I feel like that happens probably more often
than not, especially in the world that we kind
of live in. There's often times where just something
just really kind of just tends to grit at you
and you just kind of want, if you were a lawyer,
you would want to scream out, I object, right?
I often feel like this way when I go through
the drive -through and you see the sign where
it's like sauces or an extra 10 cents or extra
15 cents and then you're just like, I just, all
right, I'll get two sauces and then you drive
away and then you find out there's no sauces
in the bag. Have you ever felt that way? You're
just like, that is just wrong on so many accounts,
right? That's probably a silly way of thinking
about it, but there are certainly things in life
where you just feel like, you just want to scream
out, I object. And that's kind of where we're
going to find Habakkuk in the book of Habakkuk
chapter two is kind of where he was at. So just
a little bit of review. We started last week,
Pastor Miles did a great job of introducing the
book and theme of Habakkuk and Habakkuk. chapter
one, and Habakkuk chapter one is really all about
wondering. God delivers a message of destruction,
a message of wrath. to Habakkuk. It says that
it's the burden of Habakkuk. And he basically
says, Habakkuk, the people of God have wandered
far. They've done wrong. They have misused the
freedoms that I've given them. They have not
worshiped me the way they have broken the covenant.
And Habakkuk basically gets delivered a message
that God is going to not just send judgment by
way of plague or by way of famine. He's going
to actually send judgment by using an even more
wicked people to come and to conquer the people
of God. Now this was a message that on the onset,
Habakkuk, it didn't sit well with Habakkuk. In
fact, Habakkuk in a way kind of says, God, that
just seems unjust. What are you doing? I object
to what you're doing. Now, if you actually look
through the book of Habakkuk, there's actually
a lot of wordage and a lot of phraseology that
kind of mimics the idea of a courtroom. And Habakkuk,
in a way, is kind of taking God to court and
saying, what you're doing, God, I don't understand
it, and it just seems not fair. You don't seem
like you're being just in what you're... ruling.
And the book of Habakkuk really, to be honest,
I think is very, very relevant for anybody who
has or is experiencing, or maybe you're finding
yourself in a place in life right now where you
just kind of want to ask the question why to
God. And that's what Habakkuk does. He will ask
kind of the question why. And today what we're
going to see in Habakkuk chapter two, only three
chapters in the book of Habakkuk, but what we're
going to see tonight is that while Habakkuk is
in God's waiting room, if you will, he's going
to kind of figure out what exactly or how he
ought to respond. And it's going to really kind
of inform us that if you're in a position where
you feel like you're in this kind of waiting
in God's waiting room, you're kind of asking
God why certain things are happening or have
happened in your life. This is going to be a
great, I think, lesson for you tonight. Introduced
last week, Pastor Miles kind of introduced a
graph for us, and it was kind of what we called.
the dip and that's kind of the title of sermons
tonight somebody said the title of sermons in
the dip yeah it's not nacho cheese or salsa or
seven layer bean dip it's going to be the kind
of dip of in your own spiritual walk so we kind
of introduced this idea of kind of walking with
God and that in the very beginning this acts
kind of represented your life without Christ
that you are in a place of as pastor has been
preaching the last few weeks The wrath of God
is already upon you. You may not even realize
it or not, but your life is not honorable to
God. It's the life of the unbeliever. But then
eventually, the next iteration we put is that
you kind of reach a spiritual high in that when
you come to Christ, God begins to transform your
life, right? You're not who you used to be. There's
a new creation, and God is doing something amazing
in your life, and you're experiencing, maybe
even temporarily, maybe for a little bit of time,
but some kind of wrath. And life seems good,
you're kind of on fire for the Lord. God is showing
you new things, you're learning, you're being
obedient, and God is blessing you because of
your obedience. But eventually as you continue
to serve the Lord, you're going to hit those
why moments. Something's going to happen in your
life, something's not going to work out, maybe
a tragedy, maybe some kind of a loss of income,
a loss of a job, maybe spiritually speaking you
begin to... go down, you're lacking, and your
life just doesn't seem to be the way it used
to be back when you first got saved. And you
hit kind of what we're calling the dip in your
spiritual walk, the valley moments in your life.
And there's really two kind of common responses.
Pastor Miles shared this last week. The first
response really is kind of a denial of reality.
You're just like, that's really not the case.
You're not really honest with yourself about
what things are. the things that are going on
and because you just kind of want to just you
just want to be positive and so you just try
to grit your teeth and bear it and just try it's
not really as bad as it seems but really the
whole world is on fire around you and you're
just kind of you know maybe like that meme you're
the guy sipping coffee with the fire all around
him right and you feel like that's not exactly
you're not exactly being very honest Another
common response sometimes when we we face these
tragic situations these losses This time of questioning
of God why we tend sometimes we get mad some
people they just I tried the religious thing
the religious thing I thought God was just gonna
just like make everything better and then you
find out that's not exactly how it works and
you just they just kind of get upset and maybe
I just want to return to a life without God because
I just felt like it was better back then before
God and they get mad and they they walk away
from God That tends to be two of really three
options. The third option is kind of what Pastor
Myles kind of hinted to and what we'll see today
in the book of Habakkuk chapter two is that there's
actually a third option. And the third option
is to really do what we call do the Habakkuk.
So Habakkuk's name, if you remember, his name
means to wrestle or to embrace. And one of the
things that we can do as a believer is that we
can wrestle and embrace God. We can have simultaneously
a question and faith. As the one guy that the
Lord Jesus does a miracle in his life, he says,
Lord, I believe, but help my unbelief. And so
there's a time where you just hold on to God
and you believe God, but you still have questions
and you bring those honest questions to the Lord.
And what we're going to find out and what you'll
find out is that if you hold on to the Lord through
those difficult moments, through those times
of being in the dip, you let and live out James
chapter one, verses two and three, what you'll
find is that you'll be able to move through that
journey move through that part of your life and
grow closer to the Lord and really end up back
up as the graph goes up and to the right to reach
new heights in your faith journey learning that
God came through and provided for you and you
may also find that there's another dip waiting
on the other end and that tends to be the rhythm
of our life with the Lord growing in faith so
What can we do? And that's what we kind of want
to answer tonight, and Habakkuk 2 will help us
do that. What do we do when we find ourselves
in that position? What do we do when something
does happen, when you have a time of tragedy,
when you have a time of loss, when you have a
time of spiritual apathy, when you have a time
where things just didn't seem to work out, maybe
you have a time of question, what do you do in
the times of waiting, in the times in the dip?
And what I want to be able to share from you
tonight from scripture is that you as believer
and every believer can respond in faith in these
times of waiting by doing three actions that
we find here in the book of Habakkuk. Now let's
go to the Lord in prayer and then we'll begin
reading in chapter two, verse one. Let's pray
together. Father in heaven, we thank you for
your scripture. Lord, we thank you for your word
that you've gifted to us. Lord, we thank you
for your holy spirit that Lord, illuminates our
heart and our lives in the scriptures that guides
us into truth. And father, I pray that as we
look at your scripture tonight, father, as we
make the sense of it, as we apply it to our lives,
I pray that you would help us to lead this place
change more like your son and that we in the
times of waiting will... respond in faith, not
in doubt, but in faith, holding and wrestling
and holding onto you as the author and finisher
of our faith. We thank you for what you're doing
now. We ask that you would speak to us from your
word. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. So if you're
in the book of Habakkuk, chapter two, we're gonna
begin reading in verse one as we look at the
first. thing we ought to do, that if you find
yourself in a place of waiting, in a place of
the dip, the first thing we ought to do is to
stop and listen. Stop and listen. Chapter two,
verse one says this, and this is Habakkuk writing,
I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the
tower, and I will watch to see what he will say
unto me. and what I shall answer when I am reproved.
Here in Habakkuk chapter two, verse one, there's
a response or a change. God delivers to him that
full message in chapter one. And Habakkuk's immediate
response is to stop and to go up and to, he really
compares himself here to. the Old Testament watchman.
Now, the word here, watch, is the Hebrew word
tzafah, and that had very much had meaning in
the Old Testament times, and the meaning was
really threefold. There was a military meaning
to it, there was a social economic meaning to
it, and there's also spiritual meaning to it.
The idea of the watchman as what's seen in the
military at that time is that oftentimes a position
would be that you would be chosen as you serve
to be the watchman of a certain city or town.
And what you would do is you would go up onto
the highest parts of the city walls or towers
and your job would be to keep an eye out for
invading armies. There wasn't a whole lot of
long distance communication, certainly no radar
or anything like that. So what they had to do
is somebody literally had to go out and watch
and keep watch for invading armies, for any kind
of thing that would come and destroy or take
captive the people of your town. It was a very,
very important job. The watchman couldn't be
lazy. The watchman couldn't fall asleep because
what he was to do would have meant would mean
the lives of all the people in that town. It
was a very important role. Socially and economically,
the watchman also was placed in times of harvest.
Oftentimes where there would be massive fields
or orchards ready for harvest in that time of
the year, many times they would... build an impromptu
tower or some kind of scaffolding, a person would
be put there to keep an eye out for anybody who
would come and try to steal that which had already
been reaped and bundled, or maybe people who
would come and try to steal things that didn't
belong to them. And so the watchman would protect
the stores of grain and the fruits from being
pillaged or stolen. Once again, a very important
job, especially in a society that was based on
agriculture. Spiritually speaking, we also see
that the watchman also was a very important position,
so to speak, in the Old Testament, mostly referred
to in the book of Ezekiel. The idea of the watchman,
spiritually speaking, was often associated with...
the coming judgment of the Lord, but also the
coming salvation of the Lord. Ezekiel oftentimes
is being referenced as a watchman, and his job
was to warn Israel of their rebellion and their
coming judgment, but also to tell them of the
Lord's coming salvation. More on that in just
a second. But Habakkuk here in chapter 2 verse
1, he climbs up on the wall and he looks to see
what God would say. He becomes the watchman and
he's going to look out and say, is it going to
be doom or is it going to be salvation? Now many
times when we face these times of being in the
dip, when something happens in our lives, oftentimes
it hits us. at home. And oftentimes if we're
not careful and we're not purposeful in our response
to some of these difficult situations in our
life, many times we don't have the habit of stopping
and listening for what God is going to say to
us. Oftentimes we have the opposite. We may be
so distraught or so broken about what's going
on that we bring our petitions to the Lord, but
we never quite Stop and listen for his response
Sometimes it may be something maybe something
going on in your life and and you have a lot
to say about your problem And you have a lot
to say to the Lord about your problem and the
Lord welcomes by the way our prayers and our
questions and our petitions to him But I believe
that it will be very important and if we're not
careful something we forget to do is that when
we're bringing all these questions to the Lord
in these times of wondering we have to stop and
listen to see what God's going to say in response.
Many times we're going to be so quick or so full
of complaining or brokenness that we don't stop
and listen to what God has to say to us. One
of the things I thought was kind of interesting
is that it's actually today in the the British
Museum, but there is actually about a 4 ,000
-year -old clay tablet. It actually dates back
to 1750 BC, and it was sent to the city of Ur,
Ur of the Chaldees. If you're a Bible student,
you might recognize that's Abraham's hometown,
right? And there's a gentleman there by the name
of Nani, and he had a complaint about somebody
by the name of Anasir, and Anasir was a a copper
ingot smith, and he delivered to Nani a bunch
of very poor quality iron ingots. And this guy
decides to forever preserve his complaint about
the service of this individual copper smith by
actually having this tablet prepared. Now what's
amazing about it, and you might think, oh, that's
an interesting thing. What's amazing about it
is that at this time in mankind's history This
was not just some small thing. Today we think
like, oh yeah, if you have a problem, you just
go on Google and make a bad review, or I'm gonna
leave a post -it note on the boss's desk or on
somebody's desk and tell them how disapproved
I am of how they did something. It took a lot
of effort and maybe even a lot of money for Nani
to create and... have this ingot made, this tablet
made. It wasn't common in that time for people
to have the skill of writing. And so probably
it's guessed that this guy, actually because
he had money, hired a scribe to write out his
complaint on this tablet. And... If you think
that, well yeah, okay, that's not really that
big of a deal. Well, this type of tablet was
actually not just your run -of -the -mill tablet.
This tablet was actually prepared and processed
a little bit differently. because the purpose
of this kind of tablet was to last a really long
time. Other tablets if they were just used from
a lot of the rough clay would have rocks in it
and if they weren't processed very well over
time the cloud the tablet would dry out those
little pieces of rocks would pop out and then
eventually they would just be destroyed. This
had been processed so that it could be preserved.
This process of actually writing on this tablet
was actually a painstaking process. There was
a specific read that had to be used, had to be
cut at a specific angle, and the imprintations
of what was made on this tablet is actually not
something that you could just write really quickly.
You had to make depressions onto the wet clay,
and there was obviously no eraser, so you had
to do it very carefully and it had to take a
lot of time. This was designed to be permanent.
And that's what's interesting about it is that
this is the first recorded complaint ever in
the history of mankind that we found. Over 4
,000 years old and still today we can read, if
you can read ancient cuneiform, this guy's complaint
about his ingot delivery. Now one of the reasons
why I stopped just to point this out is that
sometimes this can be our response. That sometimes
we take a lot of effort and a lot of time to
bring our complaints to the Lord. We analyze
the situation, we analyze our frustration, and
we bring to the Lord our complaints. And that's
okay if we're going to next respond with a waiting
and a faith move. But many times that's not what
we do. We bring our complaints and frustrations
to the Lord and we never really truly seek what
God's will is for us and how to respond. And
if we're truly asking real questions to the Lord,
when we come to these places of questioning and
these come to these difficult situations in our
life, I believe that if we're not purposeful,
we will not stop and listen to what the Lord
has to say. We'll just bring our complaints and
we'll be a person of complaints. But God is a
real relational God. And he wants us to bring
our complaints to him, our prayers, our petitions
to him, because he wants to respond. He wants
to speak to us and tell us how we ought to then
live in light of this difficult situation. But
we'll never know what God would have to say to
us if we don't stop and listen to what God is
saying. So how does God speak to us? Well, We
believe that God speaks to us primarily through
His Word. He uses the Word of God that He has
painstakingly crafted and preserved for us to
give us everything we need for life and godliness.
Oftentimes, God may use circumstances maybe to
lead or guide or direct you, maybe times, other
times, maybe wise counsel, but Ultimately, both
those circumstances and a wise counsel need to
be filtered through the Word of God to know that
if it's God that's speaking to you. Now, when
he does speak, when God does speak to us, to
be honest, we may not always like what he has
to say. And that's certainly going to be the
situation with Habakkuk. Habakkuk isn't going
to get the news that he wants when he asks and
brings his question to the Lord. As he waits
upon the Lord here as the watchman, he's not
necessarily going to get the answer of good tidings.
The Apostle Paul is also a great example of this.
Arguably one of the most influential people in
the New Testament, right? He's the author of
the majority of the New Testament books. He tells
us in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 about his thorn
in the flesh. And if you're familiar with that
passage, 2 Corinthians 12, seven through nine
says this, unless I should be exalted above measure,
this is the apostle Paul writing, through the
abundance of revelations, there was given to
me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan
to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above
measure. For this thing I besought the Lord thrice
that it might depart from me. And he said unto
me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength
is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore
will I rather glory in my infirmities than that
the power of Christ may rest upon me. You see,
the Apostle Paul here, he comes to the Lord,
he says here thrice or three times to take it
away. And I'm under the impression that it wasn't
just he prayed three times in one prayer, but
may have actually been maybe three seasons of
his life or three times of intentionally begging
God to take away what he calls here a thorn in
the flesh. But God answers him and God answers
him with a no answer. He says, no, I'm not going
to take it away. In fact, what I'm going to do
for you, Paul, is that I'm going to be doing
something different. I'm going to allow this
difficult situation to persist in your life because
I'm going to show you, Paul, that you don't just
need me to take it away, but that my grace is
sufficient for you in these difficult situations
and that through this difficulty, your faith
is going to increase. So when you're in the dip,
when you're in a place of questioning, when you're
a place of wondering, when you're a place of
hardship or a place of grievance, real grievance
to the Lord, it's okay to bring to the Lord your
questions, even your petition for Him to release
you from that or to take it away or to guide
and direct you. But you must learn the same thing
that Habakkuk has demonstrated to us, that we
have to stop and listen for what God has to say
to us from His Word. The second thing that Habakkuk
here is going to teach us tonight is that if
we're going to respond in faith in times of waiting,
first, we must stop and listen to what the Lord
has to say to us. Secondly, we need to write
down what He says to us and remember it, to write
and remember. Look at Habakkuk chapter 2 here,
verse 2. It says, the Lord answered me and said,
write the vision and make it plain upon tables,
that he may run that readeth it. Now here we
see God answer the watchman here, Habakkuk, just
like we believe that he would. God does respond
to him and he responds with, hey, write the vision,
make it plain upon tablets or tables that he
may run that readeth it. God says, I want you
to write down the Habakkuk, take note of it because
I'm going to be doing something that I'm going
to be proven right in the future. God says, make
it plain. He says, write the vision, make it
plain upon tables. Don't add to it, Habakkuk.
Don't make it say something that it doesn't say.
Don't rewrite it in your own words. Don't bend
it. Don't distort it. And I think it's very possible
that when God uses this kind of language, God
is trying to do something in connecting Habakkuk's
mind and our mind to the importance of writing
and capturing what God has to say without distorting
it. It's very possible that God here may even
be trying to make an intentional allusion to
the writing of the law. Deuteronomy chapter 27,
8 uses the same exact language. When Moses is
given instruction, God says in verse 8, and thou
shalt write upon the stones all the words of
this law very plainly." God says, I'm going to
say something to you and I want you to capture
it and I want you to write it exactly as I say
it. Don't make it your own. Don't spin it. I
want you to write it plainly. God says, I want
you to write it so plain here in Habakkuk that
those who are reading it can run when they read
it. That's chapter two, verse two. Read it again.
Make it plain upon tables that he may run that
readeth it. Now there's really kind of two possible
ways we could take that. The first one is the
idea of God's referring to its clarity. I want
you to write it so clear that when anybody walks
past it, they could just read it very quickly
and that message could be easily transmitted.
The second and probably more likely meaning of
what God says here to make it clear that those
who run may read it is the idea of the clarity
of the content. So there's clarity of form, writing
it very easily so people can absorb it, or the
clarity of content. He says here that the courier
can easily transmit the message as they run from
place to place. And that's the reason why I say
that that's probably more likely. correct interpretations
because we see that in other places in scripture.
In Jeremiah chapter 23, 21, we see that phraseology
being used. Jeremiah 23, 21, God is using this
in a negative form of it, but he says, I have
not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have
not spoken to them, yet they prophesied." There's
a connection between running and delivering the
message. Second Kings chapter 4 verse 26, we
see a servant give an instruction. He says, run
now, I pray thee, to meet her and say unto her,
it is well with thee. It is well with thy husband.
Is it well with the child? And she answered,
it is well. Oftentimes, there would be somebody
who would run with a message and they would deliver
the message. They didn't have telephones. They
didn't have telegraphs. They didn't have emails,
they didn't have text messages. Someone had to
go with the message, and when the message was
important, the messenger went even more quickly.
And so, I believe that Habakkuk has given the
instruction, I want you to write down a very
plain message that the person who takes it can
run with that message and deliver it as quickly
as possible. who were to take this message, they
were to run with this message from the Lord.
And it's gonna be significant, I think. The reason
why is because the content of the message, which
we'll see in the next verse, is going to be transformational.
I can also use that word. There are two reasons,
I think, why we ought to respond that way. That
when we're in a time of asking questions to God,
we're in a place of difficulty, and we've brought
our complaints, we've brought our needs to the
Lord, and we say, Lord, can you please respond?
And we stop and listen, and God does reveal to
us through His Word what's going on or why it's
happening, or gives us some kind of insight on
how we ought to respond in that time. We ought
to endeavor. to stop and remember or write down
or as one psalmist says, hide it in our hearts
so that we have a reference point to remember
as we go through this situation because the reality
is that we have a spiritual enemy who is really,
really good at distorting God's Word. He is really,
really good at stealing the seeds of God's truth
from us. And if we are not purposeful about remembering
what God's word has to say, we will be another
one of his acolytes. We will be somebody who
is destroyed by the enemy. I think that's one
of the reasons why it's so important for believers
to know God's Word, to be in God's Word, and
to memorize God's Word, to hide it in our hearts
so that when things arise in our life, we have
a reference point, we have something to hold
onto and believe, which we'll get to in just
a moment. There's one piece of technology that
changed forever the seafaring journeys of the
ancient world. And that one piece of technology,
just as it was important back then, is still
very important today, that is the piece of technology
called the anchor. The anchor enables, it enables
deep sailing and actually was pivotal in enabling
the trade that was seen throughout the ancient
world. But on each ancient ship, there's still
on modern ships today, there's a piece of the
anchor point called the bits, and I have a picture
of it here. On sailing ships, these bits were
two massive planks of wood, and these ancient
ships today, they're made out of even more stronger
materials, but they were bolted directly to the
ship's keel, the very spine of the ship. And
every anchor cable on the ship was ultimately
tethered or tied to the bits. They were fixed
there, they were a fixed structural, they were
a load bearing point, and nothing else would
hold without the use of those bits. And there's
a point on the anchor line, it's still here today,
that has actually kind of entered into our...
common vernacular and it's actually called on
the line it's called the bitter end and there
is a back in the day when it was used made out
of rope today it's chain it was made out of rope
oftentimes some of these ancient sailors would
tie old rags and things that they would be able
to recognize as they let the line out in the
midst of a storm And so what they would do is
as they're letting the line out, as they're hoping
for that anchor to take root, to anchor them
so that they would make it through these storms
that would pop up, as they let the rope out they
would come across these ties that they had tied
to this last part of the rope. called the bitter
end. And so they would know that when they saw
these rags appear up out of the ship's keel,
out of the locker box, they would know that they
were all the way to the end of the rope. They
were at the bitter end. Now what was awesome
about this is that the sailors believed that
the bitter end was the strongest part of the
anchor line. It was oftentimes the most reliable,
the most unworn part, and it was the freshest
part of the whole cabling system. And so what
they would do is that when they let it out, they
would hold on to it and hold on to it to all
the way to the bitter end. And this phrase has
kind of entered into our vernacular, that when
we say something has come with us or perseveres
with us to the bitter end, what we mean is that
it goes all the way through our problems. And
it traces its use all the way back to this actual
point in the anchoring system. Even our secular
culture recognizes that this last fixed point
is what carries you through all the way to the
end. And I believe what God is saying to Habakkuk
here, when he says, I want you to write down
the vision, I want you to make it plain, is what
he's saying is I want you to make sure that you
transmit my message to my people in a way that
it becomes... bolted to the keel. Did it becomes
part of what we make or what we put or we tether
to the bits in our life? Because the storm is
coming, Habakkuk, the people are coming, my judgment
is coming, Habakkuk, but I am not going to leave
you. I am going to stay with you to the bitter
end. I'm going to be the one and my message is
going to be one that will hold you through to
that bitter end. You see, understanding and remembering
God's truth, writing it down, hiding it in your
heart, knowing God's word is good for you and
it will benefit you when you're in the middle
of that difficult situation. But it's not just
a benefit for you, it's actually also a benefit
for other people. And we're gonna see that as
God reframes his message to Habakkuk. I love
how one commentator puts it. He frames the story
this way. He says, once Abraham, the first father
of God's people, had to be weaned from expecting
too sudden a solution to the tension of his childlessness
despite God's promise, his experience forced
him by faith to look beyond the current experience
of his day to the distant future. Now, Habakkuk
struggles with an identical tension. How can
God fulfill his promises to his people when he
is about to devastate them? The divine answer
to his perplexity must be inscribed on tablets,
and many proclaimers in the age to come must
run with the message that resolves this problem.
The very delay that Habakkuk must accept provides
a further indicator of the broader significance
of the vision. It's not merely for the present
generation. It's for the ages to come too. You
see, God's word is not just in your situation
and the difficulty that you're facing, the word
of God that you're holding onto doesn't just
benefit you. It also has a benefit for other
people around you. It has an impact in the lives
of your kids. It has an impact in the life of
your spouse. It has an impact in the life of
your family. It has an impact in the lost world
around you. Because when you respond to that
difficult situation, to that unfair problem,
to that life -altering tragedy, it has a far
-reaching and broad effect when you respond by
holding on to the truth of God's Word through
it all. Third point as we move along. Habakkuk
here demonstrates that we ought to stop and listen.
That when God responds to you with His truth,
you write it and you remember it. Finally, you
wait and you believe it. You wait and you believe
it. Look at Habakkuk chapter two, verses three
and four. For the vision is yet for an appointed
time, the Lord says. But at the end it shall
speak and not lie though it tarry Wait for it
because it will surely come it will not tarry
or delay behold His soul which is lifted up is
not upright in him And I believe this is the
message of that got that Habakkuk is written
is instructed to write plainly but the just shall
live by his faith. Habakkuk is instructed to
wait. It's awkward, isn't it? We're not a waiting
culture. We don't like to wait. We're a fast
culture. We like instant results. We like instant
gratification. We like quick lines. We like express
everything. But most of us haven't really come
to a complete stop at a stop sign in a long time.
That might be you. Many of us don't like to wait.
We don't want to wait. It makes us feel weird.
It's awkward to wait. But that's what God says
to Habakkuk. He says in verse three, the vision
is yet for an appointed time. He says, Habakkuk,
I've appointed a time when this is going to happen,
but it's not going to happen right now. You're
going to have to wait for it. But when the time
comes, it's not going to delay any further. So
what do you need to do, Habakkuk, right now?
I know you're looking for an answer, but you're
going to have to wait. When God promises something,
you might have to wait. You may have to wait
in that difficult moment, in that difficult season
of what we call here the dip. But I wanna tell
you something. Not because I said it, but because
God says it. When God promises you something,
it's going to happen. You can take it to the
bank. Some of you may be in God's waiting room
right now. It may feel like an eternity. You
had an issue, you brought it to the Lord, maybe
you even had a response or truth from God's Word,
but you're waiting on God to deliver that promise
to you. Whatever your situation may be, you may
be still waiting. I want you to know this, that
God's delays, you may have heard this been said
before, God's delays are not necessarily God's
denials. And we see the examples of this all
over Scripture. Moses, he's waiting years in
the desert before he gets to glimpse the promised
land. Joseph, he spends years in difficult situations,
the Joseph of the Old Testament, years in slavery,
years in prison before he's delivered and then
appointed as the second in command. And he delivers
his own family who sold him into slavery through
that famine. Paul, he's called to preach, but...
As he tells us in another one of his epistles,
he ends up spending upwards of three years on
the backside of an Arabian desert, communing
with the Lord in preparation for the ministry
before he's ever called with him and Barnabas
by the church to go and to take the gospel to
the Gentiles. Here's the thing. When you and
I think of waiting, oftentimes we think of it
the wrong way. We think of waiting as being stationary,
as standing still. But as one worship song says,
we can worship while we wait. What does a waiter
do when we go to a restaurant? They serve, right?
That's the kind of idea we can have when we wait
for God's promises. Serve Him. If you're waiting
for the Lord to deliver on His promise, serve
Him. And all the things that we do, we ought
to bring Him glory. That includes the waiting
time. We bring glory to God when we serve Him,
when we're faithful to Him as a faithful steward
of our time, of our resources. Do you know how
long Habakkuk had to wait for God to deliver
on his message? Some people say it's upwards
to 20 to 25 years. He could have had a child
and that child could have had a child before
God actually comes through on his promise to
Habakkuk. Now we don't have time to do it because
our time is up, but I would encourage you maybe
even tonight to read through the rest of this
chapter in preparation for chapter three here
in the next few weeks. But I'll just briefly
give you a synopsis. The rest of Habakkuk chapter
two, are a bunch of woes that God gives to His
people about the coming catastrophe. Verse 6,
is there woe to him who steals? Verse 9, a woe
to the unjust deceivers. Verse 12, a woe to those
who are violent. 15, those who are carnal partiers.
19, a woe to idolaters. But I don't want you
to miss what I believe is the climax of chapter
2. And that is once again written... I read in
verse 4. I consider verse 4 the key verse of
this chapter. It's the message, I believe, that
God wants Habakkuk to write plainly for all to
see. Let's read it again. Verse 4, "'Behold,
his soul which is lifted up is not upright in
him, but the just shall live by his faith.'"
The just ones, the ones who are believers in
the Almighty God. They will live not by what
they see, not by the storms that they are in,
not by the uncertainty that they're going through,
not by the loss that they have suffered, not
by the tragedies that have come by their life.
That is not what defines them. What defines and
characterizes the believer is faith, faith in
God. How? Well, they live by their faith when
they stop and they listen to God's Word. They
live by their faith when they write down and
remember what God says, and they live by their
faith until what they wait for becomes sight.
Hebrews chapter 11, known arguably as the chapter
of faith. Delivers story after story after story
of the lies who lives who exhibited this and
what it means to actually live by faith So when
you're here When you're in the middle of the
dip when God Has allowed something difficult
to enter into your life and you're asking God
why? When you're in that moment of wonder What
do you do? What do you do? If God has promised
you something, even if you take a stand for righteousness,
you take the stand and you live by faith. If
money seems tight and it comes time to be obedient,
to give, what do you do that just lives by his
faith? You believe God and you give. When your
marriage seems to be falling apart and everyone
around you says to just throw in the towel, move
on, there's other fish in the sea. You live by
faith and you remember the vows that you made
and you trust God to work out the details as
you love your spouse. When your kids seem to
be disobedient, defiant, making the wrong choices
and everyone says, oh no, I've seen that before.
You believe by faith that God is working all
things for good. You live by faith and you do
the very best you can to raise them in godliness
as scripture commands. What happens if you don't
see the end in your lifetime? What happens if
you have to wait all the way and you don't ever
even see that in your lifetime? I want you to
remember three words and they're in the last
verse of this chapter. Chapter two verse 20,
but the Lord. But the Lord. Verse 20 says, but
the Lord is in his holy temple. You know another
way to say that? God's on the throne. God's on
the throne. Even if you don't see the answer
to the end of your lifetime, guess what? God's
still on the throne. What do you do when you're
in the dip? You listen for God's truth. You remember
God's truth and you wait in faith for it to come
to fruition. And guess what? If you don't see
it happen, God's still on the throne. The book
of Revelation chapter seven tells us about a
time when we're gonna see God on the throne.
Verse 15 says, therefore are they before the
throne of God and serve Him day and night in
His temple. And He that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. And they shall hunger
no more. You may not see the answer. You may
not see the reality of God's promise in this
lifetime, but there's going to be a time when
we stand before the throne of God. And he's gonna
wipe away every tear from what you shed from
that time. There's a verse in an old song that
I think just ends so well with what we're talking
about here. And I thought maybe it would be fun
for us to just end tonight before we go into
our time of response and invitation to just sing
it together. So would you stand to your feet?
The song is, it is well. And the last song. encapsulates
the end of this message. Would you sing it with
us? And the Lord shall descend even so. It is
well with my soul. Sing it if you believe it.
It is well with my soul. It is well. Would you
bow your heads?