Habakkuk Test

Have you heard the phrase Life's not fair.

Maybe you've used this phrase before.

I personally like saying that phrase instead of having it said to me to be totally and completely honest with you. 


But when we hear that, it means something didn't go our way, or something is just unjust.

Someone got something when you felt like we deserved, or we got something we felt like we did not deserve. Maybe we got punished for something or maybe we lost a friend or a child or a parent way too soon. 


Maybe you got passed it for a job promotion or maybe you lost your job.

So, I have three kids and any times something is not equal among the three of them, there's an injustice.

It can be food or it can be a chore that they feel like they're doing more of or the proper color of a fork.

You name it, if the other one doesn't get it, then it is just unfair. I'm sure we all understand this, and we've probably been on both sides of the coin even.

And we can even look at it through the lens of a worldly scale. 


It does not take us very long to look at the different injustices in our world today.

There are things that just seem unfair, like being born into poverty or not having the greatest genetics, or favoritism, or even nepotism that happens in the workforce or on a sports team, discrimination, imbalances and relationships, you've ended up in a friend zone or maybe you've lost a friendship based on something that wasn't your fault.

Access to education, born rich. 
We all understand that life is just not fair.

And we can see all of the injustices in the world, and sometimes we can make a change, and other times we're not able to make any changes.

And we're helpless because of it. 


And over the next four weeks, we're going to look at the Book of Habakkuk.

And my name is Zack Klundt and I'm one of the pastors over at Freshwater Church, and I'm really looking for my family and I. We're really looking forward to being here with you guys for the next four weeks and looking at what's it like to wrestle with God.

And sometimes that seems a little foreign to us, like, what do you mean by wrestling with God? 


Like, isn't it wrong to doubt?

Isn't it wrong to ask questions to God? I'm going to challenge that with how Hbakic speaks to God.

how he wrestles with what God is telling him. how he wrestles with what's going on around him. and how I believe it not only encourage Hibakic, but it made his faith stronger because of it. 
And I believe that in our doubts and in our weaknesses, that when we wrestle with God, we have an opportunity as well to grow in our faith. And so as we dive in, and we ask some honest and powerful questions this week, and the next three weeks to follow, we're going to just start this morning with a word of prayer, and then we're going to dive into chapter 1. And we're going to see what it's like for us to wrestle with injustice. 
Let's pray. Where we thank you for your goodness, Lord, we thank you for just bringing us all together here today. Fathers, we just look at this book of hab, this bold and powerful book that sometimes just is missed, Lord, I just I pray that we have a good wisdom and discernment as we go through your texts, Lord. 
And let these words flow from my lips. They've made them not be my own, but from you and from the Holy Spirit that that lives inside of me, that it can pour out, you can pour out onto the people here this morning. Lord, we love you, and we thank you, and I saw as in your name. 
Amen. You know, as we open up the Book of theabic, anyone who has said or thought that something was unfair, you can relate to Hbacic. Hbakic, he saw injustice in the world, and what was happening really in the nation of Judah. and he offers up this complaint to God, the only one who can do anything about it, it's kind of an interesting dynamic here because he gfts it up to God as the only one who can do anything about it, and God is the only one who can handle what heb is talking about. 
You see, God can handle your questions and your doubts and your wrestlings, and we're going to see that right here in chapter 1.. This is what Hbakk says, and we'll start here in chapter 11. It says, The oracle, which Hib, the prophet saw. 
Hib, here, he was a prophet for the Lord, and that's about it, that's all that's really known about Heak. We don't get a lineage, like where he's from, we don't get even who he's necessarily is talking to. We can gain it from the context of who he's talking to, but we can't really pinpoint exactly what Heb, where he was from, or even what he what he did other than just wrote this book and gave this warning to the people. 
So, what's this dream about Hib is we read this dialogue between Heb and God, it's out of order from a traditional prophet. You see a traditional prophet, they would get a word from God. You think about the story of Jonah, right? 
Jonah is sleeping and a vision comes to him from God, and he is being sent out to go to the people of Nineveh, to preach God's message of destruction and judgment, that's coming. That happens in almost every situation of the prophets that we read about in the Old Testament. Except Hab. is in opposite order. 
Hbakic sees what's going on, and he goes to God first. He goes to God on behalf of the people. He does not see a revelation from God, but it's Hbakic who makes the first move. 
Look here in verse 2, He says,How long, O Lord, will I call for help? And you will not hear. I cry out to you, <unk> viololence! 
Yet you do not save. Why do you make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness, yet destruction and violence are before me? Strife exists and contention arises, therefore the law is ignored. 
And justice is never upheld, for the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, justice comes out, perverted. Pretty strong language from hab. 
Hb goes to God and tells him about the injustice that's happening, not just to what happened is in Judah, because what's happening here in Judah is they have started to worship false gods. They've committed idolatry in this nation, this nation that was supposed to be for God, God put these teams in place that they would worship and lead the people to worship him. They have now ceased from doing that. 
And the sees this, and he sees the people suffering because of it. And he goes, God, why is it that you are ignoring this? He says, how long will I call for help and continue to be ignored? 
Are you listening to me, God? And with that first cry of how long, O Lord, I believe that Habbic here, this is not the first time he's gone to the Lord about this situation. And what Hbakic has experienced is silence. 
He hears nothing coming from God. He says, "How long, O Lord, will I have to keep seeing this, keep seeing injustice." And Hibage he says,You are making me look at this. 
I can't divert my eyes, like it's right in front of me, God. You are making me see all of this, and it's unfair. A bi is really laying and out to God. 
In in verse 3, he says,You're making me look at injustice. You tolerate wrongdoing, all this is happening right in front of me, and you're doing nothing about it. God. 
This is so unfair! And then a back, it turns even more frustrated. He says, God, this is this is why this is why your law, the Torah, he's referring to the Torah, the Ten Commandments, the first five books of the Bible, he says, this is why your law is ignored. 
People ignore your law, because it's ineffective. Those Ten Commandments, those are ineffective because of all the wickedness that you are allowing to take place against your people on behalf of Judah. This nation is evil, and it's rising up, and you're doing nothing about it. 
God, you're being passive. And you get the sense here that habatic is mad. He's hacked off at God. 
He's frustrated, he is telling God all sorts of things that he thinks and he feels about God. and is going, why? Why is this happening, God? I know about you, but I can relate to habakic. 
When life throws us curveballs, when things just seem unfair. And we run to God, and we cry out to him, and we're met with silence. That could be a really difficult place, can it? 
Right?

You know, I remember, this would have been several years ago, before we had our third child my wife, Brittany and I, we were expecting our third child before we had Theo, our youngest, and when we got pregnant, we had we were in a really great community at our church in Gillsburg, Illinois, and our neighbors across the street, they're a pastor family too. And so we got really close to them and their wife was their family was expecting to. 
And then our nextdoor neighbor, they went to our church and they were expecting as well. And we had this little tribe, this little community of all three of the wives, were all pregnant, and they were getting ready to go through pregnancy together. which, like, pregnancy is just a unique thing together already, like women, like you have You have a leg up because you can relate to each other because you eyes all go through this together. But being able to go through it together with some of your best friends, that's a very special thing and and I'll never forget when you hear that voice cry out to you from the bathroom saying, "Zack, get in here. and walking in and kind of just seeing my wife just downtrodden and crying and just so upset, knowing full well that we had lost that baby. and it did not seem fair. 
And, man, we were so upset. And I remember going to God and going, God, why? Lord, how unfair is this that that we get to have a front row seat to our two of our best friends. get to have babies. 
And we don't. God, that's not fair. What the heck? 
You know what's the hardest part about all that? is that it was silent for a long time. It was silent for a bit. before the Lord answered. 
It was real quiet. When we feel like we're screaming out a brick wall, and there is nothing coming back, it's confusing, it can be a really troubling place to be in. And it would be easy to be just like Hebakk and wonder, is God really good? 
And when all these are hard and difficult things that are happening, like, I don't blameb. Like it actually makes it more relatable. It's like, man, like, there is someone who has gone through what I've gone through. 
There is someone who has wrestled with God, like I was wrestling with God. And when evils in the world and violence seems to run wild, it is easy to go to God with not praises, but confusion on our tongue, and anger in our voices. And I think we have to be really and here's the thing, it's okay to be in that moment. 
It's okay to be in that spot. I think for too long, we try to just shove it down, say, "No, you're supposed to be fine. You're a believer. 
You're supposed to be fine. And we have good, well intended Christians who see the stuff we're going through and we say, hey, just let go and let God. And that's great, and that is true, yes. 
And they might even say things like, thishis will pass because God's on your side, that God will make a way, that God just closed the door, but he opened up a window and listen. Listen to me carefully. All those things are true. 
Every last one of those things are true. But that doesn't mean you can't wrestle with it in the meantime. That doesn't mean that you can't be mad and a little angry, and a little frustrated with what's going on. 
Now you can't stay in that place, right? We understand that, we know we can't stay in that place. But it doesn't mean you can't wrestle with it. 
It doesn't mean that you don't have to like it. It doesn't mean that you have to be okay with it. It's okay to whine about it a little bit, because when terrible and horrible stuff happens in our life, we can run to a father who can take your frustration, who can take your questions, and who can take your whining, and in the wrestling with God, this doesn't mean that this doesn't mean that you doubt your salvation. 
It's asking God, God, what the heck is going on? Heb is doing that. He's going, God, I know you're good. 
I know you are a good and just God, but right now, I don't see it. Help my untrained eyes to see. In church, don't we need that? 
Don't we need a consistent cry to Lord going, God, help me to see what you're doing. Help me to trust in what you're doing. God can handle you. 
God can handle anything you have to say to him. He is our creator, and he knows what you're going through. In chapter 1, here, Hb goes to God on behalf of the nation of Judah, and he goes, "God, I see the injustice. 
God, what are you going to do about it?"'Cause right now, God, you're just silent. And habic gets a response. 
Let's look at verse 5. Now, God, then begins to talk to Hbak. Whether this is in a vision or maybe it's through a dream or that beginning in verse 1, it says an oracle, some translations call it a burden. 
Like Hbak was burden to tell and talk to the people. But here in verse 5, God is talking to Hebakk. He says, "Look at the nations and observe.B utterly astounded.For I am doing something in your days that you will not believe when you hear about it. 
Now, a back just like bore his soul to God, and God's like,Dude, I got you. I'm going to do something that's going to be so incredible, so amazing. You're not even going to believe. 
You're gonna be utterly astounded. And Hbakca's like, yes, God, this is what I've been waiting for. Come on, God, show me. 
Tell me, yes, God. Bring it, bring the fire. Let me know. 
How are we gonna take care of this injustice? Let's go! And he goes, look, I'm raising up the Shaladdeans. 
That bitter and putreus nation, that marches across the earth's open open spaces to seize territories, that's not its own. Time out. Who are the Shaladans? 
They' enemies of God. They' enemies of God's people. They' enemies of Judah. 
They are Judah's enemies. They're not good people. These would be known as the Babylonians, to give you a little context there. 
And this is right at the time where the Assyrians were dropping in power in the Babylonians were getting rising up. So when God's saying, I'm going to rise up the Shaldeans, he's saying, I'm going to rise to Babylon. And this is right at the height. 
This is right at the beginning, and this is right at the trajectory is going up for the Babylonians. He's saying, I'm rising them up. to seize territories. That's not its own. 
I'm going to rise up your enemies. And they're actually going to be the next greatest nation. And they're going to grow into one of the strongest empires that lived. 
And here's what it says a little bit more about the Shaladdeans and who they were, for their fierce and terrifying, their views of justice and sovereignty stem from themselves. They don't have religious religious deity they're following, they follow from their themselves. For their horses are swifter than leopards and more fierce than wolves at the night of the night. 
Their horsemen charge ahead, their horsemen come from distant lands, they fly like eagles swooping to devour. All of them come to do violence, their faces are set in determination. They gather prisoners like sand, like sand. 
They mock kings and rulers are a joke to them. They laugh at every fortress and build siege ramps to capture it. Then they sweep up like the wind and pass through. 
They're guilty, their strength is their God. God says, Luke, I', I'm going to rise up. your enemies, and they're coming for you. They' a fierce nation with no moral compass. 
They serve themselves. They mock kings and other deities. They are so strong that they mock and make fun of other nations who draw up to defend themselves. 
I can guarantee you that is not the answer to Hbat was looking for. He's, God, I need you to intervene. God, I need you to help us out. 
Bring us salvation. Lord, how long are you going to just let the people suffer? Bring us a savior? 
And he goes, God you Hib. I'm going to bring judgment. I'm bringing judgment to you. 
And the question I had was why, why judgment? What had Juda done if they were going to receive, not rescue, but destruction and judgment? The God was going to raise up their enemies. 
Judah was a nation that had spiled into sin, idolatry, and wickedness. That was Hbakk's first complaint. He saw the nation, and it was sinful, and God was silent, and it seemed like God was doing nothing about it. 
Back, it felt like he was crying out, and nobody was home. He wanted justice and salvation for Judah. Not destruction. 
I think a little bit of habat would have known that there would have been some destruction or some judgment, at least that was going to happen and kind of that the wicked were at least going to be judged. But in war, you and I both know that war has casualties that are not wakened. It says said in that last part of the verses, it said that they gathered prisoners as much as the sand. 
They were going to be innocent, good people who were following after the Lord and doing what he commanded them to do, that they were going to be captured, and most likely killed. Anabacus going, "W? What are you talking about? 
God brought judgment in order to bring salvation. For we know God is a holy God, and that he does not tolerate sin He actually hates it. Psalm 5. tells that he says, for you are not a God who delights in wickedness, evil cannot dwell with you. 
The boast will cannot stand in your sight. You hate all evilers. You destroy those who tell lies the Lord. abhors, violent, and treacherous people. 
We know this is the character of God that he absolutely hates evil. And you can imagine that Hebakika's wrestling with the character of God, what he knows and believes about God, and what he is hearing God say. And we will see Habb wrestle with God's response in the next couple of verses here. 
But here's the thing, Church. Sometimes God doesn't make sense to us. Sometimes God can give such clear direction on where to go and what to do. 
Like it's almost like there's giant neon sides that we catch and where like, that's definitely the way to go. But then there's other times where it's like, "Wait, you want me to do what? You're gonna do what now, God? 
Or are those times where it's like, oh, you think life's hard now? Well, tomorrow your car's not going to work, and then the next day your house is going to burn down. Like, like, and it's like, it's all for your good. 
It's like, is it so? Is going through all of this heartache and these hard seasons? Is that really for my good God? 
Because, God, it hurts. And it can leave us feeling unseen, unheard, and just lonely. And instead of salvation, God is bringing judgment to Judah by rising up to Babylonians. 
Salvation can come, yes, but Judah was downright evil, and it's the evil that Hbek is talking about. It's that another nation doing this to them? It's his own people. 
He sees injustice and cries out how long, O Lord, will this continue. And when God answers, it is not what hook Bacek was expecting. Here had that happen before? 
Like, you had you had such a firm belief, like,Hey man, this is what God's gonna do. And then God doesn't. I remember when I was looking for my first full time job and ministry. 
And I'd applied to a church, we were part of a pretty large church in the quad cities, kind of where I'm from. And we went to interview at kind of the sending church of this church and and sat down with their youth guy and it was like to be a campus youth pastor, which is really strange in itself. But that's what the role was kind of for. 
And so sat down, I thought the interview went really, really well. I mean we spent hours talking, even help with their youth ministry that night and stuff. Like, I thought things were really good. 
I walked away going like, I think we're gonna be in like Chicago, and we're gonna take this job. This is awesome. And then I got that phone call a couple days later, and you guys probably know that type of phone call where they call you and they tell you all the really great things about you, and then they hit you with the. 
But we can't offer you this position. And I was just devastated. I was like, God, what? 
Like, I felt so sure more that this is where you wanted us to go. And again, I felt frustrated and just, like, like crying up to God, I remember just like, like going home and telling my wife, like that's's not going to work. We're not going. 
And, like, we would like, we would just go to our bedroom and just get on our knees and like, right before our bed and we would just cry to God, going, God, we don't know what you're doing here. I mean, I'd send out like 75 resumes at this point, and I had just like five, maybe interviews, and like this one was the last one I had, and I was like, I don't know what to do. Fast forward about 18 months from there, and I am in a church at Bethel, I'm in Guildford, Illinois, and I read it's through. 
It's public news. It's public. It showed up on lots of different Christian websites and everything that this church just kind of imploded. and leadership was out, people were leaving, left and right. 
And if we had gotten that job, I don't know what would have happened to us in ministry. If we would have stayed in it if it kind of would have been the end, like, there's a lot of ifs and butts and what would have happened? And it took some time, right, for God to reveal, like, hey, this was actually done to protect you. 
There's actually done to protect you. And while it was a no, here, it was done in order to protect you. I thought for sure that God wanted me to be there. 
See, God told Hibacic, look and be utterly astounded by what I'm going to do. You won't believe it. Church, here's the thing. 
God is always at work. In what he was doing was behind the scenes work. He was going to bring justice and his timing and don't think for a second that God is absent and he doesn't hear you. 
It can feel like that a time. And I think Hebakk felt that. And I know that I felt that, and I'm sure there's plenty in this room who have felt that as well. 
But don't take God's silent as apathetic. Don't take God's silence as him being disinterested or aloof. Like, God may just be setting up something that's far greater than you could even imagine. 
For God cares deeply for his people. If he had it, he would have never sent his son Jesus. From the fall in the Garden of Eden, there was this groaning for God to rescue his people and Hbak, wanting justice to come to Judah for God to straighten out this nation. 
There is no deeper cry than a savior to come and to redeem the world. Was there not a cry for the injustice of sin that had its way? All the way back in the garden. 
It called for a sacrifice. And for so long, they thought that the sacrifice could be done through a lamb and there was countless hundreds of thousands of ls that were sacrificed for so many years that never satisfied the sin. It called for a sacrifice, and it's in that you and I personally did not commit, right? 
You and I didn't take the fruit. It seems a little unfair. And here's the thing. 
Bef before I came to Christ, I would have told you that this doesn't seem very fair, that the people who die, not knowing Jesus, and they'll spend an eternity separate from him and not in heaven, but in hell, that seems a little bit unfair. It seems unfair until you look at the cost. And while God always would send judgment and redemption, whether it was through Noah or Moses, or David, or some judge or king, none of them made it last. 
It was only when God did something that you would not believe, that would utterly astound you, that descent has one and only son who took on flesh, pulled off his glory, and he came to earth as our Savior, to be the greatest and last sacrifice. He would be put on the cross to die for the s of yours and mine. God was in ignoring his people. 
Remember, this on the heels of 400 years of silence. It wasn't that God was ignoring his people. No, he was setting up something so much greater. 
And if you and I take anything away from church this morning, if you can take anything away from church this morning, let it be that that we do not have a passive nonchalant and an indifferent God, but a God who cares for you, who loves you, who gives grace over and over and over again, even when we don't deserve it. And so you have Hibacic.bus first cry out to God. And when God answers him, and then hebic hears from God, and then he comes back and listen to his response here in verse 12. 
He says, God, are you not from eternity, Lord, my God? My Holy One. My holy One. 
My God, my holy One. He will not die. You, O Lord, have appointed them to judge. 
And you, Iraq, have established them to correct. Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look at wickedness with favor. Why do you look with favor on those who deal treacherously? 
Why are you silent when the wicked swallows up those more righteous than they? Why have you made men like the fish of the sea, like creeping things without a ruler over them? Here's the thing, Church. 
This is what wrestling looks like with God. Habac knows who God is. Hb knows God's character, and there's so many of us in this room today that know who God is. 
You know his character. You've done studies on it, you've done the attributes of God, like you know that God is good and loving and just and kind and gracious. Hib knows how good God is. 
He describes it as his rock. He says, "My holy One, which is the only time that phrase is used. My holy one.", you can just sense that hebacic has this this raw and int true belief that God is so good. 
He says, you are eternal, Lord, nope, never ending, never having a beginning. The Bacus says, you are pure the one who does not tolerate evil. H here is reminding himself of God's greatness and his character. 
And then he wrestles with what God just told him. He says, God, I know you hate evil. Then why are you using these nations to judge here? 
Why would you let evil run? And God, why is it just now that you're telling me this? To hebakic, God was silent while the wicked were not. 
And then Hibakic goes on to describe the Chaladans again. He says, "The Chaladans pull them all with a hook. They catch them in their dragnets. 
This is people and he's using this as a kind of a window into who the Chaladans are and what they do. says they gather them, their fishing nets, and this is why they are gladiding and rejoice. This is why they sacrifice to their dragnets to burn an incense to their fishing nets. By those, these things are their portion is rich and their food is plentiful. 
Well they therefore empty their net and continually slaughter nations without mercy? Hak here is like, God, this is a godless nation. and it seems like they're being overly blessed. What the heck is happening, God? 
They don't worship you. and yet it would seem like you are blessing them. God, you're choosing to raise them up into power and bring about judgment. This is not however, the first time that God has used other nations to carry out judgment on Israel, on his people. 
I think of stories like Egypt and Philistines, the Syrians, the Mobites, even Rome. But here's the thing, Church of Romeans 8:28 tells us, God, we know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. God works all things together for his glory. 
Here's the thing. When the hard times hit, not if, but when, when the hard times hit, you have a choice just like Hbak. Hbak, he cried out to God. 
He asked some really hard and really good questions. And upon hearing God's response, Hibagat could have said,You know what, God? That's not my cup of tea. 
What you're saying is terrible, and I don't want anything to do with it. No, I will not carry this message to your people. You could have pulled a Jonah and said, no, I'm out. 
He could have fled. And in the struggles and in the doubts and the questions, it can be so easy to walk away from our faith. When we start going through some hard seasons in our life, that's when our faith is really tested. 
Our faith is very rarely tested when things are going really good, right? You know people who have walked away from the faith because they stopped wrestling with God. There's a choice to make. 
When we seize things that don't make sense, we can go to the only one who knows everything and we can trust him fully, trust that he knows the best and that what he does is for the best. That's hard, especially when we're the ones going through it. But I want to challenge you to keep trusting in the Lord. 
Keep trusting in God, staying in his presence even when it's quiet. Even when it's just you and your voice asking hard questions and being genuine and real to the creator of all things, because here's the thing, God can handle it. Notice that he doesn't ever ostracize habak. 
He doesn't say, how dare you talk to me that way, habak? He did that with Joe. Joe was complaining and whying to God, and God God's like, "Oh, I'm sorry, Joe. Where were you and I did all of this? No, God lets speak to him. 
In a very real, raw, and genuine way. You want to know why? Because God can handle it. 
I don't know about you, but it really wasn't until recently that I felt like I could go to the Lord and be really honest and genuine with him. Maybe it was around that time of our miscarriage. But I felt for so many years that it was so wrong to have doubts and to go before God. 
God, I'm doubting this. That helped me understand, help me see, help me wrestle. Or God, I'm just, I'm struggling, God, I don't understand why this is making any sense. 
God, this does not make sense to me, God. I am I'm hurting, I'm struggling, and I don't know why you're doing this. You see, guy can handle those questions. and I believe that we, as Christians, need to be more honest and real with God and we're struggling. and understand that it's okay, to be wrestling with God. 
It's okay to be in the wrestle. It's okay when those hard seasons come in to go to God. God can handle it. 
God can handle your questions. God can handle your doubts. God can handle you wrestling with him. 
So stay in it. Don't walk out on your faith in chapter one. There's so many more things coming, right? 
The bag it could have heard this and said, "Well, that's enough for me, God, I'm out. But as we'll see in week two, we can just get a sample here at the start of chapter 2, Hebic elects to wait. He goes, OK, God, I hear you, and I'll wait. 
I hear what you're saying, God, and I may not like it. I'm still wrestling with it, but I'll wait. But before we leave this morning, here's the thing. 
I want to give you a couple of things to do the next time you're going through a hard season. Five things, five things to do, the next time you're going through a hard season. Number one, be honest with God. 
We talked about that in pretty good length today. Be honest with God. God can handle your questions, God. 
Once your questions be honest with God. Number two, Trust that God hears and that he will act. Trust that God hears you, and he will act. 
And it may not be what you want, it may not be what you would like or what you would want God to answer you with? No. But trust that God hears you and he will act. 
Number three, remind yourself of who God is. Remind yourself of who God is. That what hebatic was doing when his second response is that he was reminding himself that God is a good God, he a gracious God. 
Now, God doesn't like evil, he doesn't want evil. So even though he's saying, I'm gonna use the Shaladans to come in and wreck and bring judgment to Judah. The Bic is going, "I know you don't love evil. 
I know you don't want evil." And so there must be something greater at play here that I'm just not seeing yet. So remind yourself of who God is. 
Number four, know that God is sovereign and that his plans may not be our plans. God knows everything that's going to happen. It's so's such sometimes it's just a really strange concept for us to grasp and wrestle with that God is outside of time. 
He sees the beginning and the end, all in one motion. He sees everything as it plays out. He sees all things. 
He knows exactly how things are going to play out in your life and a my life and in the world. Like, he knows everything. He knows it all. 
So trust his plans, even when they're not yours. And number five, stay in your faith. Stay in your faith. 
Don't walk out in chapter one. Keep wrestling with God. Keep wrestling in the waiting, Keep wrestling, when things don't make sense, keep wrestling. 
When we had to remind ourselves that God is good and he is gracious, keep being honest with God, trust that God will act. And that he hears you. Church this morning, don't walk out on your faith. 
Don't walk out on your faith. Stay in and wrestle God, the only one who can handle anything you want to throw at him. Don't walk out. 
Stay in it. Don't leave the faith when God is silent. Don't leave the faith when you see injustice, stay in it. 
Wrestle and embrace. who God is and what he may be doing. We pray with me this morning.