to be here. Good getting to see everybody, catch up. So yeah, I just love being here.
It's great. Today's sermon is on Habakkuk. We're going to be looking at the whole book of Habakkuk.
It's a book that I love a lot. I know about four years ago. I preached on that book,
chapter 3, verses 17 through 19, the end portion that Christian just read for us.
So I wanted to return to it and look at it again because it's such a good book just for teaching
us about the faith that we can have in the Lord. And I hope that it's a blessing to hear from this
book from God's Word today. So I've got a question for you as we're starting out. Who here is bound
to a routine? Get a show of hands. Who's bound to a routine? We've got a lot of people in here
who love a good routine. Alex especially, I know this, he's pointing at himself. And most of us
who like routines, we really like a good routine because it provides a sense of stability. It provides
a sense of security. And it provides a certain predictability to life. But what happens when
that routine is interrupted? For me, when that routine is interrupted, it feels like the day's
over from the very start. Everything's off. The balance is off. And I feel totally lost through
the rest of the day. And if we think on a bigger scale, not just with our plans for our days or
for our weeks, but our plans for our lives, what happens when God interrupts what we think is the
plan for our life? What happens when we encounter circumstances that we never thought God had planned
for us? And what do we do when God doesn't keep things stable the way we thought he would?
Enter the prophet, prophet Habakkuk. The prophet who had the very same question.
After Israel split in half after the reign of Solomon, we know that these two kingdoms slowly
declined and degenerated. And after a while, the northern kingdom of Israel was judged by God
through the nation of Assyria. And if we look at the southern kingdom of Judah, we'll see the prophet
Habakkuk there in Judah as the kingdom got worse and worse and worse. And Habakkuk,
being a godly man, was rightly frustrated and concerned at all the evil he saw among the people
in Judah. He knew that God had promised that he would bless his people and crush the power of Satan
through them one day. So he asked himself, how could it be that God would let Judah become more
sinful day after day? And this is what the book of Habakkuk does. The book details Habakkuk's
wrestling with God's plan. Habakkuk's wrestling with the Lord serves as an example to all believers
for dealing with confusion and frustration, teaching us that we can have an unshakable faith
in our Almighty God. In chapter one, verses one through four, we see Habakkuk laying out his
complaint, especially in verse four, where he says, so the law is paralyzed and justice never goes
forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. Habakkuk sees the
problem of sin in his day and he cries out to God, why aren't you doing something about this? Where
are you, Lord? Why do you let Judah become worse and worse day after day? God wants us to see the
example of Habakkuk's prayer because he wants us to see the example of a faithful believer bringing
an impassioned complaint before the Lord. And as we study this passage, we should see that God
does not want us to hide our frustration with his plan. He wants us to bring it to him in prayer.
And this is what we call wrestling with God. It's when we have a deep problem or frustration with
life and God's plan. And when we have those moments, we shouldn't hide our emotion, but instead we
should bring it to the Lord in prayer and listen for his response through his word.
Habakkuk was concerned about the wickedness in Judah and he wanted to see God restore his people
to right worship, but God responds in a completely unexpected way. The next part of his plan for
Judah wasn't restoration, but pain and suffering. And sometimes God deals with situations in our
lives in ways we don't expect. Sometimes we pray for healing and instead disease spreads.
We pray for evil institutions like the abortion industry and sex trafficking to end,
but instead they grow bigger, experience legal victories, and are even enshrined in state
constitutions. When we as Christians see these things happen, we should not see these shocking
events as reasons to be angry with God, but instead we should see them as a part of our conversation
with God. There's no such thing as an unanswered prayer, but there is such a thing as a prayer
answered in a way we don't expect. Sometimes God responds to our prayers in ways that make
absolutely no sense to us. If you read a good story, the author communicates with you through
the story. He teaches you lessons about life through the twist and turns the ups and downs
of the adventure. This is often how God teaches us. He's placed us into a living story with real
disappointments and real frustrations. These moments are not a call to frustration, but a call to
conversation. God reveals his actions to us as an opportunity to continue to wrestle. When we
don't understand, we pray and reflect. We read more of God's story in his word and we enter into
conversation with him again through prayer. I want y'all to imagine a hypothetical scenario with me.
Imagine you really care about preserving your community and protecting it from cheap urban
development. This is a very hypothetical scenario. You've been praying and working really hard to
preserve a beautiful community for generations to come, but after all this work, you lose.
The developers win and you have no hope of reversing the course.
Now, Habakkuk's got a similar deal. He's a good Old Testament scholar and he's seen God's plan for
a holy nation, for Israel to be a shining city on a hill showing the surrounding nations what God
is like. And not only has he bought into the vision, he's been working hard to fight for it.
He fights against the people who are trying to destroy Israel's holiness and he prays fervently
for God to restore Israel to this grand vision. But in the end, as he's praying, God tells him
that he's going to lose. Babylon is going to come and destroy Israel. The dream is over.
Habakkuk is shocked, saddened and confused. Look at verses 12 and 13 where Habakkuk says,
Are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. Oh Lord, you have
ordained them as a judgment and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of
purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent
when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? Habakkuk knows the character of God.
He knows that God is a God who is for the righteous and against the wicked. He knows that God
blesses those who seek him and judges those who fight against him. He knows that God is a merciful
God who spares cities for the sake of the righteous. This is why Habakkuk is so confused.
It seems like God is acting out of character in this situation and Habakkuk asks, Why is God
destroying Israel when there are still righteous people fighting for holiness? Why doesn't God
work through them and elevate the righteous rather than judging the nation as a whole?
Habakkuk knows that God has a grand plan for the nation of Israel, a plan to set them up
as an example of holy worship to all other surrounding nations. Habakkuk wanted to be a
part of fulfilling that grand vision. So why was God withholding something good and instead
sending something evil? Habakkuk doesn't understand what God is doing, but let's look at chapter
two verse one where he says, I will take my stand at my watch post and I will station myself on the
tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
You see, even though Habakkuk doesn't understand, he still approaches God in prayer with holy
reverence. This is another critical aspect of wrestling with the Lord. Habakkuk doesn't understand
what God is doing, but throughout his second complaint, he expects that God will prove himself
to be good in the end. At the beginning of verses 12 and 13, he clings to the promises of God and
accepts that God's judgment is good. Even though he expresses his questions in the middle section
of these verses, he again takes a posture of trust in chapter two verse one. Habakkuk doesn't assume
that God is evil just because he can't figure out what God is doing. Habakkuk truly believes
that even though God's actions are confusing, God will prove himself to be just in the end.
When we wrestle with God through situations and problems that we don't understand,
we should take the same mindset, the mindset that even in confusion,
we must trust that in the end, God will prove himself to be good. In debilitating illness,
the Christian says, I know that in the end, I will be thankful for what God has done.
So Lord, I trust you even in the pain. When faced with death in the family,
the Christian says, in the end, I know that I will be thankful for what God has done.
Therefore, I will keep trusting God even in the sorrow.
When faced with long periods of waiting for something good, maybe to have children or
grandchildren or the salvation of a family member, the Christian says, Lord, I know
that when all is said and done, you will prove yourself to be good. Therefore,
I will trust you in the waiting. In periods of confusion, frustration and sorrow,
Christians can trust that God will prove himself to be good in the end.
Let's say that one more time. In periods of confusion, frustration and sorrow,
Christians can trust that God will prove himself good in the end.
In Habakkuk's case, God does something special. God shows him a vision of what's to come.
He gives Habakkuk a sneak peek into what he's doing in all of these confusing moments.
Let's look again at chapter two, verses two through five.
And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.
For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will come.
Wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up.
It is not upright within him. But the righteous shall live by his faith.
Moreover, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. His greed is as wide as shield.
His death has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and collects as his own all peoples.
God's response to Habakkuk in these verses has three sections. The first section begins with
a declaration of the greatness and surety of his plan. The last section is a declaration of the
surety and of the downfall of the wicked. And in the very center is God's plan for the righteous.
The first section, it declares the greatness and surety of God's plan.
In verses two and three of chapter two, God tells Habakkuk that his plan is great. It will be one
of the great moments in history that must be recorded and must be written down. And it will be
written so clearly that even a running messenger will be able to read it. God tells Habakkuk
that in his time this plan hasn't come yet, but it's a plan worth waiting for. It's a plan that
will unfold perfectly and perfectly on time. Nothing will happen out of order. This is the
surety and greatness of God's plan. Now that was the first section. And this is the last section
of these verses in God's message to Habakkuk. This last section of God's plan is in verse five.
The desires of the wicked may have won, but their desires are their downfall.
Their arrogance and evil ambition, these things that propelled them to the top, never feel like
they're high enough. These, this arrogance and evil ambition will drive them to work harder and
harder, but they will never find rest. These evil doers will never sleep peacefully at night.
And the greed, the greed that got them their wealth, it will devour them like death, like shield.
Their greed will always want more from them. And in the end, it will consume them. But what's in the
center? In the center is one of the deep and ancient truths of God's word. The wicked have no
stability. They are puffed up on an unstable foundation that will not survive the judgment of
God. Yet the righteous, the righteous have a foundation that will not be destroyed. Faith.
The foundation of faith will survive the judgment of God. Now there's something shocking about this
passage that we as Christians have to wrestle with. The difference between Christians and non-
Christians isn't that one experiences the curse of sin and the other doesn't. The difference
between Christians and non-Christians is that the non-Christian is destroyed by the curse,
and the Christian isn't, all because of faith. Faith in God is what saves us from the
curse of sin. And later on in the Bible, as God reveals more of his plan, we learn that it is
faith in Jesus, God's ultimate plan that saves us from the curse of sin. This is a sobering
truth in this context. God is telling Habakkuk that the Babylonians are still coming.
They're coming with their swift horses and their violent warriors. They're coming to steal the land
and enact evil laws. But the righteous will live. They will survive through their faith.
In all things, this affects how we as Christians pray. Instead of first praying,
Lord, fix this situation. We pray, Lord, help me to trust your plan in this situation.
Faith, not our circumstances, is our source of security.
God gave us a great example of this kind of faith in George Mueller. George Mueller was a
German man in London who felt God's call to found an orphanage for the poor, homeless children of
the city. He never asked for money and they never went hungry. Year in and year out, they survived
and God provided for their needs as they prayed in faith. George Mueller embodied these verses
from 1 Timothy, chapter six. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing
into the world and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing,
with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare,
into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. It is through this craving that some
have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. We as Christians
need to remember what God has promised. God has not promised us wealth and prosperity in this world,
but he has promised us that we will survive the pain and suffering of this world.
If we have faith in wealth and prosperity as a source of comfort and security,
then our lives will constantly be crashing down. It will be on an unstable foundation.
But if we have faith in God, faith in God as our source of hope and security, then we will never
want anything. We will be like the tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season.
God the Lord will be our strength and he will give us the faith to walk through rocky places.
Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.
For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God and if it begins with us,
what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is
scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? Therefore let those who suffer
according to God's will entrust their souls to a faithful creator while doing good.
First Peter 4, 16 through 19.
God continues to reveal more to Habakkuk in the rest of chapter two and he details exactly how
he will judge Babylon for the evil they will do. God walks through every evil action of the Babylonians
and shows that at every turn he will punish them with the very same punishment they gave to others.
And after Habakkuk hears about God's plan, he prays this in chapter three, verse two,
oh Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, oh Lord, do I fear? In the midst of the years
revive it. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath, remember mercy. After hearing about God's
plan and what he is going to do, Habakkuk is brought to his knees. He doesn't fear the Babylonians
anymore. Now he fears the Lord. He says that God's work is good and prays for mercy in the midst of
the pain that is to come. Then Habakkuk does something that I really love. He spends the rest
of chapter three praying a prayer describing the wonder of God's plan. He describes God marching
out from the mountains just east of Israel. God is on the warpath coming to destroy. His power is
great and fearsome. He shakes the ground with his steps. The ground behind him and before him looks
as if it was under the shadow of death in his judgment. But yet in all of this, the God's
vision looks as if it was under the shadow of death in his judgment. But yet in all of this,
fearsomeness, verse four tells us that even this terrifying vision was a veiled version of his great
power. We've all experienced this kind of feeling to some degree. It's the fear of something truly
terrifying. You might think of a spy experiencing this when he realizes he's been caught.
Or a child has this feeling when he or she's been caught doing something wrong by his parent.
Or a parent experiences this feeling when they realize they can't find their child.
A worker has this feeling when he sleeps through his alarm and misses an important event.
We've all experienced this emotion at some point. It's that dread of something terrifying
marching towards us. Habakkuk, after hearing about God's judgment, had this to say,
I hear and my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My
legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who
invade us. Habakkuk describes his whole body as shaking in terror, his lips quiver, his bones
become brittle, and his legs knocked together as they shake. Yet after wrestling with God,
Habakkuk has learned that even in a place of great fear, God can be trusted.
So he ends his prayer with these words, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit beyond
the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from
the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy
in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers. He
makes me tread on my high places. When we experience pain and suffering, we must remember that we
deserve the judgment of God. This truth should terrify us. Yet at the same time, we hold to the
promise of God's deliverance in faith, knowing that whatever happens, we will survive the judgment
of God upon the earth. Not every instance of pain and suffering is God's direct punishment. We learn
this through the book of Joe. However, we do know that all pain and all suffering is a result of the
first sin. And we should meet this pain with faith in God, trusting his good plan, knowing that all
he does is just, and that in the end, we will praise him for his goodness through all of it.
We stand secure in the midst of pain and suffering because we have faith in God.
Pauli Karp, a church leader in the second century, when he was faced with martyrdom at the end of
his life and told that he must recant his beliefs about Jesus and the gospel in order to not face
certain death, said this, 86 years I have served him and he has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme
my king and my savior? Throughout the ages, Christians have met every circumstance with one
cry, not a cry for God to immediately change their situation, but a cry of faith, faith that God is
good all the time. Yes, we pray for relief from pain. Yes, we pray for an end of suffering,
but in everything, we hold on to faith in God. So as we close together, let's join with our
Christian brothers and sisters throughout the ages with faith in God and his work. Let's pray together.