We are continuing in our series on discovering our destiny and our focus this month is on knowing what season we are in. This morning we are going to consider what it means to have faith in every season of life.
The natural seasons are winter, spring, summer and autumn; there are also spiritual seasons in our lives.
The writer of the book of Ecclesiastes reminds us that every season of life has a purpose. “For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest. A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance. A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away. A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away. A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak. A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-8)
We will face times of great difficulty and times of great joy. We will experience seasons of hard work and seasons of plenty. God can use each of these seasons of life to teach us something about who He is and how much He loves us.
We may never fully understand what God has planned for us, but our attitude toward life changes when we learn to see good times and bad times as opportunities to grow closer to our Heavenly Father.
As we journey through the seasons of life, we will experience many ups and downs. Perhaps in your own life you have experienced the highs and the lows, maybe right now you are going through something that feels like a ride on a roller coaster.
Have you ever gone for a ride on a real roller coaster? Did you enjoy it?
Roller coasters go up, down, twist, turn, loop and plummet. A ride on a roller coaster is probably over in a couple of minutes; and maybe, for those two minutes, you hold on so tight your knuckles turn white.
You laugh, you scream, you cry, maybe you struggle to get your breath.
Then it’s over. You are safe.
You disembark from the roller coaster and stand on solid ground again. Then one of two things usually happen, either you head back to the end of the queue so that you can do it again. Or you throw up, vow never to be so stupid again and move on.
We all experience ups and downs in our lives. But, as Christians, as disciples of Jesus we do not face them on our own - God is with us. His promise to us is that He will never leave us or forsake us.
What spiritual season are you experiencing now? Do you feel like you are on roller coaster right now? Are you trusting God to help you in the season you are in?
If we put our trust in God, then whatever we are going through, whatever circumstance or situation we are in, whether we feel like we are deep in a valley of despair or on top of a mountain, in good times or bad times, God is with us.
This morning I want us to consider together two passages from the book of Habakkuk. Let me give you a little background to put what we are about to read in context. Habakkuk was the last of the minor prophets to preach in the land of Judah. He prophesied during the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 610 BC and the final Babylonian invasion of Judah in 588 BC.
Judah was the southern kingdom of Israel, during the reign of king Josiah it had experienced a time of peace, prosperity, reform and restoration. During the 31 years that Josiah was King, there was prosperity, stability and spiritual revival. Then Josiah died and his sons took over the throne, and everything changed in Judah.
Judah was a nation in chaos, instead of peace there was violence, people turned against each other and perversion and wickedness spread throughout Judah. Listen to the words of Habakkuk chapter 1:1-4,
This is the message that the prophet Habakkuk received in a vision. How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.
These words were written over 2,500 years but they sound like they could have been written today. Remember the words of Solomon in Ecclesiastes chapter 1, Generations come and generations go, but the earth never changes. The sun rises and the sun sets, then hurries around to rise again. History merely repeats itself. It has all been done before. Nothing under the sun is truly new.
Since Habakkuk wrote these words, days, weeks, months, years, centuries have gone by. Seasons have come and gone and come again, yet his words seem to accurately describe our world as it is today.
The book of Habakkuk is a record of a one to one conversation between the prophet and God. How often do you take the time for a real conversation with God? Not just a quick prayer asking God to do something for you, or praying for someone else, a real conversation between you and your Heavenly Father.
1 Peter 5:7 reminds us that we can bring all of our cares, all of our worries, all of our hopes and fears and dreams to God because He cares about us. Each and every one of us.
Whatever season it feels like you are in, whatever circumstance or situation you are in right now, have you made the time to really pray about it? And, if you have prayed about it, were you just on transmit, or did you take the time to pause, to listen to God, to receive His guidance. That is the type of conversation that Habakkuk is having here, he prays, then he waits and listens for God’s answer to his prayer.
In this conversation, in this prayer, Habakkuk is questioning God. The words he uses here seem a little angry, maybe a little frustrated. Habakkuk is, in effect, complaining to God, because of all the violence and wickedness he sees in the land. Maybe at some time or another we have all asked God a similar question in our prayers.
Lord, why do is there so much injustice in this world? Why is there so much pain? Why do the evil and the wicked seem to prosper so much? Why are victims often treated worse than the criminals? Why do the innocent suffer?
Have you ever asked a question like that? Maybe you read a newspaper or watch the news and questions like those run through your mind.Habakkuk is in a season where everything seemed to be going wrong and nothing was going right. Habakkuk looked at the situation around him and it upset him, it frustrated him and he questions God.
Then God answers Habakkuk. God tells Habakkuk what He is going to do. Habakkuk 1:5, The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it.
Now, that sounds like a great answer to Habakkuk’s question. God says He is going to do something so amazing that it would be beyond belief.
Can you imagine the smile on Habakkuk’s face as those words sink in?
But, God has not finished His response to Habakkuk, God continues in verses 6 and 7 -
Habakkuk 1:5-7 The Lord replied, “Look around at the nations; look and be amazed! For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn’t believe even if someone told you about it. I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people. They will march across the world and conquer other lands. They are notorious for their cruelty and do whatever they like."
Habakkuk asked for help and God says He is going to solve the problem in Judah by sending the Babylonians to wipe out everyone and everything. That is not the answer Habakkuk was expecting, Habakkuk does not understand God’s answer and he questions God again: Why are you going send a group of people who are more wicked, more violent, more perverted than we are to destroy us? Why are you sending the wicked to destroy the righteous?
Habakkuk does not understand God’s answer. Maybe there have been times in your own life when you have prayed and you have found it difficult to understand God’s answer to your own prayer.
There are times when we pray, when we have an idea fixed in our mind about how God will answer our prayer. We think it through, we reason it out, we convince ourselves of the answer we think God will give us. We expect a specific answer, we expect a specific outcome, yet God’s answer is far from what we expected to happen.
Have you been where Habakkuk has been? I know I have!
When I was made redundant from a job in London, I prayed that God would give me another job.
I was out of work for two years. Two years of praying over every job application. Two years of wrestling in prayer.
Two years of expecting God to validate my trust in Him by doing what I thought He was going to do. Then an answer I was not expecting, an answer that did not match what I thought would be the answer. Instead of a job in London a call to full-time ministry in the Estuary Elim Group of Churches.
Not the answer I was expecting. It was a better answer! The truth is God has a perfect plan and purpose for our lives. I was so certain of what God was going to do, I missed what He had already been doing to lead me to where He wanted me to be.
Back to Habakkuk... He prays the second time and again waits for the Lord to answer. Habakkuk 2:2-4, Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others. This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
Listen to verse 4 again. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God. Three times in the New Testament, the Apostle Paul quotes Habakkuk 2 verse 4, in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38.
Romans 1:17, This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Galatians 3:11, So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
Hebrews 10:38, “And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”
Faithfulness to God, what does that mean, it means trusting God in whatever season we are in. Trusting who God is, trusting in His perfect plan, trusting in His provision, trusting in His presence, trusting in His pre-eminence, trusting in His power.
In the springtime of life, trust God.
In the summer of life, trust God.
In the autumn of life, trust God.
In the winter of life, trust God.
In the good times, trust God.
In the bad times, trust God.
In the calm before the storm, trust God.
When the storm comes, trust God.
In the midst of the storm, trust God.
After the storm, trust God.
Be faithful to God.
Be steadfast in your faith.
What ever season you are in have faith.
Time does not allow us to read further in chapter 2, God continues His second response to Habakkuk by admonishing the people of Judah for their pride, greed, dishonesty, violence, sexual immorality and idolatry. God speaks and Habakkuk begins to understand. Habakkuk realises He can not argue with God’s plan and purpose.
The questions stop as Habakkuk realises he can not control God’s plan, or change God’s purpose. Habakkuk is still perplexed, he still does not fully understand, he is still a little frustrated but in faith he chooses to trust God.
There are seasons when we will question what God is doing.
There are seasons when we will not understand what God is doing.
But in every season, we must have faith in God, we must trust Him, in every circumstance, in every situation, in every difficulty and in every blessing - trust God.
Faith, such a small word for something so important, so essential.
My faith in God is not dependent on your faith in God.
Your faith in God is not dependent on my faith in God.
Friends, each of us needs to have our own personal faith in God for every season of life.
A living active faith, a strong faith in God despite the circumstances, despite what the world is experiencing, despite what our country is experiencing, despite what you and I are experiencing right now, we choose to trust and believe in God. Romans 8:28, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them.
The book of Habakkuk is only three chapters long, and in the final chapter Habakkuk concludes his conversation with God with another prayer. Listen to Habakkuk 3:1,2 & 17-19,
This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:
I have heard all about you, Lord. I am filled with awe by your amazing works. In this time of our deep need, help us again as you did in years gone by. And in your anger, remember your mercy... Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as sure footed as a deer, able to tread upon the heights.
In this final chapter there is a shift of emotion in Habakkuk. The questions are gone, Habakkuk rejoices in God’s goodness. He has moved from a place of anger and confusion to a place of faith and trust. Perplexity has been replaced with praise. Confusion has been replaced with confidence in God. Worry has been replaced with worship.
Fear has been replaced with faith. Habakkuk’s strength is renewed, there is a joy in his heart and his faith is increased.
The final thought is this, in Habakkuk we have a great example of how we can trust God in every season of life.
Despite how you feel, despite your circumstances, your faith in God will sustain you. God is sovereign, God is in control and He is a God who listens and responds to His people.
May God help us to have faith in every season of life.
