God's Word To Those Who Wait

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to the book of Habakkuk. The book of Habakkuk. Let's pray. Father in heaven we are utterly and completely dependent on your spirit to make this text alive and penetrate our hearts so we're asking you to do that now that your spirit would be here at work in us to understand this message and with that understanding bring with us a determination to grow to change, to understand you and your ways, so that we may serve you well.

Open our eyes now, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we left the prophet Habakkuk last week waiting in the tower. He's been subject to torment and confusion, not because of torture and punishment, but because he cannot figure out the ways of God. He has witnessed the silence of God in the face of perverted justice, evil doing, and violence. He cried out to God for justice and God has not answered.

But when God does answer, it's not to the prophet's liking for Jehovah has said that the violent Babylonians are going to be the instruments of his discipline. And so Habakkuk protests to God again. The Babylonians are wicked and merciless. And using them to judge the people of God just seems to contradict the very character of God. And so he stations himself alone in the tower to wait for an answer to his complaint.

And in chapter 2, verses 2 through 4, you see the beginning of God's answer to him and his complaint. Let's look at our text together. Habakkuk 2, verses 2 through 4. And the Lord answered me, write the vision make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it 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 behold his soul is puffed up it is not upright within him but the righteous shall live by his faith.

To those who wait for an answer to the dilemma that appears when looking at God's providence and God's character, here's what God says. Recognize that the answer, the answer to that gap, the answer to I don't get how this lines up with that. He He says, recognize that the answer will be plain. Verse 2. Recognize that the answer will be certain. Verse 3.

And recognize that the answer will require faith. Verse 4. As you wait for God to solve this apparent contradiction between his works and his character, recognize that the answer will be plain. Verse 2. Write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. the answer will be plain now Habakkuk doesn't know what that revelation is going to be he doesn't know how God's going to recognize or reconcile his works and his character and yet God says he will answer that dilemma but when the intersection of God's deeds and God's character becomes evident it'll be plain enough for everyone he says to the prophet when you hear my answer to the complaint write it down write it down on a piece of wood or write it down on a tablet but write it down Habakkuk must write it clearly and in such large letters that everyone will see and understand the answer they'll get it it'll be obvious you know when you know there was a time when you would drive into Mary Marion and you knew that Larry Barnett had confidence in Marion General Hospital's cath lab because there was a great big billboard with his picture on it and him saying he had all his confidence in in in the cath lab right it was on this big billboard everybody could see it God tells Habakkuk to put when the vision is fulfilled when it comes when he sees the how it all works out, put it out there.

Put it on the billboard so everyone will be able to see. Everyone who reads that billboard will see how I can use the wicked Babylonians to accomplish my righteous judgment. Let's consider an example of this. Joseph was thrown into a pit, was he not? And sold into slavery. And as far as everyone was concerned, never to see his homeland or his family again.

But he had a vision earlier that had said that everyone was going to bow down to him. How do you put those two together? It doesn't make sense. As far as he was concerned, is he I always think of it this way he on that camel looking over his shoulder never to see his family in his homeland again as far as he was concerned How do you put that together but years later the billboard went up and the work of god and it all became plain to everyone everyone could see it you remember in genesis 45 when his brothers were headed home after seeing him they found his cup right that cup in their bags and so the egyptians hauled them back to stand before this great prime minister, Joseph, who they didn't at the time recognize as his brother, as their brother.

And this is what he said to them. And now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. When Joseph saw his brothers and when they bowed down to him and when he told them why they had sold him into slavery, it was God's billboard.

There it is. There's the answer. Here is how you could reconcile his providence, his actions with this character. It's now obvious, you see? And God says that we will indeed understand how his character and providence come together in plain terms. We will see it.

And then some who read the billboard are going to run with the message. Notice he says, and others will run and tell everyone else. It'll become so clear, others will run and tell everyone. There's coming a time when the billboard will be up. We'll be able to see. Here is how it's reconciled.

Here is how it happens. Now that revelation may be a ways off. He mentions that in verse 3. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay.

The explanation of God's providence may hit the billboards tomorrow, but the fulfillment may take some time. We may see it ahead of time, but the fulfillment may take some time. For example, Johnny Erickson, Tata, we all know who she is, right? But she was just a young athletic girl, 18 years old, jumped into the pool, broke her neck, paralyzed from the neck down.

But there was a billboard that said, this is all going to work for your good. God's told us, there it is it's going to work for your good and the fulfillment of that promise that promise wasn't immediately apparent but then soon or but today she has an international christian ministry to the disabled she has a worldwide outreach by means of radio and other means she is an extraordinarily godly woman who magnifies christ in her life see we can all see it now it took a little bit of time we can all see it but what about that young Christian with the broken neck who doesn't end up with an international ministry? What about that one?

Well, he may have to wait for Jesus, but it will become plain. It will become plain. So recognize that the answer, recognize that the answer will be plain. Verse three, recognize that the answer will be certain. He says, 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 recognize that the answer will be certain the fulfillment of God's revelation is on God's calendar he says you wait for the appointed time it's on the calendar it's there every year Beck and I every summer we take our grandkids on a trip.

The littles on one trip, the olders on another. And so with the littles, we'll say like, we're going to go to Marietta next week on Tuesday, right? And they say, when are we going to leave? And we can point at the calendar and say, see that next Tuesday. That's when we're going to go. Could they be certain that they were going to go to Marietta?

Sure. It's right there. It's on the calendar. It's certain. There's the appointed time. That's when we're going to go.

We may plainly see God's explanation. He works for good. But its fulfillment, although not immediately at hand, has been fixed and determined by our Father. It is going to be certain. It's certain. There is an explanation.

We don't see it now, maybe, but we'll see it all put together. God has said there's an appointed time for that. the next phrase should literally read it hastens to the end well that's what it does say here verse 3 it hastens to the end that can literally be translated it pants to the end it pants to the end now it's been a while since i've done it but i can remember it when i had to run some distances you run some distance and if you've been in any athletics you're going to do some conditioning you're running and you're getting to the end of your rope it's like i can't go on and you hear your heart beating in your ears and you're just and you don't know if you're going to make it but you gotta push through you gotta finish you cannot stop he says so it is with the fulfillment of this vision. It struggles and fights to the end.

It pants, but it will not give up. It is certain. Nothing will stop God from fulfilling his purposes. Nothing's going to stop God from accomplishing them. They are certain, and it will not prove false. Notice, it does not lie.

The false prophets come along, and they tell you things, and it doesn't come to pass. He says, I not lying to you This is certain It is so certain that it will not frustrate the expectation aroused It not going to frustrate it He waiting in the tower and God says look when I put those two things together it be so plain and it be certain You can count on it You expect to hear an answer. It's coming.

You may have to wait for God to work out the fulfillment of his purposes. Though it tarries and causes anxiety, wait for it. be patient and allow God to act in his own way and time because it will certainly come to pass. It will not be postponed or arrive even a day after the appointed time. Always remember, God is never late and his delays are always wise.

Okay? God is never late and his delays are always wise when God says to you you question my providence you say God your providential workings they contradict your character know this he says I will plainly reveal what I am doing and its fulfillment will certainly come you know and in this he's pointing us to Christ he's pointing us forward. Look over at Hebrews 10.

It's fascinating to see this. Hebrews chapter 10. We're going to pick it up in verse 35. Therefore, okay, he's just talked to them about all the suffering they're going through, right? they're going through incredible suffering and the writer says 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.

If you can't see it, in this little hymn or poem that he quotes here, he is quoting or alluding to Habakkuk 3 and 4. Notice, And the coming one will come and will not delay, which is what he says at the end of verse 3. It will surely come, it will not delay. And then, verse 4, But the righteous shall live by his faith, Do you see the writer of the Hebrews is saying, here's Jesus here, as he alludes to what Habakkuk has said.

Jesus fulfills what Habakkuk says. He is the fulfillment of God's purpose. It is he who will delay and who will not delay, but come. The Hebrew Christians are suffering. Christians are suffering. But they know that God's providence, though dark, will fade away as the person of Jesus appears.

God has made it plain. Deliver us from your hardship and your trial will come with Jesus. We will forever be delivered from our trials. But they must wait. Okay? They must wait.

And notice what else that the writer indicates. That the righteous one, in midst of such unrelenting circumstances, will respond in faith. The righteous will live by his faith. Now, the last thing he says then is recognize that the answer will require faith. Verse 4, behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith.

Recognize that the answer requires faith. As we wait for that answer, we have to exercise faith. Now, Habakkuk presents two contrasting ways of life here. there are two different ways of understanding when confronted with the contradiction between god's providence and god's character there are two ways of looking at it when you stand in the gap god's providence god's character there's two ways of handling that there is the way of proud unbelief it's the it's the approach that says unless I can understand what God is doing I will not believe unless I can understand what God is doing I will not believe it's the attitude that says how can a God of love allow this kind of suffering how can a God of love it is impossible In fact, there was one book written years ago, and it made an impression on me.

It was written by a Jewish rabbi, and he had a son who struggled with this incurable disease. And he started wrestling with the fact, how could a loving God let this happen to my son? And in this book, he wrestles with that question. And here's his conclusion. Are you ready? He says, I don't understand how this can be.

So that must mean something. It must mean that God is loving, but he can't keep these bad things from happening. All right? Or it means God is all-powerful, but he doesn't care. Because if he's all-powerful, then he'd cure my son. Right?

Either God is loving and he can't help it, or he can help it but he doesn't care to so we landed on the side of the first yeah God's loving but he's not all-powerful that's the only conclusion you can reach he thought what does that do that the proud way of looking at God work that the proud way God is no larger than my intellect right God is no larger than my intellect. If I don't get it, then here's what I have to conclude. So there's that proud way of approaching the question.

But there's also the way of humble faith. How did Habakkuk respond to God's working? How did he respond to the question? He spoke honestly with God. He says, Lord, I don't know what you're doing. I don't get it.

All right. But then what did he do? He went to the tower to wait for the answer. As we saw last week, he went to the tower to wait for the answer. It's not like I can't figure out. I got to conclude this.

You just don't care. You don't care about justice. He says, no, I'm going to wait for an answer. He didn't depend on his intelligence to figure it all out. The essence of faith is taking the bare word of God and acting upon it because God says it. It means believing what God says simply and solely because he has said it.

Now look, faith here does not mean a leap into the dark. what it means is I'm going to hang everything on I'm going to depend everything on what God has said what God has said for example Hebrews 11 who do we read about for example we read about Moses Moses preferred to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season so on the one hand there's the court of Egypt here you would was recognized it was recognized and admired for all its wisdom and its riches and on the other hand is the bare word of God the word had revealed to Moses God's purpose for the people who were then slaves he's going to take them and give them a land and the destiny that God had prepared for them this was at the time that they were slaves but with only the bare word of God to act upon, Moses forsook the court of Pharaoh, turning his back on those wonderful prospects and identified with the people of Israel. In the early centuries of the church, Christians died. Christians died because they would not say Caesar is Lord.

Can you imagine that all she had to do was go to the i don't know what we might call the courthouse for the official recognition that you threw some incense on the fire and made the declaration caesar is lord and the christians wouldn't do that they said we can't do that we can't affirm caesar is lord because Jesus Christ is Lord. We can't affirm he's Lord because Jesus Christ is Lord. And they said that because the word of God had told them that a person born in poverty, who worked as a carpenter, who taught certain things, who died on a cross and was resurrected from the dead, ascended to heaven with the Lord.

They'd heard that. And they believed it. the word of God says this is who Jesus is and they believed it and they died for it and so it is when God says here's what I'm doing in my dark providences we believe it because he says it and when he says I promise to deal with the Babylonians in due time which we're going to see and yet it seems to take a generation you believe it because he said it. Now the New Testament takes us one step further.

Look at Galatians chapter 3 verse 11. Galatians 3. Apostle Paul is writing to the Galatians and he says in verse 11, Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. Who's he quoting here? He's quoting Habakkuk. The righteous shall live by faith.

All right, what is he saying? He's saying when you trust in Jesus, you will be saved. You will be saved. When you trust in Jesus, you will be saved. God counts you righteous because of your faith. You trust in Jesus and God counts you as righteous in Him.

How do you know that? How do you know that? How do you know that you're counted righteous? How do you know you've been reconciled to God? How do you know that? When you trusted Jesus, did you have a flash of light that said, now a Christian?

How do you know that? Because it says it right here. It says it right here. It says that the righteous will live by his faith. You're not justified by working. You're justified merely by trusting.

And you know that because of his word. So you see the life of faith, living in the gap, believing God, only begins as you abandon all of your understanding and believing what God says about Jesus and entrusting yourself to Him. You know, we live in a dark age where sin seems to triumph. We're tempted to accuse God of wrongdoing and injustice or of apathy and a lack of mercy.

Yet God will not leave us alone with our thoughts. His Word is plain. Its fulfillment is certain. but it requires faith from us. First, faith in a person, the Lord Jesus. The righteous living by faith begins with your abandonment of everything else and entrusting yourself solely to Jesus. And it continues entrusting that same Jesus when life does not make sense. if you've been declared righteous by faith in Jesus then you continue living by that faith in the same one Father thank you for your word thank you that you raise the questions that we raise and you also give us the answer help us Lord then to live by faith knowing that the fulfillment of what you're going to do the fulfillment of what you have promised is plain and certain.

Help us now, Lord, to live by faith. And we'll thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.