I don’t know what your relationship is like with the Lord, but usually when I get frustrated and upset with Him, He tends to
show me I’m proud and have idolatry. In the end, what I feel like I was walking in and what I think we all get caught in is that we tend to walk in this thing, whether we would say this or not, we believe that God owes us certain things. / We believe that if we do A and B, God gives us what we want and what we think we should have and He works it out like we think we should have it.
So here’s how I see it over and over again here at church. Somebody will lose their job and say, “God’s got me. He’s going to take care of me. He’s going to provide for me.” And at the three month mark, they’re like, “Where’s the provision?” And then at the 6-7 month mark, they’re like, “What, are You serious?” And at the 10 month mark, they’re angry. Like, “Where are You in this?” Or we find that one, we find that woman, we find that man, we get married. This is a gift from God, the one that God ordained before the foundation of the earth that we would spend the rest of our lives with, and then a year in, five years in, ten years in we’re going, “Maybe this girl’s from the devil...Maybe this dude has been given to me by Satan to try to destroy me.” You’ve got this thing, so you’re like, “Alright, what’s the deal?” / Or the Myers who’ve gone as missionaries, and they got there and there were some very difficult things that came at them very quickly. So here they are serving the Lord in a difficult place and you’ve got these difficult things happening, and you’ve got to be saying, “If anyone should be safe from this kind of stuff, it’s people who have left the comfort of rural South Dakota to go to a difficult place to serve You. If somebody should be exempt from frustrations and difficulties, it’s them.”
No matter how good our theology is, no matter what we know of the Bible and what life has taught us, we just can’t help but believe that we know how our lives play out. / And we really believe that because we’re good people who are good church attendees, then God’s going at it this way, this way and this way./ So when it doesn’t happen that way - it shakes us and confuses us.
Habakkuk is asking the big questions of, “Why?”, “How long will you take God?” and, “Where are You God?” He’s intentionally trying to provoke God. People who want to box with God though, don’t have long enough arms. So now we come to Habakkuk 2 and Habakkuk is taking cover, (READ 2:1) All right. Habakkuk is waiting just like Moses and just like Elijah for God to answer.
Have you ever been at your proverbial wit’s end? Not knowing what will happen? All options have run their course? Like when I was a sophomore in college I got into some debt through a book selling job which incidentally was the scene where I came to Christ. I got into some debt and in that contract I had a cosigner which wasn’t my parents but my friend’s parents. Long story short, I was trying to make money to pay that back and there wasn’t enough to pay back before that family got into legal trouble with what I/they owed. I was at my wit’s end. So I started trying to work more and make more money. Obvious solution right? Still not enough before the lawyer started knocking on the door.
As a last ditch effort before I resorted to selling blood, I tried out to be a back-up singer on the East Coast for some southern gospel artists during the summer. A guy who told me about it really didn’t think I was going to make it but…I got the spot. And yes, they paid well. And I was able to get out from under that debt. How many restless nights did I have trying to figure out the debt situation? How guilty did I feel about putting this family through that as well? But God came through. And He came through in a away that encouraged my faith and that was totally outside my own resources or way of doing things. Seriously, me and southern gospel was like AC/DC backing up the Gaithers. But it worked and I like the Gaithers now. Weird as that is for a recovering Prince fan. No, I don’t listen to that garbage anymore.
The deal is this, only by a divine revelation can the mysteries of life and God be understood. When we’re at our wit’s end, God’s mysteries are beginning to be revealed. Here is one of those mysteries, (READ vv. 2-4). God’s answer will not lie, in the end it will speak. What God is telling Habakkuk is not just for Israel but for the end of all generations to come. But we must wait for Him to come.
Have you heard that phrase before? The just shall live by faith? It’s found in the New Testament in Hebrews 10 as well. The faith verse 4 is talking about is literally translated as, “steadfast trust”. When someone goes in for bypass surgery they know it will be a painful and long recovery. But the surgery has to happen or else the heart will stop. So surgery is done and the patient has to go through something he had only heard about but now he finds himself in daily pain and discomfort. But he knows the surgery had to be done and one day he’ll be better. He has steadfast trust in what the surgery is supposed to do in the long run. Overall better physical health, improvement in quality of life, and - a healthier heart. // Steadfast trust, faith is needed as we go sit in the waiting rooms and surgery centers of life. Cancer diagnosis, kids who seem hopeless, indifferent spouses, oppressive workplaces, uncertain health futures - steadfast trust and faith in an incredibly loving and just God is not only sustaining but it is strengthening - the joy of the Lord is my strength!
God never says that believers, will just live. But that they will live by faith./ One of the saddest, and honestly, most pathetic things to see are Christians, believers in Jesus Christ, just living. There are too many of us just living and not living by faith. What’s the difference? How do you or anyone else you talk with answer when asked, “How’s it going today?” The answer, “Just getting by.” is not an answer from one living by faith but from someone who is just living.
You see steadfast trust, faith, requires that we look past our own noses and look up to our Almighty God. Great theologian John Calvin says, “Steadfast trust strips us of all arrogance, leads us naked and needy to God, that we may seek salvation from Him alone, which would otherwise be far removed from us/ We are created to love the Creator more than the created. He is holy, He is righteous, He is merciful, He is Love - and I will take that any day over this frail clay vessel. /
Life is frail isn’t it? We are all one slip in the bathtub from being bedridden or paralyzed. Life is fragile. Not only physically but spiritually. One wrong choice, one selfish decision could turn your family into a train wreck. / Habakkuk sees that with his own people. They are fragile with the consequences of their own sin. God’s own people becoming wicked and now God using a godless nation, the Chaldeans, to bring divine correction. Now they have to walk in that steadfast trust through the darkest hours so they might live.
We’re going to hear God say, “Woe.” here several times. Literally translated, “Woe” is “Aughhh!” How terrible it is, “Aughhh.” How terrible these things that will happen to the people who are coming to destroy God’s people. (READ vv. 6-17) You see the reality of God includes His redemption of the righteous and His public shaming of the wicked. Proverbs 22:16 says, “He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches will surely come to poverty.” Do you hear the reciprocal justice of God? How God takes what was used to oppress His people and turns it on the ones who are doing the oppressing? This is graphically shown in verse 16 when God says, “And utter shame will be on your glory.”
The Chaldeans were known for making their prisoners of war do terrible things. Getting them drunk, sexually abusing them, shaming them. When it says that utter shame will be their glory is literally translated as, “putrid shame will be your pride”. The picture is of the Chaldeans lying naked in their own vomit. If Persia brought shame and dishonor on others God will shame them before all nations.
Let this be warning to anyone who think of perverting and abusing God’s children. II Thessalonians 1:6 says, “God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you.” Jesus Himself talks about this reciprocal justice when He tells the parable about the unforgiving servant whose large debt was forgiven. This servant then put a man who owed him just a little in jail. Then the king found out and gave that unforgiving man over to torturers until his debt was paid. You see if we were as hard on ourselves as we are on others for what they “owe” us, we would be on our knees repenting and asking for forgiveness.
But we don’t need forgiveness right? At least that’s what people try to live like day to day. “It’s my life. I’m doing what I need to survive. Just trying to stay on top.” It starts sounding real bent and twisted after a while. There was an Amish farmer who bought a new pair of overalls. Of course, the Amish are famous for their simplicity, and trying to avoid pride. As he put on his new overalls and looked in the mirror, he said, “Oh, this will never do! I’ll be proud in these!” So he removed the new overalls and put on the patched, worn, and dirty ones. He stood again in front of the mirror and said, “Ahh, you’d look good in anything!” Sin like pride can be so deceitful, that you can be proud that you’re not proud.
You see we all get a little off when we start making our own rules - our own standards. That’s exactly what they were doing in vv. 18-19 (READ) When people make false gods out of wood and stone or anything else they can get their hands on they’ve made gods who can’t speak. In fact it doesn’t matter if it’s gold or silver or titanium. The glitter of the idol can’t hide the fact that it’s lifeless. Just as empty as gold or silver are cars, jobs, NBA, NFL, NASCAR, TV, power over others, your self, control, fleeting pleasure, media, internet, money, security, comfort. Isn’t it ridiculous to look for real help with something that you’ve made or created? God tells us that it’s all lifeless - there’s no breath in it, it can’t talk to us - it can’t speak to our situation. It can’t pray with us or witness to us or tell us the way to go when things are dark.
But God speaks. After the Ten Commandments were given Scripture says, “Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he still lives.” When God speaks, it is time to listen. (READ v. 20) In Old Testament times like Habakkuk’s the temple was where God would hear, forgive, and teach His people the good way.
Today, right now, because of Jesus Christ the temple is the body of Christ, it is our earthen vessel where we have this treasure of Jesus Christ, the temple is the body of believers that calls itself the body of Christ.
Habakkuk had to hear that God still speaks. Because we have heard how God is speaking judgment. But God won’t forget His people. He still knows our names. Now Habakkuk is quiet and still before the Lord. He doesn’t have all the answers but He knows the Lord is still Lord. He is still just. He is still merciful to everyone who trusts Him. That steadfast faith is what we here at First Baptist can walk by with our God. We don’t have all the answers but we still know that God is still God. We still know He is just. He is still merciful to all who trust Him./
Do you believe Him? I said, do you believe Him? / If you’re not going to believe God, why come to church? / If all your God can do are things that you can conceive and think up - why serve Him? / I have a God who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all….The challenge for the believer, is to take the faith that you have in here and to take it to the place out there. / You see, I can’t take the Word out there as much as you can - but the Word I’m giving you, you want to take it with you as much as you would take your own arm or leg./
We need to have the kind of faith that would stand up in the face of screaming silence. / You know, the kind of silence when you don’t hear any good news at all. When everyone’s looking at you, exposed and out on a limb. But God says, I have come as Jesus (point to the cross), I am here (point to heart) and I am here (point to the congregation). Let everyone be still because I’m about to speak. Amen.
