I Am Completely Confident In My God Series

It’s officially summer! The heat is on and the end is out. For many, this is the start of baseball season. A lot of you are big baseball fans – more so than me. I was a bigger baseball fan back when I was a kid collecting baseball cards.

Share Your Baseball Stories

We are majoring in the minor Prophets this summer. I’ll explain why they are called “minor” in a moment. In fact, I would like our church family to share your PERSONAL baseball stories with us. You can share your stories by going to www.nrhbc.org/survey.

My First Baseball Game

Now, I have never caught a fly ball and yes, I remember exactly where I was when the Rangers were down to the last out to possibly win the World Series in 2011. One of my fondest memories is my paternal grandfather Alvin Maze took me to my first baseball game at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh on August 12, 1980. If you know your baseball history, that was a special team. The Pirates had just won the World Series the year before and this was the “We Are Family” Pirates, if some of you remember the Pointer Sisters singing that song. So it was my first baseball game and I was almost nine years old when the New York Mets beat the Pirates 3-1 at the old Three Rivers Stadium. I am sure I was wide-eyed because there were more people in that stadium than all the combined people who lived in my hometown. I remember sitting behind Homeplate and I was able to watch my favorite player at the time, Willie Stargell. I loved “Pops” and was glad to see him at first base with those old black and yellow uniforms on with the stars on their caps. The biggest part of the game happened in the top of the 9th when New York Met left fielder, Steve Henderson hit an inside-the-park home run. It’s a really rare feat where the ball is hit and stays inside the field of play. The hitter runs around all four bases before he is thrown out. I loved those Pirates so much as a kid that I continue to have their starting lineup memorized. That was a magical time for a kid from such a small place as I lived.

Now, that has nothing to do with the sermon but it’s just a fun way to introduce the series! After church, please visit www.nrhbc.org/survey and take a quick survey that’s just for fun. We’ll be sharing some of your favorite baseball stories in the coming weeks and thanks in advance.

The Minor Prophets

Today, we conclude by examining a short book toward the end of the Old Testament that is 2,600 years old. Even though it is ancient, the questions Habakkuk asks are highly contemporary. It’s a book that deals with questions of injustice. Again, this part of your Bible is often called the Minor Prophets. Christians often divide the “prophets” of the Old Testament into Major and Minor prophets. All these books are a little smaller, while the major prophets are a little bigger. The Minor Prophets were known in the Jewish tradition as the Book of the Twelve because, in ancient times, they circulated on one single scroll. Habakkuk is a minor prophet. But his message is certainly not a “minor” message.

Comparing Habakkuk to Job

Habakkuk is much like the Old Testament book of Job. Job asks God “why,” and Habakkuk asks God “why.” But Job explores the “why” behind his personal story, whereas Habakkuk explores the “why” behind the story of injustice. If you have a copy of God’s word, find Habakkuk 3 with me (page 935 in your pew Bibles). Let me give you a recap of Habakkuk’s story because so few people really “get” the prophet. To appreciate where Habakkuk is at the end of the story, you have to understand where he has been. The story of Habakkuk starts with a crisis of faith for the prophet but the story ends with his renewed confidence.

Emotional

It’s hard to communicate the emotions Habakkuk feels through all of this. Habakkuk is really emotional. He’s burdened, he’s weighed down by all of this (Habakkuk 1:1). He loses sleep over this. He’s not doing something trivial like picking wallpaper for the dining room. He’s not playing fantasy football with his buddies.

Everywhere he turns, he witnesses tremendous violence. Perhaps he was afraid that his wife and kids might be assaulted. Maybe he knows about some elderly people who have been ripped off and abused. We don’t know the specifics, but we do know he sees a lot of violence. So, Habakkuk says, “I’m going to pray about it.” And so he prays, and he prays, and he prays, and he prays, and he prays some more. And there doesn’t seem to be an answer. Rather than the situation getting better, it seems to get worse.