WEBVTT 00:00:03.819 --> 00:00:05.740 Hey, old buddy, welcome back here to the Semi 00:00:05.740 --> 00:00:10.160 -Seminary. Another week, another episode. We 00:00:10.160 --> 00:00:17.339 take the Bible and we look at it as adults. Try 00:00:17.339 --> 00:00:20.399 to make sense of it in an adult world. Instead 00:00:20.399 --> 00:00:22.320 of just relying on the stories that we might 00:00:22.320 --> 00:00:26.339 have been taught as children. This week we're 00:00:26.339 --> 00:00:28.579 in part two of a three -part series. We're looking 00:00:28.579 --> 00:00:32.000 at Old Testament, Hebrew Scripture, Prophet. 00:00:32.619 --> 00:00:38.700 by the name of Habakkuk. And tonight, quite simply, 00:00:38.899 --> 00:00:45.460 we're waiting. I'll see you on the other side. 00:00:50.359 --> 00:00:53.020 So, but I am going to go ahead and get started 00:00:53.020 --> 00:00:56.759 because I don't want to run terribly late. But 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.119 since we're jumping into this book on this guy 00:01:00.119 --> 00:01:03.119 named Habakkuk, who is an Old Testament minor 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:05.200 prophet. And the reason why they're called minor 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:07.739 prophets is because there are 12 of them. It's 00:01:07.739 --> 00:01:11.500 because we just know less about them than we 00:01:11.500 --> 00:01:16.920 do major prophets like Ezekiel or Jeremiah, right? 00:01:17.140 --> 00:01:21.099 So we have these smaller guys that are minor 00:01:21.099 --> 00:01:23.379 prophets. It doesn't mean a prophecy is any less 00:01:23.379 --> 00:01:25.219 important. It just means we know less about them. 00:01:25.719 --> 00:01:28.540 So tonight we're looking at the story of a guy 00:01:28.540 --> 00:01:33.370 named Habakkuk. But for you to get the point 00:01:33.370 --> 00:01:36.030 of what's going on in this book, I have to take 00:01:36.030 --> 00:01:37.670 just a few minutes and I'm going to give you 00:01:37.670 --> 00:01:41.590 a very brief history lesson that is going to 00:01:41.590 --> 00:01:45.430 start in the year 1400 BC. But this will go fast. 00:01:45.730 --> 00:01:51.590 Now remember, BC dates, if this is Jesus' birth, 00:01:51.969 --> 00:01:55.989 BC dates are bigger and they get smaller down 00:01:55.989 --> 00:01:59.049 to zero. And then from Jesus' time, they get... 00:01:59.260 --> 00:02:01.879 bigger from there, right? Okay, so if we're starting 00:02:01.879 --> 00:02:06.840 at 1480 BC, then we go to 1000 BC, then we go 00:02:06.840 --> 00:02:10.500 to 600 BC, that's getting closer in time to Jesus, 00:02:10.759 --> 00:02:14.699 right? Okay, 1480 BC is kind of the thought, 00:02:14.699 --> 00:02:19.840 the time whenever, when we believe that what's 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.520 called the Exodus takes place. And there's a 00:02:22.520 --> 00:02:24.500 character in the Old Testament by the name of 00:02:24.500 --> 00:02:26.800 Moses. And you may or may not know the story 00:02:26.800 --> 00:02:29.960 of Moses. Moses ends up being a leader of God's 00:02:29.960 --> 00:02:32.580 people who are enslaved in Egypt at the time. 00:02:32.620 --> 00:02:34.560 You may or may not know the story, but he does 00:02:34.560 --> 00:02:36.719 the 10 plagues. God does the 10 plagues with 00:02:36.719 --> 00:02:39.300 him. He has the Charlton Heston line, let my 00:02:39.300 --> 00:02:43.780 people go. He gets let go. They go through the 00:02:43.780 --> 00:02:46.159 Red Sea. Then they wander in the desert for 40 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.719 years. At that time, we get the moving tabernacle. 00:02:51.740 --> 00:02:54.460 We get the Ten Commandments come in during this 00:02:54.460 --> 00:02:57.020 wandering. But then we finally get to the Jordan 00:02:57.020 --> 00:03:01.819 River. And when we cross the Jordan River, we 00:03:01.819 --> 00:03:04.699 run into a town named Jericho. Now, you may have 00:03:04.699 --> 00:03:06.280 heard of the story of the Battle of Jericho, 00:03:06.400 --> 00:03:09.500 right? And the walls came tumbling down. Okay, 00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:13.460 that is the first battle of God's people with 00:03:13.460 --> 00:03:17.189 people who were indigenous to the area. the Canaanites, 00:03:17.409 --> 00:03:22.930 in this promised land called Canaan. So 1480, 00:03:23.150 --> 00:03:27.030 1440, 40 years of wandering. Now God's people 00:03:27.030 --> 00:03:32.810 are in the promised land. Now, between that time 00:03:32.810 --> 00:03:37.710 period and just before 1000 BC, the people of 00:03:37.710 --> 00:03:41.229 God were ruled by judges. We have a book in the 00:03:41.229 --> 00:03:44.550 Old Testament called Judges. And that's a time 00:03:44.550 --> 00:03:50.030 where... The law is dispensed through the priestly 00:03:50.030 --> 00:03:55.509 class, okay? Government was run through the church, 00:03:55.689 --> 00:03:59.849 so to speak. These judges, who were people appointed 00:03:59.849 --> 00:04:03.050 by elders, and they had to be of a certain tribe 00:04:03.050 --> 00:04:05.210 and all of that stuff so that they could be a 00:04:05.210 --> 00:04:09.560 part of the... At that time, it's a movable temple, 00:04:09.699 --> 00:04:12.740 a tabernacle, I'm sorry. They could perform the 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:15.439 duties and all of that stuff, but they also exercised 00:04:15.439 --> 00:04:20.600 the law for people. So -and -so killed someone's 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:23.399 goat. Someone has to make a decision, how do 00:04:23.399 --> 00:04:26.879 we get this goat issue figured, okay? Well, the 00:04:26.879 --> 00:04:28.860 people that had been living there with them in 00:04:28.860 --> 00:04:32.819 Canaan, the Canaanites, they also are Philistines. 00:04:33.259 --> 00:04:35.920 They have kings like what you think of, crown 00:04:35.920 --> 00:04:39.040 on the head kings, probably comes from a line 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:41.720 of birth. So it's this person and their son and 00:04:41.720 --> 00:04:44.300 their son and their son and so on, right? And 00:04:44.300 --> 00:04:48.540 they loved, for whatever reason, they loved having 00:04:48.540 --> 00:04:51.860 a king because they were powerful. And the Jewish 00:04:51.860 --> 00:04:55.160 people thought, man, we want a king too. And 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:57.800 God sent through his messengers, people like 00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.740 Samuel, an Old Testament man of God, sends people. 00:05:02.240 --> 00:05:05.879 like that to the people of God to say, you don't. 00:05:06.399 --> 00:05:12.420 Trust me. The moment that you guys take our relationship 00:05:12.420 --> 00:05:18.240 and you put a king in between, it's human nature. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:23.519 It's going to start badly. And the Jewish people 00:05:23.519 --> 00:05:26.959 said, we don't care. We want to have a king. 00:05:27.100 --> 00:05:31.290 And so God raises up a guy named Saul. Okay, 00:05:31.290 --> 00:05:33.449 stick with me. I'm going to go real fast from 00:05:33.449 --> 00:05:38.949 here. Saul is the first king, but the first rightful 00:05:38.949 --> 00:05:41.810 king is a guy named David. You guys know David, 00:05:41.850 --> 00:05:44.430 David and Goliath, David and Bathsheba, that 00:05:44.430 --> 00:05:50.889 guy. David is king of Israel, the United Kingdom 00:05:50.889 --> 00:05:57.089 of Israel in 1000. Okay, so 400 ish years after 00:05:57.089 --> 00:06:02.100 Jericho, we get King David. After King David, 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:06.620 we get King Solomon, his son. Then after that, 00:06:06.660 --> 00:06:10.100 there's a succession of 19 consecutive kings, 00:06:10.100 --> 00:06:16.399 each one worse than the last. And through these 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:19.800 kings, we have these books of the Bible. God 00:06:19.800 --> 00:06:23.980 sends these prophets, guys like Elijah or Elisha. 00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.839 They come along to tell the kings, you guys have 00:06:26.839 --> 00:06:29.500 walked away from God and things are not going 00:06:29.500 --> 00:06:32.600 to... They're going to end up worse if you don't 00:06:32.600 --> 00:06:35.540 return to God. But the people didn't listen, 00:06:35.699 --> 00:06:42.100 okay? Habakkuk is one of these prophets that 00:06:42.100 --> 00:06:45.579 have come to tell the people of God things are 00:06:45.579 --> 00:06:48.839 going to get bad because we are displeasing God, 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:54.120 okay? Now, when Habakkuk comes along, it's in 00:06:54.120 --> 00:06:59.709 the year 600 BC. The fall of the temple, the 00:06:59.709 --> 00:07:02.170 temple that King Solomon built, King Solomon's 00:07:02.170 --> 00:07:06.089 temple, the temple was destroyed and Jerusalem 00:07:06.089 --> 00:07:09.050 was conquered by the Babylonians in the year 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:16.009 586 -587. Habakkuk's writing in 600. This is 00:07:16.009 --> 00:07:21.480 right before things get bad, bad. Because what 00:07:21.480 --> 00:07:25.079 happens after that, Jerusalem falls, the Babylonian 00:07:25.079 --> 00:07:28.240 army sweeps up a whole bunch of the Jewish people, 00:07:28.339 --> 00:07:31.319 enslaves them, and takes them back to Babylon. 00:07:31.860 --> 00:07:35.120 And they'll stay there for generations. They 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:38.060 will return, and we talk about their return in 00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:41.199 the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah, 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:43.959 where they begin to rebuild the city, but it's 00:07:43.959 --> 00:07:48.899 generations. people don't know that Habakkuk 00:07:48.899 --> 00:07:53.519 is trying to highlight is the Babylonians were 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:58.019 worse than the people of God at the time. Even 00:07:58.019 --> 00:08:02.160 though they had 19 consecutive bad kings, even 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:07.879 at that point, the Babylonians were worse. And 00:08:07.879 --> 00:08:10.699 God's going to come to Habakkuk. And tell him, 00:08:10.699 --> 00:08:12.899 not only is things going to get bad for you and 00:08:12.899 --> 00:08:15.720 your people, but I'm going to use them to punish 00:08:15.720 --> 00:08:19.740 you. Okay, we're in the middle of a series called 00:08:19.740 --> 00:08:22.980 Habakkuk. Again, he's one of the 12 minor prophets. 00:08:23.180 --> 00:08:26.300 The name Habakkuk actually means to embrace or 00:08:26.300 --> 00:08:28.560 to wrestle. And it is a book that's written with 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:31.439 judicial language, like you would expect in a 00:08:31.439 --> 00:08:34.159 court. In fact, to remind us, Habakkuk was written 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:37.620 about 600. And God tells the prophet Habakkuk, 00:08:37.620 --> 00:08:40.019 this is from last week, tell your people that 00:08:40.019 --> 00:08:42.279 I'm going to have to destroy them because they're 00:08:42.279 --> 00:08:45.320 wicked. And chances are that Habakkuk, when God 00:08:45.320 --> 00:08:47.519 said this, might have said, you're right, they 00:08:47.519 --> 00:08:50.539 are wicked. And it seems relatively fair. But 00:08:50.539 --> 00:08:52.980 then God adds that twist again that I just mentioned. 00:08:53.080 --> 00:08:54.919 He says, I'm going to raise up the Babylonians 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:58.659 to destroy you people. And Habakkuk says, wait, 00:08:58.899 --> 00:09:01.929 what? Right? Hang on one second. You're going 00:09:01.929 --> 00:09:05.590 to raise up whom? The Babylonians were much, 00:09:05.710 --> 00:09:08.690 much more evil than the people of Judah. And 00:09:08.690 --> 00:09:10.750 God says, I'm going to use these really evil 00:09:10.750 --> 00:09:16.090 people to destroy the lesser evil people. And 00:09:16.090 --> 00:09:18.289 Habakkuk basically says, like I'd mentioned in 00:09:18.289 --> 00:09:20.549 kind of a judicial way, I object, Your Honor. 00:09:21.470 --> 00:09:25.350 Right? It has a kind of a judicial language to 00:09:25.350 --> 00:09:28.190 it. Habakkuk is going to say, God, I worship 00:09:28.190 --> 00:09:34.230 you. And I know you're God and I honor you, but 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:37.789 I'm taking you to court because I feel like I 00:09:37.789 --> 00:09:40.610 have evidence to prove that your actions are 00:09:40.610 --> 00:09:45.190 not just. God, what you're doing doesn't seem 00:09:45.190 --> 00:09:50.470 fair. Today, you might be facing something and 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:53.590 saying, I don't understand. God, you could do 00:09:53.590 --> 00:09:57.250 something about this. And if I were you, God, 00:09:57.370 --> 00:10:00.580 I would, but you're not. And I don't understand. 00:10:02.259 --> 00:10:05.000 If that's the way you feel about your situation, 00:10:05.059 --> 00:10:08.220 your situation today, maybe not today, but maybe 00:10:08.220 --> 00:10:13.320 one day. And if so, I believe this small book, 00:10:13.419 --> 00:10:15.980 three chapters, the book of Habakkuk can speak 00:10:15.980 --> 00:10:18.960 to us. The question, what we're going to wrestle 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:21.259 with today is, what do we do when we're spiritually 00:10:21.259 --> 00:10:26.159 in a dip or in a rut? Okay, we looked last week 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:29.870 at a beginning point. In our kind of journey, 00:10:30.009 --> 00:10:33.610 you can kind of imagine kind of a dip like that, 00:10:33.730 --> 00:10:36.649 right? Someone hadn't known Christ, they're kind 00:10:36.649 --> 00:10:38.809 of at this point. They're not in a relationship. 00:10:38.990 --> 00:10:41.549 Someday, by the power of the Holy Spirit, God 00:10:41.549 --> 00:10:44.529 reveals himself. They call out to forgiveness 00:10:44.529 --> 00:10:47.750 in the grace of Jesus. Spiritually, they're born 00:10:47.750 --> 00:10:51.830 anew. And their whole world turns upside down. 00:10:53.389 --> 00:10:57.029 Right side up, right? And they recognize that 00:10:57.029 --> 00:11:01.879 they're forgiven. There's a huge spiritual rush 00:11:01.879 --> 00:11:04.960 of adrenaline and excitement that comes with 00:11:04.960 --> 00:11:07.980 that. You feel like God is answering your prayers. 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:10.720 When you pull up the stoplights, all they do 00:11:10.720 --> 00:11:15.080 is turn green. God's smiling on you, and everything 00:11:15.080 --> 00:11:19.100 is incredible. It's a spiritual high that many 00:11:19.100 --> 00:11:21.899 of us encounter when we first encounter the grace 00:11:21.899 --> 00:11:25.539 of Jesus. We're excited, but unfortunately, our 00:11:25.539 --> 00:11:30.570 lives continue on. And after a while, this fire 00:11:30.570 --> 00:11:35.629 begins to wane. Life becomes more difficult. 00:11:36.429 --> 00:11:39.210 And we start on this spiritual high, but then 00:11:39.210 --> 00:11:46.350 we find ourselves here. Maybe God didn't answer 00:11:46.350 --> 00:11:49.669 a prayer that you hoped that he would. Maybe 00:11:49.669 --> 00:11:52.929 this person or that person lost their job. Maybe 00:11:52.929 --> 00:11:55.090 people struggle with certain sins that have come 00:11:55.090 --> 00:11:57.269 back, and they just won't leave them alone. Maybe 00:11:57.269 --> 00:12:00.950 their kids start making bad decisions. Maybe 00:12:00.950 --> 00:12:03.830 there is quite simply just something that you 00:12:03.830 --> 00:12:07.570 feel like God could do and that God should do. 00:12:08.070 --> 00:12:12.509 And if he did, everything would be okay. But 00:12:12.509 --> 00:12:17.149 God didn't. And all of a sudden, you say, wait 00:12:17.149 --> 00:12:21.850 a minute. I thought we were here, but we're here 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:26.990 now. And you have what Henry Blackbee calls a 00:12:26.990 --> 00:12:31.490 crisis of belief. Okay? I thought it was going 00:12:31.490 --> 00:12:35.389 to be this God, but you're not doing all that 00:12:35.389 --> 00:12:38.570 you could. And when we enter into that crisis 00:12:38.570 --> 00:12:42.230 of belief, often there are two reactions. The 00:12:42.230 --> 00:12:44.389 first thing we want to do is we want to just 00:12:44.389 --> 00:12:46.730 ignore reality and run back to that spiritual 00:12:46.730 --> 00:12:50.529 high as quickly as we can. Right? The other way 00:12:50.529 --> 00:12:54.000 is that basically you're going to say, Okay, 00:12:54.019 --> 00:12:56.159 God, if you're not going to do what I thought 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.899 you could and would and should do, then forget 00:12:58.899 --> 00:13:01.879 you. And I'm just going to go back to that place 00:13:01.879 --> 00:13:05.279 I used to be and assumed that if you could, you 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:09.120 would, but you're not. So I don't trust you. 00:13:10.399 --> 00:13:13.919 Forget about it. I'm going to go back. We learned 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:17.059 last week, though, that the name Habakkuk, it 00:13:17.059 --> 00:13:23.659 actually means to embrace or to wrestle. to a 00:13:23.659 --> 00:13:26.139 point of a crisis of faith, if they will continue 00:13:26.139 --> 00:13:29.700 to embrace God, Habakkuk means embrace, just 00:13:29.700 --> 00:13:33.100 like Habakkuk does in his prophecy, even through 00:13:33.100 --> 00:13:36.480 the difficult times, things might not get better 00:13:36.480 --> 00:13:41.460 yet. The story that we read, he got bad news. 00:13:41.820 --> 00:13:45.639 Last week, this story continues to get worse. 00:13:48.299 --> 00:13:51.850 And we must, at some point, Take the New Testament 00:13:51.850 --> 00:13:54.590 principle that we find in the book of James to 00:13:54.590 --> 00:13:56.669 say to consider it pure joy, my brothers and 00:13:56.669 --> 00:14:00.289 sisters, when you face trials of many kinds because 00:14:00.289 --> 00:14:03.509 your testing of your faith will provide perseverance. 00:14:03.750 --> 00:14:06.529 And perseverance allows you to finish the work, 00:14:06.649 --> 00:14:10.669 making you mature and complete so that you do 00:14:10.669 --> 00:14:14.730 not lack anything. We just talked about how important 00:14:14.730 --> 00:14:19.700 storms are in our lives. to the believer who 00:14:19.700 --> 00:14:23.919 continues to embrace God, even if it's wrestling 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:26.980 with questions. And even though things might 00:14:26.980 --> 00:14:30.980 not get better at first, a person can grow much 00:14:30.980 --> 00:14:35.559 closer than they were to God in the past. And 00:14:35.559 --> 00:14:37.840 I said this last week, and I believe this to 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:41.379 absolutely be true. If you look very closely 00:14:41.379 --> 00:14:43.799 at those that you think are the closest to God, 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:47.059 Often those people are those who have been through 00:14:47.059 --> 00:14:52.039 the most difficult times and they know God has 00:14:52.039 --> 00:14:57.059 proved himself faithful. So what do we do when 00:14:57.059 --> 00:15:02.139 we're in the rut, in the dip here? Well, let's 00:15:02.139 --> 00:15:04.440 look at chapter two tonight of Habakkuk and let's 00:15:04.440 --> 00:15:06.700 look at three specific things that we can do 00:15:06.700 --> 00:15:09.909 when we find us here. Okay, here's what Habakkuk 00:15:09.909 --> 00:15:12.809 says. He's just heard the news that God is going 00:15:12.809 --> 00:15:16.769 to destroy his people and do so using the evil 00:15:16.769 --> 00:15:19.870 Babylonians. And he says, okay, here's my plan. 00:15:20.789 --> 00:15:23.590 Verse one, he says, I will stand at my watch 00:15:23.590 --> 00:15:26.830 and station myself on the ramparts. And I will 00:15:26.830 --> 00:15:28.929 look to see what God will say to me and what 00:15:28.929 --> 00:15:32.309 answer I am to give to this complaint. Verse 00:15:32.309 --> 00:15:37.620 two, the Lord's turn. The Lord replies. Write 00:15:37.620 --> 00:15:40.639 down the revelation and make it plain on the 00:15:40.639 --> 00:15:43.840 tablets so that a herald may run with it. For 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:48.179 the revelation awaits an appointed time. And 00:15:48.179 --> 00:15:51.799 then scripture says, it speaks of an end and 00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:57.179 will not prove false. Though it linger, wait 00:15:57.179 --> 00:16:00.740 for it. It will certainly come and not delay, 00:16:00.919 --> 00:16:04.759 says the Lord. So we're in this rut. What do 00:16:04.759 --> 00:16:09.059 we do when we're struggling? We feel like we 00:16:09.059 --> 00:16:11.379 know God could do something, but he's not, and 00:16:11.379 --> 00:16:13.899 it doesn't seem fair, and life doesn't make sense, 00:16:13.940 --> 00:16:16.620 and we're wondering, God, where are you? Let's 00:16:16.620 --> 00:16:18.419 look at three things tonight. The first thing 00:16:18.419 --> 00:16:21.659 that Scripture shows us to do is to stop and 00:16:21.659 --> 00:16:25.820 listen. In fact, if we look at what Habakkuk 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:29.299 did, basically, he says, Habakkuk says, God, 00:16:29.360 --> 00:16:32.620 I don't like this. God, I'm complaining to you. 00:16:34.080 --> 00:16:36.759 I think the beautiful thing here is God seems 00:16:36.759 --> 00:16:43.840 to respectfully hear this. It was as if God was 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.360 saying, sure, you're allowed to wrestle with 00:16:46.360 --> 00:16:50.240 me. He says, I don't like what you're doing. 00:16:50.340 --> 00:16:53.620 I've stated my case. Now, God, it's your turn 00:16:53.620 --> 00:16:57.320 to reply. I need some answers. God, what do you 00:16:57.320 --> 00:17:01.149 have to say for yourself? Habakkuk says, I will 00:17:01.149 --> 00:17:03.990 stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts. 00:17:04.009 --> 00:17:05.509 In other words, I'm going to climb up on the 00:17:05.509 --> 00:17:07.829 wall, and I'm going to look to see what God's 00:17:07.829 --> 00:17:10.569 doing, and I will look to see what God will say 00:17:10.569 --> 00:17:15.269 to me. God, what's going on here? Too often what 00:17:15.269 --> 00:17:19.210 we do is we whine about what's going on in our 00:17:19.210 --> 00:17:22.210 lives, and then we just go on about our lives. 00:17:23.329 --> 00:17:29.569 Many of us, we don't stop and listen. And say, 00:17:29.670 --> 00:17:33.609 God, what are you saying? See, I think this is 00:17:33.609 --> 00:17:35.650 a beautiful thing about God. I believe that God 00:17:35.650 --> 00:17:39.529 is a relational God. And I think God loves to 00:17:39.529 --> 00:17:44.049 speak to his children. How will God speak to 00:17:44.049 --> 00:17:49.869 you? All sorts of ways. God, I believe, can speak 00:17:49.869 --> 00:17:54.289 audibly. I've never heard God's audible voice. 00:17:55.049 --> 00:17:58.089 But I know people have. And I believe he can. 00:17:59.019 --> 00:18:02.900 God can also speak through his word. Every single 00:18:02.900 --> 00:18:06.819 day, speak to us through his word. God could 00:18:06.819 --> 00:18:08.940 speak to us through our circumstance, because 00:18:08.940 --> 00:18:11.099 if you look around, God could speak to you through 00:18:11.099 --> 00:18:15.460 other people. God will often speak to you, and 00:18:15.460 --> 00:18:20.339 sometimes he won't, because he's God, right? 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:23.519 But here's the deal. If you will listen, if you'll 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:28.210 stop and listen, God will speak to you. Just 00:18:28.210 --> 00:18:31.589 like asking for patience. You can ask, but you 00:18:31.589 --> 00:18:37.450 might not like the answer. And Habakkuk is not 00:18:37.450 --> 00:18:42.589 going to like it. He's not going to say, oh, 00:18:42.730 --> 00:18:44.930 this wasn't quite what I was looking for, God. 00:18:45.150 --> 00:18:47.789 But at least when God speaks, you know exactly 00:18:47.789 --> 00:18:51.390 where God stands. So you stop and you stay. God, 00:18:51.490 --> 00:18:54.170 I don't understand. I don't like it. It doesn't 00:18:54.170 --> 00:18:57.509 make sense, but please speak to me. And if you 00:18:57.509 --> 00:19:01.670 are silent before God and you will wait, God 00:19:01.670 --> 00:19:06.470 will often speak to you. Now, if he says something 00:19:06.470 --> 00:19:08.769 you don't like, at least you'll know where you 00:19:08.769 --> 00:19:14.049 stand and you know what God is up to. In the 00:19:14.049 --> 00:19:16.910 New Testament, the apostle Paul had what's known 00:19:16.910 --> 00:19:19.789 as a thorn in his side or his flesh, and he prayed 00:19:19.789 --> 00:19:23.170 over and over and over again. God, I know you 00:19:23.170 --> 00:19:25.809 can do something about this. Please do. Take 00:19:25.809 --> 00:19:29.549 it away. Remove it. Three times Paul begs, God, 00:19:29.569 --> 00:19:32.730 I'm pleading, take it away. Take it away. And 00:19:32.730 --> 00:19:37.069 God basically says, I could, but I've decided 00:19:37.069 --> 00:19:46.210 not to. No. The answer is no. Why? Because I'm 00:19:46.210 --> 00:19:48.069 going to do something even better than take it 00:19:48.069 --> 00:19:51.690 away. And you may not fully understand right 00:19:51.690 --> 00:19:53.930 now, but I'm going to teach you that my grace 00:19:53.930 --> 00:19:58.210 is all that you need. You see, I could do that, 00:19:58.349 --> 00:20:01.930 but I'm not going to because I'm going to do 00:20:01.930 --> 00:20:05.930 something different inside you. When you don't 00:20:05.930 --> 00:20:08.789 understand, when you're in that rut, stop and 00:20:08.789 --> 00:20:13.680 listen to God speaking to you. Second thing I 00:20:13.680 --> 00:20:15.819 believe you can do, and I just encourage people 00:20:15.819 --> 00:20:17.359 to do this, and it's one of those things I just 00:20:17.359 --> 00:20:20.339 don't think people take seriously. Write it down. 00:20:21.500 --> 00:20:25.440 Write it down. Habakkuk says, where are you? 00:20:25.519 --> 00:20:29.500 What's going on? Habakkuk, take notes, he says. 00:20:29.740 --> 00:20:32.339 This is what God says, verse 2. The Lord replied, 00:20:32.500 --> 00:20:36.079 Habakkuk, write down the revelation and make 00:20:36.079 --> 00:20:38.960 it plain on tablets so that a herald may run 00:20:38.960 --> 00:20:42.329 with it. Now. Why does God want us to write it 00:20:42.329 --> 00:20:45.789 down? Well, he's going to say to Habakkuk, years 00:20:45.789 --> 00:20:50.450 later, when I prove myself to be true and just, 00:20:50.650 --> 00:20:55.410 I want it in writing so everyone could see that 00:20:55.410 --> 00:21:00.750 I'm a God of my word. Now, it's also for our 00:21:00.750 --> 00:21:04.430 benefit because if you're like me and your spouse 00:21:04.430 --> 00:21:07.329 or your significant others sent you to the grocery 00:21:07.329 --> 00:21:11.180 store, right? Maybe only two things to remember. 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:14.440 Something happens on the way. Satan enters your 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:18.079 mind. You mess it up. Even though you only had 00:21:18.079 --> 00:21:21.099 to pick up two things. I don't know, that's me. 00:21:21.819 --> 00:21:25.440 Write it down so that you'll remember. When God 00:21:25.440 --> 00:21:27.359 says something to you, you're going to want to 00:21:27.359 --> 00:21:31.200 record it. Because your spiritual enemy is an 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:34.240 expert at stealing the seeds of truth that God 00:21:34.240 --> 00:21:38.230 wants to plant inside you. God may show you something 00:21:38.230 --> 00:21:40.849 and I cannot tell you how many times that this 00:21:40.849 --> 00:21:43.210 has happened to me where I'm wrestling with something 00:21:43.210 --> 00:21:45.450 and I don't understand and I'm praying, God, 00:21:45.589 --> 00:21:48.430 are you there? And God, what's going on? And 00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:51.490 I feel like God shows something to me and I'll 00:21:51.490 --> 00:21:55.470 be like, okay, that was obviously from God, right? 00:21:55.529 --> 00:21:57.609 And I'll write it down. And then a week later, 00:21:57.910 --> 00:22:00.369 I don't know, man, maybe I had too much pizza 00:22:00.369 --> 00:22:03.250 late at night. Maybe that was just indigestion, 00:22:03.349 --> 00:22:07.789 not blaming it all on God. It's just like the 00:22:07.789 --> 00:22:10.690 sense that God has spoken seems to vanish unless 00:22:10.690 --> 00:22:14.170 I write it down. But when I write it down, though, 00:22:14.190 --> 00:22:17.609 it becomes a spiritual anchor for me because 00:22:17.609 --> 00:22:20.250 I can look at that. I can read that and say, 00:22:20.309 --> 00:22:23.130 yes, I believe that God has spoken. I have a 00:22:23.130 --> 00:22:27.269 reference point to return to. So what do we do 00:22:27.269 --> 00:22:30.230 when we hit the crisis of belief where, where 00:22:30.230 --> 00:22:32.450 are you, God? I don't understand. Well, you stop 00:22:32.450 --> 00:22:37.099 and you listen. You write it down. The third 00:22:37.099 --> 00:22:38.940 thing that I want to talk to you about tonight, 00:22:39.000 --> 00:22:41.460 when you're in this rut or this wait, you wait. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:51.700 Sorry, when this rut or this dip, you wait. It's 00:22:51.700 --> 00:22:55.319 awkward, isn't it? Waiting. I mean, we don't 00:22:55.319 --> 00:23:01.220 want silence. But generally speaking, we want 00:23:01.220 --> 00:23:04.660 movement. We want instant return, instant gratification. 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:08.500 Many of us, we don't like to wait. We don't want 00:23:08.500 --> 00:23:10.559 to wait. And yet, watch what God says to the 00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:15.079 prophet in verse 3. He says, For the kazon, kazon, 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:19.400 or the revelation, it awaits an appointed time. 00:23:20.200 --> 00:23:23.279 It speaks to it of an end, and it will not prove 00:23:23.279 --> 00:23:28.960 false. Though it linger, God says, wait for it. 00:23:29.880 --> 00:23:33.000 And it will certainly come and will not delay. 00:23:33.500 --> 00:23:37.500 Wait a minute. When God promised you something, 00:23:37.579 --> 00:23:39.960 you may have to wait a while, but you can take 00:23:39.960 --> 00:23:43.759 that promise to the bank. And some of us right 00:23:43.759 --> 00:23:47.319 now, maybe we're in a waiting zone. Maybe we 00:23:47.319 --> 00:23:49.819 believe that God has shown us something. We've 00:23:49.819 --> 00:23:53.119 recorded it, just like Habakkuk, and now we're 00:23:53.119 --> 00:23:58.740 waiting. And we're waiting. We're waiting. We 00:23:58.740 --> 00:24:03.380 feel like it's not going to come to pass. Remember, 00:24:03.519 --> 00:24:07.619 God's delays are not God's. denials. When God 00:24:07.619 --> 00:24:09.599 has promised something, it will come to pass. 00:24:09.779 --> 00:24:12.799 When we look at scripture, we see example after 00:24:12.799 --> 00:24:14.940 example after example. Some of these people we 00:24:14.940 --> 00:24:19.059 mentioned tonight. Moses, I'm going to use you 00:24:19.059 --> 00:24:22.599 to deliver God's people and rebuild a nation, 00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:25.359 right? And then God goes, and I'm sorry, then 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:33.400 Moses goes on a 40 year walking tour. Joseph, 00:24:33.460 --> 00:24:36.900 another character, the kind of guy who becomes 00:24:36.900 --> 00:24:40.759 the leader of God's people in Egypt. God says, 00:24:40.920 --> 00:24:43.220 you're going to be a great leader. What happens? 00:24:43.779 --> 00:24:47.339 His brothers beat the snot out of him. They throw 00:24:47.339 --> 00:24:50.660 him into a well. They sell him into slavery. 00:24:51.180 --> 00:24:56.880 He spends two years in prison. It's years that 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:01.990 go by. Before God fulfills the promise and elevates 00:25:01.990 --> 00:25:04.809 him to second in charge over the whole of Egypt. 00:25:05.730 --> 00:25:09.670 The Apostle Paul had a vision where he meets 00:25:09.670 --> 00:25:14.970 Christ. And he is transformed. And he says as 00:25:14.970 --> 00:25:18.029 a result, he says, I'm called to preach. That's 00:25:18.029 --> 00:25:20.730 what I'm here to do. I mean, this is it. This 00:25:20.730 --> 00:25:24.470 is all. I am compelled to preach the gospel of 00:25:24.470 --> 00:25:28.240 Jesus, the good news. This is the one thing on 00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.579 earth I know for sure I am here to do. And it 00:25:32.579 --> 00:25:36.400 is 13 years before he's ever able to say, now 00:25:36.400 --> 00:25:40.700 open your Bibles and turn to such and such. 13 00:25:40.700 --> 00:25:44.859 years before Paul gets to preach his very first 00:25:44.859 --> 00:25:52.519 sermon. Sometimes we just have to wait. Now here's 00:25:52.519 --> 00:25:55.720 what happens. A lot of people think, okay, I'm 00:25:55.720 --> 00:25:59.859 waiting and I'm stuck, right? We feel like, okay, 00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:01.859 we're in that rut, we're stuck. That's why we're 00:26:01.859 --> 00:26:04.339 using that term. Maybe that word rut isn't such 00:26:04.339 --> 00:26:06.519 a great idea. Maybe dip is a better word because 00:26:06.519 --> 00:26:12.660 we think of no movement. But what does a waiter 00:26:12.660 --> 00:26:19.519 or a waitress do? They serve. They serve, don't 00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:22.460 they? Here's what you do when you're waiting. 00:26:23.559 --> 00:26:27.339 You serve the Lord the whole time. Doesn't mean 00:26:27.339 --> 00:26:30.039 that there's no movement even though you're waiting. 00:26:30.339 --> 00:26:35.079 In fact, there might be more movement when you 00:26:35.079 --> 00:26:38.859 feel like you're waiting more than ever. Whatever 00:26:38.859 --> 00:26:42.420 you do, do it for the glory of God. You continue 00:26:42.420 --> 00:26:46.539 to wait on him, you serve him. Whenever you don't 00:26:46.539 --> 00:26:49.079 understand, you wait and you serve. The Hebrew 00:26:49.079 --> 00:26:54.279 word for the appointed time is moad. And it means 00:26:54.279 --> 00:26:58.039 an appointment. It means in a fixed, specific 00:26:58.039 --> 00:27:02.000 time. Kind of like a woman who's nine months 00:27:02.000 --> 00:27:07.839 pregnant, right? When it's time, it's time. You 00:27:07.839 --> 00:27:12.059 can't stop it when it's time. When it's the moed. 00:27:12.859 --> 00:27:15.019 What that means is there's nothing you can do 00:27:15.019 --> 00:27:17.980 to speed it up. And there's nothing you can do 00:27:17.980 --> 00:27:24.759 to slow it down because it is God's time. So 00:27:24.759 --> 00:27:30.220 we wait. How long does Habakkuk wait? A long, 00:27:30.240 --> 00:27:34.579 long time. In fact, most of the people that he's 00:27:34.579 --> 00:27:37.420 talking to, they don't even get to see God's 00:27:37.420 --> 00:27:40.240 faithfulness come around. It happens in the next 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:43.980 generation. In that next generation, when all 00:27:43.980 --> 00:27:46.079 of these original people probably passed on, 00:27:46.180 --> 00:27:50.740 when God's promises were fulfilled. And even 00:27:50.740 --> 00:27:53.059 though you don't see the promises fulfilled, 00:27:53.319 --> 00:27:55.960 his promises will be fulfilled because God's 00:27:55.960 --> 00:28:01.640 word is absolutely true. These things I plan, 00:28:01.880 --> 00:28:05.940 God says, it won't happen right away. Slowly, 00:28:06.039 --> 00:28:08.960 steadily, surely the time approaches when division 00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.039 will be fulfilled. If it seems too slow, do not 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:15.180 despair, for these things will surely come to 00:28:15.180 --> 00:28:19.289 pass. Just be patient. They will not be overdue 00:28:19.289 --> 00:28:26.269 a single day. He goes on to say, see, Babylon 00:28:26.269 --> 00:28:32.029 is puffed up, right? He's acknowledging. Babylon 00:28:32.029 --> 00:28:34.829 is saying, we don't need to follow God's rules. 00:28:35.049 --> 00:28:37.769 We have all of this stuff figured out. We've 00:28:37.769 --> 00:28:39.890 got it all put together. This whole God stuff, 00:28:40.029 --> 00:28:43.690 it doesn't even apply to us. God says, though, 00:28:43.809 --> 00:28:48.069 his desires, are not upright. And then we could 00:28:48.069 --> 00:28:50.450 skip, kind of, because I'm going to finish up 00:28:50.450 --> 00:28:52.430 here and get to the main point. 6 through 19, 00:28:52.710 --> 00:28:55.670 he issues these five woes to the people of Babylon. 00:28:56.190 --> 00:28:59.269 These five things like, woe to him who piles 00:28:59.269 --> 00:29:00.869 up stolen goods. You're going to have to pay 00:29:00.869 --> 00:29:04.049 for what you've done. Woe to him who builds a 00:29:04.049 --> 00:29:06.069 city with bloodshed. Woe to him who gives drink 00:29:06.069 --> 00:29:09.130 to his neighbors. Sorry, partiers. Woe to him 00:29:09.130 --> 00:29:14.200 who says to wood or objects, come to life. You're 00:29:14.200 --> 00:29:16.259 going to fulfill me. You're going to satisfy 00:29:16.259 --> 00:29:19.140 me. Woe to those who look at things and think 00:29:19.140 --> 00:29:24.720 they can satisfy. But the key verse, he says, 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:29.740 but the righteous will live by faith. Those who 00:29:29.740 --> 00:29:32.740 are mine, regardless of what's going on around 00:29:32.740 --> 00:29:38.200 them, are going to live by faith, no matter what 00:29:38.200 --> 00:29:42.599 is happening. The righteous will live by faith. 00:29:42.910 --> 00:29:45.390 and God will be true to his word. In fact, if 00:29:45.390 --> 00:29:47.150 you ever want to build up your faith, I'd encourage 00:29:47.150 --> 00:29:50.809 you to read the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter. 00:29:51.150 --> 00:29:55.269 It's known as the Heroes of Faith chapter, and 00:29:55.269 --> 00:29:57.849 it lists these people, kind of the famous people 00:29:57.849 --> 00:30:02.089 of the Bible, and it talks about how they're 00:30:02.089 --> 00:30:04.990 living by faith. By faith, Noah builds an ark 00:30:04.990 --> 00:30:07.349 to save his family. By faith, Abraham and Sarah 00:30:07.349 --> 00:30:10.589 pass the age of childbirth. God brings them a 00:30:10.589 --> 00:30:16.569 son. By faith, the people of God marched around 00:30:16.569 --> 00:30:19.710 the city of Jericho and the walls came tumbling 00:30:19.710 --> 00:30:22.990 down. By faith, the people of God walked through 00:30:22.990 --> 00:30:26.769 the Red Sea as it parted on both sides. The righteous 00:30:26.769 --> 00:30:32.950 are to live by faith. Now, what happens when 00:30:32.950 --> 00:30:35.210 we're actually living by faith? When we're not 00:30:35.210 --> 00:30:39.779 choosing not to... put our faith or our feelings 00:30:39.779 --> 00:30:41.799 and what we're seeing and the events around us, 00:30:41.859 --> 00:30:44.900 but believe that God has something in store for 00:30:44.900 --> 00:30:48.200 us, living by faith, making that choice one over 00:30:48.200 --> 00:30:52.559 the other. What happens, though, when we're trying 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:57.960 to do that and we still don't believe that God 00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:02.519 is going to complete his promise? Okay? Despite 00:31:02.519 --> 00:31:04.579 what's happened in your life, there's three words 00:31:04.579 --> 00:31:07.599 that are so beautiful in the Bible. We find it 00:31:07.599 --> 00:31:10.880 here in chapter two, verse 20, but the Lord, 00:31:11.039 --> 00:31:15.880 those three words, because you can line up tragedy 00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:18.359 after tragedy, after tragedy, after tragedy. 00:31:18.420 --> 00:31:21.640 And you can always at some point go, but the 00:31:21.640 --> 00:31:27.839 Lord is in his holy temple. God is still in charge. 00:31:28.140 --> 00:31:32.079 God is good and is righteous and is true. God 00:31:32.079 --> 00:31:35.140 is still there in his holy temple. And he says, 00:31:35.599 --> 00:31:40.599 Let all the earth be silent before him. But the 00:31:40.599 --> 00:31:42.640 Lord is in his holy temple, just like Shadrach, 00:31:42.859 --> 00:31:47.579 Meshach, and Abednego. When that happens, they're 00:31:47.579 --> 00:31:50.920 going to be thrown into the fiery furnace. I 00:31:50.920 --> 00:31:52.660 don't know, man. Nebuchadnezzar's telling us 00:31:52.660 --> 00:31:54.980 to bow down and worship, or he's going to kill 00:31:54.980 --> 00:31:57.700 us. He said, we're sure to die, but I believe 00:31:57.700 --> 00:32:01.759 God will deliver us. They actually say, I believe 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:06.980 God will deliver us. Even if he doesn't, we will 00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:11.819 not bow down. We will still believe. Why? Because 00:32:11.819 --> 00:32:14.019 we believe the Lord is in his temple. God is 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:15.980 still on the throne and I will live by faith. 00:32:17.059 --> 00:32:20.339 So what do we do when we're in that dip? We listen, 00:32:20.480 --> 00:32:24.559 we record, and we wait with everything in us, 00:32:24.660 --> 00:32:28.539 living by faith because the Lord is there and 00:32:28.539 --> 00:32:33.119 still in charge. Amen? Amen. Hey, thank you all 00:32:33.119 --> 00:32:41.700 for coming tonight. I super appreciate it. You 00:32:41.700 --> 00:32:44.180 know, if you think about it, the truth of the 00:32:44.180 --> 00:32:49.640 matter is that our spiritual journey only progresses 00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:55.240 in those dips. Think about this. If everything 00:32:55.240 --> 00:33:00.599 always worked out all the time, Would you really 00:33:00.599 --> 00:33:07.500 grow to depend on God? Would you really grow 00:33:07.500 --> 00:33:12.599 to trust in promises? Or would you just take 00:33:12.599 --> 00:33:17.119 for granted what's been given you? There's a 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:20.539 lot to be said about those moments where we feel 00:33:20.539 --> 00:33:25.880 like things aren't fair that God uses in our 00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:30.849 lives so that we can see his fairness in the 00:33:30.849 --> 00:33:34.730 long run. That his ways indeed are higher than 00:33:34.730 --> 00:33:40.849 our ways. That there is a greater purpose and 00:33:40.849 --> 00:33:44.450 sense to all of this instead of just our individual 00:33:44.450 --> 00:33:49.569 ideas of right and wrong. Anyway, that's something 00:33:49.569 --> 00:33:53.650 to think about. Until next week, friend, be blessed.