"Going From Wonder To Worship"

Habbakuk 3:17-18 NRSV

Many of you may remember being younger and being told NOT to question God...

Questioning God was looked at as:

Interrogating God

Challenging God

Doubting God

However, there are some notable people in scripture who have questioned God.

Job questioned God

John The Baptist questioned God

Jesus questioned God the Father

And, in the Book of Habakkuk, this prophet of God questions God, wondering:

How long is God going to let wickedness go unpunished?

Why would God use a wicked nation to punish His people?

Habakkuk wondered…wonder: to think or speculate curiously.

Have you ever wondered?

Where is God?

What is God doing?

Why isn’t God doing?

We can’t help but wonder sometimes, because our understanding is limited.

There’s only so much that we know, only so much we understand, and only so much that our finite minds can comprehend.

Naturally, we have inquiries, comments, and concerns that we bring before God.

And, who better to ask than the one how has ALL of the answers.

God can handle our questions...

While God can handle our questions, we can’t always handle the answers.

*What do you while waiting on God to respond?* Habakkuk resolves to live by faith.

Habakkuk 2:4 …the righteous (just) live by their faith.

We enter into right standing with God by faith. And, we must live by faith.

Ex. Like marriage, married couples say “I Do” during the ceremony, but need to keep saying “I Do” throughout the marriage.

We have to live by faith.

When we don’t have the answers

When we don’t like the answers

Habakkuk said I can’t remain in wonder, I have to resolve to worship.

Anyone can worship when things are well...

Can you worship when things are wrong?

When your questions go unanswered

When your “thorn” remains

When there’s no productivity

Hab 3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails,

When there’s no provision

Hab 3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls,

When there’s no prosperity

Hab 3:18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will exult in the God of my salvation.

It’s Habakkuk’s faith in God, that caused him to still worship God, even when he didn’t understand God!

As He worshipped, God strengthened him, supported him, and stabilized him.

Hab 3:19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights.