When God Doesn’t Make Sense | The Book of Habakkuk | Gary Hamrick

Habakkuk is where we are today one of these tiny little Minor Prophets in the back of your Old Testament sabacc ik if you need a Bible today raise your hand the ushers are happy to hand out Bibles as they go up and down the aisles if you need one just raise your hand high they'll eventually see you and then as you get a Bible from one of them it's page 921 in the church Bibles page 921 little tiny book of a back ik we are bringing pretty quickly our study through the Old Testament to a close and then we'll pick up right where the Old Testament leaves off will be in the book of Matthew after we get through the Minor Prophets but the last twelve books of the Old Testament are known as the minor prophets we are at number eight out of the 12 Habakkuk again these are not minor prophets because they're less important than the other prophets it's just that what they write is generally shorter and Habakkuk no exception only three chapters and we know very little about Habakkuk so I'm gonna put up on the screen for you a little bit that we know his name in Hebrew is actually pronounced and it's spelled in English for the CH because it that's the guttural sound in Hebrew the sound so and it's kind of a funny way of pronouncing his name but it's Habakkuk Habakkuk that's how his name is pronounced so you know every time that people would come up after that little baby was born they'd ask his parents what do you have there have a kook that's what I have and nothing is really known about Habakkuk anywhere else in the Bible because he's not mentioned by name anywhere else besides the book that bears his name the best guess as to when he prophesied was sometime around 600 BC because he does make reference to the rise of the Babylonian Empire where God does in his conversation with the back ik and so we know that it has to precede the rise of the Babylonian Empire it's probably sometime around 600 BC that he that he ministers so I'm gonna read here out of chapter one just the first four verses and and then we're gonna actually unpack this this whole book as we make our way through the Minor Prophets one theme from each book every Sunday so we'll talk about the theme from a back today but first let me read verses 1 through 4 here in Chapter 1 it says the burden which the Prophet Habakkuk saw Oh Lord how long shall I cry and you will not hear even cry out to you violence and you will not save by the way that word violence in Hebrew is Hamas so that terrorist organization literally means violence but Habakkuk asks here how long shall I cry and you will not hear even cry out to you violence and you will not save why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble for plundering and violence are before me there is strife and contention arises therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth for the wicked surround the righteous therefore perverse judgment proceeds will pause there and pray and take a look together at this book let's pray first father as we come to the Book of a back ik we thank you that you have included it in your word because Lord even though it's a very ancient book it speaks to us even today and it touches on a subject Lord that affects most of us if not all of us at some point in our lives we've had questions for you we have wondered why you do things the way you do and why you seem to not do things the way we think that you should Lord and so there's there are questions that we sometimes have about life and the world which we live and so it's good good to see as a back ik rights these things and easy as he expresses his own heart how we can often relate so speak to us through the pages of this text use the book of a back ik to minister to us today and we're thankful for your grace and your love in our lives and it's in Jesus name that we pray and everybody said amen Habakkuk is unique among all the other prophets in the entire Bible in that his book does not challenge a nation or a people group you know he's Jewish and he's not sent by God here at least recorded to address the Jewish people he is not sent by God at least recorded to address other nations perhaps he did that but that's not what the book of a backache is about the book of a backache is a typical among the prophets because it is entirely a dialogue the book of a backache is a dialogue between Habakkuk and God and at God answers in this dialogue as Habakkuk raises questions that he has and and issues that he has he is perplexed by some things that he sees in his world and Habakkuk is full of some confusion and so he has some questions for God about God that's what this that what is what this book is about and so it's as if we get to eavesdrop on a conversation between the Lord and one of his prophets and the dialogue that ensues here it mainly is centered around questions and confusions that Habakkuk has particularly as it relates to injustice and evil in the world Habakkuk wanted to know why God allowed evil to exist and Habakkuk wondered if God is sovereign why do wicked people prosper and and it's as if God seems to do nothing and so Habakkuk is raising these questions with God and so this whole book is a dialogue and I'm so glad that it's included in Scripture because it gives us a little insight into how the prophets had questions for God and confusion about God and and it make it kind of humanizes them you know because sometimes we can think all these prophecies you know these great men of God and and we put them up on a pedestal and we think they never had a bad day in their life and they always you know we're walking in godliness and they always had this great insight into spiritual things and and the fact of the matter is that these people are very human just like you and and and I and and so it's comforting to notice here that some of the same questions that Habakkuk wrestled with God concerning life and the world and and and God's apparent lack of concern and involvement are some of the same questions that plague us today there's plenty of people who have questions about what God allows this and why didn't he intervene there it and and how do we explain this or that in our world it really shouldn't surprise us though that for us and for the prophets of old that life at times what's confusing in terms of how God operated or didn't seem to operate because Isaiah the prophet tells us in Isaiah 55 verses 8 and 9 and Isaiah speaks in the first person for the Lord and the Lord says for my thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways for just as the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts and my ways higher than yours so it shouldn't surprise us you know because God is infinitely superior and infinitely wiser and infinitely obviously more sovereign in every way and so there are things that happen this side of heaven on earth that are perplexing to us but not to God confusing to us but not to God that don't seem to make sense to us but it makes perfect sense to God because his ways and his thoughts are higher than ours and we just sometimes a lack the capacity to really understand everything and in that becomes the the confusion it's like I don't understand so now I'm confused and how do I wrestle with these thoughts and and what do I do so the struggle that Habakkuk has in trying to understand the ways of God and the working of God are played out in these three in three stages we're gonna see how Habakkuk moves from confusion to by the end of the book consolation how he starts out at the beginning of the book being perplexed by the end of the book he's at peace but he goes through three different stages and we're gonna see each stage in each of these three chapters here and I think recognizing these three stages will be helpful to us too during those times when God doesn't make sense there are times we're gonna have difficulty understanding what has God up to and and we're gonna think that God doesn't make sense to us and and you'll notice through these three chapters and these three stages that there's a progression here that Habakkuk goes through as he processes things because at the beginning of the book kaback ik is not in a good place when the book opens but by the time the book ends there is noticeable peace in his heart and isn't that what we all ultimately want we want to we want to have that inner peace in our lives when we can't figure God out when things are happening in our lives or in our world and we wonder where is God in the midst of this isn't it really inner peace that we want when we don't always have the capacity to understand what God is up to and so I'm gonna share with you these three stages that Habakkuk went through on his way from confusion to consolation from being perplexed to finally being at peace and so for you note takers these three things are here's the first one the questioning stage the questioning stage we're gonna see he asks why God how god it's the typical way that we react to situations when God doesn't make sense to us when our circumstances don't seem to fit our view of God at least in terms of how we think that God should respond to them we ask similar things why God why did you allow this why didn't you fix this you know what are you doing or what are you not doing or or how Lord is this gonna work out and why don't you seem to intervene here so we have all these same kind of questions and the first question that Habakkuk had for God had to do with what he observed was happening among his own people so he kind of surveyed the landscape of his culture and of his people of his day and he realized that you know these people were into injustice that's the first few verses that we read there's evil there's idolatry and and God seems to be doing nothing so his first question was basically how is it possible that so much evil and injustice exists in Judah and God you don't seem to do anything about it that's Habakkuk first question there in the first four verses and and God responds starting in verse five and he says oh I'm doing something about it don't you worry Habakkuk I I'm up to something and I know exactly what I'm doing and here's here's what I'm doing and so look in your Bibles they're still in chapter 1 verse 5 this is God's answer to him in verse 5 look among the nations and watch be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told to you for indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans now and some of your Bibles the translation might say Babylonians is same same people the Chaldeans and the Babylonians same he says I I'm raising up the Chaldeans the Babylonians a bitter and hasty nation which marches through the breadth of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs they are terrible and dreadful this is God's description of the Babylonians they are terrible and dreadful their judgment and their dignity proceeded from themselves their horses are also are swifter than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves their Chargers charge ahead their cavalry comes from afar they fly as the Eagle that hastens to eat they all come for violence their faces are set like the east wind they gather captives like sand they scoff at kings and princes are scorned by them they derive every stronghold for they heap up earth and mounds and seize it and then his mind changes and he transgresses he commits offense describing this power to his God and now here's what God is basically saying here I'm gonna raise up the Babylonians and then he starts to talk here in descriptive terms about the Babylonians they're ruthless they're harsh they're there bitter they're a nation that just you know kind of invades a foreign land and they just practice what basically a scorched earth policy we're gonna go in there destroy the land we're gonna confiscate the the plunder we're gonna take captive the people and God's describing the Babylonians like this and he gets to the end of what we just read there in verse 11 and he says and that is mind changes the Babylonians think that their God because there are pagan people that their God actually is giving them success in in this endeavor when in fact as it relates to the people of Judah the only reason they're allowed to beseech Judah and Jerusalem in particular is because God is using them he's using them to bring correction to the people whom he loves so the Jewish people were in rebellion against God sinning idolatry evil injustice among themselves and God says I'm gonna bring the Babylonians to be the instrument of my discipline to bring correction to you because after they come you're gonna start to cry out for me now that's exactly what happens but let me tell you he this is his answer to Habakkuk when a back ache says all this injustice and evil among my own people how are you allowing this to happen without any correction of God says oh yeah I'm about to correct it I'm bringing the Babylonians this ruthless barbaric people and they're gonna come and spank the Jewish people let me tell you something this does not help Habakkuk he he raises question number two now he said whoa whoa whoa wait a minute God you know I just got through saying that I'm bothered and I'm tormented by all of this this injustice and evil in my world among my own people you mean to tell me when here's the second question you mean to tell me why in the world would you use a wicked people like the Babylonians to correct a people more righteous than they that's what a backache says to God that's question number two Habakkuk knew that his own Jewish people were living in idolatry and injustice and evil but he also knew that the Babylonians were pagan people and he's like the Babylonian people are pagan people why in the world would you take those ruthless barbaric wicked pagan people to come and correct our people the Jewish people who are more righteous than they now comparatively speaking that was true but it's always a danger to compare because we're all miserably sinful and there's none righteous no not one but this troubles a packet cuz he's like you know at least God we worship you we may not be in a good place as a people right now but the Babylonians don't worship you why would you use them he couldn't understand this and so this is what Habakkuk raises to God look here at chapter 1 verse 12 are you not from everlasting oh Lord my God my Holy One we shall not die Oh Lord you have appointed them for judgment Oh rock you have marked them for correction the backing says basically I know my own people need to be corrected and I know you're gonna discipline them but I know we're not going to die from this but verse 13 he says you are of purer eyes than to behold the evil and cannot look on wickedness why why do you look on those who deal treacherously the Babylonians and hold your tongue when the wicked the Babylonians devours a person more righteous than he the Jews so this is this question for God why would you do this now let me just pause here because this is stage number one and we're all gonna deal with this stage at some point when God doesn't make sense and and and we're troubled by things the questioning stage let me just say something that's important here asking God a bunch of questions is not an affront to God it may expose our own Cha childlike lack of understanding the complexity of our universe okay it might expose our childlike inability to comprehend some things but it is not wrong to ask God questions he's a big God he can take your questions you know you see all through the Bible that there are different people who question God when they didn't understand it Moses for example when God called Moses out of the desert of Midian to go back to Egypt and to be God's messenger to announce to Pharaoh that God has determined that the Jewish people are supposed to leave this slavery after 400 years Moses kind of reluctantly agrees you know burning bush experience in Exodus chapter 3 Moses was a reluctant guy he said to God you know I started I I'm not really that good you know in conversation and so God says I'll take care of that and your brother Aaron will go he'll kind of speak you you're you're the one who's gonna be my representative and I'll and so God takes away all his excuses okay so Moses eventually goes when he goes he shows up to Pharaoh he's like God I'm here to announce that God says to you let my people go and Pharaoh's like what what are you saying to me and Moses like just what I already said I'm here to tell you to let the Jewish people go and Pharaoh says no way to Yahweh that's what he says and Pharaoh's like I had given up on I given up free slave slave labor force are you kidding me who do you think you are Moses you mean you you know you were here you were raised here then you you flee off to Midian after you kill that Egyptian and now you want to waltz back into my palace and tell me what to do no thank you and so what happens is Pharaoh says and because you've asked here's what I'm gonna do I'm gonna make it harder for the Hebrew slaves and the Bible says that he made it more intense for their labor by requiring the Hebrew slaves to produce the same amount of bricks they were basically making mud bricks but without any straw now straw was like the glue for cohesion and now they're required to make bricks without straw which is even harder and they had to keep the same quota and so guess what happens the Hebrew slaves in particular the foreman of the Hebrews go to Moses and Aaron and say way to go guys knuckleheads you guys go in to Pharaoh and you obviously haven't read the art of the Egyptian deal and you go in and you try to make this deal and you negotiate for our freedom here's what ended up happening you've made it worse for us thanks a lot so Moses goes back to God in Exodus chapter 5:22 so Moses returned to the Lord and said Lord why have you brought trouble on this people why is it you have sent me for since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name he has done evil to this people neither have you delivered your people at all Moses says God you know I don't even know why you sent me it's gotten worse and you haven't yet delivered the people so he questions God God didn't kill Moses over this he questions God he's upset he also see the Prophet Jeremiah and Jeremiah chapter 12 verse 1 Jeremiah says righteous are you O Lord when I plead with you yet let me talk with you about your judgments I have some confusion about the way that you judge or don't and the next verse or the next part of verse 1 he says why does the way the wicked prosper and why are those happy who deals so treacherously so I got I don't understand your form of Justice why are wicked people allowed to get by with stuff here that's what Jeremiah said you look through the Psalms throughout the Psalms God has continually questioned Psalm 10 verse 1 why do you stand afar off Oh Lord why do you hide in times of trouble psalm 42 9 I will say to God my rock why have you forgotten me why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy Psalm 44 24 why do you hide your face and forget our affliction and our oppression and on and on so there are plenty of examples in the Bible where people questioned God because they didn't understand God didn't make sense it's okay to question God he's a big God and he can take our big questions but that said he is not obligated to answer he is not obligated to answer at least not when and the way we think and sometimes his silence is because he knows we don't have the capacity to comprehend the deep things that he's up to and to be honest sometimes his silence is his mercy because if we understood everything it would probably be burdensome to us and sometimes in his mercy he remains silent so it's not to burden us with more information than we can handle the fact of the matter is that when Habakkuk raised the second question to God okay God understand all the evil of wickedness okay but your answer is you're gonna bring a wicked people to deal with our wickedness this doesn't make sense to me the fact is that when Habakkuk raised the second question God did not directly answer him not in the store to hear what God does do is he's going to tell Habakkuk in chapter 2 how to live when life doesn't make sense but he doesn't specifically answer the why life will be full of unanswered why questions and we can either torment ourselves with the unanswered wise or we can believe that God is fundamentally good and trusts him even when things don't make sense to us at the end of the day that's the choice we can either torment ourselves by asking the why questions over and over and over and over again or we can believe that the fundamental nature of God is good and we can trust him even when things don't make sense I mean isn't this what we want of our kids when they don't understand our parental intervention or our parental decisions and they complain because they lack the capacity to really understand what we as parents have a better wisdom concerning and so you know you get this pushback because they're just kids they don't understand so you know your three-year-old doesn't understand why he or she can't play in the street you know so they're out frolicking around playing in the street you like hey get the street don't play in the street oh hi you why can't I play in the street you're such a joy killer I'm just chasing butterflies is that right you chasing butterflies let me take you over here to Dad's car look at the grille of dad's car you see a few butterflies right there yeah that's because they're dead now that's what I don't want to happen to you get out of the street see kids don't understand that I don't recommend you actually show them a butterfly that's dead that will scar them but you get my point it's like they don't understand they're just wanting to have fun in the street but you know better Street is not a good place to play when your teenager says to you I want to date so-and-so and you're like really okay and then you do what every good red-blooded American parent needs to do you stalk so and so social media you get online you start looking and see what they're in to see what their life looks like see a few their pictures and then you go back to that teenager said I'm sorry uh-uh ain't gonna happen not gonna happen and then your kids look at you like you're the spawn of Satan like what kind of a parent are you why why why I'm gonna go live in the neighbor's house Johnny's parents are a whole lot better than you are great let me help you pack you know and so that's the kind of conversation that happens in households all the time why because that teenager or the three-year-old or whatever the case may be can't necessarily understand what you do as parents but that you're always looking out for their good that's the way it is with God there are simply some things we don't understand God's a better dad and he's always looking out for our good but to us it's sometimes seems this isn't fair this isn't right why don't you do this why don't you do that why did you do this why why did you do that and so we're left with questions and confusion but at some point we have to get to the place where we stop tormenting ourselves with the why questions and this is the next stage we move in to the trusting stage we move into the trusting stage in Habakkuk chapter 2 look at verses 2 to or then the Lord answered me and said now this is the how this is not the answer this is not the answer to why God GZA this this is how I want you to live then the Lord answered me and said write the vision and make it known sorry make it plain on tablets that he may run who reads it for the vision is yet for an appointed time but at the end it will speak and it will not lie though it tarries wait for it because it will surely come it will not tarry behold the proud his soul is not upright in him look at how verse 4 ends but the just shall live by his faith the just shall live by his faith now that last sentence there is quoted three times in the New Testament again Habakkuk himself is not mentioned anywhere else in the Bible but he is quoted and that verse the just shall live by faith quoted three times in the New Testament Romans 1:17 Galatians 3:13 Hebrews 10 37 and every time it is quoted in the New Testament it is in relation to salvation that you exercise faith to trust Christ as your Savior thus the just will live by faith okay but in its original context here in Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4 it was not about salvation per se it's a correct New Testament application of the verse for a relationship with Jesus but in its original context it was about how to live during times when things were difficult the just will live by faith the faith we exercise in trusting Christ as our Savior is the same faith we need to exercise in trusting God with everyday life see faith is not just something you exercise in relation to salvation and say okay I've exercised faith and now I'm done with trusting God you trust God for your salvation you believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior but faith is trust and that kind of trust needs to be exercised every single day when we look at our world and we look at our lives and things don't make Sanson why God this and why God that we have to start to realize that just we'll live by faith this is why Paul said in second Corinthians 5:7 we walk not by sight we walk by faith we walk by faith not by sight and God was basically saying a backache I want you to start to trust me I want you to start stop stop looking at everything around you with all this confusion why God why God why God and I want you to trust me the just will live by faith so trusting this trusting stage here is when you get to the places of realizing that because you can't fix something or change something or necessarily even understand something that you learn to lean on the Lord and trust him that's what this stage is the just will live by faith faith is trust Psalm 18 verse 2 the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer my God my strength in whom I will trust Psalm 91 verse two I will say the Lord he is my refuge and my fortress my god in him I will trust and Dave Lee David simply said it like this in in Psalm 56 3 whenever I am afraid I will trust in you things in life friends in case you haven't figured it out by now won't always have simple explanations it's okay to say I don't like this I don't understand it but I trust in the Lord that he is on the throne and that he cares about me some things just won't have simple explanations I don't like it I don't necessarily understand it but I trust in the Lord that he is on the throne and that he will take care of me and this is where Habakkuk eventually gets if you look at the way chapter 2 ends when you look in their Bibles of the way chapter 2 ends verse 20 he says but the Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silence before him see he's moved from questioning God to trusting God he's at the place where he says but I know that God is seated on his throne in heaven he's in charge he's in control I just need to keep silent before him and trust him so he stops asking other questions and it's okay you know listen we're gonna get through this whole thing in about thirty five minutes it's not like you're gonna resolve every issue in your life in 35 minutes okay some of these things obviously take time the questioning stage might be a while for you to just you know get this out of your heart to God why God why God but eventually the hope is that we move from the questioning stage to the trusting stage where we realize God's on the throne he's in charge I'm just gonna keep silent before him and I'm gonna trust him now check this out in Psalm five verse 11 David makes a correlation between trusting God and rejoicing in the Lord this is what Psalm 511 says let all those rejoice who put their trust in you let them ever shout for joy because you defend them and so they're in some 511 David says there's a correlation between trusting God and finding joy in the Lord and that's the final stage we see in Chapter three Habakkuk goes from questioning God to trusting God to praising God now he's not rejoicing in the circumstance he's rejoicing in the Lord and he's trusting God with the circumstance but he moves to this place of praise now I want you to notice in Chapter three that all of chapter three is a prayer put to music it's a song chapter three is entirely a song how do we know the way it ends a rather begins and ends if you look at verse 1 of chapter three it says a prayer of Habakkuk the Prophet on Shuggie enough Shiggy enough is a musical term and we're not sure what exactly it means it might refer to the meter or the tone or the instrument used play this song but it's a musical term and if you notice the way the chapter ends the very last sentence in verse 19 it says to the chief musician with my stringed instruments do you see that to the chief musician with my stringed instruments and so what we find here is that this is all a song chapter three is entirely a song it's a song of price it's a prayer put to music that praises God which is typical a lot of Jewish prayers are put to music they are sung often Habakkuk is singing this last chapter here as a praise unto the Lord he praises his way out of his anguish he gets to the place where he stops questioning he starts trusting and now he's praising God despite his circumstances look here at chapter 3 verse 1 a printer for backing the profit on Shiggy an oak oh lord I have heard your speech and was afraid oh Lord revive your work in the midst of the years in the midst of the years make it known in Wrath remember mercy that's a great prayer God came from taemin the Holy One from mount Paran that's a reference to the area of Mount Sinai where God delivered the law and delivered the people from their slavery and it says his glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise and Habakkuk goes on to worship God throughout chapter three and one of the things that a backache does in Chapter three is he recalls the faithfulness of God in the past and he basically says since God has always been faithful to me in the past I'm gonna trust that he's faithful in the present and he will be faithful in my future and he ends this book with words that show he has gone from confusion to consolation he's in a much better place look at the way this book ends here in chapter 3 verse 17 though the fig tree may not blossom nor fruit beyond the vines though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food though the flaw maybe cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation the Lord God is my strength he will make my feet like deers feet and he will make me walk on my high hills they see how he gets to this place where he says and it describes the the condition of Judah at this particular time maybe there's drought or maybe the Babylonians have already started to ravage the land but he's he's talking about there's no fig tree that blossoms no fruit on the vines you know the olive crop has failed the fields are yielding no furu there's you know no cattle in the stall in other words he's saying when life is bleak and barren yet I will praise the Lord and I will rejoice in God my Savior and he moves to this place of praising God despite his circumstances and I love this little reference I don't want it to go unnoticed where he says there in verse 19 the Lord God is my strength he will make my feet like deers feet what's that all about it's actually a reference in the Hebrew to the Getty which is the wild goats in English we call them the ibex when you go down to Israel with me to the Dead Sea we stop it and gety which in Hebrew means the spring of the wild goats and it's like an oasis in the middle of the desert down by the Dead Sea where David hid for four years when Saul was trying to kill him these ibex these wild goats are incredible to watch they hug the hillsides steep hills by walking on these little 5 to 6 inch ridges that jut out along the side of these steep hills and they just they they go from valley to mountaintop and mountain top to valley just kind of skipping on these little six-inch ledges all the way up the side of the hill and when I draw people's attention to it we go on tours I look at these everybody's like a gasps like oh they're gonna follow these little the precious little goats are gonna meet their goat death you know and they're gonna because they they just prance around in these little any edges on the side the ridges that have been cut out along the side of these steep steep hillsides and Habakkuk is saying here God's gonna make my feet like the feet of the deer he's saying God is going to help me like the eye backs and when you watch them it's an amazing thing how graceful and the dexterity they have to maneuver unlock these tiny little ridges without falling to their death Habakkuk is another way of saying it is basically this God is gonna make sure that I keep my footing even when life is difficult and he's going to help me to navigate those difficult places of life and there will be times that you and I will go from the valley of the mountaintop and there are times that you and I will go from the mountaintop to the valley but all along the way God will help to keep our footing secure when life seems so difficult so that we can say as a backing did the Lord God is my strength and I will rejoice in the Lord and I will joy in the God of my salvation amen let's pray together father I pray that as we deal with the difficult challenges that we might be facing in our own lives and have questions for you that we would move as a backache did eventually from questioning you to trusting you to praising you we acknowledge Lord that we lack the human capacity to understand the deep mysteries of life the complexities of our world the trials and difficulties of our lives but help us Lord to get to the place that after we asked you why Lord why Lord that we can begin to trust you that you were seated on the throne let all the world be silent before you and then eventually we can move from trusting you to even praising you you don't expect us to be fond of the difficulty we don't rejoice in our circumstance but we rejoice in you because you are great and you were majestic and holy and righteous and powerful and you can help us to navigate those steep parts of life that are difficult with the feet of a deer that we shouldn't lose our footing because you will help to keep us secure as our strength you are the god of our salvation and we rejoice in you you are our strength Lord you are our joy you are the lifter of our heads I pray God right now for those who are dealing with difficulties in their lives troubled by those questions and tormented by the wise God why help them Lord today be merciful to them and their questions and with their confusion as you have been merciful to Habakkuk and Moses and Jeremiah and David thank you that you are patient with us that even when we're troubled and we ask you why why why Lord you were so good to us help us to trust you help us to get to the place eventually where we can even worship you through our pain to acknowledge you as our strength the god of our salvation that we rejoice in we love you Lord and we thank you that you loved us first take the words of Habakkuk and minister to our hearts today we pray in Jesus name and everybody said

Channel: Cornerstone Chapel - Leesburg, VA

Views: 195,145

Rating: 4.808219 out of 5

Keywords: Cornerstone Chapel, Calvary Chapel, Gary Hamrick, Biblical sermons, leesburg va, cornerstone chapel leesburg virginia, great sermons by great preachers, habakkuk sermon, Habakkuk, when God doesnt make sense, why doesnt god make sense, why god doesnt make sense, why does god allow trials in the life of the believer, what is god doing in my life, going through difficulty, its ok to question god, can i question god, should i question god, why do my prayers seem to go unanswered

Id: JMgtyPxYoUA

Length: 41min 8sec (2468 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 03 2020