Welcome to this week's sermon. I hope that everyone is staying healthy and having a good week. I thank the Lord that I am doing well.
Last week, we began a new series of messages based on the book of Habakkuk. We saw that the prophet called out to the Lord wondering when the Lord was going to do something about the sinfulness of the people. He wondered when things where going to change. Often, we wonder the same thing in our day. As those who know the Lord Jesus, we know that He has promised that He will come again and restore all things to the way that they existed before sin entered into the world.
Today, we see what the Lord's response was to Habakkuk. We learn that the Lord fully understood the situation that the prophet described to Him. In fact, the Lord lets Habakkuk know that He is raising up a people to bring about judgment if His people do not repent. The Lord says that He is raising up the Babylonians to be His instruments of judgment.
This catches the prophet completely off guard. He doesn't understand how the Lord can use a people that are even more sinful than his own people to be the instrument of judgment. He doesn't understand what God is doing, and he asks God what is going on.
There are two things from this that I want to focus on. First of all, the Lord often works in ways that we do not expect in order to bring about His will in this world. We may be like Habakkuk and not understand it all, but the Bible is clear that the ways of God are above our ways. His thoughts are above our thoughts. In times when we don't understand what God is doing, that is the time when we have to have faith. We must lean in on the fact that we know that the Lord has done what is right and good in our lives in the past, therefore we believe that the Lord will work all things out to help us and to fulfill His divine purpose.
Jesus and His ministry on earth wasn't what some people expected. At one point, even John the Baptist sent a delegation to ask Jesus if He really was the promised one, or if they should be looking for someone else. Jesus wasn't doing what John and some others expected. However, He was perfectly fulfilling all that the Father had sent Him to do.
Just because God is doing something in a way that we don't understand doesn't mean that we have to doubt. The Lord knows what He is doing, and all will be well.
The second thing that I want to focus on today is Habakkuk's response. He made a complaint to the Lord. And the Lord was not angry with Him. There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking the Lord what is going on. There is nothing wrong with questioning what God is doing. Job did this as well, and so did Asaph. The Lord does not get angry if we truly call out to Him wanting an answer to what is happening in our lives. We just need to have the right attitude of humility.
It is always easy to understand what the Lord is doing in this world and in our lives. However, we can rest assured in the knowledge that the Lord Jesus has all in control, and He is only doing that which is good and that which will bring about the best outcome. Amen.
Prayer Request
This weekend, the forecast for my area is for a lot of snow. Please pray that it won't be very bad. I don't like to drive to work on the slick roads.
Continue to pray for an end to the coronavirus pandemic. Pray that the sick will recover.
Let us all pray for peace in the world. Pray that there will not be a conflict between Russian and Ukraine. Pray for peace in Yemen, Syria and Ethiopia.
For our prayer focus countries this week, let us pray for those in the nations of Brunei and Guinea-Bissau. Pray that many will come to know the love of Jesus.
Next week, we will continue with our series in Habakkuk. I will post the verses on Monday, and I will have a review midweek. May God bless you all.
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