Hard Questions
Unfortunately there was a problem with the recording, but the sermon outline has been published in the hope it is helpful
Introduction
- I love the sea
- The last place I would want to be in a storm is in the sea
- The story of the Andrea Gail
- Sometimes we can all feel 'out at sea' and wonder if we can survive
- Welcome to the book of Habakkuk who spoke into hard times
- He was a minor prophet with major points
- The nation of Judah in serious spiritual decline (after a previous spiritual revival)
- Are we in this state?
- Is this because we have faced difficult questions that we haven't been able to find the answers to?
- The Book of Habakkuk says there is a God in heaven we can take our hard questions to
Turmoil
- Have you ever faced really hard questions?
- Personal example of a law interview
- Sometimes our hard questions are because we don't fully understand God
- Habakkuk's issue was the reverse of this - he knew what God was like
- Habakkuk knowing what was God was like had hard questions
- Hab 2:2 - "Then the Lord replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain
on tablets so that a herald may run with it." (NIV) - Hab 1:12-13 - "Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. (NIV)
- Hab 1:3-4 - "Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted." (NIV)
- Habakkuk's Complaint:
- "O Lord, 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." - Hab 1:2-3
- Habakkuk's second complaint
- "Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; You, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?" - Hab 1:12-13 (NIV)
- Anyone who thinks the Bible is not relevant in a 21st century has read the Bible properly
- These are also issues we struggle with today
- Habakkuk goes to God with his questions
- We should go to God with our questions
Time
- Can we trust God with our time?
- Poem
- Be leaning on God in a time of turmoil we can find rest
- Do we learn from history?
- Are things just cyclical (going round and round)?
- The biblical view of history
- It is linear
- God has a plan from the beginning to the end
- God is giving a revelation to Habakkuk
- God knows everything
- God knows what the Babylonians are like
- Time will reveal everything
- 2:14 and 2:16
- Nothing is hidden from God's sight
- God has an answer to the world of wickedness around us
- The Bible states that God has set a time when the answer will come [Judgment Day]
- God also says the problem is in our hearts - people don't like to hear this
- Justice vs mercy
- God has provided a solution - a personal solution in Himself
- If we can trust God to provide the solution in time, we can trust God with the time for our eternity
Trust
- Joseph learns that God is trustworthy
- "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth be silent before Him" - Hab 2:20
- Habakkuk knows that what God says - He does
- "Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy." - Hab 3:2 (NIV)
- Are we able to say this?
- Remind ourselves of all the times that God has delivered us
- "The just shall live by faith" - Hab 2:4
- I will wait patiently (Hab 3:16)
- Hab 3:17-18
- Whatever may be going - yet I may rejoice in the Lord
Closing Remarks
- There are times when we face real storms or hurricanes
- When these times come, yet we will trust in God
- God alone is trustworthy
- God in heaven has a plan and it will not fail