1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,000 Please take out your Bibles as you take a seat. There's plenty around. If you don't have a Bible, there's blue ones. They tend to sit around on the seats. 2 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:23,000 So grab yourself one if you don't have one. And as you take it, turn to the book of Habakkuk. 3 00:00:23,000 --> 00:00:30,000 Now Habakkuk is one of the hard-defined books in the Bible. It's near the end of the Old Testament. 4 00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:40,000 So it sort of goes, if you're kind of finding them, you find Ezekiel, Daniel, and then you get all kind of this whole run of books with hard names. 5 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:47,000 And out of them, Habakkuk is number eight and it's wedged between Nahum and Zephaniah. 6 00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:59,000 So you might as well get familiar with it and find it because we're going to be looking at Habakkuk this week and for the next two weeks. 7 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:12,000 And hearing God speak through this prophet. And this prophet is introduced if you've turned to it. 8 00:01:12,000 --> 00:01:24,000 If you look at the start of the book, it's in the first line. So you'll see the prophecy that Habakkuk, the prophet, received. 9 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:35,000 Okay, now we don't know anything about Habakkuk other than what it says here, that he was a prophet. 10 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:46,000 But we can see from the rest of the book that this prophecy that we get in Habakkuk, and this is going to be interesting to look at it for a couple of weeks, 11 00:01:46,000 --> 00:01:52,000 this prophecy that we get is quite different to the other prophets in the Bible. 12 00:01:52,000 --> 00:02:04,000 So generally when we read the prophets, we read things like the Lord said to Israel and then the prophet kind of delivers God's message to Israel, right? 13 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:17,000 That's kind of the work of the prophet. But here in Habakkuk we have something kind of different in that what we're going to see is that we get the prophet talking to God 14 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:25,000 and then God replying to the prophet, which is quite startling. And then it finishes actually in a psalm. 15 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:35,000 So it's quite a different prophetic book. And what we're going to do now is to read the first section. 16 00:02:35,000 --> 00:02:51,000 So we're going to be reading verses 1 to 11. And as we do this, I want you to notice that in verses 2 to 4, we have Habakkuk's kind of question or complaint to God. 17 00:02:51,000 --> 00:03:00,000 And then in verses 5 to 11, we have kind of God's response to Habakkuk. And there's going to be this. 18 00:03:00,000 --> 00:03:10,000 And then in the next section, there's going to be another exchange. But we're looking at this first exchange today. So Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 1 to 11. 19 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:25,000 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, violence, but you do not save? 20 00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:37,000 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. There is strife and conflict abounds. 21 00:03:37,000 --> 00:03:48,000 Therefore the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted. 22 00:03:48,000 --> 00:04:01,000 Look at the nations and watch. Be utterly amazed, for I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 23 00:04:01,000 --> 00:04:11,000 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. 24 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:18,000 They are a feared and dreaded people. They are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 25 00:04:18,000 --> 00:04:28,000 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong, their horsemen come from afar. 26 00:04:28,000 --> 00:04:42,000 They fly like an eagle swooping to devour. They all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 27 00:04:42,000 --> 00:04:53,000 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities. By building earthen ramps they capture them. 28 00:04:53,000 --> 00:05:06,000 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on. Guilty people whose strength is their God. Let me pray. 29 00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:14,000 Heavenly Father we pray that you open our hearts as we continue to look into your Word. 30 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:21,000 We thank you that we have this message through Habakkuk and that it can speak to us today. 31 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:31,000 We pray that you are working us by your Spirit that we may know you better. Amen. 32 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:43,000 So in this passage Habakkuk is crying out to God. He wants answers to his experience of life. 33 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:53,000 And he starts this in verse 2 with how long, Lord. And we might ask whether this is really okay. 34 00:05:53,000 --> 00:06:04,000 Is it okay for a mere human to be questioning God? And we might ask why we have this book today. 35 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:11,000 Are these answers for Habakkuk only or do they apply to us? 36 00:06:11,000 --> 00:06:21,000 Now we've only read the start and only looking at the start today. And of course you haven't had a chance to get to the end. 37 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:35,000 So there are things that I need to tell you about Habakkuk as a whole book before we get too far to kind of answer these questions about Habakkuk and his questioning of God. 38 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:44,000 So the first thing to realise is that Habakkuk grows throughout this book as he interacts with God. 39 00:06:44,000 --> 00:06:50,000 So by the end he has a deeper understanding of God and his ways than he does at the start. 40 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:58,000 And this book ends with an incredible declaration of faith. And so just actually turn over and have a look at that. 41 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:04,000 Turn over to chapter 3 and the end there, verses 17 to 19. 42 00:07:04,000 --> 00:07:08,000 This is how Habakkuk's faith finishes. He says, 43 00:07:08,000 --> 00:07:18,000 Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, 44 00:07:18,000 --> 00:07:30,000 Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 45 00:07:30,000 --> 00:07:38,000 The sovereign Lord is my strength, he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. 46 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:47,000 Right, so he grows in his understanding. The Habakkuk that we have at the start questioning God is not the Habakkuk that we have in the end with this incredible declaration. 47 00:07:47,000 --> 00:07:56,000 The second thing though, having said that, is to realise that Habakkuk is not told off in any sense for his questions. 48 00:07:56,000 --> 00:08:11,000 God actually interacts and answers them. And so we should see from this that it's okay to wrestle with God with the hard questions of life. 49 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:18,000 It's okay to take these kind of things to cry out to God in the way that Habakkuk does. 50 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:33,000 But we want to do that in the same way that Habakkuk does it. We want to do it in a way that leads us into a greater faith, a greater love, a greater knowledge of who God is. 51 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:53,000 And so there are two ways that we can go with our tragedies in life. We can face hardship and that can be a time that people can kind of turn away from God, 52 00:08:53,000 --> 00:09:06,000 that they're angry with God, that they're in such tough times. Or we can kind of use that as a time to grow in faith and to come closer to God. 53 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:16,000 So some people that we used to live in our street, but actually we used to live in their street, we moved. 54 00:09:16,000 --> 00:09:28,000 Some of our former neighbours, lovely people. They're a really young couple actually who owned their house up the road from us. 55 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:35,000 They're really into their house so you could kind of talk to them. We kind of chatted to them. 56 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:43,000 Always trying to improve things. They painted their house. They're always trying to say, we're adding value to the street. Yeah, add a bit of value to the street. 57 00:09:43,000 --> 00:09:51,000 They painted their house orange and grey. Couldn't quite see how that was adding value to the street. But that's what they're all about, these guys. 58 00:09:51,000 --> 00:10:00,000 And in some ways on the surface you kind of met them and you thought, wow, like these guys have it together. Life is going great. 59 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:13,000 But when we got to kind of know their story, they were able to own their house in the early 20s because both their parents had died. 60 00:10:13,000 --> 00:10:19,000 So both the couple, both their parents, like that's four parents that have died really early. 61 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:28,000 And we tried to talk to them about Jesus and they just did not want to know about God. 62 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:40,000 They couldn't accept that there could be a God who had caused them the sorrow and hardship that they had faced. 63 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:49,000 Other people could face that same situation and see that there is a need to have a Father in heaven. 64 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:55,000 That they could see that there is a need for life in this world. 65 00:10:55,000 --> 00:11:05,000 So as we wrestle with the tragedies that we face, we shouldn't be afraid of asking the hard questions. 66 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:20,000 And I think one of the great things about the Christian life and the Christian faith is that no matter what we go through, it just keeps making sense. 67 00:11:20,000 --> 00:11:26,000 It makes sense of our tragedies. It makes sense of the victories and the good things of life. 68 00:11:26,000 --> 00:11:34,000 It makes sense of the beauty in the world and the sorrow and all those things come together in the Gospel of Christ. 69 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:43,000 You can ask the hard questions. Don't be scared of it. The answers will be there if you seek them humbly. 70 00:11:43,000 --> 00:11:54,000 And that's what we need to do. We need to ask those questions in a humble way that submits to God's Word and so through that grow in faith. 71 00:11:54,000 --> 00:11:59,000 Which leads us to a third thing to notice as we're getting started. 72 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:06,000 And that's to think about how then does this help us? How does Habakkuk help us today? 73 00:12:06,000 --> 00:12:20,000 And it's the way that I've alluded to that it actually prepares us for suffering and injustice in the world and leads us through those things. 74 00:12:20,000 --> 00:12:29,000 So we are all in different places in our lives. Some of us are facing great hardships as we speak. 75 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:38,000 Some of us have experienced great injustices in our lives. 76 00:12:38,000 --> 00:12:51,000 Some of us aren't so much at the moment but I can be really reasonably confident that we all will at some stage. 77 00:12:51,000 --> 00:13:03,000 That's not because I'm a prophet or the son of a prophet or making a prediction about your life but simply that I've knocked around this fallen world for long enough 78 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:10,000 to know that life is long and that there will be suffering in this age. 79 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:20,000 So what we're going to do is we're going to start by looking at the way that Habakkuk cries out to God and we're going to notice three things about that. 80 00:13:20,000 --> 00:13:34,000 And then we're going to kind of look then at God's response and think about how God's response works then to Habakkuk and how that kind of works for us today. 81 00:13:34,000 --> 00:13:38,000 So Habakkuk's cry to God, three things to notice. 82 00:13:38,000 --> 00:13:46,000 Firstly, notice that Habakkuk is crying out because of injustice. So in verse 2 he cries out violence. 83 00:13:46,000 --> 00:14:00,000 In verse 3 he says that God is tolerating wrongdoings. There is destruction, there is violence, there is strife, there is conflict in Judah. 84 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:11,000 And notice that Habakkuk's not claiming that these things are against him. His complaints are for what he sees going on around him. 85 00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:19,000 So look at verse 3, it says why do you make me look at this injustice? That's what he's worried about that's happening around him. 86 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:28,000 He seems to be acting as a prophet representing those people who this is happening to in society. 87 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:42,000 So far we've kind of, I've focused on the injustices to us and our sufferings but we should be concerned about the injustices done to others. 88 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:50,000 When we see people suffering at the hand of others we should cry out to God. We should ask God that he sets those things right. 89 00:14:50,000 --> 00:14:58,000 We've done that as we prayed this morning and there's plenty of examples of it in the world around us. 90 00:14:58,000 --> 00:15:08,000 And this is a great thing to do because it focuses us away from ourselves which is very helpful. 91 00:15:08,000 --> 00:15:14,000 So sometimes our own suffering, in our own problems we become really self-absorbed. 92 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:25,000 We focus on what others are doing to us and the challenges in our lives. But looking up and thinking of others helps us to gain perspective. 93 00:15:25,000 --> 00:15:37,000 Sometimes we're so busy being indignant about the wrongs that are being done to us that that kind of makes us want to strike back, to make us want to cause pain in others. 94 00:15:37,000 --> 00:15:49,000 But if we look at others, people who are suffering, if we show empathy and practice radical love then that changes our whole perspective. 95 00:15:49,000 --> 00:16:06,000 It's very easy to sort of be vigorous about the law when it justifies our own feelings but it's much harder and much more noble to stand up for the goodness of God's law when it's affecting other people. 96 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:16,000 And Habakkuk is the righteous man, he's the man living in evil times and he reacts rightly against what he sees around him. 97 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:33,000 Because when violence and conflict are allowed to continue, that's when righteous people get hurt. 98 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:41,000 So look at verse 4. 99 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:47,000 Therefore the law is paralysed and justice never prevails. 100 00:16:47,000 --> 00:16:54,000 So God's law is there to honour him but it's also there to do good for people. 101 00:16:54,000 --> 00:17:00,000 But when evil prevails the law is paralysed. 102 00:17:00,000 --> 00:17:08,000 It's like a seized motor in a vehicle. So the car, like the country, is incapacitated. 103 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:12,000 The motor won't turn over, the whole car is useless, it won't move forward. 104 00:17:12,000 --> 00:17:19,000 When there's evil and justice to the point that Habakkuk's talking about, the law becomes paralysed. 105 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:24,000 It can't do its job of protecting the weak and vulnerable. 106 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:33,000 And then kind of look at the end of the verse, it says the wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted. 107 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:43,000 So when God's law ceases to function then righteous people are oppressed and dominated by the wicked. 108 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,000 And so we should cry out. 109 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,000 So first we looked at how Habakkuk is crying out because of injustice. 110 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:57,000 The second thing we should notice is that he's crying out because of unanswered prayer. 111 00:17:57,000 --> 00:18:06,000 So look at verse 2. He's saying, how long Lord must I call for help but you do not listen. 112 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:09,000 This is not Habakkuk's first prayer. 113 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:16,000 He has been crying out to God about this injustice but God hasn't taken any action. 114 00:18:16,000 --> 00:18:21,000 He's almost kind of groaning this, how long must he wait. 115 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:30,000 He's weary of this world as it is with the suffering that he sees of righteous people and he longs for God to take action. 116 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:34,000 And I'm sure that we can all identify with him. 117 00:18:34,000 --> 00:18:41,000 We've all prayed for help and longed for God to take action. 118 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:46,000 But look at what God says in verse 5. 119 00:18:46,000 --> 00:18:52,000 He says, look at the nations and watch. 120 00:18:52,000 --> 00:18:56,000 So he's telling Habakkuk to wait. 121 00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:59,000 And if Habakkuk waits he's going to be amazed. 122 00:18:59,000 --> 00:19:05,000 God is at work and God goes on to describe his work. 123 00:19:05,000 --> 00:19:12,000 He's at work but he's working in his timing not Habakkuk's timing. 124 00:19:12,000 --> 00:19:21,000 Now that's not a promise that all your prayers are going to be answered in the way that you imagine them being answered if you just wait long enough. 125 00:19:21,000 --> 00:19:23,000 That's not what I'm saying. 126 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:30,000 God's answer to Habakkuk probably wasn't what Habakkuk had in mind. 127 00:19:30,000 --> 00:19:35,000 He might have hoped that God would bring those individuals concerned to justice. 128 00:19:35,000 --> 00:19:48,000 He might have hoped that God would cause Judah to turn back to him as had happened years earlier when Josiah was king. 129 00:19:48,000 --> 00:19:57,000 But what God says is that he's going to bring the Babylonians against Judah to punish Judah for their sins. 130 00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:05,000 And in chapter 2 we see that God's answer in saying that to Habakkuk is clearly not what he had in mind 131 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:12,000 because that brings up more issues and concerns for Habakkuk that he then kind of brings back to God. 132 00:20:12,000 --> 00:20:16,000 But we're going to hear about that next week. 133 00:20:16,000 --> 00:20:25,000 Nevertheless, God is working in all of these events, all of what he's doing to Judah 134 00:20:25,000 --> 00:20:30,000 to bring something about that will utterly amaze Habakkuk. 135 00:20:30,000 --> 00:20:33,000 And we're going to look at that a little bit more closely in a minute. 136 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:40,000 But first we need to see a third aspect of Habakkuk's cry to God. 137 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:45,000 So firstly we saw that he's rightfully crying out to God because of injustice. 138 00:20:45,000 --> 00:20:50,000 Secondly we saw that he's crying out because of unanswered prayer. 139 00:20:50,000 --> 00:20:56,000 And thirdly we note, and this is really the most important point, 140 00:20:56,000 --> 00:21:02,000 we need to see that Habakkuk is crying out to the right person. 141 00:21:02,000 --> 00:21:10,000 Okay, he's crying out to the one person who can bring mercy and justice to oppressed people. 142 00:21:10,000 --> 00:21:16,000 We've already seen that the law is paralysed, right? That truck isn't going anywhere. 143 00:21:16,000 --> 00:21:23,000 There's no earthly solution here, but the God of all the earth, the God of justice, 144 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:33,000 the God who is a father to the fatherless and a defender of widows, is the one who can respond. 145 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:36,000 And this is what Habakkuk gets just right. 146 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:43,000 This is why God answers his question, why he's wrestling with God in the right manner. 147 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:50,000 He knows who God is. He gets it. He knows that God loves justice. 148 00:21:50,000 --> 00:21:59,000 He knows that God hates sin. And he knows that God won't let the guilty go unpunished forever. 149 00:21:59,000 --> 00:22:12,000 So Habakkuk's complaint is that he can't see God acting in the way that he knows God will act. 150 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:22,000 And then he turns to God, the God of justice, and he asks how long until he's going to get to see God act 151 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:26,000 in the way that he knows that God will act. 152 00:22:26,000 --> 00:22:30,000 And it's really important that we take this away from Habakkuk. 153 00:22:30,000 --> 00:22:37,000 He's crying out in pain. He's wrestling with God, but he's crying out to the right person. 154 00:22:37,000 --> 00:22:43,000 And that's what can really make the difference as to whether we turn away from God 155 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:50,000 as a result of injustice and suffering, or whether we grow in our faith. 156 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:55,000 It's at the very time that we are most outraged with God, 157 00:22:55,000 --> 00:23:02,000 that's the very time that we need to turn to him with our prayers. 158 00:23:02,000 --> 00:23:11,000 Another example of somebody who can't see God's goodness is a guy called A.B. Faisie. 159 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:19,000 You may know his book, famous West Australian. He wrote his autobiography, I guess. 160 00:23:19,000 --> 00:23:22,000 He called it A Fortunate Life. 161 00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:30,000 So it's amazing that in that title he could see the blessings and the things that have been good in his life. 162 00:23:30,000 --> 00:23:34,000 Most of his story is of incredible hardship. 163 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:39,000 He tells the story of his childhood, which is incredibly harsh. 164 00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:45,000 He goes to war and serves at Gallipoli, and then he returns to war 165 00:23:45,000 --> 00:23:54,000 and has to lead his family through the depression. 166 00:23:54,000 --> 00:24:00,000 His story through that time is incredible stuff. 167 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:08,000 You read it and you just think, man, we just don't know what some people have gone through. 168 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:14,000 But he reacted to that. He writes it in his book that he feels, 169 00:24:14,000 --> 00:24:22,000 because of particularly what he saw at Gallipoli, that he can't believe in a good God. 170 00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:28,000 But we mustn't react like that when we see things. 171 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:33,000 God's answer to Habakkuk tells us why we shouldn't. 172 00:24:33,000 --> 00:24:37,000 That's what we're going to do now. We're going to look at God's response. 173 00:24:37,000 --> 00:24:42,000 We're going to look at that in two ways. We're going to look at his direct response. 174 00:24:42,000 --> 00:24:48,000 Then we're going to take one more step and peel back the layers a little bit 175 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:58,000 to think an extra step of what sits behind this for us as Christians today. 176 00:24:58,000 --> 00:25:05,000 As we've looked at already in verse 5, God responds initially by saying, 177 00:25:05,000 --> 00:25:11,000 Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. 178 00:25:11,000 --> 00:25:19,000 For I'm going to do things in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. 179 00:25:19,000 --> 00:25:27,000 Then he goes on to describe how he's going to raise up the Babylonians who are going to come and destroy Judah. 180 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:35,000 He emphasizes how godless and violent and ruthless they're going to be. 181 00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:38,000 Something is going to happen that Habakkuk won't believe. 182 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:43,000 We've already said that perhaps he's not going to believe it because this is not the answer that he would expect. 183 00:25:43,000 --> 00:25:49,000 Why would God do that? Why would God raise up these people to destroy Judah? 184 00:25:49,000 --> 00:25:57,000 That alludes to the next question and the next problem that Habakkuk has. 185 00:25:57,000 --> 00:26:06,000 Perhaps it's that the power of this invading army that is completely shocking in their ruthlessness. 186 00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:16,000 More directly, he won't believe it because the Babylonians aren't a thing at this time. 187 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:25,000 The major players in politics at this stage are Egypt to the south, so to the south of Judah. 188 00:26:25,000 --> 00:26:33,000 There's Egypt which is a great power at the moment and to the north there's Assyria or to the northeast. 189 00:26:33,000 --> 00:26:39,000 The kings of Judah are playing politics in the middle of these two powers. 190 00:26:39,000 --> 00:26:53,000 Instead of trusting in God, they're turning to these and making allegiances to play the politics. 191 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:58,000 In verse 6, when God says he's raising up the Babylonians, 192 00:26:58,000 --> 00:27:05,000 for the Babylonians to do this, to be able to come down as far as Judah and invade, 193 00:27:05,000 --> 00:27:15,000 the first thing they would need to do is to whoop the Assyrians and then assert themselves as a world power 194 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:22,000 and then be able to come south and conquer a nation which is seeking refuge with Egypt. 195 00:27:22,000 --> 00:27:29,000 But at the moment, these guys are nobodies. What God says here is shocking. 196 00:27:29,000 --> 00:27:37,000 Most immediately, what this tells Habakkuk about God is that God is the God of all the earth. 197 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:45,000 He's not just directing the affairs of Israel as people tended to think about God's in those days, 198 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:55,000 but he's actually working in everything, in a far bigger picture, to raise up nations and cast down others. 199 00:27:55,000 --> 00:28:00,000 God is working in everything to bring about his purpose. 200 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:06,000 The theological name that we give to this is providence, 201 00:28:06,000 --> 00:28:14,000 God's all-powerful care for his creation through which he brings about his purposes. 202 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:26,000 That's what we saw earlier in Colossians 1, that he does this through Christ, through whom all things hold together. 203 00:28:26,000 --> 00:28:30,000 It is Christ who is holding all things in creation together. 204 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:41,000 God has absolute supremacy, absolute ability to interact in any situation because Christ is holding all things together. 205 00:28:41,000 --> 00:28:48,000 This is where we need to come back to what we were talking about before in unanswered prayer. 206 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:57,000 What Habakkuk learns is that God's work in providence is beyond what we can understand. 207 00:28:57,000 --> 00:29:07,000 Habakkuk can't imagine a solution of raising up Babylonians to somehow interact with these problems, but God is at work. 208 00:29:07,000 --> 00:29:13,000 There's no way that we can know what God is doing today. 209 00:29:13,000 --> 00:29:20,000 God's plans are beyond Habakkuk's horizon and they are bigger than he is. 210 00:29:20,000 --> 00:29:27,000 God's plans to set our injustices right are bigger than us. 211 00:29:27,000 --> 00:29:31,000 They are bigger than our childhoods. 212 00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:39,000 They are bigger than wars and they are bigger than our economic hardships. 213 00:29:39,000 --> 00:29:51,000 Because God has bigger plans than those things, we shouldn't let those things cause us to think that he isn't powerful, that he isn't good, or that he isn't listening. 214 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:56,000 He's acting beyond those things in ways that we cannot imagine. 215 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,000 He's acting beyond our circumstances. 216 00:29:59,000 --> 00:30:07,000 Instead of turning away from God, we should cry out to God because he is the one who is holding all things together. 217 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:27,000 Then we should wait, knowing that whatever God is doing, and we can't know what that is, whatever he's doing, it is for our good and will ultimately be better than what we can imagine, even if it doesn't seem that way now. 218 00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:43,000 I said that we're going to take just one more step and that's to consider how Jesus fits with all of this, how the events of Jesus' life and death and resurrection come into play. 219 00:30:43,000 --> 00:31:00,000 At the start of the book of Hebrews, it says, this is Hebrews chapter 1 and the first two verses, it says, in the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways. 220 00:31:00,000 --> 00:31:14,000 That's what we have in this book. This is God speaking to the ancestors through the prophets, this prophet that we have at many times and in various ways. 221 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,000 This is one of those times and ways. 222 00:31:16,000 --> 00:31:18,000 That's what we have in this book. 223 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:35,000 Then verse 2 says this, it says, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed heir of all things and through whom also he made the universe. 224 00:31:35,000 --> 00:31:50,000 In these last days, that's the time that we're in now, he has spoken to us by his son. The greatest revelation of God, the greatest way that God speaks to us is through Jesus. 225 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,000 That means we need to do a little bit of thinking. 226 00:31:54,000 --> 00:32:10,000 We need to think perhaps about how Jesus in his life and death and resurrection might answer the question that Habakkuk is answering to God. 227 00:32:10,000 --> 00:32:20,000 There are two answers that we find and one of those is in the cross and the other one is in Jesus' second coming. 228 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:28,000 If you like, one is in his first coming and his death as part of that and the second one is in his second coming. 229 00:32:28,000 --> 00:32:39,000 The cross tells us, Jesus' death tells us that yes, God does care about injustice. 230 00:32:39,000 --> 00:32:46,000 God cares so much about sin that he sends his son to die for it. 231 00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:53,000 He won't just let go of any injustices. He can't just forget sin and let it go. 232 00:32:53,000 --> 00:33:00,000 He's angry with sin and it must be punished. He's angry with whatever sin has been done against you. 233 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:09,000 God is angry about that. He's not just letting it go, he's angry about that. He will bring that to justice. 234 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:25,000 He satisfies that justice for those of us who are forgiven by placing it on his son, his own son whom he sent. 235 00:33:25,000 --> 00:33:35,000 So injustices in life aren't nothing to God. They're a big enough deal that he has to send his son. 236 00:33:35,000 --> 00:33:44,000 He can't just let go of it. It needs to be paid either on the cross by Jesus or in eternity. 237 00:33:44,000 --> 00:33:52,000 That brings us to our second point, which is that Jesus will return to judge everybody. 238 00:33:52,000 --> 00:34:00,000 The world will be amazed. There will be no wrong that isn't set right. 239 00:34:00,000 --> 00:34:15,000 Either it's set right by Jesus paying the price for it or it's set right by other people facing their being called to account for what they've done, for every injustice. 240 00:34:15,000 --> 00:34:19,000 That's an incredible thought. It's a frightening thought. 241 00:34:19,000 --> 00:34:28,000 As Habakkuk cries out and asks this question, and as we do, there's a real answer to that. 242 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:36,000 There will be a judgment. We don't see it now, but everybody will be called to account. 243 00:34:36,000 --> 00:34:49,000 God's providence points us to these things. God is working in all things, but he's working specifically to bring about his plan of salvation. 244 00:34:49,000 --> 00:35:00,000 He's working specifically to bring about that plan that he brings about through Jesus' death and his resurrection and his second coming. 245 00:35:00,000 --> 00:35:13,000 He's working in your life not to make things the way that you think are best for you, but to do what he knows is best for you. 246 00:35:13,000 --> 00:35:26,000 And to bring you to that salvation on the last day so that you won't face the punishment of your sins. 247 00:35:26,000 --> 00:35:39,000 So when we suffer, or when we see others suffering, let's cry out to God. That's right. That's good. 248 00:35:39,000 --> 00:35:45,000 But let's not cry out in anger and rejection as some have done. 249 00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:53,000 But let's cry out to God knowing who he is and knowing the way that he's working in the world. 250 00:35:53,000 --> 00:35:58,000 And we really do know God. We know his heart. 251 00:35:58,000 --> 00:36:08,000 We have it in the Bible and we've seen it in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Son who died in our place. 252 00:36:08,000 --> 00:36:18,000 And then therefore we must trust God in his promises to send his Son and set things right again. 253 00:36:18,000 --> 00:36:28,000 Let me pray. Heavenly Father, we must live by faith and not by sight. 254 00:36:28,000 --> 00:36:34,000 And we struggle with that. And so we ask you to keep us encouraged. 255 00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:40,000 Keep our eyes on Christ. Keep us knowing you and your nature through him. 256 00:36:40,000 --> 00:36:45,000 And let us all wait for the day when he comes. 257 00:36:45,000 --> 00:36:52,000 And let us live our lives crying out and asking you that you send your Son. 258 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:59,000 Please send him to set this world right. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. 259 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:04,000 We are going to sing.