WEBVTT 00:00:00.779 --> 00:00:02.500 That's kind of like hard to say. There's like 00:00:02.500 --> 00:00:04.719 two different ways. You can do like Habakkuk 00:00:04.719 --> 00:00:07.379 or Habakkuk. Either way it sounds like a cat 00:00:07.379 --> 00:00:10.820 having a hairball. It's like Habakkuk. But either 00:00:10.820 --> 00:00:13.800 way. it's my favorite minor prophet and I think 00:00:13.800 --> 00:00:15.939 you'll see why as that this is a minor prophet 00:00:15.939 --> 00:00:18.839 that was written thousands years ago but it's 00:00:18.839 --> 00:00:21.100 still amazingly applicable to our lives right 00:00:21.100 --> 00:00:23.239 now and that's what God's Word is it's always 00:00:23.239 --> 00:00:26.219 sufficient and it's a minor prophet not because 00:00:26.219 --> 00:00:28.480 of its value but because of its size it's just 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:31.620 smaller than like Isaiah or Daniel but this book 00:00:31.620 --> 00:00:34.939 holds humongous truth for our life so go ahead 00:00:34.939 --> 00:00:36.380 and turn with me to a backache all right have 00:00:36.380 --> 00:00:37.880 fun finding your Bibles all right that'll be 00:00:37.880 --> 00:00:41.859 a good exercise all right mine's on page 862, 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:45.060 if that helps you. That will not help you. So 00:00:45.060 --> 00:00:47.280 before, I have a little illustration we'll do 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:49.200 in just a second. But I kind of want us to build 00:00:49.200 --> 00:00:51.880 the context of the book, see what's happening 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.659 here. But we have some main characters. We have. 00:00:55.840 --> 00:00:57.920 two main characters pretty much it's God and 00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:00.600 his prophet Habakkuk and not much is known about 00:01:00.600 --> 00:01:04.000 him he's probably a temple musician that's what 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:06.640 some scholars say his name most likely means 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:09.060 to wrestle or to embrace and we'll see him do 00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:11.480 both of those things throughout this book but 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:13.700 he's a prophet to Judah and I encourage you to 00:01:13.700 --> 00:01:15.359 kind of write these things down especially if 00:01:15.359 --> 00:01:16.959 you take notes which is always a good thing to 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:18.980 do because you want to know how the story is 00:01:18.980 --> 00:01:21.040 unfolding these next few weeks but we know that 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:24.290 he's a prophet and he's a spokesman for God, 00:01:24.310 --> 00:01:27.329 and he's talking to Judah. And Judah, right now, 00:01:28.230 --> 00:01:30.150 Israel has been split into two kings. You have 00:01:30.150 --> 00:01:31.930 the northern kingdom, which is Israel, and they've 00:01:31.930 --> 00:01:34.109 been dominated by Assyria. And then you have 00:01:34.109 --> 00:01:37.609 Judah, which is the southern kingdom. And they're 00:01:37.609 --> 00:01:39.109 kind of scared because they're thinking, when 00:01:39.109 --> 00:01:41.409 are we going to get dominated? Now what's special 00:01:41.409 --> 00:01:43.709 about Habakkuk is he doesn't ever, throughout 00:01:43.709 --> 00:01:47.349 the three chapters, address Judah. He never yells 00:01:47.349 --> 00:01:48.829 at them. He never tells them, hey, you're doing 00:01:48.829 --> 00:01:52.890 wrong things. He addresses the idea of them or 00:01:52.890 --> 00:01:55.090 what they're doing, but he never talks directly 00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:57.489 to them. What the book of Habakkuk, what's special 00:01:57.489 --> 00:01:59.909 about it is the whole book is a whole dialogue. 00:02:00.109 --> 00:02:02.390 It's a question and answer. And what it's a question 00:02:02.390 --> 00:02:03.890 and answer between is our two main characters. 00:02:04.030 --> 00:02:06.569 It's Habakkuk who asks the questions and God 00:02:06.569 --> 00:02:09.270 who does the answering. But where we find Habakkuk 00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:11.469 in the first chapter is we find him confused. 00:02:11.650 --> 00:02:14.849 We find him kind of perplexed. So I have a question 00:02:14.849 --> 00:02:17.550 for you. Do you ever get confused? Raise your 00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:20.409 hand if you ever get confused. I get confused 00:02:20.409 --> 00:02:23.469 on a daily, moment -by -moment basis a lot of 00:02:23.469 --> 00:02:26.090 times. I just have a face that all the teenagers 00:02:26.090 --> 00:02:28.169 know if he's confused. He has no idea what he's 00:02:28.169 --> 00:02:31.590 doing right now. Some things that always confuse 00:02:31.590 --> 00:02:34.530 me are riddles. So here's what we're going to 00:02:34.530 --> 00:02:36.370 do. I'm going to show you four riddles. I'm going 00:02:36.370 --> 00:02:38.270 to do one at a time. And I want to see who can 00:02:38.270 --> 00:02:39.930 give me the first answer. You don't have to stand 00:02:39.930 --> 00:02:41.729 up. You just got to yell it. I'll try to find 00:02:41.729 --> 00:02:44.810 the right person. And if you win, you get a high 00:02:44.810 --> 00:02:47.689 five. But I know it's big stuff here. It's a 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:50.050 big reward. Go ahead and give me that first one. 00:02:51.449 --> 00:02:53.689 Poor people have it. Rich people need it. If 00:02:53.689 --> 00:02:58.610 you eat it, you die. What is it? It's good. It's 00:02:58.610 --> 00:03:00.889 nothing. Get it? Get it? Nothing. All right. 00:03:00.930 --> 00:03:02.229 Go back. Go back to the question. We'll make 00:03:02.229 --> 00:03:03.629 sure we unpack a little bit. All right. Poor 00:03:03.629 --> 00:03:05.490 people have it and nothing. Rich people need 00:03:05.490 --> 00:03:07.270 it. They need nothing. If you eat it, you die. 00:03:07.330 --> 00:03:09.069 You eat nothing. You die. Yeah. Get it? Okay. 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:11.530 All right. Okay. Next one. Let's see. All right. 00:03:11.830 --> 00:03:14.490 Man, they're like weirdly positioned. Huh? Weird. 00:03:14.569 --> 00:03:16.689 All right. What comes once in a minute, twice 00:03:16.689 --> 00:03:19.729 in a moment, but never in a thousand years? Huh? 00:03:21.629 --> 00:03:24.099 Good job. The letter M. All right, we'll go back 00:03:24.099 --> 00:03:25.379 a little question. Sorry, Logan, I'm gonna keep 00:03:25.379 --> 00:03:26.740 making you go back. All right, get it? Comes 00:03:26.740 --> 00:03:30.039 once in a minute, letter M, and twice in a moment, 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:31.639 but never in a thousand years. All right, some 00:03:31.639 --> 00:03:33.020 of you got these memorized. All right, let's 00:03:33.020 --> 00:03:35.099 see, okay. I have backups, just in case we get 00:03:35.099 --> 00:03:37.120 all these really fast. What gets bigger the more 00:03:37.120 --> 00:03:39.740 you take away? How do you guys just know these? 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:41.860 All right, he's like, oh, I got it. All right, 00:03:41.939 --> 00:03:44.460 good, okay. All right, this one will stump you, 00:03:44.520 --> 00:03:47.560 okay. All right, next one. How is seven different 00:03:47.560 --> 00:03:49.379 from the rest of the numbers between one and 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:57.520 10? No. No, no. All right, what else? I'm waiting. 00:03:57.740 --> 00:04:00.340 Good. You're stumped. That's what I want. Do 00:04:00.340 --> 00:04:03.620 what? That's a good smart person answer. But 00:04:03.620 --> 00:04:06.159 no, not prime number. All right, what else? What 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:10.520 do you think? No, no. Huh? Someone was close. 00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:13.840 Store it. That's two syllables and the rest of 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:15.599 them don't. Good job Stuart. Man, he deserves 00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:17.459 a high five for that. All right, I'll give you 00:04:17.459 --> 00:04:19.399 one more bonus one. It's not on the screen, but 00:04:19.399 --> 00:04:20.639 just because we went through them really fast. 00:04:20.699 --> 00:04:22.759 All right, what can you hold in your right hand, 00:04:22.779 --> 00:04:25.519 but never in your left hand? Oh my word, Jimmy. 00:04:25.660 --> 00:04:27.660 All right. Okay. All right. All right. Okay. 00:04:27.660 --> 00:04:29.360 All right. I got one more. I got one more. Okay. 00:04:29.500 --> 00:04:31.939 All right. This won't get everyone. Okay. First 00:04:31.939 --> 00:04:37.319 you eat me, then you get eaten. Yeah. It's not 00:04:37.319 --> 00:04:40.959 Joan of the Whale, but that's close. I'll say 00:04:40.959 --> 00:04:43.829 it again. I got you. First you eat me, then you 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:47.410 get eaten. No, it's not pineapple. Who's yelling 00:04:47.410 --> 00:04:51.329 pineapple over there? All right. First you eat 00:04:51.329 --> 00:04:57.470 me, then you get eaten. Fish? Yeah, fish hook. 00:04:57.529 --> 00:04:59.189 Good job, Michael. You got it. All right. OK. 00:04:59.350 --> 00:05:01.269 There. Man. All right. You guys are really smart, 00:05:01.410 --> 00:05:04.110 apparently. All right. But. My point with this, 00:05:04.189 --> 00:05:06.850 all right, is that if we look around actual life, 00:05:06.990 --> 00:05:08.949 all right, riddles, if I was looking through 00:05:08.949 --> 00:05:10.610 a whole bunch of riddles, and they all confused 00:05:10.610 --> 00:05:12.810 me, to be honest, all right, but I look around 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:15.149 life, and we look at life around us, and really 00:05:15.149 --> 00:05:18.050 what it is, is it's this big, massive riddle. 00:05:19.069 --> 00:05:21.149 And trying to get an answer to the riddle sometimes 00:05:21.149 --> 00:05:23.089 doesn't make sense. If I can get the answer, 00:05:23.110 --> 00:05:25.110 if you would just tell me the answer, like, like 00:05:25.110 --> 00:05:26.529 even when we did some of those, like, oh, that 00:05:26.529 --> 00:05:27.949 makes sense when I have the answer, all everything 00:05:27.949 --> 00:05:30.720 kind of comes together. But what's weird about 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:33.000 life is the more you try to figure it out, the 00:05:33.000 --> 00:05:35.680 actual more confusing it gets. And the longer 00:05:35.680 --> 00:05:38.639 you stay in life, really, truly, the more confusing 00:05:38.639 --> 00:05:41.199 it becomes. We see that in the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:05:41.660 --> 00:05:43.040 And Solomon gets some closure at the end of that, 00:05:43.279 --> 00:05:44.319 but a lot of people are just like, man, this 00:05:44.319 --> 00:05:46.339 isn't fulfilling. This is confusing. This is 00:05:46.339 --> 00:05:48.139 the thing I'm pursuing. I never feel fulfilled. 00:05:48.779 --> 00:05:50.220 What's also interesting is the longer you become 00:05:50.220 --> 00:05:52.339 a believer, the longer you're a believer, sometimes 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:54.060 the more confused you become about the world. 00:05:54.399 --> 00:05:56.879 where you where you get saved you have this triumphant 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.579 awesomeness of salvation but with that come these 00:05:59.579 --> 00:06:01.740 other questions that sometimes don't make sense 00:06:01.740 --> 00:06:04.600 if we're honest of common questions that people 00:06:04.600 --> 00:06:06.680 ask that you should ask i think it's good to 00:06:06.680 --> 00:06:09.920 ask or why do good people suffer and evil is 00:06:09.920 --> 00:06:12.000 prospering look through the world it seems like 00:06:12.000 --> 00:06:14.300 that it doesn't seem like that it's happening 00:06:14.300 --> 00:06:18.560 why isn't god answering my prayers why why isn't 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:21.649 it as easy to serve god as it was before Why 00:06:21.649 --> 00:06:24.230 is there so much pain in the world, yet God seems 00:06:24.230 --> 00:06:27.389 so silent? And to make it really hit home with 00:06:27.389 --> 00:06:29.889 us, let's look at some specific scenarios. Asking 00:06:29.889 --> 00:06:32.850 God, why would you allow this to happen? We've 00:06:32.850 --> 00:06:35.670 all asked that. Why would you allow this job, 00:06:35.750 --> 00:06:37.350 this promotion, why would you give the promotion 00:06:37.350 --> 00:06:39.629 to them? They've only been here five minutes, 00:06:39.649 --> 00:06:41.550 and I've been here five years. Why would you 00:06:41.550 --> 00:06:43.810 allow this to happen? Lord, why would you allow 00:06:43.810 --> 00:06:46.649 that drunk driving accident to happen? That killed 00:06:46.649 --> 00:06:50.269 an innocent person, Lord. Why do I raise my kids 00:06:50.269 --> 00:06:52.389 well and they leave the Lord? I've done everything 00:06:52.389 --> 00:06:54.269 right and they leave the Lord. It just doesn't 00:06:54.269 --> 00:06:57.829 seem fair. And if you haven't said that, you're 00:06:57.829 --> 00:07:00.610 not a human. If you haven't looked at your life, 00:07:00.790 --> 00:07:02.509 looked at the things around you in life and said, 00:07:02.509 --> 00:07:06.589 Lord, it's not fair. This makes no sense. And 00:07:06.589 --> 00:07:08.189 then if you stay in that long enough, you begin 00:07:08.189 --> 00:07:10.550 to have questions. You begin to have even doubt. 00:07:10.970 --> 00:07:12.790 And why that's important for us to resonate with 00:07:12.790 --> 00:07:15.189 is first because you do that. So we need to be 00:07:15.189 --> 00:07:16.930 honest with ourselves, but also that's where 00:07:16.930 --> 00:07:19.850 we pick up in Habakkuk. And Habakkuk's not like 00:07:19.850 --> 00:07:22.189 some random person on the street that has no 00:07:22.189 --> 00:07:24.389 idea of a knowledge of God. He's probably a temple 00:07:24.389 --> 00:07:27.069 musician. He has a vibrant relationship with 00:07:27.069 --> 00:07:31.310 God. But even he is saying, Lord, I don't understand. 00:07:31.410 --> 00:07:34.769 This doesn't make sense. He's not someone faithful 00:07:34.769 --> 00:07:36.730 heathen. He's a dedicated follower, but he's 00:07:36.730 --> 00:07:39.709 struggling. And he lays the framework for how 00:07:39.709 --> 00:07:42.389 we are to respond in our question or doubt. And 00:07:42.389 --> 00:07:44.329 that's our main point tonight, is that every 00:07:44.329 --> 00:07:46.170 believer, and that's a key, or we have that a 00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.579 lot of our opening statements, but Why it's so 00:07:48.579 --> 00:07:50.899 important is that we can face doubts because 00:07:50.899 --> 00:07:52.620 we are believers. We have some hope that we can 00:07:52.620 --> 00:07:54.819 work through this. But every believer can face 00:07:54.819 --> 00:07:57.620 their doubts by understanding two vulnerable 00:07:57.620 --> 00:08:00.420 complaints of Habakkuk. Now scholars call these 00:08:00.420 --> 00:08:02.779 in the first chapter what Habakkuk is his questions. 00:08:02.800 --> 00:08:06.240 They call them complaints. And because he's complaining, 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:08.500 he's complaining. This is not being done the 00:08:08.500 --> 00:08:11.439 way I think things should be done. What I appreciate 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.699 is that Habakkuk doesn't just go into himself, 00:08:13.720 --> 00:08:15.660 go privately and complain. He doesn't go to his 00:08:15.660 --> 00:08:17.439 friend and complain. He goes straight to who? 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:20.339 He goes to God and he says, Lord, I'm struggling 00:08:20.339 --> 00:08:22.000 here and I got to be honest with you. I love 00:08:22.000 --> 00:08:24.399 you. I want to serve you, but I don't think things 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:27.019 are fair right now. And what I love about God, 00:08:27.019 --> 00:08:28.879 and we see this even in the book of Job, is that 00:08:28.879 --> 00:08:31.920 God is not mad at questions. He's not offended 00:08:31.920 --> 00:08:33.820 when you ask questions. He's not threatened when 00:08:33.820 --> 00:08:36.740 you ask questions. I believe that He's glad. 00:08:37.159 --> 00:08:39.059 He's glad you're thinking and not just being 00:08:39.059 --> 00:08:41.200 a robot. That's why He gave you free will. He's 00:08:41.200 --> 00:08:42.960 glad you're thinking, processing, being real 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.240 with Him. He's glad you're going to Him with 00:08:45.240 --> 00:08:48.019 Him because He has the answers. And that's exactly 00:08:48.019 --> 00:08:49.740 what Habakkuk, he went to the Lord, and I think 00:08:49.740 --> 00:08:51.600 we should follow suit. So let's start with prayer, 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:54.940 and then we'll dive right in. Dear Heavenly Father, 00:08:54.960 --> 00:08:58.220 thank you so much for the good God you are. Lord, 00:08:58.240 --> 00:09:00.299 thank you for this book of Habakkuk that is so 00:09:00.299 --> 00:09:02.679 real. There's so much to unpack here, and it 00:09:02.679 --> 00:09:05.259 applies right to us, applies right to me. I'm 00:09:05.259 --> 00:09:08.720 just asking questions, wondering, even doubting. 00:09:09.000 --> 00:09:11.360 Lord, what we can hope with, what we can move 00:09:11.360 --> 00:09:13.019 forward with is that you do have the answers. 00:09:13.240 --> 00:09:15.460 You have the hope we need. So show us that tonight, 00:09:15.480 --> 00:09:17.340 work in our hearts in a way only you can, in 00:09:17.340 --> 00:09:20.259 your precious holy name. Amen. All right, so 00:09:20.259 --> 00:09:22.919 we see two complaints or criticisms from Habakkuk. 00:09:23.080 --> 00:09:26.259 And the first one is the complaint of the absence 00:09:26.259 --> 00:09:28.740 of punishment. He says there's no punishment 00:09:28.740 --> 00:09:31.220 happening. And we see this in verses one through 00:09:31.220 --> 00:09:32.639 four. Let's go ahead and read them together. 00:09:33.460 --> 00:09:35.320 The burden in which Habakkuk the prophet did 00:09:35.320 --> 00:09:37.919 see, verse one. Verse two, oh Lord, how long 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:41.080 shall I cry? And thou wilt not hear, even cry 00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:43.139 out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not 00:09:43.139 --> 00:09:46.019 save. Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause 00:09:46.019 --> 00:09:48.879 me to behold grievance? For spoiling and violence 00:09:48.879 --> 00:09:51.659 are before me, and there are that raise up strife 00:09:51.659 --> 00:09:53.779 and contention. Therefore the law is slapped, 00:09:54.039 --> 00:09:56.519 and judgment doth never go forth. For the wicked 00:09:56.519 --> 00:09:58.960 doth compass about the righteous, therefore wrong 00:09:58.960 --> 00:10:02.330 judgment proceedeth. So verse one, we'll take 00:10:02.330 --> 00:10:04.629 those verses apart, but it says that he's received 00:10:04.629 --> 00:10:07.850 a burden, that word burden is mass, it's oracle 00:10:07.850 --> 00:10:09.789 or burden. They kind of work together, they're 00:10:09.789 --> 00:10:11.990 synonymous. What's implying there is that he's 00:10:11.990 --> 00:10:14.629 got this heavy message that, this happened with 00:10:14.629 --> 00:10:16.169 all the prophets, that they were given a message 00:10:16.169 --> 00:10:18.350 that no one wanted to hear, right? No one wanted 00:10:18.350 --> 00:10:19.830 to hear what these prophets had to say, because 00:10:19.830 --> 00:10:21.649 usually it was like, hey, you're being dumb, 00:10:21.929 --> 00:10:23.629 stop being dumb, or you're gonna die, or you're 00:10:23.629 --> 00:10:25.549 gonna get punishment. And people don't want to 00:10:25.549 --> 00:10:28.330 hear that. So he has this heavy message, right? 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:30.110 I mean, it's the same way, if you've ever had 00:10:30.110 --> 00:10:32.149 a heavy message. I remember like, sometimes I 00:10:32.149 --> 00:10:34.090 would break stuff. Like, I don't know if you, 00:10:34.230 --> 00:10:36.049 I'm sure none of you have ever, let's see, I'm 00:10:36.049 --> 00:10:37.470 looking at the kids over here, right? How many 00:10:37.470 --> 00:10:39.629 of you have broken a tablet before? Okay, raise 00:10:39.629 --> 00:10:41.269 your hand if you ever broken a tablet. None of 00:10:41.269 --> 00:10:42.389 you, you're like, I'm not gonna raise my hand 00:10:42.389 --> 00:10:43.649 on my parents, you know? All right, thank you. 00:10:43.669 --> 00:10:45.450 I got honesty in the back row. Thank you, Angela. 00:10:45.509 --> 00:10:46.830 All right, you guys are good. How many of you 00:10:46.830 --> 00:10:49.659 broken something? Okay, I like the honesty, alright? 00:10:49.799 --> 00:10:51.419 Okay, as soon as you break something, there's 00:10:51.419 --> 00:10:53.419 like this heaviness of like, I gotta go tell 00:10:53.419 --> 00:10:55.519 my parents about it. Like, I gotta go tell someone 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:57.879 that's not going to enjoy this message. And that's 00:10:57.879 --> 00:10:59.740 what Habakkuk's feeling. We need to actually 00:10:59.740 --> 00:11:02.980 get the emotion he's with. He's saying, I've 00:11:02.980 --> 00:11:04.820 got this heavy message that I know is gonna provoke 00:11:04.820 --> 00:11:07.980 a heavy response in the people around me. And 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:10.240 the question he asks, and we'll see this in verses 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:13.720 two through four, he says, God, why does evil 00:11:13.720 --> 00:11:17.909 go unpunished? Even simply, like, Why aren't 00:11:17.909 --> 00:11:20.649 you doing anything? And we see this in verse 00:11:20.649 --> 00:11:23.690 2. He says, oh Lord, how long? That's a very 00:11:23.690 --> 00:11:25.309 common question throughout the Bible. We actually 00:11:25.309 --> 00:11:28.389 see it over 65 times, mostly in the Psalms. We're 00:11:28.389 --> 00:11:30.570 just saying, Lord, how long is this going to 00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:31.909 keep happening? Because I don't know how much 00:11:31.909 --> 00:11:34.629 longer I can do it. Lord, how much longer do 00:11:34.629 --> 00:11:37.210 we have to keep having suffering? How long will 00:11:37.210 --> 00:11:39.690 this pain continue? And then he says, how long 00:11:39.690 --> 00:11:42.350 shall I cry? And then he says cry later on. What's 00:11:42.350 --> 00:11:44.070 interesting to me, this is why Hebrew is important, 00:11:44.409 --> 00:11:47.029 is like those terms cry are two different words. 00:11:47.210 --> 00:11:49.870 The first cry is the word sava, which means he's 00:11:49.870 --> 00:11:51.570 calling out for help. That's normal, like, help 00:11:51.570 --> 00:11:54.289 me, please. I need help. I don't understand. 00:11:54.590 --> 00:11:56.830 But then that second cry, even cry out unto thee, 00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:59.529 is a different word. It's zake, which means scream. 00:11:59.669 --> 00:12:02.210 It means he's crying out with a disturbed heart. 00:12:02.289 --> 00:12:04.110 It means, okay, there's like, Lord, help me. 00:12:04.110 --> 00:12:06.889 And there's, Lord, help me. I can't do this. 00:12:06.970 --> 00:12:08.509 Right. Okay. Those are the two differences. Right. 00:12:08.710 --> 00:12:10.570 But like that was a little bit extra. That's 00:12:10.570 --> 00:12:12.549 what Habakkuk's doing. He's not just being the 00:12:12.549 --> 00:12:14.269 silent prim and proper person sitting in his 00:12:14.269 --> 00:12:16.309 seat like, Lord, I'm really strong. He's like, 00:12:16.309 --> 00:12:19.529 Lord, I'm on my knees begging to you. I don't 00:12:19.529 --> 00:12:22.830 understand this. And Habakkuk is crying out to 00:12:22.830 --> 00:12:24.710 the Lord. And our question needs to be why. See 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:27.429 that in verse three. He's seeing all the iniquity 00:12:27.429 --> 00:12:30.289 and the evil throughout Judah. He's looking at 00:12:30.289 --> 00:12:32.929 his country, the one he's a prophet to, the one 00:12:32.929 --> 00:12:35.649 he's a temple musician to, and he's like, they're 00:12:35.649 --> 00:12:39.210 just evil. And what's even worse, he says, is 00:12:39.210 --> 00:12:41.309 that, Lord, you seem to be just standing idly 00:12:41.309 --> 00:12:44.309 by not doing anything. You're just looking at 00:12:44.309 --> 00:12:47.029 the wrong. And he uses this vivid imagery to 00:12:47.029 --> 00:12:49.470 explain it. He says, spoiling or destruction. 00:12:49.889 --> 00:12:52.149 They're destroying things. They're having violence. 00:12:52.250 --> 00:12:54.250 That's the word Hamas, right? You know the terrorist 00:12:54.250 --> 00:12:56.389 group, violence. They're saying that there's 00:12:56.389 --> 00:12:58.590 this great violence, this destruction happening, 00:12:58.889 --> 00:13:02.259 strife, contention. He's saying Judah is morally 00:13:02.259 --> 00:13:05.919 breaking every possible barrier they could. And 00:13:05.919 --> 00:13:07.860 then what that's causing is strife, contention, 00:13:07.980 --> 00:13:09.659 anger between everyone. So not only are they 00:13:09.659 --> 00:13:11.320 breaking all the rules, they all hate each other. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:14.679 And it's just everything's falling apart. And 00:13:14.679 --> 00:13:17.700 what we see in the line of Judah is that they 00:13:17.700 --> 00:13:20.299 had a king Josiah and he actually spurred reform. 00:13:20.399 --> 00:13:22.559 Things were actually going well and there was 00:13:22.559 --> 00:13:24.899 hope and they were going to God but then time 00:13:24.899 --> 00:13:26.600 passed and they started going farther and farther 00:13:26.600 --> 00:13:29.019 away from God. And they fell into, once again, 00:13:29.159 --> 00:13:31.240 it's like the same old story, that they fell 00:13:31.240 --> 00:13:33.820 into worshiping Baal, a false idol. They were 00:13:33.820 --> 00:13:37.220 sacrificing their own kids to Moloch. They were 00:13:37.220 --> 00:13:39.200 ignoring the temple. They didn't go to the temple 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:41.179 and they just let it kind of be destroyed, like 00:13:41.179 --> 00:13:44.080 kind of condemn itself. And what was also happening, 00:13:44.200 --> 00:13:46.159 verse four, is that there was injustice in the 00:13:46.159 --> 00:13:48.799 court systems. It says the law was paralyzed. 00:13:49.000 --> 00:13:50.759 That means that the judges who are supposed to 00:13:50.759 --> 00:13:53.360 be practicing the law are actually ignoring the 00:13:53.360 --> 00:13:55.980 law. They were unjust, and most likely, scholars 00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:58.019 believed that they were being bribed. So like 00:13:58.019 --> 00:13:59.820 they were unjust judges, the wicked were coming, 00:14:00.059 --> 00:14:01.919 putting the righteous into courts, and saying, 00:14:02.019 --> 00:14:04.299 so it's the idea of like, if I really want something 00:14:04.299 --> 00:14:07.360 someone else has, all right, say I want, I don't 00:14:07.360 --> 00:14:09.340 know, what can I, what do you have that's valuable? 00:14:09.480 --> 00:14:11.659 All right, a pen, sure, okay. All right, say 00:14:11.659 --> 00:14:14.179 I really want, Isaac's pen and I'm a wicked person 00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:16.100 so what I do is I say all right I'm gonna take 00:14:16.100 --> 00:14:18.519 Isaac to court I'm gonna give all this awesome 00:14:18.519 --> 00:14:21.240 Mariam's just offering me a nice pinch so nice 00:14:21.240 --> 00:14:23.639 all right okay say Tyrone you're a judge okay 00:14:23.639 --> 00:14:26.200 and I pay him and I say all right I want what 00:14:26.200 --> 00:14:29.120 Isaac has so I'm gonna go pay this judge right 00:14:29.120 --> 00:14:31.519 here's 50 all right right there all right then 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:33.679 we take to court and then he sides with me and 00:14:33.679 --> 00:14:35.580 then I get what Isaac has right that's completely 00:14:35.580 --> 00:14:38.220 unjust that I'm a wicked person wants his belongings 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:40.500 and then I bribe the judge because of it that's 00:14:40.500 --> 00:14:42.000 what's happening here thank you You're awesome. 00:14:42.340 --> 00:14:45.759 All right, what is happening very simply is they're 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:49.000 just corrupting everything. They're back is looking 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:50.860 around all this corruption in the court systems 00:14:50.860 --> 00:14:52.779 and their everyday life and their worship to 00:14:52.779 --> 00:14:56.779 God and he's saying, do you see the sin Lord? 00:14:57.240 --> 00:14:59.840 Like do you see it? Like how long are you gonna 00:14:59.840 --> 00:15:02.980 let this go? And that's really not hard for us 00:15:02.980 --> 00:15:05.440 to imagine. I did a practice that I actually 00:15:05.440 --> 00:15:08.220 would not recommend anybody to do. I learned 00:15:08.220 --> 00:15:10.620 that, all right, is that I went to like the breaking 00:15:10.620 --> 00:15:13.460 news headlines on on the internet. I went to 00:15:13.460 --> 00:15:15.379 like NBC News because the first one popped up. 00:15:15.460 --> 00:15:19.299 I was like, I reading headlines is sad. I want 00:15:19.299 --> 00:15:21.440 to go through some headlines I saw and they're 00:15:21.440 --> 00:15:23.779 not happy. They're not good things. But this 00:15:23.779 --> 00:15:26.019 is what's happened in our world today. The same 00:15:26.019 --> 00:15:28.960 idea, the same sin that's happening. As I look 00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:30.879 through the first article I saw is Mexico being 00:15:30.879 --> 00:15:33.360 burned by cartel. I was like, not good. All right. 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:36.460 Next one was US and Israel strike Iran. Also 00:15:36.460 --> 00:15:40.159 not good. I saw AI child exploitation. Didn't 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:41.399 even want to read into that because that just 00:15:41.399 --> 00:15:44.740 discouraged me even more. I saw Epstein investigations 00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:46.659 and the horribleness there and the mess that 00:15:46.659 --> 00:15:49.559 is. I saw countless homicide investigations. 00:15:49.899 --> 00:15:52.679 I saw multiple articles about these coaches fired 00:15:52.679 --> 00:15:54.679 for inappropriate contact. And I was just reading, 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:57.039 I had to stop like after five minutes. I'm like, 00:15:57.139 --> 00:15:59.679 boy, there's just so much filth and disgustingness. 00:15:59.919 --> 00:16:03.899 It's just awful. And it's everywhere. It's awful. 00:16:04.100 --> 00:16:07.309 It's evil. And really, it's discouraging. And 00:16:07.309 --> 00:16:09.549 I read these headlines, and it's so easy for 00:16:09.549 --> 00:16:10.990 me to do, even reading them, I'm like, Lord, 00:16:11.009 --> 00:16:15.509 that's like evil. That's disgusting. And that's 00:16:15.509 --> 00:16:18.970 happening in our world. Sometimes we try not 00:16:18.970 --> 00:16:22.009 think about it, but it's happening. And I can 00:16:22.009 --> 00:16:23.909 read those headlines and very easily say, Lord, 00:16:23.929 --> 00:16:27.730 how long will you just sit by and ignore? Ignore 00:16:27.730 --> 00:16:29.409 what's happening in the world. Ignore what's 00:16:29.409 --> 00:16:30.590 happening in our country. Ignore what's happening 00:16:30.590 --> 00:16:34.769 in my life. Now what I love is that God responds 00:16:34.769 --> 00:16:38.090 in verse five. Verse five, let's look at it and 00:16:38.090 --> 00:16:39.649 we're gonna read all the way to verse 11 Okay, 00:16:39.669 --> 00:16:41.350 I'm gonna I think it's good for us to kind of 00:16:41.350 --> 00:16:43.850 see it all together Well, the Lord responds verse 00:16:43.850 --> 00:16:46.309 5 says behold ye among the heathen and regard 00:16:46.309 --> 00:16:48.970 and wonder marvelously For I will work a work 00:16:48.970 --> 00:16:50.850 in your days, which you will not believe though 00:16:50.850 --> 00:16:53.330 be told you for though I raised up the Chaldeans 00:16:53.330 --> 00:16:55.889 that bitter and hasty nation We shall march through 00:16:55.889 --> 00:16:57.669 the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling 00:16:57.669 --> 00:17:00.110 places that are not theirs They are terrible 00:17:00.110 --> 00:17:02.269 and dreadful their judgment and their dignity 00:17:02.269 --> 00:17:04.670 shall proceed of themselves their horses are 00:17:04.670 --> 00:17:07.009 often also swifter than the leopards and are 00:17:07.009 --> 00:17:09.250 more fierce than the evening wolves and their 00:17:09.250 --> 00:17:11.390 horsemen shall spread themselves and the horsemen 00:17:11.390 --> 00:17:13.430 shall come from far and they shall fly as the 00:17:13.430 --> 00:17:15.930 eagle that hasteth to eat they shall come as 00:17:15.930 --> 00:17:18.670 come all for violence their faces shall sup as 00:17:18.670 --> 00:17:20.950 the east wind they shall gather the captivity 00:17:20.950 --> 00:17:23.549 as the sand and they shall scoff at the kings 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:26.069 and the princes shall be a scorn unto them they 00:17:26.069 --> 00:17:28.170 shall deride every stronghold for they shall 00:17:28.170 --> 00:17:31.210 heap dust and take it Then shall his mind change, 00:17:31.349 --> 00:17:32.829 and he shall pass over and offend, impugning 00:17:32.829 --> 00:17:35.970 that his power unto his God. There's a lot there, 00:17:36.150 --> 00:17:38.250 and it's very, very old English there, but it's 00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:40.109 very easy to understand as we unpack it, and 00:17:40.109 --> 00:17:42.549 it's very relatable. But what I love is, this 00:17:42.549 --> 00:17:43.750 is a really encouraging verse, I don't want to 00:17:43.750 --> 00:17:45.630 gloss over it, is verse five. We see first the 00:17:45.630 --> 00:17:48.029 Lord answers, and he says a little bit of a kind 00:17:48.029 --> 00:17:50.549 rebuke. He says, verse five, behold ye among 00:17:50.549 --> 00:17:52.730 the heathen, in regard, wonder marvelous. He 00:17:52.730 --> 00:17:55.569 says, get ready to wonder, because I'm, for I 00:17:55.569 --> 00:17:57.089 will work a work in your days which you will 00:17:57.089 --> 00:17:59.369 not believe though be told to you. He's saying, 00:17:59.430 --> 00:18:02.329 Habakkuk, okay, if I told you what I'm about 00:18:02.329 --> 00:18:04.549 to do, you would not even kind of believe me. 00:18:04.609 --> 00:18:07.210 The great things I'm about to transform and do 00:18:07.210 --> 00:18:09.170 in your life and in the life of Judah and life 00:18:09.170 --> 00:18:11.390 of the world, you would not even believe it. 00:18:11.710 --> 00:18:14.410 Like I think if like he told him his... perfect 00:18:14.410 --> 00:18:17.470 plan for how the people will return back to Jerusalem. 00:18:17.589 --> 00:18:19.230 I don't think Habakkuk would believe it, be like, 00:18:19.329 --> 00:18:21.529 how is that possible? If he even went into even 00:18:21.529 --> 00:18:23.750 kind of the gospel and try to share like, hey, 00:18:23.809 --> 00:18:25.329 Habakkuk, I have this whole even bigger plan 00:18:25.329 --> 00:18:27.390 about Jesus and my son being sent down to die 00:18:27.390 --> 00:18:29.130 for you on a cross. Like, he wouldn't even believe 00:18:29.130 --> 00:18:31.710 it. And that's so like encouraging to me because 00:18:31.710 --> 00:18:35.109 there, if I look at, we'll illustrate it this 00:18:35.109 --> 00:18:38.230 way. If I say to Brian Hendricks, right, Brian 00:18:38.230 --> 00:18:41.069 Hendricks, in about, let's say, three months, 00:18:41.230 --> 00:18:43.269 all right, you're gonna have a million dollars. 00:18:43.440 --> 00:18:45.500 You're going to be living in retirement. You're 00:18:45.500 --> 00:18:46.480 going to be completely retired. You're going 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:48.859 to be living in Cancun, all right? OK? He's probably 00:18:48.859 --> 00:18:51.839 like, sounds great. Don't believe you, right? 00:18:52.279 --> 00:18:53.759 Like, no, I don't believe that's going to happen, 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:56.380 all right? Say I gave, let's see. Alright, if 00:18:56.380 --> 00:18:59.299 I gave Josh just a free Ferrari, like Josh in 00:18:59.299 --> 00:19:02.079 about two hours, there's gonna be a Ferrari arriving 00:19:02.079 --> 00:19:04.099 at your house. He's like, that sounds awesome. 00:19:04.539 --> 00:19:06.640 Still don't believe you, right? Okay, if I tell 00:19:06.640 --> 00:19:09.259 Eli that when he goes home, his parents have 00:19:09.259 --> 00:19:11.299 designed this beautiful gaming room for him, 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:13.099 and he gets to use it as much as he wants, he's 00:19:13.099 --> 00:19:14.869 probably like, Looking at it and say, like, dad, 00:19:14.890 --> 00:19:17.390 get on that. Like, you're not gonna believe it, 00:19:17.390 --> 00:19:19.549 right? If I make these grand promises to you, 00:19:19.630 --> 00:19:20.769 you're probably not gonna believe it. You're 00:19:20.769 --> 00:19:23.210 gonna say, that's just not possible. My own mind 00:19:23.210 --> 00:19:26.829 state, my own logic, the way I see things. What 00:19:26.829 --> 00:19:29.710 I love is that God's saying, Habakkuk, you're 00:19:29.710 --> 00:19:33.049 so finite. You're so small. And he doesn't say 00:19:33.049 --> 00:19:35.910 this derogatory, but he's saying, Habakkuk, you're 00:19:35.910 --> 00:19:38.849 not God. You don't even kind of know what I'm 00:19:38.849 --> 00:19:41.589 going to do. And then he says part of his plan. 00:19:41.980 --> 00:19:45.380 It gives a little bit of a revelation here. And 00:19:45.380 --> 00:19:49.819 what's a big thing that happens is I see in verse 00:19:49.819 --> 00:19:52.480 five that if God really told me the plan he had 00:19:52.480 --> 00:19:54.180 for me, I don't think I would actually believe 00:19:54.180 --> 00:19:57.299 him. And if he told me at 13 that I'd be in Finley 00:19:57.299 --> 00:20:01.579 with a family, with the church family, with a 00:20:01.579 --> 00:20:03.920 new baby girl in Ohio as a youth pastor, I wouldn't 00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:05.660 believe him. I'd be like, Lord, there's so many 00:20:05.660 --> 00:20:07.119 things that have to happen for that to happen. 00:20:08.400 --> 00:20:11.549 And I ask, why would we not believe that? and 00:20:11.549 --> 00:20:13.450 what we tend to do is we tend to think we know 00:20:13.450 --> 00:20:16.210 more than God and we tend to think we know better 00:20:16.210 --> 00:20:19.910 and if God would just put me in control and we 00:20:19.910 --> 00:20:21.470 would say things like I would never make a good 00:20:21.470 --> 00:20:23.829 God but we tend to live our life that way of 00:20:23.829 --> 00:20:25.390 that we try to make our own decisions we try 00:20:25.390 --> 00:20:27.990 to do our own things our own way and we want 00:20:27.990 --> 00:20:29.829 we want to have control and have our hand in 00:20:29.829 --> 00:20:32.309 everything we act like God in our decisions and 00:20:32.309 --> 00:20:34.170 how we critique things and how we complain and 00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:37.009 our desires but the reality we need to always 00:20:37.009 --> 00:20:38.950 meditate on And we gotta tell ourselves, because 00:20:38.950 --> 00:20:41.789 we so easily forget, is that God knows better 00:20:41.789 --> 00:20:45.970 than us. And we know that, but then we need to 00:20:45.970 --> 00:20:47.769 know that in our hearts. Because when we get 00:20:47.769 --> 00:20:49.849 anxious, we are not remembering that God knows 00:20:49.849 --> 00:20:52.049 us. When we get angry, when we get upset, when 00:20:52.049 --> 00:20:54.029 we get frustrated, things aren't going our way, 00:20:54.029 --> 00:20:56.710 we're not remembering that God does know best. 00:20:56.910 --> 00:20:58.589 And He has a better plan for us than we could 00:20:58.589 --> 00:21:00.849 even imagine. He had a better plan for Habakkuk. 00:21:01.309 --> 00:21:04.369 But it is not the plan Habakkuk expects. The 00:21:04.369 --> 00:21:06.789 Lord answers, and He says, all right, Habakkuk, 00:21:06.880 --> 00:21:08.420 Here's what I'm going to do. I hear your complaint. 00:21:08.880 --> 00:21:12.720 I'm going to send Babylon to punish Israel. He 00:21:12.720 --> 00:21:14.940 says, I'm raising up the Babylonians, the Chaldeans. 00:21:15.259 --> 00:21:18.099 And then he spends these next few verses describing 00:21:18.099 --> 00:21:20.000 what the Babylonians are going to be like. The 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.200 Lord gives his answer. I will send Babylon to 00:21:22.200 --> 00:21:24.779 punish Israel. He says, here's what they look 00:21:24.779 --> 00:21:26.759 like. They're going to be a bitter and hasty 00:21:26.759 --> 00:21:28.920 nation. That just simply means they're mean. 00:21:29.440 --> 00:21:31.759 They're just mean. And they shall march through 00:21:31.759 --> 00:21:33.279 the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling 00:21:33.279 --> 00:21:35.480 places that are not theirs. They're going to 00:21:35.480 --> 00:21:37.509 take the land. I'm going to take possessions 00:21:37.509 --> 00:21:38.789 that don't belong to them. They're going to say, 00:21:39.009 --> 00:21:40.569 hey, you have something nice, I'm taking it. 00:21:40.609 --> 00:21:42.210 You have something nice, I'm taking it. They're 00:21:42.210 --> 00:21:44.269 going to take whatever they want. They are terrible 00:21:44.269 --> 00:21:46.869 and dreadful. Everyone's scared of them. No one 00:21:46.869 --> 00:21:48.490 likes them. You see the Babylonians, you walk 00:21:48.490 --> 00:21:49.869 the opposite way because they're going to kill 00:21:49.869 --> 00:21:52.309 you if you get any closer to them. Their judgment 00:21:52.309 --> 00:21:54.130 and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. 00:21:54.670 --> 00:21:56.730 What that means is that they're not bound by 00:21:56.730 --> 00:21:58.589 laws or by rules. They can do whatever they want. 00:21:59.150 --> 00:22:02.089 There's no mosaic code they got to follow. They're 00:22:02.089 --> 00:22:04.319 like, hey, I'm really glad. Jews, you follow 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:05.660 that rule. We're not following those rules. We 00:22:05.660 --> 00:22:08.259 do whatever we want. And then verse eight describes 00:22:08.259 --> 00:22:11.660 what they're like. It says their horses are swifter 00:22:11.660 --> 00:22:14.019 than the leopards. And I have a picture up here 00:22:14.019 --> 00:22:16.299 of some different animals I get described as. 00:22:17.019 --> 00:22:19.619 But we see that there's three different animals 00:22:19.619 --> 00:22:21.480 it kind of compares to. It says their horses, 00:22:21.819 --> 00:22:23.400 which I really think, I don't know if this is 00:22:23.400 --> 00:22:24.680 like a historical thing. I don't know. Does it 00:22:24.680 --> 00:22:28.160 come up? Beautiful. All right. Horses were like 00:22:28.160 --> 00:22:30.000 the machine guns of Bible times. Like if you 00:22:30.000 --> 00:22:32.019 had a horse, dude, you could defeat like anyone, 00:22:32.220 --> 00:22:33.839 especially if they didn't have horses. And their 00:22:33.839 --> 00:22:35.920 horses are said to be faster than a leopard. 00:22:36.259 --> 00:22:38.940 Like a leopard's pretty fast, but a leopard goes 00:22:38.940 --> 00:22:41.039 like, I think I googled it, it's like goes 36 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:42.740 miles per hour. It's like, that's pretty fast. 00:22:43.019 --> 00:22:44.420 And there's some hyperbole here, but like their 00:22:44.420 --> 00:22:46.980 horses are like on it. They can go fast. And 00:22:46.980 --> 00:22:48.640 what that means is that they can easily kill 00:22:48.640 --> 00:22:50.039 you when you're trying to run away. That's what 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:52.829 that means. Their horses go. And then it says 00:22:52.829 --> 00:22:55.130 they're more fierce than evening wolves. Why 00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:57.849 it says evening wolves is it's implying a wolf 00:22:57.849 --> 00:23:00.029 who is super hungry at the end of the day and 00:23:00.029 --> 00:23:01.710 it's ready to eat on anything that comes near 00:23:01.710 --> 00:23:03.390 it. Right? You look at that wolf. I saw that. 00:23:03.430 --> 00:23:05.210 Like he's looking at his lips, man. Like if I'm 00:23:05.210 --> 00:23:07.150 near that, I'm walking the opposite way. That's 00:23:07.150 --> 00:23:08.549 what these were like. They're ready. They're 00:23:08.549 --> 00:23:10.390 saying it's dinner time. We're ready to destroy. 00:23:11.250 --> 00:23:13.289 And their horsemen, people on the horses fighting 00:23:13.289 --> 00:23:15.640 their warriors, shall be like eagles. that are 00:23:15.640 --> 00:23:17.859 ready to attack all it's all they desire and 00:23:17.859 --> 00:23:20.859 think about like these people all they do all 00:23:20.859 --> 00:23:23.000 they want is to destroy others and kill them 00:23:23.000 --> 00:23:25.019 and make them suffer that's what it says in verse 00:23:25.019 --> 00:23:27.480 9 they shall all come for violence their faces 00:23:27.480 --> 00:23:29.339 shall step up as the east wind and they shall 00:23:29.339 --> 00:23:32.599 gather the captivity of sand And what this is 00:23:32.599 --> 00:23:34.319 implying is a lot of times when they were conquering, 00:23:34.339 --> 00:23:37.240 say there was like a giant city that had a fortress, 00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:39.220 what they would do is they would get a whole 00:23:39.220 --> 00:23:41.579 bunch of sand and they would push it right next 00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:43.460 to the city to create like a ramp so they could 00:23:43.460 --> 00:23:46.200 climb up the sand and then hop over and go into 00:23:46.200 --> 00:23:48.500 the city and then kill everyone. And what it's 00:23:48.500 --> 00:23:50.740 saying is they're gathering up sand as they gather 00:23:50.740 --> 00:23:52.779 up their captivity. They're saying as much sand 00:23:52.779 --> 00:23:54.660 as they have, that's how many captives and prisoners 00:23:54.660 --> 00:23:57.630 and countries they have defeated. Verse 10 says 00:23:57.630 --> 00:24:01.289 they're stronger and more powerful than any king 00:24:01.289 --> 00:24:05.670 or any fortress. Verse 11, they're so powerful 00:24:05.670 --> 00:24:07.630 and unbeatable that they actually see themselves 00:24:07.630 --> 00:24:09.630 as their own God. They say, why would I follow 00:24:09.630 --> 00:24:12.069 your God when I'm already God? No one can stop 00:24:12.069 --> 00:24:15.309 me. I'm most powerful. And like historical records 00:24:15.309 --> 00:24:17.309 actually even tell us more about their weakness 00:24:17.309 --> 00:24:20.009 is that they first had like a multitude of gods. 00:24:20.089 --> 00:24:21.950 And as they serve those gods, a lot of times 00:24:21.950 --> 00:24:25.210 it was through witchcraft, through even talking 00:24:25.210 --> 00:24:27.490 to the supernatural. A lot of times they would 00:24:27.490 --> 00:24:30.630 go, if they conquered a city, they would take 00:24:30.630 --> 00:24:32.170 the king and to humiliate them, they put him 00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:34.210 in a cage and just kind of have him walk around 00:24:34.210 --> 00:24:37.130 with them. They had ferocity that just had no 00:24:37.130 --> 00:24:39.690 boundaries. It says in the Bible that King Zedekiah, 00:24:39.750 --> 00:24:42.950 the last king of Judah, what they did to him 00:24:42.950 --> 00:24:45.150 to make him suffer, it's... gruesome, but I think 00:24:45.150 --> 00:24:46.490 you need to know how gruesome the Babylonians 00:24:46.490 --> 00:24:48.650 are is that they took Zedekiah and then killed 00:24:48.650 --> 00:24:50.390 his entire family in front of him and gouged 00:24:50.390 --> 00:24:52.190 out his eyes the last thing he saw was his family 00:24:52.190 --> 00:24:54.950 dying. You're like, that's not good, Miles. That's 00:24:54.950 --> 00:24:56.750 bad. Like, no, you need to know that because 00:24:56.750 --> 00:24:58.329 we're just like, oh, Babylonians, like, they're 00:24:58.329 --> 00:25:00.569 probably not great. Like, no, the Babylonians 00:25:00.569 --> 00:25:04.730 are evil. They are wicked. They are disgusting. 00:25:06.210 --> 00:25:09.009 And we got to step back from him and be like, 00:25:09.190 --> 00:25:11.779 wait, so God, you're planning to use them? You're 00:25:11.779 --> 00:25:13.940 not going to punish them. Like, God, you could 00:25:13.940 --> 00:25:16.880 stop them, but you decide to use them instead. 00:25:17.619 --> 00:25:19.619 And the Lord's answer to a backache didn't seem 00:25:19.619 --> 00:25:22.779 like an answer. It actually spurred more questions 00:25:22.779 --> 00:25:26.059 because God gave a revelation to him rather than 00:25:26.059 --> 00:25:28.200 an explanation. He didn't tell him why, but he 00:25:28.200 --> 00:25:29.799 told him, hey, this is going to be even worse 00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:34.140 for us. Right. That was good timing. All right. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:36.640 But maybe like this. All right. I have a flag 00:25:36.640 --> 00:25:38.819 up here. OK. Anybody can tell me what the flag 00:25:38.819 --> 00:25:43.759 is of. OK. Caleb? North Korea, good job. Yeah, 00:25:43.799 --> 00:25:45.880 all right, North Korea. Not a great, not a great 00:25:45.880 --> 00:25:47.980 country, all right? So say we have all of our 00:25:47.980 --> 00:25:50.660 problems in America, okay? And if you're honest, 00:25:50.920 --> 00:25:52.420 okay, probably at some point you said, Lord, 00:25:52.799 --> 00:25:54.619 I'm not thrilled with all that's happening in 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:56.859 America. It's evil, it's awful. And then you 00:25:56.859 --> 00:25:58.619 pray to the Lord, and he says, you're right. 00:25:58.779 --> 00:26:00.640 It is awful. So what I'm going to do is I'm going 00:26:00.640 --> 00:26:02.579 to take an even worse nation, have them come 00:26:02.579 --> 00:26:05.539 and invade you, change your entire culture, kill 00:26:05.539 --> 00:26:07.720 a lot of people, destroy everything you know, 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:09.819 take your sons and daughters, and take them to 00:26:09.819 --> 00:26:12.319 do who knows what, and that's how I'm going to 00:26:12.319 --> 00:26:14.779 solve this problem. It's like, that's not better. 00:26:15.000 --> 00:26:17.099 Like, I'm not happy at that. America's still 00:26:17.099 --> 00:26:18.779 wicked, and now we just have the wicked of the 00:26:18.779 --> 00:26:21.539 North Koreans combining with it. It just spurs 00:26:21.539 --> 00:26:24.420 more worrying, more wondering, more doubting, 00:26:24.619 --> 00:26:28.039 more fear, and Habakkuk is very confused. He's 00:26:28.039 --> 00:26:30.380 saying, Lord, I cried out to you saying, why 00:26:30.380 --> 00:26:31.839 are you letting all this wickedness of Judah 00:26:31.839 --> 00:26:34.759 happen? And then you responded by saying, you're 00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:36.660 right. I'm going to use the Babylonians. You're 00:26:36.660 --> 00:26:38.880 even more wicked. It's like, Lord, what are you 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:41.920 doing? You don't make sense. And that spurs him 00:26:41.920 --> 00:26:45.420 to a second complaint. He starts focusing on 00:26:45.420 --> 00:26:48.519 the instrument of punishment, the instrument 00:26:48.519 --> 00:26:51.420 of punishment. He says, there was an absence 00:26:51.420 --> 00:26:53.240 of punishment. You weren't doing anything, but 00:26:53.240 --> 00:26:56.460 now you're punishing us that way. Let's look 00:26:56.460 --> 00:26:58.539 at verses 12 through 13. We see what Habakkuk 00:26:58.539 --> 00:27:24.930 is like here. He says, What we're picking up 00:27:24.930 --> 00:27:28.269 here is that Habakkuk is mad, he's frustrated, 00:27:28.509 --> 00:27:30.750 he's disappointed, he's confused, and he went 00:27:30.750 --> 00:27:32.569 to the Lord and he said, Lord, I'm going to you. 00:27:32.750 --> 00:27:34.509 But then he went there and he's like, my problems 00:27:34.509 --> 00:27:37.369 only got worse. Not only is Judah still sinning, 00:27:37.490 --> 00:27:39.690 but now there's even a bigger sinner being brought 00:27:39.690 --> 00:27:41.589 in. And his question here is what we've already 00:27:41.589 --> 00:27:44.690 said is, God, why would you punish evil with 00:27:44.690 --> 00:27:47.710 more evil? There was bad Judah, now there's big 00:27:47.710 --> 00:27:50.329 bad Babylon. And he's saying, Lord, make it make 00:27:50.329 --> 00:27:53.250 sense because it doesn't. So what he says in 00:27:53.250 --> 00:27:55.589 verse 12, he goes back to his theology. He starts 00:27:55.589 --> 00:27:58.029 saying, Lord, here's what I know about you. First, 00:27:58.130 --> 00:28:00.390 he says, Lord, I know you're everlasting. I know 00:28:00.390 --> 00:28:01.990 you're eternal. I know you know the beginning 00:28:01.990 --> 00:28:04.089 from the end. You know what's going to happen. 00:28:04.630 --> 00:28:07.410 But I don't, and I'm very confused. You're not 00:28:07.410 --> 00:28:10.150 surprised by what's going on, but I am. Then 00:28:10.150 --> 00:28:12.910 he also says, I know you're my God. He uses the 00:28:12.910 --> 00:28:15.349 term Yahweh here, the personal name. He's saying, 00:28:15.430 --> 00:28:18.390 you're my God. I know you love me. I know you 00:28:18.390 --> 00:28:21.009 care about me. I know I'm yours. He also says, 00:28:21.170 --> 00:28:23.869 I know you're holy, you're the holy one. There's 00:28:23.869 --> 00:28:26.829 no sin or impurity in you. No one can even come 00:28:26.829 --> 00:28:29.990 near to your holiness. And he also says, I know 00:28:29.990 --> 00:28:32.150 your promises. He says very shortly in there, 00:28:32.170 --> 00:28:34.589 he says, we shall not die. That's interesting. 00:28:34.609 --> 00:28:35.910 He's probably thinking about, I should have put 00:28:35.910 --> 00:28:38.329 it on the screen, I didn't, but 2 Samuel 7 -16, 00:28:38.390 --> 00:28:40.589 where there's a promise that Judah would not 00:28:40.589 --> 00:28:42.609 end, right? That it would continue. He's saying, 00:28:42.609 --> 00:28:44.109 I know we're not going to die. I know you're 00:28:44.109 --> 00:28:46.769 not done with us. And he also says, I know you're 00:28:46.769 --> 00:28:49.630 the rock. I know you're the most powerful and 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:51.720 mighty. But he also says, here's what I don't 00:28:51.720 --> 00:28:54.559 understand. Why would you decide to use them? 00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:56.539 Like that's the only people you could choose. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:29:00.759 And verse 13 says that thou eyes are so pure 00:29:00.759 --> 00:29:03.539 that you can't even look upon evil. I know you're 00:29:03.539 --> 00:29:06.420 holy and pure and you hate evil, but yet you 00:29:06.420 --> 00:29:08.779 decided to give the wicked more power and give 00:29:08.779 --> 00:29:10.559 them the ability to destroy the few remaining 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:12.700 righteous people. Like we're already a dying 00:29:12.700 --> 00:29:14.339 breed, Lord. There's not a lot of people who 00:29:14.339 --> 00:29:15.799 are serving you. And then you're going to bring 00:29:15.799 --> 00:29:17.779 in Babylon and kill all of us that are trying 00:29:17.779 --> 00:29:20.730 to serve you. Lord, what are you doing? And then 00:29:20.730 --> 00:29:22.089 he doesn't stop there. He keeps going in verses 00:29:22.089 --> 00:29:25.450 14 through 17. And make us men as the fishes 00:29:25.450 --> 00:29:27.970 of the sea, as the creeping things that have 00:29:27.970 --> 00:29:30.549 no ruler over them. They take up all of them 00:29:30.549 --> 00:29:32.650 with the angle, and catch them in their net, 00:29:32.869 --> 00:29:34.869 and gather them in their drag, therefore they 00:29:34.869 --> 00:29:37.250 rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice 00:29:37.250 --> 00:29:39.069 them through their net, and burn incense unto 00:29:39.069 --> 00:29:41.329 their drag, because by them their portion is 00:29:41.329 --> 00:29:43.509 fat, and their meat is plenious. Shall therefore 00:29:43.509 --> 00:29:45.970 empty their net, and not spare continually to 00:29:45.970 --> 00:29:48.660 slay the nations? Like okay, what is that saying? 00:29:48.779 --> 00:29:51.660 What's saying verse 14 is that he make us men 00:29:51.660 --> 00:29:54.059 as the fishes of the sea as creeping things He's 00:29:54.059 --> 00:29:56.380 saying I'm really feeling like mankind is just 00:29:56.380 --> 00:29:58.539 these these lower creatures that they have no 00:29:58.539 --> 00:30:00.420 value no rules no boundaries They can just do 00:30:00.420 --> 00:30:03.019 whatever they want in verse 15. The Babylonians 00:30:03.019 --> 00:30:04.640 are like the fishermen. All right, let's think 00:30:04.640 --> 00:30:06.779 of it like this Okay. All right. Where are my 00:30:06.779 --> 00:30:09.140 people with pencils? Who's got the pencils remember? 00:30:09.140 --> 00:30:11.779 All right, come right up to the to the podium 00:30:11.779 --> 00:30:16.200 right here. Okay All right, okay I know it's 00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:20.500 going to be nice and awkward. Your goal is to 00:30:20.500 --> 00:30:23.880 put the pencil. I'm going to preface this in 00:30:23.880 --> 00:30:25.920 a second. I want to be a jerk for a second. So 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:28.440 just be prepared. Ready? We're all like, we know 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:31.079 Miles. This is typical. You see a little hook 00:30:31.079 --> 00:30:34.039 here? Your goal, without totally demolishing 00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:36.480 the fishing rod. Bill Van Hoose gives this to 00:30:36.480 --> 00:30:39.460 you. He's very precious. It's to get it on. You're 00:30:39.460 --> 00:30:43.930 like, just do it. Ready? Go. This is kind of 00:30:43.930 --> 00:30:45.750 fun. This is good. All right, OK. Let's go here. 00:30:46.809 --> 00:30:51.849 OK. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, it's moving. It's moving. 00:30:52.049 --> 00:30:54.950 Oh, that, oh, oh, OK. Got it, got it, got it. 00:30:55.069 --> 00:30:57.210 I can't move it. It's, like, completely stuck. 00:30:57.369 --> 00:31:00.170 All right. Who's got it? Who's got it? You're 00:31:00.170 --> 00:31:02.769 like, it's not going on. Is it working? Slowly. 00:31:03.089 --> 00:31:04.690 Are you trying to get all three of them on? That's 00:31:04.690 --> 00:31:07.809 going to be an impressive. Oh. I think I won. 00:31:07.950 --> 00:31:09.549 I don't know what that means. All right. Okay. 00:31:09.650 --> 00:31:11.730 See if you see who can tag it first. All right. 00:31:11.750 --> 00:31:14.529 See if you can. Eli, you're too fast, man. You're 00:31:14.529 --> 00:31:16.130 killing it. All right. Give him a round of applause. 00:31:16.210 --> 00:31:18.289 All right. But Eli, stay up with me. Tessa, Aiden. 00:31:18.549 --> 00:31:20.329 Good job. Thank you guys. All right. See me after. 00:31:20.470 --> 00:31:22.349 Okay. I got some. You can keep the pencil. That's 00:31:22.349 --> 00:31:24.529 ours. All right. Eli, stay with me. Okay. All 00:31:24.529 --> 00:31:26.009 right. Here's what I want to picture Eli has. 00:31:26.069 --> 00:31:28.609 All right. They're saying in verse 14 that the 00:31:28.609 --> 00:31:30.950 men are like fish. Like they're just there. What 00:31:30.950 --> 00:31:32.869 the Babylonians are doing is they're trying to 00:31:32.869 --> 00:31:35.390 tempt and trying to use their fishing rod to 00:31:35.390 --> 00:31:37.000 capture these different people. All right, OK, 00:31:37.019 --> 00:31:38.880 you're captured. Grab onto this. You've been 00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:41.180 captured. OK, ready? All right, and what the 00:31:41.180 --> 00:31:43.039 Babylonians would do is they take these lesser 00:31:43.039 --> 00:31:45.099 men, and they would use them as fishing rods. 00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:47.019 Come on up here. Come here. I'm catching you 00:31:47.019 --> 00:31:49.440 as a fish. OK, OK, beautiful. And what they do 00:31:49.440 --> 00:31:51.180 is they take them, and then they throw them in 00:31:51.180 --> 00:31:52.900 their drag net. You kept saying that word, drag. 00:31:52.960 --> 00:31:54.720 What that means is a drag net. And they would 00:31:54.720 --> 00:31:56.380 throw them into a net, and they would take them 00:31:56.380 --> 00:31:58.220 as captives. And they could do whatever they 00:31:58.220 --> 00:32:00.220 want. And what it's saying is the Babylonians 00:32:00.220 --> 00:32:02.319 seem like they're unbeatable. We're just these 00:32:02.319 --> 00:32:04.279 men down here that are just fish and that mean 00:32:04.279 --> 00:32:06.519 nothing. But like Babylonians, they seem like 00:32:06.519 --> 00:32:09.420 they have the best fishermen lines, whatever. 00:32:09.559 --> 00:32:11.079 And they're just taking all these men and taking 00:32:11.079 --> 00:32:13.400 us as prisoners. We're helpless. All right, give 00:32:13.400 --> 00:32:15.099 Eli a round of applause too. Thank you, buddy. 00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:19.680 Good job. All right. And that's a simple illustration 00:32:19.680 --> 00:32:21.579 to illustrate what he's saying here. He's using 00:32:21.579 --> 00:32:24.480 metaphor. He's saying the goal of a fisherman 00:32:24.480 --> 00:32:27.019 is to catch fish and Judah is the helpless fish 00:32:27.019 --> 00:32:29.940 and Babylon are the catchers of the people. They 00:32:29.940 --> 00:32:32.240 are the catchers of these captives of these countries. 00:32:32.949 --> 00:32:36.309 and what he's actually alluding to is that what 00:32:36.309 --> 00:32:38.650 the Babylonians would actually do is when they 00:32:38.650 --> 00:32:40.710 would go and conquer a city they would go grab 00:32:40.710 --> 00:32:42.529 some of the captives they would go get like a 00:32:42.529 --> 00:32:45.109 fish ring and put it in their nose and then they 00:32:45.109 --> 00:32:46.970 would grab them and put them on a line and then 00:32:46.970 --> 00:32:48.369 they would have them walk together with their 00:32:48.369 --> 00:32:50.950 fish hook on a line carrying them away and that's 00:32:50.950 --> 00:32:52.410 what Habakkuk is thinking about he's like that's 00:32:52.410 --> 00:32:53.990 what the Babylonians do they're treating us like 00:32:53.990 --> 00:32:56.170 little fish that they just take And then verse 00:32:56.170 --> 00:32:58.809 16, what they're doing is they're not just doing 00:32:58.809 --> 00:33:00.549 that, they're sacrificing onto their net and 00:33:00.549 --> 00:33:03.150 burn incense onto their drag or their dragnet. 00:33:03.369 --> 00:33:06.009 It's saying they're being plenteous and prosperous 00:33:06.009 --> 00:33:09.410 and they don't have to sacrifice to you because 00:33:09.410 --> 00:33:11.769 they're just sacrificing to their own abilities, 00:33:11.930 --> 00:33:14.690 to their own supplies. They seem like they're 00:33:14.690 --> 00:33:18.039 always succeeding. And the metaphor, the whole 00:33:18.039 --> 00:33:19.759 point of those verses, what it's saying is they're 00:33:19.759 --> 00:33:22.119 out here killing us Lord, and you're not doing 00:33:22.119 --> 00:33:24.000 anything, actually you are doing something, you're 00:33:24.000 --> 00:33:26.359 blessing them and giving them more power. And 00:33:26.359 --> 00:33:29.500 Lord, that's not fair, that doesn't make sense. 00:33:30.299 --> 00:33:32.380 Habakkuk is clearly frustrated, he's hurting, 00:33:32.599 --> 00:33:35.319 he's doubting. And it's not just a national doubt, 00:33:35.819 --> 00:33:38.019 or a theological thing, it's spiritual, it's 00:33:38.019 --> 00:33:40.519 personal. And where he's at right now, he's in 00:33:40.519 --> 00:33:42.599 a series, or he's in a thing that we'll call 00:33:42.599 --> 00:33:46.000 in the series, the dip, right? So I have this 00:33:46.000 --> 00:33:47.599 guy up here. All right, go ahead and hit me with 00:33:47.599 --> 00:33:49.740 it. All right, we have a back kick. OK, everyone 00:33:49.740 --> 00:33:52.599 say hi to a back kick. OK, that was good. Thank 00:33:52.599 --> 00:33:55.319 you. All right, OK. So in our life, OK, go ahead 00:33:55.319 --> 00:33:57.000 and hit me that next one, Logan. All right, before 00:33:57.000 --> 00:33:58.960 we're saved, we're going to be this lower x, 00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.799 OK? Before we're saved, we haven't even begin 00:34:01.799 --> 00:34:04.059 to uncover the amazeness that Jesus has for our 00:34:04.059 --> 00:34:06.420 lives, right? Before you're saved, you're living 00:34:06.420 --> 00:34:09.000 in a hopelessness and a sinful state. And everyone 00:34:09.000 --> 00:34:11.260 who's saved says, amen. Before Jesus saved me, 00:34:11.280 --> 00:34:12.980 I was nothing and he turned me into something 00:34:12.980 --> 00:34:15.440 because he is the someone, right? So I'm seeing 00:34:15.440 --> 00:34:18.639 that. Before I was saved, I'm kind of at this 00:34:18.639 --> 00:34:20.119 bottom stage. I haven't even started the life 00:34:20.119 --> 00:34:23.019 Jesus has for me. but when you get saved what 00:34:23.019 --> 00:34:25.079 typically happens because one of the most amazing 00:34:25.079 --> 00:34:27.099 things ever is when you get saved you have a 00:34:27.099 --> 00:34:28.840 new passion for life go to him with that next 00:34:28.840 --> 00:34:31.099 one and you begin to move up your life actually 00:34:31.099 --> 00:34:33.260 starts going better you start getting pumped 00:34:33.260 --> 00:34:35.719 as you should the savior of the world loves you 00:34:35.719 --> 00:34:37.599 and died for you should make you kind of pumped 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:39.840 right you start to have joy and then you start 00:34:39.840 --> 00:34:42.019 to realize I actually have a church family too 00:34:42.019 --> 00:34:44.300 and I have community and I'm with others and 00:34:44.300 --> 00:34:46.539 then I'm reading God's word and it's like jumping 00:34:46.539 --> 00:34:49.619 off the page. Like it's telling me exactly what 00:34:49.619 --> 00:34:51.980 I need to hear and I'm attending church. I'm 00:34:51.980 --> 00:34:54.199 here when the doors open and I'm not only here 00:34:54.199 --> 00:34:56.980 but I'm engaged and I'm only engaged. I'm serving 00:34:56.980 --> 00:34:59.300 and then what's even more amazing is like I go 00:34:59.300 --> 00:35:02.400 to my job in your blessing and then I go to school 00:35:02.400 --> 00:35:04.900 in your blessing and in my relationships just 00:35:04.900 --> 00:35:07.760 everything's going really well and you see that 00:35:07.760 --> 00:35:09.820 very typically when someone first becomes saved. 00:35:09.840 --> 00:35:11.280 And we see that in our life and we have these 00:35:11.280 --> 00:35:13.460 things that are just ups like it's just awesome 00:35:13.460 --> 00:35:16.039 to be a Christian. It's amazing. But there will 00:35:16.039 --> 00:35:18.780 be times that will happen and it could be one 00:35:18.780 --> 00:35:21.260 really big time or I've seen in my life multiple 00:35:21.260 --> 00:35:22.820 different times and ups and downs where you'll 00:35:22.820 --> 00:35:25.079 hit a dip. Who was that next one? You'll hit 00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.179 a dip. You'll have a crisis of faith. Something 00:35:27.179 --> 00:35:29.380 will happen. There comes a point for every believer 00:35:29.380 --> 00:35:32.619 when it does where something changes. You started 00:35:32.619 --> 00:35:35.780 praying and weirdly your prayers aren't being 00:35:35.780 --> 00:35:37.539 answered like they were. You're talking to God 00:35:37.539 --> 00:35:38.980 but it doesn't seem like he's talking to you. 00:35:39.739 --> 00:35:41.760 Your devotional time is becoming less and less 00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:43.639 frequent, and you don't really want to do it 00:35:43.639 --> 00:35:45.239 anymore. It seems more like a homework assignment. 00:35:45.860 --> 00:35:47.840 You're serving, but it's really inconvenient. 00:35:48.420 --> 00:35:50.019 Like I'll serve if I get credit for it and people 00:35:50.019 --> 00:35:52.079 notice me, but like I'm gonna wake up early. 00:35:52.159 --> 00:35:54.619 I don't want to do that. My connections at church 00:35:54.619 --> 00:35:56.800 are wavering. I start kind of slipping out. I 00:35:56.800 --> 00:35:58.300 leave earlier than I did because I don't have 00:35:58.300 --> 00:36:00.820 anyone to talk to. I don't really want to, but 00:36:00.820 --> 00:36:03.719 worship becomes kind of like this song again. 00:36:04.059 --> 00:36:06.440 Like, okay, yeah, it'll be a glorious day. And 00:36:06.440 --> 00:36:09.019 then I go home. And the sermon, you're like, 00:36:09.050 --> 00:36:12.090 When will this guy stop talking? It's lunch time. 00:36:12.130 --> 00:36:14.429 It's dinner time. Get us out of here. Your passion 00:36:14.429 --> 00:36:16.769 begins to wane. So it could be something like 00:36:16.769 --> 00:36:18.750 that changes in your spirit. But it could also 00:36:18.750 --> 00:36:21.610 be something bad happens. Some really bad thing 00:36:21.610 --> 00:36:24.829 occurs. Someone passes away. A relationship is 00:36:24.829 --> 00:36:27.190 severed. It changes. Or it becomes an absence 00:36:27.190 --> 00:36:30.449 of one. You have job troubles. You're like, everything's 00:36:30.449 --> 00:36:32.210 just falling apart around me. You get a sickness. 00:36:32.409 --> 00:36:35.030 You just have a lack of motivation. What has 00:36:35.030 --> 00:36:36.670 happened is you hit a crisis of faith. You've 00:36:36.670 --> 00:36:40.099 hit a dip. And then we respond to the dip in 00:36:40.099 --> 00:36:42.940 a few different ways. One of them is denial. 00:36:43.079 --> 00:36:44.760 We just kind of ignore the dip and hope it goes 00:36:44.760 --> 00:36:46.460 away. We're like, I don't want to admit that 00:36:46.460 --> 00:36:48.300 I have problems because I don't know if anyone 00:36:48.300 --> 00:36:50.039 else has problems. So I'm just going to try to 00:36:50.039 --> 00:36:53.840 ignore it. Or we get angry and we get mad at 00:36:53.840 --> 00:36:55.719 God because he's like, why would, like I was 00:36:55.719 --> 00:36:57.800 up there. Why would you do this? Like I was serving 00:36:57.800 --> 00:36:59.420 you. I didn't even do anything wrong. I wasn't 00:36:59.420 --> 00:37:01.619 covered in sin. I've actually been doing better. 00:37:01.619 --> 00:37:05.179 And then you just throw me into this dip. Sometimes 00:37:05.179 --> 00:37:07.630 we, we can Abandoned everything and just say 00:37:07.630 --> 00:37:10.150 I'm done. It didn't work. I tried it. Don't care 00:37:10.150 --> 00:37:12.909 time to go What I've also seen Christians do 00:37:12.909 --> 00:37:16.130 is they just feel apathetic. It's like I'm just 00:37:16.130 --> 00:37:17.349 gonna go through the motions I'm just stuck in 00:37:17.349 --> 00:37:19.150 this dip forever. It's like man I really like 00:37:19.150 --> 00:37:20.889 that time where it was like exciting to serve 00:37:20.889 --> 00:37:23.070 God But I guess I'm supposed to so I guess I'll 00:37:23.070 --> 00:37:25.070 keep doing it and what happens is you get further 00:37:25.070 --> 00:37:26.570 and further away from your relationship with 00:37:26.570 --> 00:37:31.010 God And it seems like you can't avoid it It seems 00:37:31.010 --> 00:37:33.590 like there's just this giant pit that you can't 00:37:33.590 --> 00:37:36.309 get away from And that's exactly where we see 00:37:36.309 --> 00:37:40.210 Habakkuk. He's at this pit. He's in this dip. 00:37:41.010 --> 00:37:43.190 He says, what am I supposed to do? Lord, answer 00:37:43.190 --> 00:37:49.050 me. And here's his answer. Hit me with it. It's 00:37:49.050 --> 00:37:51.789 blank. Blank. It's blank. He didn't say anything. 00:37:52.670 --> 00:37:57.780 Look at it. Verse 17 ends. And then we see. Chapter 00:37:57.780 --> 00:37:59.840 one chapter two verse one, and we're gonna spend 00:37:59.840 --> 00:38:01.360 too much time on this because we pass a coin 00:38:01.360 --> 00:38:03.219 next week But we see what he does He says I'll 00:38:03.219 --> 00:38:05.599 stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower 00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:07.960 and watch to see what he will say unto me What 00:38:07.960 --> 00:38:11.340 I shall answer when I am reproved He says all 00:38:11.340 --> 00:38:14.980 right, I've asked the question He didn't respond 00:38:14.980 --> 00:38:17.280 He didn't respond and I know you know, you're 00:38:17.280 --> 00:38:18.860 like looking later on you're like, well, he does 00:38:18.860 --> 00:38:20.860 respond later Think about a back it where her 00:38:20.860 --> 00:38:23.139 back. It is that he's saying Lord I asked you 00:38:23.139 --> 00:38:26.099 a question and you're not responding There's 00:38:26.099 --> 00:38:28.659 just an absence. There's just nothing. Just silence 00:38:28.659 --> 00:38:31.940 it seems like. Now what Habakkuk really knows 00:38:31.940 --> 00:38:34.219 he's supposed to do when the Lord is seemingly 00:38:34.219 --> 00:38:36.000 silent, because I never believe the Lord is truly 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:39.139 silent, but what he's really saying to do is, 00:38:39.159 --> 00:38:42.239 we have it in our parentheses here, is like there's 00:38:42.239 --> 00:38:44.199 a blank here, but what he's telling us to do 00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:47.659 is to wait and trust. What he does in verse one 00:38:47.659 --> 00:38:50.340 is he waits and trusts that a response will come. 00:38:50.840 --> 00:38:53.179 And that's so incredibly relatable for life, 00:38:53.179 --> 00:38:55.199 because here's what's not going to happen. You're 00:38:55.199 --> 00:38:56.820 not going to get some new divine revelation. 00:38:57.780 --> 00:38:59.460 You're not going to have this audible direct 00:38:59.460 --> 00:39:01.800 conversation with God like Habakkuk. You might 00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:03.579 not even get a direct answer in your life for 00:39:03.579 --> 00:39:05.639 why some of the things are happening. And we 00:39:05.639 --> 00:39:08.300 can get mad and say, Lord, answer me. Lord, answer 00:39:08.300 --> 00:39:10.219 me. I'm asking you. I came to prayer. You told 00:39:10.219 --> 00:39:11.940 me to pray. And then I prayed. And then now you're 00:39:11.940 --> 00:39:15.719 not answering me. And we can get mad. And really, 00:39:16.139 --> 00:39:18.949 like, Maybe maybe I'm the only person in this 00:39:18.949 --> 00:39:20.829 room that's feeling that and I don't believe 00:39:20.829 --> 00:39:23.010 I am because I've struggled with that You could 00:39:23.010 --> 00:39:25.489 I could show you on a calendar what days I struggle 00:39:25.489 --> 00:39:27.769 with that where I'm saying Lord answer me and 00:39:27.769 --> 00:39:30.289 you're not answering me and I'm kind of demanding 00:39:30.289 --> 00:39:34.190 like I'm miles like I'm a youth pastor at Trinity 00:39:34.190 --> 00:39:36.809 Lord answer me like do you see how important 00:39:36.809 --> 00:39:40.150 I am and There's this quote that I think is really 00:39:40.150 --> 00:39:42.670 powerful. It's by Charles Spurgeon. There's a 00:39:42.670 --> 00:39:45.210 good way with words He says if we're more humble 00:39:45.389 --> 00:39:48.510 we should be more patient. A beggar who is warm 00:39:48.510 --> 00:39:50.550 with hunger will wait at the rich man's gate 00:39:50.550 --> 00:39:52.449 for many an hour with hope of getting broken 00:39:52.449 --> 00:39:55.889 victuals, that's food provisions. But my Lord 00:39:55.889 --> 00:39:57.730 who is in no need will soon be gone if the door 00:39:57.730 --> 00:40:00.449 does not open to his knock. We have kept the 00:40:00.449 --> 00:40:02.150 Lord waiting long enough and we need not wonder 00:40:02.150 --> 00:40:04.190 if he tries our faith and patience by apparent 00:40:04.190 --> 00:40:06.550 delays. In any case, let us settle this in our 00:40:06.550 --> 00:40:09.650 hearts that he must and will fulfill his promises. 00:40:10.309 --> 00:40:12.750 What I'm saying is like, if the Lord says wait, 00:40:13.130 --> 00:40:15.219 you can't... We don't have the right to be like, 00:40:15.300 --> 00:40:17.059 I don't want to do that. I don't want to wait. 00:40:17.420 --> 00:40:18.619 Would you do what I say right now? It's like, 00:40:18.679 --> 00:40:20.980 no, no, no. He knows better. And we've kept him 00:40:20.980 --> 00:40:23.119 waiting a long time in our life, before we were 00:40:23.119 --> 00:40:26.000 saved, and even after we're saved. We act like 00:40:26.000 --> 00:40:27.380 the Lord doesn't treat us well, and I'm the one 00:40:27.380 --> 00:40:31.179 who doesn't treat the Lord well. I'm not saying 00:40:31.179 --> 00:40:32.800 to feel bad in the sense of like, oh, you're 00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:34.699 right. It's like, no, but he still loves me. 00:40:34.920 --> 00:40:37.019 And he still cares about me. He says, wait, you 00:40:37.019 --> 00:40:39.340 have no clear answer. Wait, don't try to debate 00:40:39.340 --> 00:40:41.199 me. Don't try to act like you know better. Don't 00:40:41.199 --> 00:40:43.360 try to change my mind. Don't think I'm obligated 00:40:43.360 --> 00:40:46.360 to respond. Wait and trust. And remember, the 00:40:46.360 --> 00:40:48.719 Lord is never silent. Maybe we don't hear him 00:40:48.719 --> 00:40:51.679 audibly, but he's not silent in his word. I mean, 00:40:51.780 --> 00:40:54.239 there are countless times, Christian, where I'm 00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:55.500 like, God, you're not talking to me. You know 00:40:55.500 --> 00:40:57.059 what I haven't done? I haven't picked this up. 00:40:57.059 --> 00:40:58.760 I haven't read it. It's like he gave me a whole 00:40:58.760 --> 00:41:01.219 book where he talked to me. And then I have the 00:41:01.219 --> 00:41:02.840 audacity to say, Lord, you're not answering my 00:41:02.840 --> 00:41:04.690 prayers. Lord, you're not paying attention to 00:41:04.690 --> 00:41:07.030 me. It's like I've given you an entire book, 00:41:07.269 --> 00:41:10.829 66 of them. Read them. Go to the verses you know. 00:41:10.909 --> 00:41:12.849 There's still the truth that works. He's not 00:41:12.849 --> 00:41:14.690 silent. He's given you his word. He's giving 00:41:14.690 --> 00:41:17.010 you the Holy Spirit. He's given you countless 00:41:17.010 --> 00:41:19.010 blessings. And that's why we can do what James 00:41:19.010 --> 00:41:21.949 chapter one, verse two says is my brethren, when 00:41:21.949 --> 00:41:23.570 you fall, count all the joy when you fall into 00:41:23.570 --> 00:41:25.849 diverse temptations, knowing this to the trying 00:41:25.849 --> 00:41:29.050 of your faith work with patience. Count it all 00:41:29.050 --> 00:41:34.610 joy. There was this story. that I heard of this 00:41:34.610 --> 00:41:39.969 lady, Cindy Lipscomb and Jude Bonin. And they 00:41:39.969 --> 00:41:44.190 went on this train and they kind of just met 00:41:44.190 --> 00:41:49.030 each other and they became fast friends and then 00:41:49.030 --> 00:41:50.590 their daughters became fast friends and they 00:41:50.590 --> 00:41:52.960 were all so excited about. the life they got 00:41:52.960 --> 00:41:54.320 to live together, the new friendships they had. 00:41:54.420 --> 00:41:57.280 So they all went to Chicago, and they went to 00:41:57.280 --> 00:41:59.199 have this grand time. It was like the New Orleans 00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:01.199 and Chicago, whatever that is, right? And they 00:42:01.199 --> 00:42:03.500 were really excited about it. And they went, 00:42:03.519 --> 00:42:05.139 and they were on a train back from it. They had 00:42:05.139 --> 00:42:09.159 a great day. And what ended up happening is Cindy 00:42:09.159 --> 00:42:10.880 was in the back of the train, and she was with 00:42:10.880 --> 00:42:12.800 her daughters. And they wanted to have a sleepover 00:42:12.800 --> 00:42:14.440 with June and her daughters in the front of the 00:42:14.440 --> 00:42:16.500 train. So she says, yeah, go ahead. They prayed. 00:42:17.320 --> 00:42:19.360 They kissed each other good night. And then she 00:42:19.360 --> 00:42:20.880 sent her daughters to be able to go have a sleepover 00:42:20.880 --> 00:42:24.090 with them. Sometimes during that night, a steel 00:42:24.090 --> 00:42:26.989 train stopped and blocked the entire track. What 00:42:26.989 --> 00:42:28.610 would end up happening is, show me the picture, 00:42:29.190 --> 00:42:32.050 is that there's this giant, giant collision. 00:42:32.469 --> 00:42:34.050 And all these trains together, there was a giant 00:42:34.050 --> 00:42:36.949 fireball that happened. And there were over 200 00:42:36.949 --> 00:42:40.590 passengers on there. And one of the people that 00:42:40.590 --> 00:42:44.449 died was June and her daughters and Cindy's daughters. 00:42:45.289 --> 00:42:48.260 And it's just like an absolute travesty. that 00:42:48.260 --> 00:42:50.480 June this lady who loved the Lord and like she 00:42:50.480 --> 00:42:52.820 had just beat cancer like two months before this 00:42:52.820 --> 00:42:54.639 trip so like Lord just delivered her through 00:42:54.639 --> 00:42:56.480 all this time of cancer they go on this great 00:42:56.480 --> 00:42:58.679 trip they go out to they're sleeping and they 00:42:58.679 --> 00:43:00.880 hear this this boom and these giant explosions 00:43:01.369 --> 00:43:03.590 And then Cindy, in the back of the train, she's 00:43:03.590 --> 00:43:05.510 barely able to get out. She's barely able to 00:43:05.510 --> 00:43:08.090 get her daughter out, Ashley, her youngest one, 00:43:08.090 --> 00:43:10.329 who is about three. But on Ashley's way of getting 00:43:10.329 --> 00:43:12.530 out, a giant train fell on her and snapped her 00:43:12.530 --> 00:43:14.750 leg off. And it's just like, Miles, why are you 00:43:14.750 --> 00:43:16.090 telling me this? That's gross. I don't need to 00:43:16.090 --> 00:43:17.769 know that. No, what I'm saying is, I look at 00:43:17.769 --> 00:43:20.150 those situations, and it's like, Lord, why do 00:43:20.150 --> 00:43:22.429 you allow bad things to happen? Why would you 00:43:22.429 --> 00:43:24.170 allow something like that of people who follow 00:43:24.170 --> 00:43:26.690 you, who are not against you, who are faithful 00:43:26.690 --> 00:43:30.400 followers, and yet they die? That doesn't make 00:43:30.400 --> 00:43:34.460 sense to me And like one potential reason we 00:43:34.460 --> 00:43:36.599 say Lord did this is they had this very big funeral 00:43:36.599 --> 00:43:38.960 that was televised in Nashville and the gospel 00:43:38.960 --> 00:43:42.079 got delivered by Cindy her husband and then June's 00:43:42.079 --> 00:43:45.000 husband Like you could say it was a gospel opportunity, 00:43:45.059 --> 00:43:46.860 but it's like that's a lot for a gospel opportunity 00:43:46.860 --> 00:43:50.539 all these people dying suffering You know, I 00:43:50.539 --> 00:43:52.659 don't I can't I I'm standing here. I'm like, 00:43:53.139 --> 00:43:54.579 you know what? I don't know why God does things 00:43:54.579 --> 00:43:57.760 all the time I would be a bad pastor if I was 00:43:57.760 --> 00:43:59.800 like, I know why God does everything. Here's 00:43:59.800 --> 00:44:01.780 what I do know, he says. Let's go Romans 11, 00:44:01.960 --> 00:44:05.380 verses 33 to 36. To describe God, Paul says, 00:44:05.539 --> 00:44:07.239 oh, the depths of the riches, both the wisdom 00:44:07.239 --> 00:44:09.559 and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His 00:44:09.559 --> 00:44:12.599 judgments and His ways past finding out. For 00:44:12.599 --> 00:44:14.599 who hath known the mind of the Lord? Not me. 00:44:14.960 --> 00:44:17.159 I haven't. Who hath been His counselor? No, I 00:44:17.159 --> 00:44:18.920 don't. I get to tell him what's best. It's not 00:44:18.920 --> 00:44:22.059 me. Or who hath first given to Him, and it shall 00:44:22.059 --> 00:44:24.510 be recompensed unto Him again? For of Him and 00:44:24.510 --> 00:44:26.130 through Him and to Him are all things to whom 00:44:26.130 --> 00:44:29.269 be glory forever. Amen. Some people say this 00:44:29.269 --> 00:44:30.809 verse like that's a cop -out. You're saying God 00:44:30.809 --> 00:44:32.670 just knows everything and we just trust Him and 00:44:32.670 --> 00:44:34.409 do whatever. He doesn't have to explain it. It's 00:44:34.409 --> 00:44:36.210 like, no, it's not a cop -out. It's the most 00:44:36.210 --> 00:44:38.429 incredibly comforting thing ever. That an amazing 00:44:38.429 --> 00:44:40.650 God far above us, while I may not understand, 00:44:40.809 --> 00:44:43.269 I know my God is above all. And He does understand. 00:44:43.769 --> 00:44:46.269 And what baffles me, what doesn't make sense 00:44:46.269 --> 00:44:50.639 to me is truly the gospel. The Lord in heaven, 00:44:50.780 --> 00:44:53.159 who is so far above everything, saw fit to send 00:44:53.159 --> 00:44:56.599 his son to die for me. And he knew my wickedness. 00:44:56.619 --> 00:44:59.139 You think the Babylonians are bad. Miles's wickedness 00:44:59.139 --> 00:45:03.019 is pretty bad. But Jesus came and Romans 8 .15 00:45:03.019 --> 00:45:05.619 says it really well, these few verses. And I'll 00:45:05.619 --> 00:45:07.219 summarize them for sake of time. But they're 00:45:07.219 --> 00:45:09.199 up there. And what it's saying is that because 00:45:09.199 --> 00:45:11.820 of God seeing his son, we first get to be born 00:45:11.820 --> 00:45:13.760 again as we're learning about on Sunday. We get 00:45:13.760 --> 00:45:15.699 to be adopted as a child. We get to cry, Abba, 00:45:15.699 --> 00:45:19.159 Father. We get to be heirs of eternity, the verse 00:45:19.159 --> 00:45:22.099 says. And verse 18 says, for I reckon not the 00:45:22.099 --> 00:45:23.539 sufferings of this present time are worth to 00:45:23.539 --> 00:45:25.619 be compared with the glory which shall be revealed 00:45:25.619 --> 00:45:29.860 in us. The greatest mystery is God's steadfast 00:45:29.860 --> 00:45:35.119 love for me and for you. And I call you to believe 00:45:35.119 --> 00:45:37.059 if you never have and what Christ has done for 00:45:37.059 --> 00:45:38.460 you, because that's the only hope I can offer 00:45:38.460 --> 00:45:41.059 you. A God who loves you and sent his son to 00:45:41.059 --> 00:45:44.679 die for you. You know, questioning is a part 00:45:44.679 --> 00:45:47.480 of our journey. There's crisis of faith situations. 00:45:48.780 --> 00:45:50.500 But what I want to do really quick, really quick, 00:45:50.619 --> 00:45:52.719 like really quick, is what to do when God doesn't 00:45:52.719 --> 00:45:55.320 make sense. There's five quick things or four 00:45:55.320 --> 00:45:57.880 quick things, and then we'll be done. Is first, 00:45:57.920 --> 00:45:59.659 be real. Number one, you got to be real with 00:45:59.659 --> 00:46:01.400 God. Don't fake it. He already knows the real 00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:03.340 you. He wants to talk to the real you, not to 00:46:03.340 --> 00:46:05.960 fake you. Go to God. Say, Lord, I'm going to 00:46:05.960 --> 00:46:08.960 be real with you. And then number two, ask questions. 00:46:09.960 --> 00:46:11.559 Like voice your questions. You have questions, 00:46:11.619 --> 00:46:13.039 things you're wondering, things you're wrestling, 00:46:13.139 --> 00:46:15.409 things you're struggling. And it's time to get 00:46:15.409 --> 00:46:17.590 them out of your head and to voice them to say, 00:46:17.670 --> 00:46:19.570 Lord, why would you, or why wouldn't you? This 00:46:19.570 --> 00:46:21.349 doesn't sit right with me. This doesn't seem 00:46:21.349 --> 00:46:23.969 fair. You're not saying, Lord, tell me what you're 00:46:23.969 --> 00:46:25.190 doing. It's saying, Lord, I don't understand. 00:46:25.250 --> 00:46:29.550 Help me to follow you. And then I need to have 00:46:29.550 --> 00:46:32.110 a dialogue with God, start fellowshiping with 00:46:32.110 --> 00:46:34.269 him, having time where I'm talking to him. And 00:46:34.269 --> 00:46:36.869 they work together of asking questions and dialoguing 00:46:36.869 --> 00:46:39.269 with God. That's the first instinct of Habakkuk. 00:46:39.329 --> 00:46:42.519 He talks to God. Mean this week you might say 00:46:42.519 --> 00:46:45.400 God. I don't understand, but I know you do Help 00:46:45.400 --> 00:46:47.460 my doubts. I'm going to you. I'm going to others 00:46:47.460 --> 00:46:49.780 godly people in life that can help me as well 00:46:49.780 --> 00:46:53.579 and then finally trust the truth I Often don't 00:46:53.579 --> 00:46:56.519 understand things, but when you're in a dip when 00:46:56.519 --> 00:46:58.519 you're in the heights of heights you need to 00:46:58.519 --> 00:47:03.760 hold on to God Be like a bucket don't let go 00:47:03.760 --> 00:47:07.119 Because he never let go of you hold on to God 00:47:07.119 --> 00:47:09.480 and say he takes perfect perfect perfect care 00:47:09.480 --> 00:47:11.280 of you No matter what the storms of life, no 00:47:11.280 --> 00:47:14.079 matter if they make sense or not, God does take 00:47:14.079 --> 00:47:15.960 care of His children. Let's pray.