You ever argue with God? Or complain to God? Wanting to know why He did what He did and why He didn’t do what He Didn’t do? Perhaps you were simply offering him advice on how to run the world. Not necessarily the entire universe but the world, or at least your little corner of the world. Do you have a pretty good idea of what you would do if you were God, the changes you would make and how you would do things differently if you were in charge? Let’s ask a few people what they would do if they were God and see how they answer that question. (e.ssentials CD Vol 4, No. 4)
I’m not sure if your views were reflecting there, but I kind of liked the concept of snow being ice cream.
If you have read through the book of Habakkuk you discover there are a lot of question marks as the prophet asks God what is happening and then asks God to justify his behaviour. Questions that the prophet personally asks but the same questions that no doubt were being asked by people all over Israel. Included in this little book are the responses that Habakkuk receives from God and passes on to the people of Israel.
The book of Habakkuk is a relatively short book, only three chapters. In most people’s bibles it hardly fills two pages. So let’s take a look at the book of Habakkuk. What a great name Habakkuk. When I think of Habakkuk I either think of a cat getting rid of a hairball or a Wookie, which is kind of like a big hairball. Why would anyone name their child Habakkuk, think of the teasing that poor kid got in elementary school.
Regardless, what do we know about Habakkuk other then he wrote this book? Nothing. His name is only mentioned twice in the Bible and those are both in the book that bears his name. The book was written around 610 BC and unlike other books where the Prophet speaks to the people on God’s behalf here Habakkuk is speaking to God on the people’s behalf. The book is actually divided into two very distinct sections. The first is found in Chapters one and two and contains Habakkuk’s complaints to God and God’s subsequent replies. The second section is found in chapter 3, a portion of which Bonnie read earlier, and it is a song of praise composed and sung by the prophet to God.
And while you may never have actually complained to God I’m pretty sure everyone has felt like complaining to God at some time or another. Why did this happen, why didn’t that happen. And some of Habakkuk’s complaints might be how you feel at times. Habakkuk 1:3 Must I forever see this sin and misery all around me? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. Or how about Habakkuk 1:4 The law has become paralyzed and useless, and there is no justice given in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, and justice is perverted with bribes and trickery. It was written 2500 years ago in Israel but Habakkuk could be talking about what’s happening in the Supreme Court these days.
Whenever we question God, no matter how we phrase our inquiry The Question Is: Why? In Habakkuk’s case he had a couple of whys, why did the righteous suffer? and why did the evil prosper? David asked the same question in the Psalms and Job personalized it in the book that bears his name asking why do the evil prosper and I suffer? The word why is used 595 times in the bible so it would appear that there are some questions in there.
Abraham asked why, Moses asked why, David asked why, Peter asked why even Jesus asked why. And so I’m thinking that asking God why isn’t always wrong. As long as we live in an imperfect world and things happen and don’t happen to us the way we’ve planned then we will ask questions. When things happen the way we were hoping they would happen we never ask God why. “Why are things going so well God? I was just curious thought I’d ask.” We don’t do that, things go well and we presume that we deserved it or we were lucky.
Sometimes when we ask “why” the answer is self evident. And many times the answer is one we don’t want to hear. We ask why and the answer is very plain and very easy to understand, “Because you were stupid.” Now I know that you are thinking, “Well Denn that wasn’t very nice.” No, but true. We ask “Why did I have to get that speeding ticket?” “Because you were stupid and were speeding.” “Oh, right.” “Why do I have lung Cancer?” “Because you were stupid and insisted on lighting a noxious weed and sucking the poisonous smoke into your lungs.” “Oh, right.”
I remember almost 20 years ago a colleague of mine was in a very serious car accident, and I heard people say “Why did that have to happen?” They wanted to blame God or blame fate but the blame lay with my colleague who was rushing home in a bad storm and crossed the centre line into the path of an oncoming car.
A girl gets pregnant and she and her boyfriend ask why? Obviously they had skipped that class in grade 7, grade 8, grade 9 and grade 10.
Not always but many, many times we are the author of our own misfortune. And that’s tough to accept because from the point when the very first couple sinned we have refused to accept responsibility for our actions. It’s so easy to play the blame game and try to shift the responsibility onto somebody else. And so it’s not our fault that we are fat, and unhealthy it is McDonalds because they make food that is fatting and unhealthy and then obviously they hire people to sit on us and force feed us that very same food.
And people say “It’s not my fault that I smoke it is the tobacco companies fault. If they didn’t make and sell tobacco then I wouldn’t have that problem.” Interesting that nobody ever sues breweries and distilleries, I wonder why that is?
Let me wander into the wilderness of political incorrectness an area that I’m not all that familiar with. A man beats his wife and she packs up and leaves and he asks why his marriage ended. Duh, or a woman cheats on her husband and he files for divorces and she wonders what happened.
You ever wonder when you hear someone on the news saying that it’s not their fault they can’t find work in their community, they economy is a mess and there is no fish or the pulp mill has closed down, and so they have to be on unemployment and social assistance, it’s somebody else’s fault. But if everyone had of taken that view through the years then Toronto and Calgary would be empty for that matter the Mic Macs would have a lot more room in Nova Scotia. We all make choices.
George Bernard Shaw said “No question is so difficult to answer as that which the answer is obvious.”
Of course the real question that we are often asking is; why did it have to happen to me and not to somebody else? Why did I have to get cancer and they didn’t, why did I get the ticket and not the person behind me? Why did I get pregnant and not her? And that is a selfish question.
So, sometimes the answer to why? Is; because of something you did. And sometimes the answer to why? Truly is; because of something somebody else did. Somebody else drove their car over the line, somebody else bought faulty submarines from the British. A girl is raped and becomes pregnant; someone ends up at the mercy of the justice system and is victimized.
We live in a fallen world and as long as people have the freedom to make decisions and mistakes people will be hurt. Sometime intentionally and sometimes inadvertently, but that doesn’t make it any easier. But we can’t blame God. Oh I know that we can say why didn’t God stop it? Why didn’t he make the car miss the pedestrian, why didn’t he keep her from walking down that street? Sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t and I wish I could explain that but I can’t.
Here’s a thought, do you ever feel that you should pray for someone, and you do and later you find out that they were in danger and God seemed to miraculously intervene? Sometimes we feel to pray for someone and we do and later we find out that there didn’t seem to be any reason why we prayed, unless of course things happened or didn’t happen that we will never know about. I wonder if sometimes we miss or ignore those feelings. And if we had of interceded that things would have turned out differently. When you feel you should pray, pray.
People starve to death in third world countries and we aske why and then we pay farmers not to produce certain products, stock pile others and destroy still others. It’s not a supply problem it’s a distribution problem and a greed problem. And if we wanted to then we could feed the hungry of the world.
And sometimes there is no answer and nobody to blame. A hurricane blows through Haiti and thousands die, perhaps if corrupt leadership through the years had of led the country into development then maybe they would have been better prepared but who knows. When Juan ripped through Halifax last year a paramedic was killed when a tree fell on his ambulance. Sometimes stuff just happens and it’s hard to explain why and maybe God does have an explanation but I certainly don’t.
And sometimes a “Why” doesn’t even deserve an answer “Why is it raining?” Because it is? “Why don’t the Leafs win the cup?”
We don’t have answers to a lot of question and we don’t like the answer we have to some questions. In the case of Habakkuk The Answer Is: Wait. Often we have a timeline and we can’t understand why God doesn’t do everything according to our time line. We look at the bit of the picture we can see and we don’t understand it and we don’t know that we only see one portion of a much bigger picture. God’s response to Habakkuk was simply wait. Listen to God’s response in Habakkuk 2:3 But these things I plan won’t happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.
I am not the most patient person in the world, as a matter of fact I’m not the most patient person in this room, truthfully, if there were only two of us here I probably wouldn’t be the most patient person in the room. I want things to happen right away. If I do something today I want results tonite, at the latest. And that isn’t always the way life works or the way God works. And sometimes just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it isn’t going to happen. French Naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc Buffon, said “Never think that God’s delays are God’s denials. Hold on; Hold fast; Hold out. Patience is genius.”
It is so tough when we think it should have happened yesterday or at the latest today and it still hasn’t happened. We can’t understand why we haven’t been healed, why our child is still rebellious, why our spouse still isn’t a believer, why we don’t have the perfect job, why our church still hasn’t grown. And we need to listen to God for he is probably saying “Wait” the story is not finished. The other day Angela and I caught a movie and with 15 minutes to go I leaned over and said “Let’s leave now and guess how it ends.” We wouldn’t think of doing that, well actually I did but that’s me. But we want to skip out on the movie of our lives before we get to the credits. The prophet Isaiah wrote in one of the verses that we all know Isaiah 40:31 But those who wait on the Lord will find new strength. They will fly high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. We say why? and God says wait.
And remember that ultimately we may discover that what we thought we really, really, really wanted or needed wasn’t what we needed after all. But we wouldn’t have made that discover without waiting.
A lot of us are kind of like Margaret Thatcher who said “I am extraordinarily patient provided I get my own way in the end.” But sometimes the answer when it comes is not the one we want or the one we were looking for. And from Habakkuk we discover that the The Response Is: Trust Bottom line is that there will come a time that we have to trust that God knows best. Even if what happens isn’t what we think should have happened.
We learned that lesson from Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when the stood before King Nebuchadnezzar and said “We believe that God will deliver us but even if he doesn’t we still will not bow.” In the scripture that Bonnie read earlier Habakkuk says Habakkuk 3:17-19 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vine; 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 will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.
This is Thanksgiving Sunday, what are you thankful for? I heard someone say recently that being born in North America is like winning the lottery. And the poorest of us are wealthier then the majority of the world and so there is much for us to be thankful for if we simply stop and think about it. And when we don’t get our own way we still need to be able to say “Even though. . . yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Hope you enjoyed this message, PowerPoint may be available email me at denn@powerpoint4preaching.com or check out www.powerpoint4preaching.com
