Q & A With God
Notes
Transcript
Intro: Questions! We all have them! Much of the time we value them because we were created with a desire to know. If you have a 2 or 3 year old all the questions can be annoying.
Answers to our questions give us the opportunity to make adjustments and shape our lives. We can get with reality, or choose to fight against those answers.
The Bible is full of answers. Sometimes it even gives us the questions that bring about the need for those answers. Habakkuk is loved by many because it is a great book that shows:
Theme: God knows what He is doing!
Theme: God knows what He is doing!
Background
Background
Written by Habakkuk himself
His name means “one who embrace” This prophet embraced God in faith and in prayer.
Dates: 638-606 While Babylon was on the rise.
Poetry once again - including a song at the end.
Purpose: To show the holiness and sovereignty of God in using the nations for His Judgmental purposes.
The Prophets Problems. 1-2
The Prophets Problems. 1-2
A.The problem of “How long must we endure?”
A.The problem of “How long must we endure?”
O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
Things are bad, and he is not enjoying life this way.
Why do you make me see iniquity, and why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
B.The answer from God is, “Look! I’m already at work.”
B.The answer from God is, “Look! I’m already at work.”
“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.
In essence, God says, “I am working a work that will amaze you!”
In fact, God even tells the prophet who He is working on to bring about the solution to his problem in the next verse.
Now the Chaldeans were distant relatives of the people of Judah. Abraham’s brother Nahor’s son Kesed is where they traced their line. See there is a reason for all those genealogical lists. Gen. 11.27
Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the Old Testament (Habakkuk)
How true it is that God is working in our world and we fail to realize it (Rom. 8:28; 2 Cor. 4:17). Paul quotes 1:5 in Acts 13:41, applying it to the spread of the Gospel among the Gentiles.
C.The problem of “How can evil be used by God?”
C.The problem of “How can evil be used by God?”
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. You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?
The prophet is not speaking from ignorance. Habakkuk knows some important things about God here!
He is also willing to stand up and take the answer.
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 complaint.
He did not go cry under a gourd, or try to flee the country like other prophets. He expected to be put straight. He just could not see How God was going to fit in the small box he made.
D.God’s answer to the second question:
D.God’s answer to the second question:
God answers Habakkuk through the rest of Chapter 2. If I were to sum it all up in just a few words I would say God’s answer was and is,
God said, “I have a plan and a schedule. It will all work out the way I planned in due time. Be willing to wait, have faith, and no matter what happens, have a relationship with Me!”
Notice several key points!
The just shall live by faith!
“Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him; But the just shall live by his faith.
This will be repeated in Galatians 3.11, Romans 1.17; Hebrews 10.38. Each of these three passages emphasise a different part, but are essential to the Christian faith!
WOES come to those who do not have a relationship with God!
They start in verse 6. There are 5 more in the rest of the chapter.
God is still God! He is still in control!
But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”
Keep quiet, watch and wait!
God is at work. Just because we do not see it, or understand it does not mean that He is not behind the scenes working His plan.
The Prophets Praise. 3
The Prophets Praise. 3
Conclusion: God knows what He is doing!
Conclusion: God knows what He is doing!
It is not wrong to question God and what is happening in our world. It is wrong to think God has to do things our way!
For many the idea of questioning God is a trivial thing. Habakkuk says that while we can do it, we should do so with respect and in an honest manner where we are willing to get answers that we may not like.
1.When we have a problem waiting, do we seek what God is doing?
2.Does our understanding of God recognize Him’s sovereignty?
3.In hard times, do we recognize that God in on his thrown?