Faith Beyond Blindness

This sermon is inspired by a conversation I had with a friend of mine. We were discussing about God and whether it is okay to test or to question God or not to question Him. That is the question I will attempt to achieve to answer by the grace of God.

However, what does it truly mean to question God and is it okay to question Him? In church we are often told to "have faith and believe in God" and does that lead us to just blind faith? Our goal is develop our relationship with God with education rather than to just blindly believe what we hear. This is why we have Bible verses so that we can fact check each other and make sure we are preaching and listening to knowledge that truly relates to what the message of God is. If we are led by blind faith, it becomes too easy to just simply say "he seems credible, so I believe him." What will this achieve in our journey of faith? Our journey in faith is supposed to be grounded in Scripture and it is through Scripture that we grow in our relationship with God.

Let us explore the story of Habakkuk. Who is Habakkuk?Nothing is known of the person or life of the prophet beyond his name.

I know that we often just breeze through his 3 chapter book, however despite having only 3 chapters, Habakkuk teaches us a powerful lesson about questioning God. Habakkuk lived before the Babylonians came and invaded into Israel.

, and he was complaining to God about Him not doing anything about Israel and their wicked ways. God responded to him and not in the way that Habakkuk expected. Finally Habakkuk concludes with praise to God.

This leads to the Hebrew word שָׁוַע (she-va). This word means "to cry out for help". Isn't this something we do a lot? We cry out to God to question Him as to why He is not doing anything. Habakkuk was writing his conversation with God. He was speaking to God out of frustration of not being able hear or see any results from God for Israel's disobedience. (Habakkuk 1:1) Tell me, how many of us have also had those same thoughts and feelings toward God, or even to our brothers and sisters? To be frustrated when we see injustice and we want to see God act and He seemly does not.

I know I have. When I worked at camp I had a co-worker who seemed deeply irresponsible with campers and in response I complained to the camp director. Do you know what happened? Nothing changed, and my irresponsible co-worker was still allowed to work with the campers with no change. This sounds terrible doesn't? However, the bigger story is that the camp was severely understaffed and this was my camp director's first time ever directing camp. Now let us apply this understanding to the bigger picture of Habakkuk.

God answers Habakkuk by saying to look at the nations that He has raised up. He is sending a nation is being sent to punish the Israelites. (Habakkuk 1:6) The defenses that the Israelites are so proud of are going to nothing compared to the Babylonians. Israel will be wiped out, completely and utterly conquered.

Habakkuk is shocked and responds immediately by saying "Hold up, wait a minute! God doesn't seem a tad excessive? They are even more evil than Israel! God I need a response! I await for your answer to my question." (Habakkuk 1:13). Doesn't this sound familiar? Isn't this how we often choose to respond when God does send us an answer we do not expect? Has this ever happened to you? The answer you hear is often too overwhelming to hear?

God then responds to Habakkuk by saying "Write what you see down. Even though Israel will be punished, the Babylonians will also be punished in their due time. For God is Almighty." (Habakkuk 2:3). God let Habakkuk know that He does sees the sins of Babylon and has punishments for them. God will give us justice in His own time. (Habakkuk 2:3)

1. Wealth that is stolen -> Wealth will be taken away

2. Ruined other nations -> You will be ruined like all the others you have ruined

3. The nation that has been built with bloodshed -> God has seen how you have done great injustice to those who have worked hard and you will be judged

4. You have used drink to manipulate others -> God will give you His cup of wrath

5. Idolatry -> You have nothing

God reaffirms this by saying that He is Almighty. (Habakkuk 2:20).

God will provide justice to everything in all of its good time. It can be soon or later.

One story that reminds me of this justice is when I was 11 or 12 I looked up to this man named Shane. However, one day, when we moving some stuff over to my mom's car some stuff landed on her hat. I tried to stop him but he kept on going and crushed her hat. My mom got pipping mad, and was going to blame me but then by the grace of God she heard me out. Shane was going to let me take all the blame and God gave me justice by giving my mom peace to hear me out. As a result, I was grounded for 3 days. When I asked him later about this incident, Shane merely brushed it off as I could handle the consequences as it was not a big deal. While I do not know what happened to Shane, God showed me justice by giving me a chance to explain myself to my mom.

Finally Habakkuk 3 is Habakkuk saying that he awaits for the punishment of Israel. (Habakkuk 3:16) While Habakkuk is waiting for the judgement of God, he is also in awe of the greatness of God and and grateful that God is his Savior. (Habakkuk 3:18)

In conclusion, I would say God allows us to question Him. We do not have to be led by blind faith, but rather choose to question and test God. He has given us the Bible to give answers to our questions. The book of Habakkuk is all about questioning God, and yet God does not get mad. God however, does give Habakkuk answers to his questions in due time. The answers were way more than what Habakkuk expected, and this is often true in our lives today.

Here's my last story: Before I started college, I was not too sure about wanting to become a pastor. I was not a huge fan of being poor for the rest of my life. So, I became like Habakkuk and questioned God about why I should be a pastor. The answer I got was found 2 Timothy 4:17. With that answer, there has been a burning fire in my heart to become a pastor.

This answer is what fuels me to become a pastor. I want to spend the rest of life to help people grow in their relationship with God. When choose to follow Jesus by growing and accepting His message, we see a call! This call is to spread the word of God to everyone in the world. This means we must spread the word of God to every person we see. This includes not just people in foreign countries but also our next door neighbors! I want to challenge all of you to go out and knock on one person's door and ask them if they know Jesus. God has called us all to share the knowledge of Jesus Christ to everyone as well giving us knowledge in the Bible to find answers to the doubts we all have.

To those in the audience who know that Jesus calls them and wishes to rededicate their lives to Jesus, please come forward! Jesus calls us all, each one of us and all of us. No one is the least, but rather everyone is important.