Faith In God's Dark Providences

Take your Bibles and turn to the book of Habakkuk. Let's pray. God of heaven, you are our Father through Jesus, and we thank you that you look upon us with love, and you treat us as your children, whom you love dearly. Help us to see your word, this word from you, as the word from our loving Heavenly Father, who wants what's best for us, who orchestrates all of life for our good, who brings things into our lives that are often perplexing and confounding, and yet, Father, you are always working out of love. now help us to understand this text today this is your word it is your voice we need to hear it help us to understand it now we pray in jesus name amen imagine for a moment and maybe you don't have to imagine maybe this is true of you that you have prayed for this nation for years.

You have seen pornography grow to unbelievable, breaking all the boundaries where you can get it with just the click of a button. The killing of the unborn and the old has gone unchecked. Strife and conflict abound and the streets are red with blood because of the violence in our cities and in our schools even. No one considers marriage sacred any longer.

Same-sex marriage has become the rule, not the exception. It's so acceptable. And so you've prayed for years, God, end all of this wickedness. Please let Your holiness reign in our nation. And God, if it's possible, please bring revival to Your church. And then through an extraordinary turn of events, the United States of America becomes the largest Islamic nation in the world.

Pornography ends as Sharia law reigns. Abortion is no longer legal. Violence ends as well since thieves have their hands lopped often. Rebellious children are stoned. Divorce statistics plummet. And same-sex marriage isn't even an issue since homosexuals are beheaded.

Would you then turn to God in an outpouring of thanksgiving for the fact that he's answered your prayer? Now you can kind of understand Habakkuk's feelings when he hears from God that he's going to deal with the sin of his people by bringing onto the stage the savage Babylonians. He'd been praying that God would intervene and end the violence, the injustice, and the wrongdoing among his covenant people, and God answered that prayer by the revelation of the Babylonians' conquest. and so now Habakkuk responds to God how do we as people of faith respond to God's dark providences that is to say how do you respond to God when he answers your prayer in a way that absolutely stuns and staggers you and it stuns you because the means that God uses seems to contradict his character once more let's turn tune into the conversation between Habakkuk and God you remember how this oracle this prophecy comes to us it's not a thus says the Lord it's Habakkuk allowing us into the conversation that he has with God you remember it began with him praying God look at the violence look at the injustice look at the horrors that are going on your nation deal with it you're a God of justice.

And God says, I'm going to deal with it. I'm going to send the Babylonians. And this now is Habakkuk's response to God's answer, beginning in chapter 1, verse 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 oh rock have established them for reproof you 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 you make mankind like the fish of the sea like crawling things that have no ruler he brings all of them up with a hook he drags them out with his net.

He gathers them in his dragnet so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet. For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? I will take my stand at my watch post 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.

Now the first thing to see is this as Habakkuk looks at the history of God dealings with his people he affirms certain truths about God character He affirms certain truths about God character And so like Habakkuk, you will have an orthodox faith. You'll have an orthodox faith. This is what he says in verses 12 and 13. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?

We shall not die. oh lord you have ordained them as a judgment and you oh rock have established them for reproof you are of purer eyes than to see evil you cannot look at wrong so here he talks about god and his character says oh lord god you are from everlasting to everlasting you are the eternal unchangeable self-existent God you exist independently of people you exist independently of events nothing contributes to your existence you are totally eternal nothing can change your character nothing can change your promises Lord God we can count on you you're the everlasting in God. Lord, you are faithful and just in all your ways. He says, we will not die.

And what he means by that is you are faithful to your promises and you will not cast off your people completely. You will not allow us to be annihilated. You'll remain true to that. And Lord, you are the epitome of reliability and stability and faithfulness because you are our rock, our rock. That's an interesting term used throughout the Old Testament.

No doubt a reference to Moses' song in Deuteronomy 32, where he writes, I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God. He is the rock. His works are perfect and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Hear what Moses said and what Habakkuk is saying about God.

Because God is perfect, because all his actions are just and upright, you can find refuge in him. You will see justice done. He says, God, you're sovereign over all. You've appointed the Babylonians to execute judgment. You've ordained them to punish. In other words, the Babylonians are not some fluke.

Habakkuk isn't even questioning the sovereignty of God. He's not questioning that even. He says, you're sovereign. You're the one who appointed these Babylonians. They're no chance on the sea of history. They're not just happening to come by.

You've ordained them to do it. They are indeed the instruments, your instruments in accomplishing your purposes. So, he says, God, you're sovereign. But above all, he says, Lord, you are holy. You are the holy one. Your eyes are too, notice what he says, your eyes are too pure to look on evil.

You cannot tolerate wrong. Here's a jogger on some forest trail as he runs along and he comes across as he's running down this hardly used path he comes across a decomposing body of someone and and it just gags him and he turns away he cannot even stand to look at it it's horrible and so it is with god the sight of sin is sickening to him like the jogger who shies away from the sickening sight, God turns away from sin. Sin is absolutely abhorrent to God, and he demands purity from his people.

His own ways are consistent with his character. They must be holy. Now, if you think like Habakkuk, you too have an orthodox faith. Your conception of God is accurate. And that's exactly why he cannot understand why God will use the Babylonians to judge. Because these are all true of God.

He can't understand. So why are you using them as an instrument of judgment? Suppose you have a place in the country. You don't own it. You rent it. Okay?

And you're really starting to like it. It's surrounded by forests and farmland. It's beautiful. And you have a fantastic neighbor as well. He lives just up the road a bit, but he's one of the kindest men you've ever met. Every time he sees you, he smiles and he waves.

Every time he walks up on your porch, he pets your dog that's lying there. He and his wife have had you over to his house for several meals. In fact, whenever he's cooking out, he invites you over. And man, you wouldn't find a nicer neighbor for your kids. He loves your kids. He's just kind to them.

It's unbelievable. You couldn't ask for a better neighbor. And then one day, a deputy arrives at your house with some papers. The owner of the place that you've been renting has sold his property. And you've got to be out in seven days because the new owner wants to develop the land. Guess who just bought it?

Your neighbor. that neighbor that you love so much he's the guy that's bought your place in all the surrounding land have you have you misunderstood this man is it how could this kind man do this to you that's how Habakkuk feels right now God you are eternal you're faithful you're just you're holy So how could you possibly use unholy, bloodthirsty, violent Babylonians? I don't get it. How is this possible?

This does not make any sense You know not only will you have an orthodox faith but you can have a bewildered faith. You can have a faith that's confused and perplexed. As a man of faith, you look at God in His ways and you are confounded. Should not God's providence reflect something of His purity and His justice? Shouldn't the way He does things reflect that?

Should not the way He accomplishes His purposes reflect His character? God, your holiness seems to make no difference in your dealings. Let's pick it up again. Verse 13, the second half of verse 13. Notice. You cannot look at wrong.

You're purer eyes than to see evil. Why do you look idly at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet so he rejoices and is glad. therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his drag net for by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich you see then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever you're bewildered he says god your holiness seems to make no difference in your dealings you tolerate treachery you tolerate you can't look at evil what are you doing here You tolerate treachery.

These instruments of yours display the same evil qualities as the people that you're judging, except on a larger scale. You do nothing while evildoers swallow up those who are more righteous. Look, God, your people are bad. They're bad. I've told you that. I've prayed about it.

And now you're going to use the Babylonians. They're worse. How can you use them? I mean, notice the words he used. He uses them who swallow up those who are more righteous. These are the people in the first few verses he called violent and bloodthirsty and everything else and unjust and perverting justice.

He calls them, they're more righteous than your instruments of judgment. How is that possible? With eyes that cannot look on evil. We've been evil, but these people are far worse. And you're going to use them? besides, those who did remain faithful to you, those who did remain faithful to you, are also going to be caught up in this judgment. Have you thought about that?

Have you thought about that? You know, the Babylonians, when they come in, they're not going to set up tribunals that are going to say, all right, we want to see who was faithful to Jehovah in this country. And if you were faithful to your God, we will not deport you or slaughter you. Are they going to do that? No. Those who were faithful to God are going to suffer along with those who were not.

God, how can you possibly even think of doing that? Lord, we sang your praises at the temple. We sang out of our psalter. And here's what we sang to you. You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil. With you the wicked cannot dwell.

The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies. Bloodthirsty and deceitful men the Lord abhors. Lord, are these true? Are our hymns accurate that we sang to you?

Lord, the cure seems worse than the disease. God have you forgotten the justice faithfulness and stability that made you our fortress and our rock verses 14 and 15 instead you've made us like fish and sea creatures with no ruler you know every year for many many years every year I went with the 6th graders from Elgin West to Camp Ohio So every year the sixth graders from Elgin West would go on this trip to Camp Ohio and we'd be there for two days, two and a half days, something like that. And whether my kids were in the sixth grade or not, I went.

I was one of those chaperones that got to know a lot of sixth graders. And I always ended up with stream studies, right? so that meant that the kids who signed up for stream studies I'd take them out into the stream there in Camp Ohio and we'd be looking for crawdads and all kinds of stuff and I'd try to teach them some things we'd have these nets that we'd catch things with and you'd always see minnows along the bank you ever notice what happens with minnows when you stick your finger in the middle of a bunch of minnows, what do they do? Right?

They're gone. They're gone. They scatter. And so Habakkuk says that his people are like that. They have no leader. They have no refuge.

And they scatter like a bunch of defenseless minnows. This is what God's done. Such creatures are ripe for exploitation. And so the enemy with hooks and nets and drag nets hook and capture the nations. which is what we would do. We'd always have these little sane nets and we'd walk down the stream with the sane net and see what we could caught. We'd swing our other nets and get stuff and look at them and all those sorts of things.

He says, that's what's happening here, Lord. Right? You know what's happening here? We're scattered. We rich for exploitation And they going to come along and take us And they going to rejoice at the wealth and the luxury that they gotten and the conquests they have made They will gloat. They will rejoice at the distress and the slaughter of all these people.

God, that does not make sense. God the jealousy you exhibit for the honor of your name does not seem to exist verse 16 Habakkuk draws a picture that's ludicrous at first talks about their nets and so forth that are giving them getting them all this luxury and wealth and he says they're making offerings to them as if they're gods what he's trying to tell us is the conquerors give credit to their own strength and their own ingenuity for their great victories they don't recognize that there is a god that's giving them these things they don't recognize the providence of god but it is god who's given them those victories lord these pagans do not give you the honor you deserve for you are the source of their victories you've told us never to worship anything or anyone but you and you have even struck down your own people for their disobedience. Yet you allow these barbarians to give honor to themselves that belong solely to you.

Where is the jealousy you exhibit for the honor of your name? Where is it? Verse 17, God, where is your compassion? Where is your compassion? Lord, how long will you watch the merciless slaughter of nations without intervening. You know what he's saying to God?

Have you no mercy? Have you no mercy? Have you no mercy? Listen, sitting here and just reading this text, there's a little bit of a, yeah, that's terrible. But then you see, right? Maybe you've seen it.

You're in a war zone. and you see children who are maimed. You see children who are maimed. You see their parents laying in the streets, dead. You think you would not say to God, have you no mercy? That's what he's saying. Where's your compassion?

Where is it, God? And so the man of faith has a confused faith, a perplexed faith, when facing the inexplicable providence providences of God. Oh Lord, you promise good to those who love you. And you are the giver of all good things. But what good is there in taking my son in that car accident? Lord Jesus, I want to love my wife like you love the church.

Why is she leaving me? God, you're loving and compassionate. So I do not understand how you can take my baby girl with this disease. all of us at one point or another have been in his place. Often it appears to us that God's providence does not fit his character. And so we question. We seem unsatisfied.

We are confused. We know all the right things about God. But in the dark providences we are perplexed. And yet through Habakkuk God gives us an example of what to do in that state. Chapter 2 verse 1. I will take my stand at my watch post 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. you can have an orthodox faith you will often have a confused faith but you also have to have a patient faith Habakkuk says I will be like a sentinel in the watchtower of the fortress now what's the picture he's drawing he's drawing the picture of one who's on the watchtower this high place on the wall looking out over the landscape over the landscape, waiting for the divine messenger, waiting for a messenger to come with the answer.

In other words, there's a battle going on out there, and you're on the garrison back home, and you're waiting for the message to come from the battlefield. You're waiting, you're looking for that messenger. You're looking for that message that will arrive. That's the story, or that's the picture he's drawing. like a watchman. I'm going to wait for the divine answer.

I'm going to wait for the message from God. Now what does he teach us here and there? You know the response may not come immediately, but it will come. You must be willing to wait. You must be willing to wait. You must remember that only God can straighten out your confused state of mind.

And so you pause and you wait for the reply. you have to be willing to station yourself on the ramparts. Now, what do you see here? Or, I'm sorry, what do you not see here? You know what you don't see? You don't see a man who says, this is totally, this doesn't make any bit of sense. How could a God of love do this?

How could a God who's holy allow this? how could this happen it doesn't make a bit of sense to me i'm done he doesn't do that does he you ever heard people do that how could a god of love do this your god your faith i'm done He doesn't do that. He doesn't do that. He doesn't give up on God. He says, I'm going to wait. I'm going to wait. In fact, you heard him described today in the New Testament reading.

Did you not? But we are not of those. He's talking about, remember all the distress that were coming on the Hebrew Christians? What does he say? We are not one of those who shrink back and are destroyed. But what?

We live by faith. And that's exactly what Habakkuk does here. He says, God, it doesn't make a bit of sense. But he doesn't say, so I'm done. He says, I'm going to wait. I will wait for the answer. by stationing yourself you show a determination an unwillingness to leave until you have an answer you show faith, a patient faith but faith nonetheless you go to the ramparts you seclude yourself like a watchman in that high tower you prepare yourself to search and to examine God's word you will dive into the word instead of saying it doesn't make sense I'm done you say there is an answer and I'm going to wait but I'm not going to wait just sitting around I'm going to search the word of God I'm going to find out you shut out worldly thoughts and fleshly imaginations as you seek to find the answer in God's word and you say to yourself God does have an answer even though it doesn make sense God has an answer When you lose your husband when the doctor says cancer when the slaughter of innocence seems not to end, you'll be mystified, you'll be confused, you'll experience agony and questions that you had never entertained before.

Questions that will plague your mind. But you must never give up. you must never give up you must go to the tower with the scriptures and you must wait and as you station yourself on those ramparts and you look out into the mists the first thing that should emerge is a cross that's the first thing you should see there you will see the darkest of God's dark providences where was God when this perfect God man died at the hands of ruthless wicked people not a sinner but a perfect man where was God then where was he you see unholiness bloody injustice at that point right and what else do you see there you see the justice of God and the mercy of God embracing at the cross God hasn't overlooked any sin. He hasn't overlooked any one of your sins.

He will never overlook any of your sins. Well then how can there be mercy if there's that justice? Here's how. He hasn't overlooked your sin. He's punished your sin in another. And thus he can forgive you.

Thus there is mercy. You see, in Jesus at the cross, you find how in the darkest of all events, God can still be holy, just, upright, and good. Listen, the darkest of times are going to come upon the people of faith. those who believe in the God of Scripture, who have an orthodox faith, we do not live in a plastic bubble. That faith may lead to confusion and great agony, but you have to be patient and you must wait.

And you must remember that God answers your petitions in ways that may absolutely confound you, but they are always in concert with His character. And you know what? He has given His Son to guarantee that. Father, thank You for Your Word. Father thank You for exposing our own hearts to us Because Father we find here the very confusion and heartache and agony that we experience.

And you've opened your word so that it opens us up. And you've given us answers. and so father as we look at Habakkuk we don't see a prophet who lived long ago and far away we see reflected in the page of scriptures our very hearts but father oh how we praise you because we find there as well Jesus the one who puts it all together. Lord, when we are in agony of heart, help us never to forget the cross where all of your character is revealed.

Help us to remember that it guarantees to us that you are acting in concert. And when we are in agony and we are confounded and perplexed, even in the midst of that perplexity, help us to remember that your son guarantees that you're not playing games with us, that you're working. So Father, help us to take this to heart now. In Jesus' name, Amen.