SV#25lament-praise(hk)
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for the past several weeks...
...because of cirumstances in my life...
...and conversations i have had with others...
...i have been wrestling with...
...having a better understanding of why...
...our God lets us go through hard times...
...not like your basic difficulties...
...that stuff we do to ourselves...
...because of our bad choices...
...but the stuff we have no control over...
to gain a better understanding of this...
...i turned to the book of Habakkuk...
...because it seems like this prophet struggled with the same question...
Habakkuk 1:1-4
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
this is the first of two laments... or expressed sorrows... we see in Habakkuk..
...He is concerned with the seeming injustice...
... and inactivity...
...of the Lord...
He... through his experience and understanding...
... seems to have this expectation...
... of who the Lord is... how He operates...
... and when He sees God doing something different...
... he has a problem with it...
it seems at first glance...
... what Habakkuk is doing here...
... is disrespectful...
but if we look a little deeper...
... i believe this is something much different...
...this is a man of God...
... who has been taught...
...and believes...
...that God is all He claims...
...and is seeing a contradiction...
... and has chosen to take that lack of understanding to the source...
Heb. 4:16
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
...through Christ...
...we have been given the right...
...as His children...
... to approach the throne of God...
...to come to Him...
...with our fears...our doubts...
...our weakness...our sorrows...
...our joy...our excitement..
so that we may receive mercy...
... find help...
... that we may gain a better understanding...
...of who it is we serve...
just like Habakkuk is doing here...
Our LORD wants to commune with us...
...He wants to be close to us...
...He wants us to understand and experience the depth of His love...
...each and every day of our lives...
He wants to break through those things in our lives that interfere with us seeing Him with clarity...
...we are safe to come before Him...
...in an attitude of humility...
... with our doubts...
...with our lack of understanding...
...He does not discourage that...
...He welcomes it...
and not only that...
… He responds to us...
Hab. 1:5-11
“Look among the nations, and see;
wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
that you would not believe if told.
in this section of the book..
... we see...
... that the concerns that Habakkuk has...
...they are not unnoticed by God...
...that He sees what is going on...
...that He is not sitting idle..
... but preparing for and moving...
...within the plan He has in place...
... He is intimately involved...
...He knows the injustice...
...He knows the sorrow...
... He knows the struggle...
it shows us...
... we serve a God...
...with a plan that is bigger than us...
... a plan we would not have ever seen coming...
in this book...
...we see...
...God using things in our lives...
...that make no sense to us...
what vs 6-11 tells us is ...
...that God chose to use Judah’s enemy...
...to save them...
... HIs people...
God has a plan for our lives...
...it far exceeds what we could ever fathom..
job at pine mountain...
job...
...unjustly accused...
...unjustly judged...
...what it turned into...
He will use what He wants...
...when He wants to...
...the way He wants to...
...He will bless...
...He will tear down...
...He will build us up...
and this is just the start...
in vs. 12-17
12 ¶ Are you not from everlasting,
O LORD my God, my Holy One?
We shall not die.
O LORD, you have ordained them as a judgment,
and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.
13 You who are of purer eyes than to see evil
and cannot look at wrong,
why do you idly look at traitors
and are silent when the wicked swallows up
the man more righteous than he?
Habakkuk is wrestling with the choice of God...
can any of us relate to this...
...do we look at the way our God chooses to move...
...in and around us...
...and have no choice...
...but to scratch our heads...
...and wonder at His tactics...
...we can not to get caught up in trying to figure our God...
... and why He does what He does...
...or get angry..
... because what He is doing does not seem right to us...
but...
... as His children it is about taking that...
...and bringing it to Him...
just as we have been seeing...
...just as Habakkuk did...
...He bring this troubling thought to God...
...in an attempt to bridge the gap...
... between our understanding...
...and the reality of who God is...
the key part of the second lament in Habakkuk...
... i feel...
... is found in...
the first vs. of chapter 2...
I will take my stand at my watchpost
and station myself on the tower,
and look out to see what he will say to me,
and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
Habakkuk
...is determined...
...to hear from God...
...and places himself in the best place to hear... and waits until he hears...
this is a critical part of our understanding of this book...
...and what we are to take away from this...
in physical terms...
...we get the picture of a sentry..
...placing himself on the watch tower...
a high place...
...the best place to see...
...and hear...
...what is coming...
it was the job of a watchmen...
...to see something coming...
...to be vigilent and attentive...
Habakkuk states...
he is going to station himself on the watchtower..
this is a man who has seen some troubling things in his life...
... around him... in his home...
he has...
... in a gutsy way...
...taken it upon himself...
...to approach God...
...to question His motives and character..
...the God that is under no obligation...
...to give a reason...
...or a justification for His actions...
Habakkuk was so troubled by what he was experiencing...
...and recognized...
...there was only one place to go...
...resigned himself to go to the source...
...as he brought his questions... his troubles thoughts to the ruler and creator of all...
he said what he needed to say...
...now we waits to see how God is going to respond...
maybe with an resolution...
... maybe with reproof...
as we seek to apply this to our lives...
...we need to figure out...
... spiritually...
...what it means to wait on God...
when we read that Habakkuk waited for the Lord...
...i don't believe we locked himself in a room...
...and stared at a wall...
...or that he just went about his daily life...
...until he heard God speak...
i believe he would have had to place himself in the best possible position to use his spiritual eyes and ears...
he would have immersed himself in the word...
...and in prayer… and worship...
... because he would have understood that...
...the Lord speaks to us through scripture...
...and that prayer...
...is powerful...
...and that worship opens our hearts to God
He would have struggled...
...sweat...toiled...
...with eager expectation and hope... that God would provide an answer...
the same holds true for us...
...when we find ourselves in a troubling place...
...when we are scared... hurt... confused...
... when we are filled with doubt...
... even about God...
this is how we need to respond...
...go to the source...
...voice our concerns...
... or fears...
... our doubts...
...then ...
...we place ourselves in the best possible place...
...to hear the voice of God...
...we toil...
... we sacrifice our pride...
...our comfort...
we immerse ourselves in the word...
...and we pray...
...we fall on our face and we cry out...
and we worship
these are laments of Habakkuk...
...a lament is an expression of great sorrow..
when we find ourselves in these situations...
... this is what we must do...
and the amazing part...
...is going to have to be the reaction of our Lord...
...which we read in the next vs. of Habakkuk 2
hab. 2:2-20
And the LORD answered me:
“Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so he may run who reads it.
3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time;
it hastens to the end—it will not lie.
If it seems slow, wait for it;
it will surely come; it will not delay.
...
9 “Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house,
to set his nest on high,
to be safe from the reach of harm!
...
14 For the earth will be filled
with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
...
20 But the LORD is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.
the Lord answered Habakkuk...
...He responded to him...
... and it was an amazing answer...
...a response that addressed his concerns...
...and corrected him...
...and grew him...
...and increased his clarity... in how he saw his God...
we see God has a grand plan...
...His plan reaches far beyond...
...our little world...
...our personal exsistance...
this is a declaration from the King of kings...
... a testament of His plan...
... and also His character.. and His power...
...we can look into our lives and wonder...
...if God truly loves us...
...why does this...
...seemingly destructive thing...
...threaten us so...
i think this passage shows us...
...that whether we understand it or not...
...that these things exist in our lives...
in some cases we can explain it...
...we can chaulk it up to sin...
...or our bad choices...
...but there are other times when this is a bit harder...
...example from my own life...
...post concussion...
...no fault of my own...
...symptoms came back...
...keeping me from works of God...
...not going away...
it is easy for us to say...
...if God loves me...
...He would not let anything bad happen to me...
the truth is...
...this is the wrong question to be asking...
....it is not about why God does what He does...
… our why He allows what He allows...
but rather...
...what He is doing through the hard times...
what is more important than...
...trying to explain why bad things happen to us...
...is seeking to see that truth...
...of how much our God loves us...
it is about coming to see His steadfast and powerful love...
...it is about coming to see how He feels about us...
these hard and painful times in our lives are inevitable...
we need to see that...
...they are not being allowed to destroy the children of God...
... but through His power and mercy...
...are being used to grow us...
...to allow us to recognize the glory of the one true King...
...that we may come to see and enjoy Him...
... more and more deeply and steadfastly..
this response of God...
...proclaims His power...
... His justice...
...and His deep and devoted love to His chosen people...
is it more loving for a parent to take every hardship away from their child...
...or...
...to use that time to perfect their child...
...to teach them and allow them to become better through it...
...all the while protecting them from being destroyed by it...
we play an important role in experiencing this truth...
...we must accept it… and embrace it...
Habakkuk's repose to this in ch 3...
...is exactly the response we should have...
...when we are faced with the realization of how God is moving in our lives...
we praise Him..
Hab. 3:1-19
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O LORD, do I fear.
In the midst of the years revive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.
...
4 His brightness was like the light;
rays flashed from his hand;
and there he veiled his power.
...
13 You went out for the salvation of your people,
for the salvation of your anointed.
You crushed the head of the house of the wicked,
laying him bare from thigh to neck. Selah
there is nothing wrong with having doubts in our spiritual walk with Christ...
... we are a finite being seeking to pursue and relate to an infinite God...
...we are not going to understand all...
... we are going to run into troubling thoughts...
...events that seem to conflict with what we know about our God...
...this is normal and natural...
...we have a God that understand what we are going through...
Habakkuk voiced those concerns...
...waited for the Lord...
...heard the response of his God...
and through that ...
...he came to see...
...that our God is faithful to His us...
...that He fights for us..
vs 4-15 (did not read all of it)
outline how Habakkuk views the way God fights for us...
this shows the justice of God...
...it shows us the determination of our God to commune with us...
...He is willing to fight for us...
...to destroy for us...
...to send his son for us..
...that we may be close to Him...
...nothing will keep us from God...
...if he wants us...
...which He does...
... He will move and divide and produce...
...whatever is necessary to get us...
nothing in this world will stand in His way...
...not law...
...not persecution..
... not other people...
...not even ourselves
in vs 16...
...we read...
¶ I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound;
rottenness enters into my bones;
my legs tremble beneath me.
Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us.
Habakkuk writes...
... his repose to hearing what God said was to tremble...
...to feel to his very core...
...the impact of the words of God...
... then to look out upon the world to watch and see...
... the unfolding of the plan...
he goes on to say in vs 17-19
Though the fig tree should not blossom,
nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD;
I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength;
he makes my feet like the deer’s;
he makes me tread on my high places.
do you see the shift in his attitude..
...in his outlook on life...
...in the beginning..
vs 1-4
The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
2 O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not hear?
Or cry to you “Violence!”
and you will not save?
3 Why do you make me see iniquity,
and why do you idly look at wrong?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
4 So the law is paralyzed,
and justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
so justice goes forth perverted.
verses
17-19 which we just read...
...we see this up tight...
...scared...
...doubtful...
prophet
transform...
...into a man that looks at this life...
...with confidence...
...a man that has decided...
... based on what he has just learned about God...
... that regardless..
... of how this life looks...
...how hopeless...
... how little sense it makes...
...he will always rejoice...
...always praise...
...because he knows...
...beyond any doubt...
... that the Lord...
...his Lord...
...will uphold him...
...will be his strength...
...his provision...
...his guide...
that is the outcome of a life in pursuit of God...
...a faithful pursuit...
...regardless of life's circumstances....
... of its doubts...
...fears...
we look back on the trial...
...find that because we were faithful...
...because we went to the source..
... because we waited...
...and mostly because the God we serve is good...
we now see...
...with clarity the justice and character of our God...
...which is what allows us to rest in His loving arms and trust Him with or lives completely.
AMEN
