19 Sep Trusting God In Our Perplexities
Introduction
Perplexing moments:
– Why bad things happen to God’s people?
– Why didn’t God “protect” His people from harm and cruelty?
How do we deal with these perplexities?
The book of Habakkuk
Historical context:
2 Kings 23:36-24:5
Jehoiakim was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years… And he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as his predecessors had done.
During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded the land, and Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years. But then he turned against Nebuchadnezzar and rebelled. The Lord sent Babylonian, Aramean, Moabite and Ammonite raiders against him to destroy Judah, in accordance with the word of the Lord proclaimed by his servants the prophets. 3 Surely these things happened to Judah according to the Lord’s command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, 4 including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the Lord was not willing to forgive.
| 1:2 – O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
1:3 Why do you make me see iniquity and why do you idly look at wrong?
1:4 So the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; so justice goes forth perverted.
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Habakkuk’s 1st complaint: God does too little!
Why does God “idly look at wrong”?
Are You (God) oblivious to the sufferings of your people?
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| 1:5 “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days, that you would not believe if told.”
1:6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own
1:9 They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.
1:11 They sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men, whose own might is their god!
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God’s response: I am doing something!
I will punish the wickedness of man.
But if you know the full story, you might not be able to take it. |
| 1:12 Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof.
1:13.. why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
2:1 I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaints.
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Habakkuk’s 2nd complaint: God, You’re doing too much!!
How can God use people more wicked than them to punish them?
Why do the good suffer? Why do the wicked prosper?
When we have disobeyed or rebel against God, can we accept the corrective rod from God, whichever ways it come?
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| 2:2 Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so that he may run who reads it.
2:3 For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end – it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay. (cf 2:6-19)
2:4 Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith(faithfulness)
2:6-19 Five woes to Chaldeans
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God’s response: The good will survive, the bad will suffer.
God punishes sin, no matter who. The only issue is when He does it and how He does it.
God told Habakkuk 3 things: – Write – Wait – Way (by faithfulness) |
| 3:2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years revive it.. make it known. In wrath, remember mercy.
3:3-15 Reviewed God’s greatness and power
3:17-19 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
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A changed Habakkuk
He has heard God’s responses, and he now starts to pray according to what he knew about God, and reaffirmed his faith in God.
“In wrath, remember mercy”
Rest upon God who judges fairly and timely, and rejoice in God alone, even before the actual judgment comes.
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Grappling with life’s perplexities as children of God:
Recognize our limitations, and cling onto God’s greatness
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- We are not all-knowing, but God is omniscient
- Our reactive emotions: magnify self
- God’s greatness: everlasting, Holy God, O Rock
- Because God is who claims He is, we are be assured that
God will do what is right, for His glory
- In our perplexities, submit to God’s greatness
- God gives strength to the weak, not the self-sufficient
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Co 12:9
The sovereign God is righteous and merciful
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- Horatius Bonar (A Scottish preacher): “Man’s dislike at God’s sovereignty arises from his suspicion of God’s heart.”
- God’s heart is most clearly revealed on the Cross, when the righteousness of God intersects with the mercy of God in our Lord Jesus
- The problem is not with God or His ways, but our limited understanding that is often coupled with current pain.
- Romans 8:28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, or those who are called according to his purpose.
- As God’s people, when we are under God’s corrective rod, we will not die.
Bring our perplexities to God: Prayer
- Who do you bring your perplexities/ concerns to?
- Prevent bitter roots >>> distrusting God
- Dare to bring it to God, and dare to hear from God.
- Brings strength
- Changes perspective
- Acceptance of God’s will
Continual trust in God (Faith)
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- The bridge between perplexities in life and our joy in God
- Hab 2:4 The righteous shall live by his faith (faithfulness )
- It means continuing trust in God and clinging to God’s promise, even in darkest days.
- Heb 10:35-39 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,“Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay, but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.
- Faith does not merely brings in salvation, but also the sum and substances of our life.
- What is the controlling principle in your life?
- Then we can also say, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.” (Hab 3:18)
Whatever will happen, will happen. What are you going to do about it?
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- Be prepared
- We may not always have time to decide what is the biblical course of action in the heat of a trial/hardship
- The resolution to put our trust in God alone needs to be cultivated daily,
Conclusion
Do others see Jesus as your exceeding joy and trust in this world?
Write. Wait. Way (Faithfulness)
Cultivate it daily, consistently.
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