Defined: Trust

Introduction:

If you’re anything like me, you like to be in control; you like for things to work out the way that you expect them to.

Driving vs. Flying

Sleeping

Budget

Preparing to leave

Showing up early to events

But there are times in life when things don’t always work out the way that we expected them to, or wanted them to.

I thought I was going to have three kids and be done.

I thought I was going to be pastoring in AZ

Then there are times in life when things go really haywire; where we don’t understand how God could have a hand in our current circumstances.

Losing a job.

Losing a child.

For me, my parents’ divorce.

A child born with a handicap.

Living in Houston or Miami.

Prolonged spiritual depression.

Prolonged spiritual depression.

What do we do then? Where do we turn? Upon what do we find our footing when everything seems to be crumbling all around us? As we wrap our time together this weekend I want us to look to the Book of Habakkuk to answer these questions. We’re going to see from the Lord’s instruction of Habakkuk that in the darkest of hours our response must always be trust. The man of God is a man of trust that is marked by humble, patient, confidence that God will deliver.

Body:

Setting of Habakkuk:

Israel

Under Egyptian Rule

Jehoiakim installed as a puppet king

Heavy taxation being levied by the Egyptians

Extreme wickedness ()

World History

Fall of Assyria and rise of Babylon (626-605 BC)

Babylon conquers Nineveh (612 BC)

Took the last Assyrian stronghold (609 BC)

Nebuchadnezzar comes to power (605 BC)

Habakkuk’s Identity:

Prophet (, )

Concern for justice (, )

Theologian ()

Potentially a Levite ()

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Contemporary landscape:

Where is God when?

Why do my prayers seem to go unanswered?

Why does justice seem to go unserved?

Humbly trust in the Lord’s plans at all times. ()

Habakkuk is frustrated with God’s apparent idleness.

God had revealed himself in the law to be a God of justice.

The laws of justice from had been set aside, trampled upon, yet God was nowhere to be found.

So , the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth.

God’s response revealed that he had a plan, but it was far different from what Habakkuk expected. ()

Israel was under Egyptian control at the time.

Babylon:

Their power ()

Their devastation ()

Their brutality ()

Their god ()

Trust that pleases the Lord is built upon a foundation of humility acknowledging that God’s ways are not our ways ().

But this is a lesson that it took a bit longer for Habakkuk to get.

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Habakkuk’s second complaint: You’re too holy to do that!

Habakkuk reminds God of his identity as the covenant Lord of Israel ()

Lord (YHWH)

From everlasting (Immutability) -

WE shall not die -

Use them for reproof -

Habakkuk’s problem is not with judgment but with the means of judgment ()

How can God favor a godless nation over his people?

Incongruity between who he knows God to be and what he was hearing.

If God were to use Babylon would it not be viewed as him condoning their wickedness?

What about their judgment?

Will this not fuel their idolatry?

God responds with a view to the bigger picture.

Patiently trust in the promises of the Lord. (Habakkuk 1:12-2:19)

Judgment will come to all the wicked but in the meantime, walk by faith (2:2-5)

God reminded Habakkuk of his sovereign timing ()

The vision still awaits its appointed time.

If it seems slow, wait for it.

It will surely come; it will not delay.

In the meantime, Habakkuk was to live by patient faith ()

Context of Roman persecution; parallels to Habakkuk’s time

E.g., Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael

by faith not sight

Then God gives Habakkuk a taunt against Babylon consisting of 5 woes ()

As they have done to others so they will have done to them (, )

They will drink of the wrath of the Lord ()

They will come to know the glory of the Lord ()

What about for us? We’re not facing Babylon, but what are the areas of our lives we need the same encouragement?

The trust that defines a man of God is maintained with patience.

My ways and your ways (including our timetable)

Oh the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable…inscrutable...

We wait for what we do not see with patience

Having been put in his place, so-to-speak, Habakkuk responds to the Lord.

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Habakkuk’s immediate response once he realizes the error of his ways is to plead for mercy.

No more objections, no more arguments, acceptance. ()

The prophet prays that God would deliver Israel now as he had done so many times before ()

Following this the prophet launches into a vision of the Lord depicting his great acts of deliverance specifically seen through the events of the Exodus. ()

A highway from Assyria for the remnant as at the Exodus

There are echoes here of

This vision encouraged Habakkuk in the face of the impending judgment at the hands of the Babylonians.

Confidently trust in the ultimate deliverance from the Lord ().

This is a truth, a reality repeated time and again in the NT.

I know whom I have believed

This light momentary affliction; not to what is seen but unseen

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For Habakkuk his circumstances looked grim (Habbakuk 3:16a), and from a purely earthly perspective they were! (BABYLON!)

Though he knew the deliverance was going to come, the reality of what awaited still shook him to his core.

What are your circumstances that look grim? What are the areas of your life you need to confidently trust in the Lord’s future deliverance?

Wronged by a business partner?

An unfaithful spouse?

Financial straits?

Health?

Habakkuk 3:16a

Habakkuk is physically overwhelmed at what was coming for his people.

Though he knew the deliverance was going to come, the reality of what awaited still shook him to his core.

This trust isn’t a resigned stupid grin about life. It acknowledges the hurt, the pain, the difficulty, the agony.

Jesus sweating drops of blood

But, it’s not despair.

Habakkuk’s conclusion is beautiful in .

The description of verse 17 is that of a war-torn, war-ravaged land.

The lone survivor emerging in silence from the trenches to see absolute desolation.

Yet, he will rejoice.

fully realized

Even the ultimate enemy cannot have victory when we trust in God’s future deliverance.

The high places were symbols of victory. We will stand there sure-footed.

Conclusion:

I want to speak to this trust in our future deliverance as we close this conference. So far we’ve seen that a man of God is a man of obedience and a man of worship, but it’s this last element, trust, that really lays the foundation for what it means to be a man of God. The trust that we’ve seen through our time in Habakkuk is humble, patient, confidence that God will deliver.

But deliver from what? Deliver from pain? Deliver from depression? Deliver from sorrow? Deliver from financial burdens? Deliver from sickness? Deliver from enemies? Yes. Certainly he is able to deliver us from these things as we heard last night from Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego. But the deliverance that we really need to trust God for with this humble, patient, confidence goes far beyond any temporal trials that we might find ourselves in.

This trust that we must have if we hope to be men of God is a trust in an eternal deliverance from our sins and the penalty they are due. We can all tick through the 10 commandments and confess our sins together. Have you lusted after someone? Have you hated another person? Have you stolen? Have you coveted the possessions of another? It doesn’t take us long before all of us in the room are answering yes, I’m guilty. And the Word of God is absolutely clear that the penalty for our sin is death. In fact, more explicitly, it’s an eternity spent in what Jesus described as a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. It’s a place that John saw in the Book of Revelation and described as the lake of fire where smoke goes up constantly and sinners are tormented day and night. The deliverance that we need to trust God for is deliverance from this end.

That means we need Christ. Men, we are helpless to deliver ourselves. There are some of us in the room who can’t even deliver ourselves out of an unbalanced check book let alone an eternity in damnation. We need someone else to save us. This is why God sent his Son Jesus Christ to take on humanity, to live a perfectly sinless life in order that he might take our place and die for our sins. On the cross Jesus suffered an eternity’s worth of punishment for our sins, and if we will trust him we will ultimately be delivered from our sins and the penalty they are due. He is not just a way, he is the only way. The greatest deliverance you need is only available if you will place your trust in Jesus as your Savior.

I realize I’m speaking to a room where a good number of you have already made that decision. Great! Now live in that Biblical manhood by maintaining a focus on that future deliverance. Understand that nothing that happens to you in the meantime has any bearing on whether or not you will ultimately be saved. Habakkuk was still going to face the Babylonians, Israel was still going to be ransacked by Nebuchadnezzar, but yet they were able to rejoice in the God of their salvation knowing that in him their ultimate victory was secure.

So trust him with a humble trust when his plan is different than yours. Trust him with a patient trust when his means for accomplishing his will in your life are confounding. And trust him with a confident faith that whatever circumstance you find yourself in will not deter him from once and for all delivering you from your sins and the penalty they are due.