When things aren't as they should be
I've always been curious. Why is the grass green? Why is the sky blue? In fact, my curiosity led me to investigate and, ultimately, put faith in Jesus.
But coming to faith in Christ didn't take away my questions. It only led to even more questions. If God is good and powerful, why is there evil in the world? Why do the wicked sometimes prosper?
Fast forward to our current situation in 2020 and many of those same questions remain. Where is God in the midst of a pandemic? Where is God in the midst of racial injustice and violence? Will God eventually make things right in the end?
If you have those same questions and are thinking to yourself that “things just aren't as they should be,” you're in good biblical company.
A prophet by the name of Habakkuk had those same thoughts some 600 years before the time of Jesus. God's people at that time had become totally corrupt and immoral, and he was crying out for God to bring about justice. In Habakkuk 1:2-3, he laments: “How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you 'violence!' but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?”
Habakkuk's back-and-forth prayer with God comprised these three short chapters. His answer to Habakkuk is that the wicked superpower, the Babylonians, would be God's instrument to punish God's people.
And when Habakkuk questions God's justice in how he could use an even more wicked nation to punish God's wicked people, he says that they too will be punished and, ultimately, faith in Him will be rewarded.
I want to leave you with an outline of encouragement from Habakkuk chapter 3 that you can put into practice when things “aren't as they should be.” The four encouragements would be this: Look to God. Look at what He's done. Look at what He promises to do, and rejoice in Him and Him alone.
Look to God. Habakkuk 3:2-4 It's really easy for me to look inside myself or at the outside world. But before that, we are encouraged to look first at God — His power, His might, His glory. His glory is like the shining sun — so bright that we can't stare into it for more than a second without going blind. Looking at God first enables us to come to a place to say no matter how big our problems may seem, God is bigger and more powerful still.
Look at what God has done. Habakkuk 3:4-15 In these verses, Habakkuk recounts how God has acted throughout Israel's history to bring about His victory. Not only do we have Israel's history to look back on, but also the life, ministry, miracles, death and Resurrection of Jesus.
You may even be able to look back on your own life of how God has been faithful in the past. This is a reminder that if God chooses not to act in the way that we want, it's not because He can't or hasn't done it before. If you are currently following Jesus, He desires to be that rock for you that you can lean and fall on, especially in times of trouble.
Look at what God promises to do. Habakkuk 3:16 Here, Habakkuk acknowledges that God will do exactly as He has said for the punishment of His own people and the Babylonians. Yet he was still afraid. It's in that moment that you and I don't need a simple theological answer to our problems as much as we simply need to be held.
Some of us are asking the question of when this hard season can be over and we can go back to normal. Perhaps, God is saying to you today: “I don't want things to be the way they were before.” Perhaps, He's using this season to get your attention and show you your desperate need for Him.
Finally, rejoice in God and God alone. Habakkuk 3:17-18 These are some of the most profound verses in all of Scripture. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God, my Savior.”
Sometimes God permits what He hates in order to accomplish what He loves, and the cross is the best example of that. The innocent son of God was murdered and crucified on the cross. And yet, the worst act in human history turned out to be the most hopeful day in human history as it allowed for sinful humans who put faith in Jesus to be in the presence of God forever.
Sometimes God strips away everything else, so that we can see He's the only One that is lasting and certain in this life and in the life to come. It may be His mercy that He's pulling out some things from under you to show you He is what and who you truly need.
Friends: Cling to Jesus — the only hope in life and in death. God wrote the end of the story and because He wins, you ultimately win, too. Look to God. Look at what He's done. Look at what He promises to do, and rejoice in Him and in Him alone — now and in eternity.
Pastor Brady Randall is the campus pastor of Orchard Hill Church-Butler County.
