Hard Questions
Sovereign? How do you reconcile what you believe to be true about God with the problems you see in the world around you?
Here’s how most people ask that question… What do you do with the goodness of God and the problem of evil?
Last year, I was having a really difficult time with my lawn mower. I had a hard time getting it to start and even after I finally got it running, it had a difficult time. It sounded like it couldn’t breathe. My first impulse was to go and buy a new one. That was the quickest way to fix the problem! Just replace it! So I did. But I didn’t like the new lawn mower I bought.
Then I remembered that I have a friend who is part of our youth group at church who was good at fixing things. So I asked him if he would take a look at my lawn mower. He worked on it and when he brought it back to me it was like new! I literally couldn’t believe it! He fixed it!
A World of Quick Fixes
We live in a world of quick fixes. If something needs to be repaired we want it done quickly and if it can’t be fixed quickly, we’ll just buy a new one.
Most of the time we’re in such a hurry and when something is broken, when something is not working, we want it FIXED right away.
And we’ve found quick fixes for almost everything. From fast food to 10 minute oil changes. From Amazon to Apple Pay. From robot vacuum cleaners to… well now they have robot lawn mowers! Just saying! Father’s Day is coming soon!
The problem this creates for so many of us is that more often than not when it comes to the real problems we’re facing in this life, we want God to just fix it. So we treat God more like Aladdin’s Genie in a Bottle than we do the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
The frustration that we face, of course, is that our God is not a genie in a bottle. What’s even more problematic, our God is not a fixer. Of all the names of God found in scripture, fixer is not one of them!
How Long, O Lord?
This is the same thing the prophet Habakkuk discovered some 2600 years ago.
My guess is that you may not have spent much time in Habakkuk lately. But in chapter 3 we have a beautiful psalm written by Habakkuk that comes from a conversation he has with God about who God is and the problem of evil in the world.
Like a lot of us would do, Habakkuk cries out to God because he wants God to fix it!
Habakkuk sees the people of God turning away from God. He sees a world around him that is filled with injustice, idolatry, and all kinds of evil. So Habakkuk cries out to God and asks him to do something! Fix it, God! Make everything ok. And what he meant by that was for God to make everything ok for his people! For the people of God!
His question for God is exactly the same question many of us are asking God today. Habakkuk 1.2:
How long, O Lord, must I call for help?
But you do not listen!
“Violence is everywhere!” I cry,
but you do not come to save.
Those words were most likely written around 600 BC. Yet, you could argue they sound like they were written yesterday.
Everyone’s Question
Habakkuk’s question is everyone’s question.
There is violence everywhere. Wherever we look all we see is evil, misery, destruction, and people who love to argue and fight. Injustice is rampant. And it seems like the wicked far outnumber the righteous!
So how long do we have to call out for help to God and wait for an answer?
Maybe you’ve been there.
Have you ever been so overwhelmed by the problems of this life that you cry out to God and ask, “How Long O Lord?”
How long O Lord until you right the wrongs in my my life?
Until you heal the cancer?
How much longer until I get the job, or get the promotion?
When will the senseless violence and killing of innocent people end?
How many more days, months, or years, until we get justice?
When will they get the punishment they deserve?
And when will I get the relief I deserve?
How Long, O Lord, until you FIX IT!
Habakkuk’s question is everyone’s question. We see evil, hardship, and the problems of this life all around us. When will God punish the evil doers and come and save us?
God Answers
God actually answers Habakkuk’s question, but NOT in the way Habakkuk wanted!
Here’s what God says in response to Habakkuk’s question. Habakkuk 1.5-6:
The Lord replied,
“Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. (NIV)
In other words… I’m going to raise up another nation, the Babylonians, to come and destroy you!
To which Habakkuk responds, “WHAT!?”
O LORD my God, my Holy One, you who are eternal–
surely you do not plan to wipe us out?
O LORD, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us,
to punish us for our many sins.
But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
Will you wink at their treachery?
Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?
Habakkuk 1.12-13
Now Habakkuk has a real problem! This is NOT how Habakkuk thought God would respond or how he wanted God to respond. Habakkuk sees the problem in his own land, with his own people, and he wants God to turn the hearts of the people back to God.
I’m sure in his mind he had a thousand scenarios of what he wanted or hoped God would do in response to his prayer. He never expected this response from God!
An Even Harder Question
Maybe you’ve been there.
I prayed for this. Why in the world did God do that? We needed this. Why in the world did that happen?
Now Habakkuk has a REAL problem… How can he reconcile what he BELIEVES to be TRUE about God with what he sees as the INCONGRUOUS actions of God?
How do you continue to hold on to the goodness of God when what you perceive as the actions of God don’t line up with who you believe God is or what you believe God should do?
What happens when you pray for healing and the person you love passes away?
What happens when you pray for a job and you remain unemployed?
What happens when you pray for a husband or a wife and you’re still single?
What happens when you pray for a child and you’re still waiting?
What happens when you pray for someone to come to know Jesus as Lord and Savior and so far that person is still living a life far from God?
What happens when you pray, “How long O Lord?” and either God is not answering quickly or he’s not answering the way you had hoped he would answer?
What happens when you need God to be a FIXER but then you realize that God is not a fixer?
A Faith-Filled Response
Habakkuk 3 is a psalm written by the prophet in response to his conversation with God through the first 2 chapters. It’s both a prayer and a song.
And I want you to notice what Habakkuk does in this psalm. He offers a prayer to God in which he resolves to trust in the sovereignty of God, to believe that God is good even when He works in mysterious ways that we don’t understand.
This prayer was sung by the prophet Habakkuk:
I have heard all about you, Lord.
I am filled with awe by your amazing works.
Habakkuk realizes that in the middle of all these perplexing realities, in the middle of all his questions, the PROPER RESPONSE for the people of God is to turn to WORSHIP and PRAYER.
In worship we acknowledge who is King and who is not. Who is Sovereign and who is not. Who reigns over all nations, kingdoms, and tribes, and who does not.
In prayer we turn to the only one who has the power to save.
So he prays….
In this time of our deep need,
help us again as you did in years gone by.
And in your anger,
remember your mercy.
You can almost hear him pray… God, if we ever needed you, we need you now! Help us again. You’ve done it before, you can do it again. You’ve delivered us before, you can deliver us again. You’ve saved us before, you can save us again.
And then, Habakkuk remembers the last time God worked in a miraculous way to save and deliver his people…
I see God moving across the deserts from Edom,
the Holy One coming from Mount Paran.
Selah
Selah, Pause and Calmly think about that.
Remember God’s Sovereignty
That may not mean much to you, but for the people of Israel, they knew that Edom was a reference to a location far south of Israel. The knew Mount Paran was a reference to the wilderness where Sinai was located.
Habakkuk remembers in prayer the time God delivered his people from Egypt through the Exodus and brought them to Mount Sinai and gave them the word of God. This was the event that identified them undeniably as the people of God.
Essentially, Habakkuk says, “God, you’ve done the impossible before and you can do the impossible again.”
And then he writes the word:
Selah.
Selah (pause, and calmly think of that).
Selah, pause in his presence.
Pause. Rest. Reflect. Remember.
God is Not a Fixer, He’s a Savior
Because he decided to trust in God’s sovereignty, because he took time to rest, reflect, and remember how time and time again throughout history God always worked for the good of his people and the glory of his own name, Habakkuk was able to pray this. Habakkuk 3.17-19:
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,
and there are no grapes on the vines;
even though the olive crop fails,
and the fields lie empty and barren;
even though the flocks die in the fields,
and the cattle barns are empty,
In other words… even though things can’t possibly get worse, and even though there are no quick fixes….
yet I will rejoice in the Lord!
I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
The Sovereign Lord is my strength!
He makes me as surefooted as a deer,
able to tread upon the heights.
Habakkuk makes a choice in the middle of the most difficult of times to believe that God’s goodness isn’t dependent on his circumstances. That God isn’t a FIXER, He’s a SAVOIR! And He is SOVEREIGN!
Habakkuk knows there’s a difference! There’s a difference between someone who fixes something, who repairs something, and someone who is a SAVOIR.
God has a plan in mind so much LARGER, so much greater, than anything Habakkuk could possibly imagine. Habakkuk is desperate for God to FIX the immediate problems he’s facing, but God is working on a plan to save the world through the coming Anointed One (3.13).
A Better Question
What do you do when you’re overwhelmed with the problems and difficulties of this life?
How do you reconcile the problem of evil, the problem of sickness and disease, the problem of injustice, the problems that you’re facing right now, that the world is facing right now, with what you believe about the goodness of God?
Maybe that’s NOT the question we should be asking. Maybe the question we should be asking is….
Have you accepted the invitation of God to Selah?
To rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God?
When Habakkuk faced impossible questions, he didn’t turn away from God. He turned TO God. And he decided in worship and prayer to put his faith and trust in the One who is SOVEREIGN.
The Good News about a God who is Sovereign
I know, we want God to just fix things. We want things our way right away. But thank God that of all the things he’s known for, being a fixer isn’t one of them.
Habakkuk calls God the LORD, Yahweh. He calls God my God, my Holy One, My Rock. He calls God the Lord Almighty. He calls God God my Savior. But maybe most importantly, in the very last verse of the psalm, He calls God The Sovereign Lord.
Habakkuk discovered through SELAH, through taking time to pause, to rest, reflect, and remember the goodness of God, that God is SOVEREIGN. That even when we’re unaware, He’s working. Even when we can’t see it, He’s working. Even when we’re crying out in disappointment, anger and confusion. He’s working. Even when we don’t understand. He’s working.
And He’s not worried. Whatever you’re worried about, he’s not worried about. Because, He is Sovereign. He is holding all things together. He is working all things together for your good and for His glory. And at just the right time, He will come to our rescue.
He always has, He always will.
He’s working for your salvation.
So what if today, you turned with your questions to PRAYER and WORSHIP? What if today, you laid your questions, your problems, your fears, your anxieties at the feet of Jesus and you stoped working, stopped worrying, and stoped wanting, and started trusting in the SOVEREIGN LORD?
One Final Thought
I left out one verse that has the power to change everything for you, for us, today. Right before Habakkuk prayed this beautiful psalm, we have these words…
“…the Lord is in his holy Temple.
Let all the earth be silent before him.”
Habakkuk 2.20
Pause, and calmly think about that.
Let’s selah in His presence.
Our God is the Sovereign LORD. He sees all things. Knows all things. He holds all things together. And He is good.
So where do we turn, what do we do, when we have impossible questions with no clear answers? Where do we turn, what do we do, when we’re facing impossible odds and things are not working out in our favor? Where do we turn, what do we do, when we don’t understand why things are happening the way they are happening?
We turn to God, sometimes in silence, and we pause in His presence. And we remember that the Sovereign Lord is in His holy Temple. He’s still on the throne.
And while we’re waiting, He’s working, often in invisible ways, for our good and for His ultimate glory. We don’t need to “do” anything.” We don’t need to “fix” anything. All we need to do is “be silent before him.”
Selah.
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