Tested Faith Series

OPENING: - Last week I dealt with the topic of Doubt as a child of God. In that message I stated how doubt does not negate faith, but states that my faith in this particular area hasn’t matured to the point enough where I am able to fully stand without wavering in this particular area. It is here we need to say like the man who came to Jesus to heal his son and say Lord Help my Unbelief.

Today I want to dive into a series dealing with faith in uncertain times. Possibly for the next 2 to 3 weeks I am going to be teaching from the book of Habakkuk. In this series it is my desire to pull from this book something that will help you search for the heart of God and not just His hand. During times of uncertainty, heartache, stress, grief, despair, and anxiety it may seem that we are in this all by ourselves. Your friends have forsaken you; family members may have turned their backs on you, and it may even seem that God isn’t listening to you. The question becomes “How do we have Faith in Uncertain Times”.

PRAYER:

BACKGROUND: - J. Vernon McGee says that Habakkuk begins with a question mark and ends with an exclamation point.

Habakkuk is a little book only 3 chapters long and a total of 56 verses that was written just before the world caved in for the people of Judah. Habakkuk provides us one of the most remarkable sections in all of Scripture, as it contains an extended dialogue between Habakkuk and God Habakkuk 1–2. Habakkuk is not so much a prophecy from God to the people but a compilation of the prophet's laments. Habakkuk questions God's goodness because he sees so much injustice, evil, and tragedy in the world and it seems as though God is silent.

It is one of the minor prophets. Understand minor prophets doesn’t mean he is less important than the major prophets like Jeremiah and Isaiah, but the time span covered is less. He's also concerned because God plans to send Babylon, an intensely evil nation, to judge Israel. Throughout the book of Habakkuk, we see Babylon as an example of a nation that exalts itself above God and practices injustice, violence, and idolatry. In the end, God reminds Habakkuk and every generation that God will deal with evil.

Habakkuk asked God the kinds of question that so many of us have wanted to ask but have been taught that we should not question God like He is intimidated by our questions or that we could ask Him something that He couldn’t answer. Questions like How long Lord do I have to go through this, Why do you force me to look at evil, Why when I call your name you don’t seem to hear my voice, Lord Why Me?” Habakkuk 1:1-4 in the Message Version reads as follows:- “God, how long do I have to cry out for help before you listen? How many times do I have to yell, “Help! Murder! Police!” before you come to the rescue? Why do you force me to look at evil, stare trouble in the face day after day? Anarchy and violence break out, quarrels and fights all over the place. Law and order fall to pieces. Justice is a joke. The wicked have the righteous hamstrung and stand justice on its head”.

We have all seen the evidence of evil and tragedy in our lives. We’ve all been touched by it and we often bear the scars left by the healing process. We are often surrounded by evil and tragedy some of it may even be of our own doing because of poor decisions we have made and the condition of this fallen world. However, the book of Habakkuk reminds us that no place is too dark and situation to hard, no people to far fallen, no valley to low or no wall too thick for God’s grace to find us and change us in only the way He can.

Understand that while God may seem silent and uninvolved in our world, He always has a plan to deal with evil and always works out justice . . . eventually. The example of the prophet Habakkuk encourages believers to wait on the Lord, expecting that He will indeed work out all things - Romans 8:28 says “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose for our good”.

Habakkuk 1:1-12 says “The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see O LORD, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvellously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves. Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every strong hold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god. Art thou not from everlasting, O LORD my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O LORD, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction”.