiting on Him is 494 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:38,680 how you leave the problem with Him. 495 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:41,640 You don't try to take it back. Don't start worrying again. 496 00:33:42,400 --> 00:33:48,240 Instead of worrying, wait. When Patrick says he's going to 497 00:33:48,240 --> 00:33:51,400 stand at his watch post and wait on his tower, he's using 498 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,760 metaphorical language. He's not necessarily referring 499 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:57,040 to some architectural feature of ancient Jerusalem that was like 500 00:33:57,040 --> 00:33:59,760 the watchtower part set aside for profits or something like 501 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:01,760 that. Instead, he's saying, 502 00:34:01,760 --> 00:34:05,440 spiritually speaking, he's going to get into a posture where he 503 00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:08,920 can watch and wait. He's going to get into a posture 504 00:34:08,920 --> 00:34:14,239 where he can prepare for God to speak to him, where he can see 505 00:34:14,239 --> 00:34:20,280 clearly far off, so that he can receive whatever the Lord will 506 00:34:20,280 --> 00:34:22,440 reveal. That's what he's looking out 507 00:34:22,440 --> 00:34:23,880 for. As the second-half of the verse 508 00:34:23,880 --> 00:34:26,679 tells us, Habakkuk is not going to watch for troop movements. 509 00:34:26,679 --> 00:34:31,360 Instead, he will watch for what he will say to me. 510 00:34:32,199 --> 00:34:35,239 How will God answer him? Not only that, but in the very 511 00:34:35,239 --> 00:34:39,560 last phrase Habakkuk tells us, he's preparing for how he will 512 00:34:39,560 --> 00:34:44,400 answer once God answers. When Habakkuk says what I will 513 00:34:44,400 --> 00:34:47,880 answer concerning my complaint, he's thinking 2 steps ahead in 514 00:34:47,880 --> 00:34:50,560 the conversation. He's confident God will answer 515 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:55,159 his complaint, and so he's preparing his soul to be able to 516 00:34:55,159 --> 00:34:59,520 answer appropriately once God answers him. 517 00:35:01,240 --> 00:35:04,640 Do you know anything of this kind of intimate back and forth 518 00:35:04,720 --> 00:35:08,720 with God himself? It's a worn out cliche, but it's 519 00:35:08,720 --> 00:35:11,680 still true. At the heart of Christianity is 520 00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,400 a personal relationship with God. 521 00:35:16,320 --> 00:35:19,000 Does your relationship to God include pouring out your heart 522 00:35:19,000 --> 00:35:22,000 to him and waiting for him to answer? 523 00:35:22,960 --> 00:35:25,440 The Bible takes for granted that this kind of personal 524 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:28,960 interaction with God is a basic part of what it means to be one 525 00:35:28,960 --> 00:35:33,320 of his people. Habakkuk's resolve to wait for 526 00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:37,400 God's answer shows that his questions were genuine. 527 00:35:37,880 --> 00:35:40,400 Habakkuk's posture of waiting shows his humility. 528 00:35:41,200 --> 00:35:44,120 It shows his teachability. It shows that he wasn't 529 00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:47,320 pronouncing judgement on God, but pouring out his broken heart 530 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:52,200 and broken head to God. Now Habakkuk was waiting for the 531 00:35:52,200 --> 00:35:55,680 Lord to speak to him audibly in the form of a message he could 532 00:35:55,680 --> 00:35:58,520 pass on to Judah because that was his role as a prophet. 533 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:02,600 Now, we're not prophets, so we don't expect God to speak to us 534 00:36:02,600 --> 00:36:06,080 in precisely the same way. But here are three ways that God 535 00:36:06,080 --> 00:36:10,440 can answer your waiting. Here are three potential answers 536 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:14,240 from God to wait for, and the third that's clean up. 537 00:36:14,360 --> 00:36:17,960 So if the first two don't get hit, the third will. 538 00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:22,280 First, He can illumine your understanding. 539 00:36:23,200 --> 00:36:26,320 So keep praying and waiting. Keep studying scripture. 540 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:31,240 Keep asking God to instruct you. If your problem is in any way an 541 00:36:31,240 --> 00:36:36,280 intellectual one, trust that God Himself, by his Spirit within 542 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:40,600 you, can give you understanding. Pray for that illumination. 543 00:36:42,160 --> 00:36:47,240 Secondly, God can answer your prayers. 544 00:36:47,680 --> 00:36:49,920 He can heal the illness that's wearing you down. 545 00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,800 He can repair the broken relationship that's breaking 546 00:36:52,800 --> 00:36:55,520 your heart. He can remove the evil or 547 00:36:55,520 --> 00:36:57,360 affliction that's weighing on you so heavily. 548 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:03,880 And even if He doesn't, He can support you and bear you up in 549 00:37:03,880 --> 00:37:08,840 the midst of it. He can enable you to bear up 550 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:14,040 with His strength when your own strength has run clean out. 551 00:37:14,960 --> 00:37:17,920 God might answer your prayer by removing the thorn in the flesh. 552 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,960 He might answer your prayer by making His grace sufficient for 553 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,560 you. Each one is an answer to prayer. 554 00:37:25,280 --> 00:37:29,360 Each one is from God. Each one is to be received with 555 00:37:29,360 --> 00:37:32,240 thanks. Third. 556 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:40,400 Finally, one day God will eternally shine the light of 557 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,000 glory into your mind and heart and drive out all darkness. 558 00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:49,880 One day Christ will return. One day the dead will be raised. 559 00:37:50,120 --> 00:37:53,520 One day creation itself will be set free from its groaning. 560 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:57,000 And when the glory of God that fills all of the new creation 561 00:37:57,000 --> 00:38:02,280 fills your mind and heart, all questioning and struggling will 562 00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,880 be done. All questions will either be 563 00:38:04,880 --> 00:38:08,920 answered or simply disappear into irrelevance in the light of 564 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:14,680 God's face. That perspective from the light 565 00:38:14,680 --> 00:38:18,920 of glory looking back is what we sang in our preparation. 566 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:20,640 Music in the sands of time are sinking. 567 00:38:21,520 --> 00:38:26,000 How will all this waiting look when it's over? 568 00:38:27,440 --> 00:38:28,880 It would look like the blink of an eye. 569 00:38:29,760 --> 00:38:32,000 It will have been more than worth it. 570 00:38:33,000 --> 00:38:36,200 As we sang in verse four. With mercy and with judgment. 571 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:41,520 My web of time he wove, and a the dews of sorrow were lustred 572 00:38:41,520 --> 00:38:46,360 with his love. I'll bless the hand that guided, 573 00:38:48,680 --> 00:38:54,560 I'll bless the heart that planned when throned, where 574 00:38:54,560 --> 00:38:59,240 glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. 575 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:03,800 What are you waiting for? You're waiting for illumination. 576 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:09,040 You're waiting for an answer. You're waiting for glory. 577 00:39:09,760 --> 00:39:14,240 One way or another, God will drive out the darkness. 578 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,960 But how do you wait? Our fallen nature finds it hard 579 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,040 to wait for anything, and our culture's obsession with instant 580 00:39:22,040 --> 00:39:24,720 gratification only makes waiting for anything harder. 581 00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:28,920 We often wrongly think of waiting as simply being passive, 582 00:39:29,240 --> 00:39:31,680 not doing anything at all. But that's not what the Bible 583 00:39:31,680 --> 00:39:35,080 means by waiting. Instead of waiting, according to 584 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,640 Scripture, is active. It's steadfast. 585 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:40,160 It's patiently hoping in God's promises. 586 00:39:40,760 --> 00:39:43,040 Here's how Mark Frogop defines waiting in his book. 587 00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:47,440 Waiting isn't a waste. Waiting on God is living on what 588 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:51,240 I know to be true about God when I don't know what's true about 589 00:39:51,240 --> 00:39:53,720 my life. That is exactly what Habakkuk's 590 00:39:53,720 --> 00:39:55,840 doing in verse one. It's exactly what Habakkuk's 591 00:39:55,840 --> 00:39:59,520 doing throughout our passage. Some of you may know that the 592 00:39:59,520 --> 00:40:04,160 only sport I have any talent in whatsoever is surfing, if that's 593 00:40:04,160 --> 00:40:09,080 even a sport. Surfing is 90% waiting. 594 00:40:09,760 --> 00:40:12,880 You're out there trying to catch a wave and the ocean has to send 595 00:40:12,880 --> 00:40:16,760 them to you. There is so much sitting and 596 00:40:16,760 --> 00:40:20,480 waiting and surfing, but the waiting is very active. 597 00:40:20,880 --> 00:40:23,800 You're always scanning the horizon to see swells coming in 598 00:40:23,800 --> 00:40:26,120 from afar. You're always tracking how those 599 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:27,920 swells are shaping up as they get closer. 600 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,360 You're you're paddling around to try to get into the exact right 601 00:40:30,360 --> 00:40:32,760 position so that you can be exactly where you need to be 602 00:40:32,840 --> 00:40:35,160 when the wave comes. Or you're looking at the the 603 00:40:35,160 --> 00:40:38,520 weather, the wind, the tide, the crowds. 604 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:40,760 You're always scanning, always watching. 605 00:40:41,120 --> 00:40:45,080 It's so much waiting, but it's a very active waiting. 606 00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,480 The Christian life, too, is 90% waiting. 607 00:40:51,160 --> 00:40:53,280 Watching and waiting so that you're prepared to respond. 608 00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:57,760 Watching and waiting so that you can act well when God answers. 609 00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,440 Watching and waiting prepares you to receive God's answer and 610 00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:04,120 reorder your life accordingly when it comes. 611 00:41:05,080 --> 00:41:08,080 Kids in the congregation, what are you waiting for? 612 00:41:09,080 --> 00:41:11,800 A birthday? The end of school? 613 00:41:12,480 --> 00:41:16,960 The trip to the zoo? Waiting can be hard, especially 614 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:21,600 for little ones among us. But kids, you can be very good 615 00:41:21,600 --> 00:41:27,560 examples of active waiting. Have you ever counted down the 616 00:41:27,560 --> 00:41:33,240 days till Christmas? Have you ever made a paper chain 617 00:41:33,240 --> 00:41:36,080 to prepare for the last day of school before summer? 618 00:41:36,800 --> 00:41:38,960 Have you ever walked around telling everybody you see that 619 00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:40,840 it's only 18 days until my birthday? 620 00:41:42,720 --> 00:41:49,200 Kids, you wait very actively and it Let's say you're a believer. 621 00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:50,880 Let's say you keep walking with the Lord. 622 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:59,400 Let's say you get to be. 20253035404550 The longer you 623 00:41:59,400 --> 00:42:03,760 walk with the Lord, the more you'll see how much of the 624 00:42:03,760 --> 00:42:09,520 Christian life is waiting and that waiting should be eager, it 625 00:42:09,520 --> 00:42:13,480 should be expectant. It should be watching to see how 626 00:42:13,480 --> 00:42:18,920 the Lord will work in response to our laments. 627 00:42:19,840 --> 00:42:26,280 If you quit waiting on the Lord, if you decide that He won't be 628 00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:29,760 answering and so you can't keep believing anymore in a hidden 629 00:42:29,760 --> 00:42:35,200 God, what will you gain? Will your suffering go away? 630 00:42:37,240 --> 00:42:41,360 Will you draw comfort from thinking that your suffering has 631 00:42:41,360 --> 00:42:46,120 no purpose? Will you be consoled by the 632 00:42:46,120 --> 00:42:50,840 conviction that there is no one out there who can finally fix 633 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:57,760 what's wrong in your life? Brothers and sisters, how can we 634 00:42:57,760 --> 00:43:02,080 wait faithfully on the Lord to watch and wait as Scripture 635 00:43:02,080 --> 00:43:04,640 teaches us to? We have to stop paying attention 636 00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:07,520 to our own constantly spinning thoughts. 637 00:43:08,200 --> 00:43:10,360 You have to stop listening to certain voices in your head. 638 00:43:10,800 --> 00:43:14,600 You have to refuse to game out certain scenarios over and over 639 00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:18,040 and over again. Swayed on God means to trust him 640 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:21,080 with your problem. You have committed it to Him. 641 00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:23,480 You've handed it over. It's in his care. 642 00:43:23,640 --> 00:43:26,520 He's got the ball. He's calling the next play. 643 00:43:27,000 --> 00:43:31,760 Your job is to be ready when he does, as Martyn Lloyd Jones put 644 00:43:31,760 --> 00:43:34,120 it. Now here's one of the most 645 00:43:34,120 --> 00:43:37,000 important principles in the psychology of the Christian 646 00:43:37,000 --> 00:43:41,000 life, or the understanding of how to fight in the spiritual 647 00:43:41,000 --> 00:43:44,640 conflict. Once we have taken a problem to 648 00:43:44,640 --> 00:43:47,840 God, we should cease to concern ourselves with it. 649 00:43:48,160 --> 00:43:53,880 We should turn our backs upon it and center our gaze upon God. 650 00:43:54,600 --> 00:44:01,960 If you take the problem to God, leave it with God. 651 00:44:03,760 --> 00:44:07,200 One of the reasons God acts in such strange and mysterious ways 652 00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,560 is to wean us off our own reason and humble us before Him. 653 00:44:12,720 --> 00:44:16,400 To wait for the Lord is to quit demanding that His ways answer 654 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:20,560 to the bar of your reason. To wait for the Lord is to rise 655 00:44:20,560 --> 00:44:26,440 above all your circumstances and to gaze down on them from the 656 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:33,640 perspective of heaven. What problem do you need to 657 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:36,040 bring to the Lord and leave with Him? 658 00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:41,440 What are you waiting on Him for? How can you wait for him? 659 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:44,600 Well, those would be good questions to discuss with 660 00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:47,880 another church member, even over lunch at our potluck or during 661 00:44:47,880 --> 00:44:50,840 the week. Good questions to meditate on as 662 00:44:50,840 --> 00:44:53,000 you think about. How can I encourage A fellow 663 00:44:53,000 --> 00:44:55,960 member? What might they be so burdened 664 00:44:55,960 --> 00:44:57,920 with that it's even hard for them to give it over to the 665 00:44:57,920 --> 00:45:01,960 Lord? How can I wait patiently with 666 00:45:01,960 --> 00:45:08,000 them and for them, and help them keep waiting on the Lord? 667 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:11,240 What should you do when God's ways don't make sense? 668 00:45:12,040 --> 00:45:14,960 Wrestle with him. Then wait for him. 669 00:45:16,200 --> 00:45:20,840 Wrestle with God because he is both sovereign and loving. 670 00:45:21,440 --> 00:45:24,600 He rules this universe, and He delights to answer our prayers. 671 00:45:26,720 --> 00:45:30,320 Why should you wait for God? Because He always keeps His 672 00:45:30,320 --> 00:45:32,880 promises. In the Lord's Supper that we're 673 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:35,760 about to celebrate, we commemorate all the promises 674 00:45:35,760 --> 00:45:39,920 that God fulfilled in the death of Christ, and we look forward 675 00:45:40,840 --> 00:45:42,960 to the fulfillment of His promise to bring us into His 676 00:45:42,960 --> 00:45:45,760 presence so that we can feast with Him. 677 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:55,120 We look forward to celebrating with Him when all are waiting is 678 00:45:55,120 --> 00:45:59,480 over. And in that confidence, until 679 00:45:59,480 --> 00:46:05,640 then we can cry out. I will wait for you, surely. 680 00:46:05,640 --> 00:46:10,480 Wait for you till my soul is satisfied. 681 00:46:11,480 --> 00:46:18,800 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You 682 00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:24,880 for being such a gracious, merciful, patient Father that we 683 00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:32,400 can pour out our cries to You, we can sharply question you, and 684 00:46:32,400 --> 00:46:35,040 we know that we can wait for You. 685 00:46:36,440 --> 00:46:41,640 Father, we pray that you would grant us to commit our souls to 686 00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:48,680 you, to entrust our burdens to You, and to wait and watch you 687 00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,920 work in Jesus name, Amen.