1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:08,400 A reading from Habakkuk, chapter one, beginning at the first verse. 2 00:00:08,400 --> 00:00:16,700 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen, or cry out to you, 3 00:00:16,700 --> 00:00:24,200 violence, but you do not save. Why do you make me look at injustice? 4 00:00:24,200 --> 00:00:30,500 Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me. 5 00:00:30,500 --> 00:00:38,880 There is strife and conflict abounds. Therefore, the law is paralyzed and 6 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:46,300 justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is 7 00:00:46,300 --> 00:00:55,120 perverted. Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to 8 00:00:55,120 --> 00:01:02,040 do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am 9 00:01:02,040 --> 00:01:08,320 raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across 10 00:01:08,320 --> 00:01:17,000 the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are feared and dreaded 11 00:01:17,000 --> 00:01:24,960 people. They are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. Their horses are 12 00:01:24,960 --> 00:01:31,520 swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops 13 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:38,280 headlong. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to 14 00:01:38,280 --> 00:01:46,080 devour. They all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind 15 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:54,000 and gather prisoners like sand. They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at 16 00:01:54,000 --> 00:02:02,440 all fortified cities. By building earthen ramps, they capture them. Then they sweep 17 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:10,040 past like the wind and go on, guilty people whose own strength is their God. 18 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:20,120 Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my holy one, you will never die. You, Lord, 19 00:02:20,120 --> 00:02:26,280 have appointed them to execute judgment. You, my rock, have ordained them to 20 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:33,840 punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. 21 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:41,240 Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the 22 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:48,920 wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? This is the word of the 23 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:58,040 Lord. In life there are indeed some unanswerable questions. Questions like if 24 00:02:58,040 --> 00:03:03,520 Cinderella's shoe fits so perfectly, why did it fall off in the first place? Right? 25 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:10,680 Or, you know, why do we say someone sleeps like a baby when we know babies wake up 26 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:16,040 like every two hours? Or if I'm at a restaurant and I'm waiting for the 27 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:22,560 waiter to come, doesn't that make me the waiter? Right? Now these are 28 00:03:22,560 --> 00:03:25,600 tough questions. These are tough questions. But these are not the kind of 29 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:31,680 tough questions that actually keep you up late at night tossing and turning in 30 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:37,360 your bed. No, no. There are other tough and unanswerable questions that 31 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:42,560 really rock us. And that's why we're going to be spending some time for the 32 00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:47,600 next month in this teaching series called The Struggle is Real. We're looking 33 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,920 at the questions and the problems and the struggles that do keep us up late at 34 00:03:52,920 --> 00:03:57,440 night. Some of the hardest questions that you you will have ever asked. Questions 35 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:05,000 like these ones. Why is there so much evil? Why does God tolerate 36 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:09,640 wrongdoing? Most of us have asked this question at some point when we're going 37 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:14,600 through an especially dark period or a difficult time where God does not seem 38 00:04:14,600 --> 00:04:18,960 to be listening and God certainly does not seem to be answering our prayers. And 39 00:04:18,960 --> 00:04:23,120 we're like, God, where are you? God, why don't you do something? God, can't you 40 00:04:23,120 --> 00:04:30,600 see what's going on here? The questions like these do not have easy answers. Now 41 00:04:30,600 --> 00:04:38,720 the person who asked this question 2600 years before we asked this question was 42 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,280 a guy with this name. Just out of curiosity, how do you how do we pronounce 43 00:04:43,280 --> 00:04:47,760 this name anyways? Does anyone know? Just turn to the person beside you actually 44 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:52,200 and tell them how you pronounce this name. 45 00:04:55,680 --> 00:05:03,680 All right, yeah. You know, is it Habakkuk? Is it Habakkuk? Is it Habakkuk? 46 00:05:03,680 --> 00:05:09,280 Some people have said Habakkuk. No, seriously, some people do say it's 47 00:05:09,280 --> 00:05:14,320 Habakkuk. And it's actually one of those names that even scholars aren't 100% 48 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:18,200 sure how to pronounce. It's a weird word. It's a borrowed word that comes 49 00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,360 from the Assyrian language. It gets pulled into the Hebrew language. Some 50 00:05:22,360 --> 00:05:26,160 people think that maybe it comes from a word that had something to do with a 51 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:33,080 garden plant. Other people think that this name means to embrace or to wrestle. 52 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:37,680 And that might actually make sense once we see the full story here. So you 53 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:41,000 can actually call him whatever you want. Call him Habakkuk. Call him the 54 00:05:41,000 --> 00:05:46,200 Hamburglar. Call him, just, you know, just don't call him late for dinner. But who 55 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:54,680 is he? Who is this guy? And why is he asking these deep, deep questions? Well, if 56 00:05:54,680 --> 00:05:58,700 you look at the very first verse of the book of Habakkuk, and actually I would 57 00:05:58,700 --> 00:06:03,320 encourage you, if you have a Bible or if you, you know, have a Bible app to take 58 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:09,480 it out and turn it on, there's a lot here. The very first verse says this, the 59 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:14,720 prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. Now, that word prophecy is not 60 00:06:14,720 --> 00:06:18,360 the normal word that the Bible uses to talk about a prophecy. It actually means 61 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:25,720 heavy load or a burden. So right away this book begins by saying this is 62 00:06:25,720 --> 00:06:31,760 the heavy burden that Habakkuk carried with him. What was the heavy burden? What 63 00:06:31,760 --> 00:06:35,480 was this heavy load he carried? We're gonna, we're gonna find out. And secondly, 64 00:06:35,480 --> 00:06:39,320 we're told this is a prophecy that he received. But even in your translations, 65 00:06:39,320 --> 00:06:43,240 there'll probably be a little star by that word received because the word here 66 00:06:43,240 --> 00:06:48,200 actually means, has to do with seeing. So this actually means that Habakkuk saw 67 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:52,800 something. So this was the heavy burden that Habakkuk the prophet saw, witnessed 68 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:59,000 personally. He witnessed this thing that's happening that is a heavy burden. 69 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:02,960 And the third word we should probably look at is that middle word prophet. Just 70 00:07:02,960 --> 00:07:06,960 to remind ourselves, what is a prophet? You know, contrary to many people's 71 00:07:06,960 --> 00:07:11,640 opinions, a prophet is not a person who can predict the future in biblical 72 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:16,280 speak. A prophet is someone who goes around and listens for the voice of God 73 00:07:16,280 --> 00:07:21,960 and then in turn is able to speak God's voice, speak God's truth to the people 74 00:07:21,960 --> 00:07:28,440 of God. And that meant that prophets often had the very unhappy job of telling 75 00:07:28,440 --> 00:07:32,480 God's people things they did not want to hear. Telling them times and ways in 76 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:36,560 which they had fallen short or were disobeying God. And I think actually 77 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:39,240 that's probably one of the reasons why you've never read the book of Habakkuk or 78 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:44,080 other little books like it, Joel and Amos, these prophets, because we're a little 79 00:07:44,080 --> 00:07:51,160 afraid of what we might hear if we were to open up those pages. Now I just said 80 00:07:51,160 --> 00:07:55,200 that most prophets go around listening for God's voice and speaking to the 81 00:07:55,200 --> 00:08:01,240 people. Habakkuk is unique still in another way. He actually spends more of 82 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:05,920 his time not talking to the people saying listen to what God says to you, 83 00:08:05,920 --> 00:08:12,080 but talking to God saying, God we've got some questions for you. And that makes 84 00:08:12,080 --> 00:08:18,360 Habakkuk a very unique prophet among the prophets of the Bible. Very few speak to 85 00:08:18,360 --> 00:08:23,880 God the way that Habakkuk speaks to God. And so today what I want to do is I just 86 00:08:23,880 --> 00:08:27,000 want to look at three things with you this morning. I've given you some some 87 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:31,160 notes, some little sermon notes so you can follow along. We're gonna look at what 88 00:08:31,160 --> 00:08:36,280 was the big question that Habakkuk was asking. And then secondly what was God's 89 00:08:36,280 --> 00:08:40,800 answer. And thirdly what's our response to it. So Habakkuk had this burden. What 90 00:08:40,800 --> 00:08:46,600 was it? God replies somehow. What did God say? And thirdly what does it all mean 91 00:08:46,600 --> 00:08:52,760 for us? Let's start with Habakkuk's question. Habakkuk's question. What weighed 92 00:08:52,760 --> 00:08:59,760 on him so greatly? Well you see Habakkuk lived the first part of his life during 93 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:06,000 a time of great peace and prosperity. There was this amazing king who ruled at 94 00:09:06,000 --> 00:09:12,280 that time. His name was Josiah. And King Josiah was a godly man. He was a great 95 00:09:12,280 --> 00:09:17,560 man and people enjoyed great times under his leadership. In fact people thought oh 96 00:09:17,560 --> 00:09:23,260 surely there's even better times and even greater times still to come for us 97 00:09:23,260 --> 00:09:29,480 and for our whole country. But then something happened and Josiah died. And 98 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:35,040 his sons were terrible, terrible kings. Jehoahaz, one of his sons, was a cruel 99 00:09:35,040 --> 00:09:41,520 and violent man. He died and then Josiah's other son, Jehoiakim, became 100 00:09:41,520 --> 00:09:45,720 king and he ruled for 11 years and he was a tyrant. He was the type of guy who 101 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:49,360 would enslave his own people and make them work at forced labor to build an 102 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:54,920 opulent palace for himself. He encouraged the worship of idols. He told people 103 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:00,360 to turn away from God. That's Habakkuk's burden. Okay that's the heavy load that 104 00:10:00,360 --> 00:10:05,680 he is carrying. That's why he says how long Lord? How long must I call for help? 105 00:10:05,680 --> 00:10:10,040 You're not listening. How long do I have to cry out violence to you Lord but you 106 00:10:10,040 --> 00:10:16,240 do not save? Why do I have to look at this injustice? Why do you 107 00:10:16,240 --> 00:10:21,920 tolerate this kind of wrongdoing? What is going on? God, times used to be so good. 108 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:26,440 We used to enjoy such prosperity. What has happened? Why aren't you doing 109 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:32,860 anything? He adds this little piece. He says that the law is paralyzed. You see 110 00:10:32,860 --> 00:10:36,640 that Israel always had this law and that law was always supposed to keep them on 111 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,600 the straight and narrow. It was supposed to prevent this kind of stuff from 112 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:44,240 happening but now the law, the very thing that created a strong social order is 113 00:10:44,240 --> 00:10:47,840 not working anymore and nothing's fair and nothing's right and there's no 114 00:10:47,840 --> 00:10:52,680 justice. The good days are gone. Where did they go God? Where did they go? And now 115 00:10:52,680 --> 00:10:59,820 how long oh God till those days come back? And so Habakkuk laments. He laments 116 00:10:59,820 --> 00:11:04,040 what he sees. Now lament is an important word. Whenever you read the Bible and you 117 00:11:04,040 --> 00:11:09,920 come across a phrase how long, how long, it is a code word for a certain kind of 118 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:15,320 prayer, a certain kind of prayer, an honest prayer that expresses sorrow, an 119 00:11:15,320 --> 00:11:19,000 honest prayer where you vent your frustration and your confusion and even 120 00:11:19,000 --> 00:11:23,720 your anger to God in times of great hardship. So in lament prayers you don't 121 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:27,760 hide your pain. You don't pretend everything is okay. Instead you bring your 122 00:11:27,760 --> 00:11:34,360 raw emotions to God. You bring your big questions to God. That's what lament is 123 00:11:34,360 --> 00:11:38,560 and by the way that is one of the reasons why we're offering the unanswered 124 00:11:38,560 --> 00:11:42,720 prayer course which begins this Wednesday night. It's to help us as a 125 00:11:42,720 --> 00:11:47,680 congregation learn how to lament, how to wrestle with the fact that God doesn't 126 00:11:47,680 --> 00:11:52,920 always answer our prayers and how to pray like Habakkuk did. God why is this 127 00:11:52,920 --> 00:12:00,360 happening in my life? God where are you? God where did the good days go? And 128 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:07,640 that's what Habakkuk is trying to teach us that sometimes the good days 129 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:17,200 disappear and the dark days come and the evil days come. Sometimes we're like fish 130 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:26,080 that get caught in a cruel net like men trapped by evil times that fall 131 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:31,960 unexpectedly upon them. See most people think good times are normal. That's 132 00:12:31,960 --> 00:12:36,880 what's normal, good times and most people think that generally speaking as time 133 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:41,080 goes on things should get better and better and better. Life's supposed to be 134 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:45,240 good and life's supposed to get better. Now sure life's gonna have its ups and 135 00:12:45,240 --> 00:12:49,680 downs but most of us think that 10 years from now or 20 years from now 136 00:12:49,680 --> 00:12:54,240 everybody will be better off. The kids, our kids will have lives that are 137 00:12:54,240 --> 00:12:58,680 better than our lives. In 20 years our home will be worth way more than 138 00:12:58,680 --> 00:13:03,040 than it is today. Our investments are gonna go up. Our country is 139 00:13:03,040 --> 00:13:07,240 gonna get better. Our lives are gonna get better. It's progress. We're human 140 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:10,840 beings. We're smart. We make good decisions. We make the world a better 141 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:15,600 place. Better times are coming. Habakkuk stops you in your tracks and says why 142 00:13:15,600 --> 00:13:23,360 would you think that? How do you know that? You don't know that. Take it from 143 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:30,840 me. Habakkuk says there are good days but then there are also dark days that come. 144 00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:36,160 There are times of prosperity but there are times of evil and and there's 145 00:13:36,160 --> 00:13:41,400 nothing you can do about it. You just get caught in the net like a fish. 146 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:47,640 Habakkuk enjoyed good times but now dark times have fallen upon him and I 147 00:13:47,640 --> 00:13:50,360 think he points his finger at us a little bit and he says it could happen 148 00:13:50,360 --> 00:13:58,560 to you. Who knows even right now we, you may be descending into some dark days. 149 00:13:58,560 --> 00:14:06,200 Dark days can come for whole nations. You know countries can enjoy times of 150 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:12,440 prosperity and growth but then come times of war and famine and tragedies, 151 00:14:12,440 --> 00:14:20,360 dark days. You know from about 1870 to 1910 in North America and Europe everyone 152 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:23,840 felt they were in good times. Everyone felt like things were just getting better 153 00:14:23,840 --> 00:14:27,440 and better and better and we are gonna solve all the problems of the human race. 154 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:30,960 There was the Enlightenment, there was all this progress. Humanity was on its 155 00:14:30,960 --> 00:14:36,600 way up and then came World War I and then came a Great Depression and then 156 00:14:36,600 --> 00:14:42,240 came World War II and then came things like the Holocaust and by the 1940s 157 00:14:42,240 --> 00:14:48,600 people in the Soviet Union and people in Europe were starving to death in the 158 00:14:48,600 --> 00:14:56,560 winter. Those were dark days. Those were evil times and people wondered what 159 00:14:56,560 --> 00:15:03,280 happened. God how long until the good days come back again? It happened before 160 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:10,360 and it can happen again. Why not? Why not dark days? And dark days can actually 161 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:14,360 also happen for whole generations. Right one generation may enjoy peace and 162 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:19,400 prosperity but the next generation struggles, habikuk. He's speaking of his 163 00:15:19,400 --> 00:15:23,680 own generation. He's like why did I have to live in this generation to see this 164 00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,080 darkness, see this kind of tragedy. You know our parents and our grandparents or 165 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,880 our kids and our grandkids, those generations they may live to see better 166 00:15:30,880 --> 00:15:36,800 times than we have or they may live to see worse times. The book of Habakkuk just 167 00:15:36,800 --> 00:15:42,640 says it happens. It's a reality. You can't do anything about it. Dark days come. And 168 00:15:42,640 --> 00:15:48,680 thirdly those dark days can come just for ourselves as well. You may have years 169 00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:52,360 or decades of your life where it's good times. Everything is positive and 170 00:15:52,360 --> 00:15:58,000 hunky-dory and then dark days come and dark days stay for days, for years, 171 00:15:58,000 --> 00:16:04,480 maybe even for decades of your life. Habakkuk, he tells us it guys had happened 172 00:16:04,480 --> 00:16:12,280 to me. Right it can happen to you. Dark days can come. You know this is authored 173 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,200 by the name of Seth Godin who wrote a book called The Dip and the book actually 174 00:16:16,200 --> 00:16:18,940 doesn't really have to do with what we're talking about today but but there's 175 00:16:18,940 --> 00:16:23,480 this concept he floats. He said often in life you can experience like great 176 00:16:23,480 --> 00:16:28,300 growth and energy whether that's financially or spiritually or or with 177 00:16:28,300 --> 00:16:31,560 your health and your family everything is up and everything is to the right, 178 00:16:31,560 --> 00:16:37,960 good times. But then something changes and you find yourself entering what he 179 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:44,960 calls the dip. And when and when we sense oh no the the dip is coming well we've 180 00:16:44,960 --> 00:16:48,760 got a few choices he says you can either try like mad to get back to the good 181 00:16:48,760 --> 00:16:53,640 days or or what you can do is you can just give up completely and say it's 182 00:16:53,640 --> 00:16:59,160 over I'm done for or there's a third solution and that is that you actually 183 00:16:59,160 --> 00:17:06,040 lean into the dip. That you lean into the suffering. That you embrace the dark days 184 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:12,280 ahead. This could be a picture of your spiritual life as well because you know 185 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:16,840 many people when they first meet Jesus we experience growth and we experience 186 00:17:16,840 --> 00:17:20,800 joy and then at some point we enter into what st. John of the cross calls the 187 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:26,440 dark night of the soul. It's this spiritual dip and and like 188 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:30,600 Godin says we try to get back to the better times you know oh I want to get 189 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:33,960 back to how I felt at summer camp or get back to how I felt during the change 190 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,840 conference that was a great high but but but you can't get back. Other people say 191 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:41,320 when they enter that dip spiritually they say I'm gonna walk away from God 192 00:17:41,320 --> 00:17:49,480 completely or again again we can embrace that darkness we can lean in to the dip 193 00:17:49,480 --> 00:17:55,180 and go through the dip with God. Just about every spiritual leader that you 194 00:17:55,180 --> 00:18:00,440 admire has gone through the dip. Every author that you you love they've gone 195 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:03,600 through the dip. Chances are when you met them or you read them or you went to 196 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,560 their conference they were they were on the other side of the dip they were 197 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,880 strong and mature and growing but if you ask them no no no they went through 198 00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:17,960 dark days and you'll remember when people uncovered Mother Teresa's 199 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:21,480 journals remember years ago they started going through Mother Teresa's journals 200 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:26,840 and people were shocked at what they read about her spiritual life. There were 201 00:18:26,840 --> 00:18:32,560 days when she said I don't even think there's a God anymore. So for nations, for 202 00:18:32,560 --> 00:18:40,040 families, for you, dark days can come and why shouldn't they why wouldn't they? 203 00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:47,560 We can expect they will and when they do our question will be like Habakkuk's 204 00:18:47,560 --> 00:18:54,280 question what is going on? How long? Where are you God? Why do we have to go 205 00:18:54,280 --> 00:19:02,880 through these dark days? Now in the Bible the normal response to a prayer of 206 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:07,840 lament is God answers back with some words of reassurance like God comes back 207 00:19:07,840 --> 00:19:14,920 we say how long oh God and God says hang tight behold I am coming soon I'm gonna 208 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:19,720 fix things up just you wait and it appears at first that that is the way 209 00:19:19,720 --> 00:19:26,160 God answers Habakkuk's prayer too. God says here Habakkuk listen to this look 210 00:19:26,160 --> 00:19:32,280 at the nations and watch prepare to be amazed for I'm gonna do something that 211 00:19:32,280 --> 00:19:39,080 in your days something that you would not even believe if I told you amazing 212 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:44,160 right God is gonna do something the dark days are coming to an end the good days 213 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:51,140 are coming back not quite. God goes on here's what I'm gonna do I'm raising up 214 00:19:51,140 --> 00:19:56,600 the Babylonians that ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the 215 00:19:56,600 --> 00:20:00,360 whole earth and seize dwellings not their own whoa whoa whoa whoa God God 216 00:20:00,360 --> 00:20:07,280 wait wait I just I just complained to you about dark days and now you're 217 00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:13,800 telling me that Babylon now is gonna sweep in and sweep across the earth and 218 00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:19,200 just destroy everything even even more yes God says Babylon remember them 219 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,960 they are feared and dreaded people there are a lot of themselves and they promote 220 00:20:23,960 --> 00:20:27,160 their own honor oh my goodness their horses are swifter than leopards there 221 00:20:27,160 --> 00:20:34,960 they're fiercer than wolves that does Habakkuk is dumbfounded that's the plan 222 00:20:34,960 --> 00:20:40,760 God right God I cry out to you and your answer is I'm raising up an even more 223 00:20:40,760 --> 00:20:46,200 ruthless and bloodthirsty people that are gonna sweep across the world and crush 224 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:52,360 everyone including you including me including you and your country and your 225 00:20:52,360 --> 00:20:59,920 people and your family because like you call that an answer we're in dark days 226 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:04,240 and you say they're gonna get even darker I just complained about evil 227 00:21:04,240 --> 00:21:09,840 injustice and you say I'm gonna send you more evil and more injustice more 228 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:14,200 violence and more oppression that's what you're gonna do that's what I'm gonna 229 00:21:14,200 --> 00:21:24,360 do God says the dip is way deeper than Habakkuk thought the days are gonna be 230 00:21:24,360 --> 00:21:32,520 way darker than Habakkuk thought God's plan to use this wicked nation to punish 231 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:37,760 Israel's corruption and disobedience imagine this imagine it to give you a 232 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,560 little point of comparison you're there's this you're a teacher and there's 233 00:21:40,560 --> 00:21:44,760 this kid in your class and they're constantly ignoring you and talking 234 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,120 during class and throwing paper airplanes and so so what you do after 235 00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,200 giving warning after warning one day you just you rearrange the seating 236 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:55,760 arrangement and you take the worst bully in the whole school and you sit him 237 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:01,840 right beside that kid and you say just go to town on him teach him a lesson 238 00:22:01,840 --> 00:22:08,760 right I mean you get fired as a teacher but this is what God is suggesting and 239 00:22:08,760 --> 00:22:13,480 Habakkuk's like that can't possibly be the plan but sure enough this is what 240 00:22:13,480 --> 00:22:19,080 happens the Babylonians they move westward in the year 586 BC 15 or 30 241 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:23,240 years after Habakkuk prays this prayer and writes these words Jerusalem is 242 00:22:23,240 --> 00:22:26,920 sacked the walls are destroyed the temple is burned to the ground and all 243 00:22:26,920 --> 00:22:31,600 the people are either taken as slaves or they are scattered throughout the world 244 00:22:31,600 --> 00:22:37,560 this is what's called the Babylonian exile lasted 70 years or more and the 245 00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,080 Habakkuk right now he is just looking down the barrel he's looking down the 246 00:22:41,080 --> 00:22:49,240 barrel and he sees all of this coming so so gosh how how long till the dark days 247 00:22:49,240 --> 00:22:55,800 are over God says the dark days are just getting started so how do you respond to 248 00:22:55,800 --> 00:23:00,880 that how does Habakkuk respond to this what is your response when dark days 249 00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:05,160 come and God doesn't answer your prayers well I won't tell you one response that 250 00:23:05,160 --> 00:23:12,160 many religious people take is they acquiesce if you don't like what God is 251 00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:16,240 doing well then just keep your mouth shut don't ask any questions don't 252 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:22,160 complain just fold your hands and close your eyes and pray nice prayers pretend 253 00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:30,800 everything's okay that is one response that is not Habakkuk's response a second 254 00:23:30,800 --> 00:23:35,400 response you could take would be arrogance you know when God does 255 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:39,920 something you don't understand then you say this famous line well I can't believe 256 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:44,920 in a God like that you know if I can't understand what he's doing if I can't 257 00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:50,200 see how this makes any sense well then I'm I'm done I'm walking I can't believe 258 00:23:50,200 --> 00:23:54,440 in a God like that maybe some of you walked away from God for that very reason 259 00:23:54,440 --> 00:24:00,440 I don't understand how this makes sense I can't believe in a God like that as if 260 00:24:00,440 --> 00:24:05,720 your your brain should be able to comprehend all that God is doing but that 261 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:09,600 also was not Habakkuk's response instead he responds in three different ways 262 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:16,520 first anger he says God I don't like what's happening and I really don't like 263 00:24:16,520 --> 00:24:22,200 your solution to what's happening I am furious about it angry about it 264 00:24:22,200 --> 00:24:25,920 Habakkuk really really lets God have it I have to tell you I don't know a lot of 265 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:30,920 people even here at Trinity streetsville that pray who treat God the way that 266 00:24:30,920 --> 00:24:36,080 Habakkuk does but in verse 12 he says Lord are you not from everlasting now 267 00:24:36,080 --> 00:24:39,440 it's interesting in the Bible when you see these words are you not it's almost 268 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:46,040 always a sign of some very aggressive vigorous argument that's happening so 269 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:49,520 Habakkuk is very close to saying in this statement he's very close to saying God 270 00:24:49,520 --> 00:24:53,720 are you nuts God are you nuts right I thought you were supposed to be from 271 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:57,840 everlasting oh I thought like the song we just sung forever God is faithful 272 00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:03,400 forever God is aren't isn't that you oh I thought you I'm sorry I thought you 273 00:25:03,400 --> 00:25:07,720 were supposed to bring salvation out of Israel to the world but actually you're 274 00:25:07,720 --> 00:25:12,280 gonna let evil and injustice reign oh sorry I thought you were from 275 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,640 everlasting my bad my my mistake this is not a prayer right this is like a 276 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:20,880 protest this is not like just folding your hands praying a nice player 277 00:25:20,880 --> 00:25:27,440 closing your eyes this is pumping your fist with bloodshot eyes right and 278 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:31,720 here's the thing whatever you're going through if you're going through it right 279 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:36,120 now you're in the dip if you're in the middle of dark days believe it or not 280 00:25:36,120 --> 00:25:41,480 God invites you to pray this way it might make you uncomfortable and it 281 00:25:41,480 --> 00:25:44,240 actually kind of makes me uncomfortable but when I think about it you know what 282 00:25:44,240 --> 00:25:48,840 really makes me uncomfortable about this it's not because of how aggressive his 283 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:57,080 prayer is it's because of how rarely mine are I mean I would very rarely pray 284 00:25:57,080 --> 00:26:04,000 with this kind of boldness this kind of confidence in in God and I know there's 285 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,000 lots of people in this room that probably need to work on being less 286 00:26:07,000 --> 00:26:14,160 angry but there's others of us and we need to get more angry we need to get 287 00:26:14,160 --> 00:26:17,960 more upset about the things we see happening in the world the injustice and 288 00:26:17,960 --> 00:26:22,360 the problems the things that really really matter so on the one hand 289 00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:26,640 Habakkuk's response is anger and we're actually encouraged to do the same but 290 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:33,600 the second response is what I'm calling abiding right Habakkuk's angry all right 291 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:38,640 but he's not going anywhere even though Habakkuk is angry at God he is still 292 00:26:38,640 --> 00:26:45,520 praying to God because this is still his God in fact just look at some of the 293 00:26:45,520 --> 00:26:51,240 language he uses in his prayer he says my God my holy one right he it's in 294 00:26:51,240 --> 00:26:54,680 other words it says you're it God you're the only one I've got I'm not going to 295 00:26:54,680 --> 00:26:58,960 anybody else you know it's you or no one's your way or the highway he calls 296 00:26:58,960 --> 00:27:04,080 him Lord he calls him my rock saying God this is a mess but I have nowhere else 297 00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:08,280 to go I'm depending on you all the same so it's amazing that on the one hand he 298 00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:11,840 is asking he's questioning and he is struggling but the other hand it never 299 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:17,480 enters his mind to walk away from God to stop praying to stop believing it's just 300 00:27:17,480 --> 00:27:22,920 not an option for him and I want to say that when Trinity streetsville is being 301 00:27:22,920 --> 00:27:27,080 the church that it ought to be it should be that kind of place where you can bring 302 00:27:27,080 --> 00:27:32,320 your doubts whether you love God with all your heart or whether you're 303 00:27:32,320 --> 00:27:38,720 completely PO with God this is this needs to be a safe place to bring your 304 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:43,080 frustration and even your anger because God shows us again and again that he 305 00:27:43,080 --> 00:27:50,280 would rather we argue with him then walk away from him which brings us to one 306 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:56,840 final response that Habakkuk gets to eventually and that is the place where 307 00:27:56,840 --> 00:28:04,400 we finally say God I don't understand it but you do God I'm gonna assume you've 308 00:28:04,400 --> 00:28:09,320 got reasons for what you're doing that I can't understand so I'm just gonna 309 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:16,440 accept you know in Isaiah God says for my thoughts are not your thoughts 310 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:22,200 neither are your ways my ways God goes on to say my thoughts are higher than 311 00:28:22,200 --> 00:28:26,280 your thoughts my ways are higher than your ways God says if I know you don't 312 00:28:26,280 --> 00:28:30,400 understand this I know you don't understand why I'm gonna bring more 313 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:33,680 injustice and more violence into your life but that is actually how I'm gonna 314 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:38,960 work out my salvation and you may not get it and you may not believe it but I 315 00:28:38,960 --> 00:28:45,800 know what I'm doing I know what I'm doing and actually history tells us God 316 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:50,800 did know what he was doing I just want to kind of end with this idea you know 317 00:28:50,800 --> 00:28:57,080 twenty six hundred years later we know something that Habakkuk did not know and 318 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:02,200 could not know we know he didn't that if the Jews had not been taken off into 319 00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:07,200 exile then they never would have spread throughout the whole empire they never 320 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,480 would have gone to all these ancient cities all over the place and they never 321 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,200 would have settled there they never would have built synagogues there and 322 00:29:14,200 --> 00:29:17,960 if they hadn't been scattered and established themselves in other places 323 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:23,440 then then God's Word would never have been taught and proclaimed to other 324 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:29,840 people living in those pagan nations right and we know and we know but he of 325 00:29:29,840 --> 00:29:35,040 course didn't know that if the Persians didn't come in and conquer Babylon and 326 00:29:35,040 --> 00:29:38,920 then at the Greeks didn't come in and conquer Persia then there never would 327 00:29:38,920 --> 00:29:43,440 have been this one language that covered the whole known world the Greek language 328 00:29:43,440 --> 00:29:47,320 so that people could communicate never would get understand and you know you 329 00:29:47,320 --> 00:29:50,720 can publish a book and everybody could read it because there was one language 330 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:54,680 and we now know but of course Habakkuk didn't know that that one day Rome was 331 00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:59,440 gonna come in and conquer Greece and they would establish roads and a 332 00:29:59,440 --> 00:30:03,400 safe peaceful environment where where people could move freely from city to 333 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,760 city to city to city so that and again Habakkuk didn't know this but 600 years 334 00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:13,840 after Habakkuk lived and died people were able to carry the good news of 335 00:30:13,840 --> 00:30:19,720 Jesus in a language that everyone could understand to ins on long safe roads to 336 00:30:19,720 --> 00:30:24,240 synagogues and cities around the world where people could receive the news of 337 00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:30,000 Jesus with joy we know Babylon had to conquer Jude and Persia had to conquer 338 00:30:30,000 --> 00:30:34,360 Babylon and Greece had to conquer Persia and then Rome had to conquer Greece in 339 00:30:34,360 --> 00:30:41,520 order why all that violence why all those dark days it's ironic but that's 340 00:30:41,520 --> 00:30:45,920 what enabled the conditions to emerge where the peace-filled life-giving 341 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:53,400 message of Jesus could reach the world and Habakkuk couldn't have seen or 342 00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:59,360 understood all that and maybe you can't see and understand the reasons for the 343 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:08,680 dark days that befall you God's purposes are in fact much larger than our own we 344 00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:11,840 tend to see the world from our limited perspective but God is working out a 345 00:31:11,840 --> 00:31:16,280 larger plan that transcends our understanding suffering is part of a 346 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:20,560 bigger narrative that we often cannot see this is where we're gonna end today 347 00:31:20,560 --> 00:31:25,280 right we're gonna end in the middle of chapter 1 there's more to come for sure 348 00:31:25,280 --> 00:31:32,800 but today let's leave it in the dip right today if you are asking the 349 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:37,280 question why you're going through what you're going through I think the only 350 00:31:37,280 --> 00:31:41,920 answer we want to give at this point is who knows we don't know I don't know you 351 00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:45,560 don't know it'd be nice to have an easy answer but we don't know what the answer 352 00:31:45,560 --> 00:31:50,720 is but what we do know is whatever you're going through God loves you just 353 00:31:50,720 --> 00:31:55,600 look at the cross and remember that in Jesus darkest days he did not walk away 354 00:31:55,600 --> 00:32:02,560 from you so in your dark days don't you walk away from God either in the meantime 355 00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:07,520 keep praying keep questioning keep lamenting keep arguing and keep joining 356 00:32:07,520 --> 00:32:12,320 us here each week as we come back to this study because church has to be that 357 00:32:12,320 --> 00:32:18,960 place where we help each other through the dip knowing that God meets us in 358 00:32:18,960 --> 00:32:46,280 these dark days thanks be to God