SPEAKER_00: So before we get started, let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we thank you for this day that you have given us, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we give you all the glory because you are good and you are truly faithful.
SPEAKER_00: I pray for all our friends that are with us today in this sanctuary and all our friends watching from home that you would bless them, that their lives would be transformed, that their hearts would be postured towards you.
SPEAKER_00: Father, that they would hear exactly the word that they need to hear from you today.
SPEAKER_00: Father, we pray this in the mighty name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, amen, and amen.
SPEAKER_00: All right, y'all.
SPEAKER_00: Today's message is called When God Seems Silent.
SPEAKER_00: There are some things that happen in life that don't just interrupt your plans, they rearrange your whole world.
SPEAKER_00: They shake your sense of stability.
SPEAKER_00: They disrupt what you thought was certain.
SPEAKER_00: They force you to face questions that you never thought you had to ask before in your life.
SPEAKER_00: You thought things were steady.
SPEAKER_00: You thought that you had direction.
SPEAKER_00: You thought you understood what God was doing.
SPEAKER_00: And then something happens.
SPEAKER_00: A door closes, a diagnosis, a loss, a prayer that goes unanswered.
SPEAKER_00: And suddenly what once felt solid feels completely unknown.
SPEAKER_00: And it totally shakes your confidence.
SPEAKER_00: It shakes your expectations.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes it even shakes your faith.
SPEAKER_00: Not because you've stopped believing in God, but because what you were experiencing doesn't match what you believed about Him.
SPEAKER_00: And in those moments, it's not just your circumstances that feel unstable, it's your understanding.
SPEAKER_00: Because when your world gets shaken, you start asking deeper questions.
SPEAKER_00: Questions like, where is God in this?
SPEAKER_00: Why would God allow this to happen to me?
SPEAKER_00: And if God is good and he loves me so much, then why is this happening to me?
SPEAKER_00: Is God still or is he really in control of all the things that are happening right now?
SPEAKER_00: See, those are the moments that define us.
SPEAKER_00: It's a roller coaster of emotions.
SPEAKER_00: One moment you're completely steady and you're thinking, God, I trust you in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_00: And then the next moment, something shifts.
SPEAKER_00: God, where are you in the middle of this?
SPEAKER_00: You move between confidence in the Lord and complete confusion, between peace and panic, between what you know and what you feel inside.
SPEAKER_00: You remind yourself of his promises.
SPEAKER_00: We do that.
SPEAKER_00: We call out his promises in our life.
SPEAKER_00: We say, Well, he's always with me.
SPEAKER_00: He is always working.
SPEAKER_00: He is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: He will give me strength in the middle of this.
SPEAKER_00: He has a plan.
SPEAKER_00: And then the reality of the situation, then it hits again.
SPEAKER_00: And it's not that you've stopped believing, it's that belief and uncertainty, they're sharing the same space.
SPEAKER_00: You trust him, but you don't understand him.
SPEAKER_00: You know he's good, but this just doesn't feel good.
SPEAKER_00: You know he's present, but he feels completely distant from you.
SPEAKER_00: And that tension can feel exhausting and draining all at the same time.
SPEAKER_00: Because you're holding on to faith with one hand and you're wrestling with questions in another.
SPEAKER_00: But when those answers don't come when we need them, the silence is completely deafening.
SPEAKER_00: You pray and nothing happens.
SPEAKER_00: You wait and nothing changes.
SPEAKER_00: You listen and it feels like heaven is quiet.
SPEAKER_00: And in that silence, something starts to grow.
SPEAKER_00: Uncertainty.
SPEAKER_00: Questions you didn't have before begin to surface, and confidence starts to waver.
SPEAKER_00: Clarity feels completely out of reach.
SPEAKER_00: And then you start replaying things in your mind over and over and over again.
SPEAKER_00: Did I miss God?
SPEAKER_00: Did I do something wrong?
SPEAKER_00: Is he listening?
SPEAKER_00: Is he even there?
SPEAKER_00: And the longer the silence stretches, the louder the questions become.
SPEAKER_00: Because silence has a way of amplifying the doubt that's in our hearts.
SPEAKER_00: It fills the gaps with fear.
SPEAKER_00: It fills the unknown with lots and lots of assumptions.
SPEAKER_00: And if you're not careful, you'll start interpreting God's silence as God's absence in your life.
SPEAKER_00: See, I completely understand Job, where it says in chapter 23, verses 8 and 9.
SPEAKER_00: I go east, but he is not there.
SPEAKER_00: I go west, but I cannot find him.
SPEAKER_00: I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden.
SPEAKER_00: I look to the south, but he is concealed.
SPEAKER_00: I completely understand that because that's what silence feels like.
SPEAKER_00: You're not running for God, you're looking for him.
SPEAKER_00: You go to the places where you found him before.
SPEAKER_00: We go to him in prayer, we worship, we read scripture, but it just feels different this time.
SPEAKER_00: You're searching, but we're not sensing God.
SPEAKER_00: We're reaching, but we're not hearing him.
SPEAKER_00: And what makes this even harder is that Job, he wasn't rebellious, he wasn't distant from God, wasn't living in sin.
SPEAKER_00: He was faithful, which means this that we can be walking with God and still walk through seasons where he feels completely hard to find.
SPEAKER_00: That's what makes all of this confusing.
SPEAKER_00: Because you can expect distance when we are drifting in our spiritual wall with God, but not when we're devoted to him.
SPEAKER_00: See, there's a powerful story in a book called The Hiding Place, written by Corey Ten Boom.
SPEAKER_00: Corey was a Christian woman who, along with her family, hid Jewish people during World War II.
SPEAKER_00: And eventually they were arrested and sent to a concentration camps for their faith.
SPEAKER_00: The book tells the story of suffering and loss and faith and how God was present even in their darkest moments.
SPEAKER_00: But before all of that, there's a small moment from her childhood that says something powerful about how God works.
SPEAKER_00: As a young girl, Corey once asked her father a question about sex sin, she called it.
SPEAKER_00: I think every parent has had their kim come to them and say, Hey, mom, what's sex?
SPEAKER_00: And then you say, Go ask your father.
SPEAKER_00: Then you rethink that for a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Clarity comes and you think, you know what?
SPEAKER_00: Don't ask your father.
SPEAKER_00: Let me answer that question for you.
SPEAKER_00: And so Corey wanted to know what sex sin was all about.
SPEAKER_00: Something that she didn't fully understand, but she she wanted clarity on.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of answering her directly, her father did something completely unexpected.
SPEAKER_00: They were on a train, which is where they spent most of their time having beautiful, in-depth conversations as father and daughter.
SPEAKER_00: And he asked her to lift a heavy suitcase.
SPEAKER_00: She tried lifting the heavy suitcase, but she couldn't.
SPEAKER_00: And he looked at her and he said, Corey, when you are strong enough to carry it, I will let you.
SPEAKER_00: Then he explained, some things are too heavy to carry before the right time.
SPEAKER_00: And if I tell you now, it won't help you.
SPEAKER_00: It will burden you.
SPEAKER_00: But when you're ready, I won't keep it from you.
SPEAKER_00: See, I often feel like that little girl asking her Heavenly Father, please tell me, God.
SPEAKER_00: When is it coming, God?
SPEAKER_00: When is there gonna be a breakthrough, God?
SPEAKER_00: Please tell me.
SPEAKER_00: Father, I just want to know.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to know why.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to know when.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to know how.
SPEAKER_00: I just want to know who, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not, I know for a fact that I am not the only one who has prayed that prayer like that.
SPEAKER_00: I know that you have too.
SPEAKER_00: And there's a man in scripture who asks those same questions.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just any regular schmegular, you know, skeptical person speaking.
SPEAKER_00: This is a prophet speaking.
SPEAKER_00: In the name, in the book named after him, Habakkuk asks God, How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?
SPEAKER_00: Unlike most prophets in the Old Testament, it was not primarily a message from God to the people.
SPEAKER_00: It's a conversation between a prophet, Habakkuk, and God.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk doesn't speak to Israel on God's behalf.
SPEAKER_00: He speaks to God on Israel's behalf.
SPEAKER_00: And in that particular moment, even in his faithfulness to God, he's experiencing a season where heaven feels completely silent.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk is complaining to God.
SPEAKER_00: And we all know what that's like because I'm sure that God has heard lots and lots of complaints from us as well.
SPEAKER_00: And so what is what is he, but why is he complaining to God in this particular moment?
SPEAKER_00: Well, he's complaining because he's experiencing what I like to call shattered expectations.
SPEAKER_00: You see, shattered expectations are when what you thought God would do doesn't happen the way you thought it would happen.
SPEAKER_00: See, there was a moment when things looked like they were turning around for Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And under King Josiah, who became king at the age of eight years old and reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem, it was good.
SPEAKER_00: There was revival amongst the people.
SPEAKER_00: They had rediscovered the word of God, and the people began to return to what was right, and they were a prospering nations whose hearts were postured towards God.
SPEAKER_00: But then Josiah dies, and everything begins to shift.
SPEAKER_00: You see, we've all had but-then moments in our lives, or we are going through a but-then moment right now.
SPEAKER_00: You see, now Josiah's son Jehoiakim steps in, and instead of leading with integrity, he begins to lead with corruption.
SPEAKER_00: Jehoiakim didn't rise to the throne on his own.
SPEAKER_00: He was placed there by Pharaoh Niko of Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: This is the same Pharaoh who killed his father, Josiah.
SPEAKER_00: See, Pharaoh even changed the new king's name.
SPEAKER_00: He changed it from Eliakim to Jehoiakim.
SPEAKER_00: It was a statement to the people of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It was a power play.
SPEAKER_00: You don't belong to God anymore.
SPEAKER_00: You belong to Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: And even though Egypt changed his name as a power play, the name Jehoiakim means Yahweh raises up, telling Egypt that you think that you're in control, but God is really at the center of all of this.
SPEAKER_00: He is the ultimate ruler.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of leading the people back to God like his father did, Jehoiakim chose survival over surrender.
SPEAKER_00: He chose political strategy over spiritual obedience.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of trusting God, he trusted what he could tangibly see, what he could tangibly feel, what was right in front of his face, he trusted Egypt.
SPEAKER_00: See, his trust in Egypt was evident and how he led God's people.
SPEAKER_00: He was supposed to protect them, but instead he taxed them heavily just to pay off Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_00: And spiritually, he did everything his father had rebuilt.
SPEAKER_00: He undid everything his father had rebuilt.
SPEAKER_00: The reforms were gone.
SPEAKER_00: And instead of leading people towards God like his father did, he brought pagan worship back to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: You see, this wasn't just bad leadership.
SPEAKER_00: This was misplaced trust.
SPEAKER_00: He traded his dependence on God for dependence on what looks stronger in the moment.
SPEAKER_00: And that's where everything begins to fall apart.
SPEAKER_00: The law isn't working like it should anymore.
SPEAKER_00: Justice isn't winning anymore.
SPEAKER_00: The wrong people are winning, and the righteous are getting pushed back.
SPEAKER_00: And what should have been a season of restoration becomes a season of spiritual collapse.
SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk is watching all of the destruction happen.
SPEAKER_00: And what should have been a season of spiritual prosperity and obedience and God's blessing is anything but that.
SPEAKER_00: Has anyone ever been through that?
SPEAKER_00: You've thought, man, this is my season.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly where God has me.
SPEAKER_00: This is this is, I love doing this.
SPEAKER_00: This is exactly where I'm supposed to be at this moment in my life.
SPEAKER_00: And then everything begins to fall apart behind you.
SPEAKER_00: See, this is exactly what Habakkuk is going through.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what he begins to see around him.
SPEAKER_00: He sees injustice.
SPEAKER_00: He sees people suffering for what, for doing what's right.
SPEAKER_00: He sees violence and he sees destruction.
SPEAKER_00: He sees constant strife and conflict.
SPEAKER_00: And then it doesn't stop there.
SPEAKER_00: The very systems that were designed to protect people are now the systems that are oppressing them.
SPEAKER_00: The courts aren't working.
SPEAKER_00: Truth isn't winning.
SPEAKER_00: The righteous are losing.
SPEAKER_00: And here's what's important Habakkuk isn't just looking at their enemies, the nations that are surrounding them, the nations that are surrounding Israel.
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking at God's people.
SPEAKER_00: He's looking at the nation of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: It's his own people who are the ones who are unjust and the ones who are evil.
SPEAKER_00: So when he says, How long, Lord, must I call for your help, but you do not listen?
SPEAKER_00: How long, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: It's the desperation of the reality of how his people are behaving because their hearts are far from God.
SPEAKER_00: When he says, How long, Lord, it's the frustration of waiting for an answer of this continued prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And what is it that he's exactly praying for?
SPEAKER_00: Well, on the surface, it seems it seems simple.
SPEAKER_00: It sounds so simple.
SPEAKER_00: God, hear me.
SPEAKER_00: God, help.
SPEAKER_00: God, save us from the violence.
SPEAKER_00: But it's so much deeper than that.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk isn't just asking for relief.
SPEAKER_00: He's asking for intervention.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, God, I need you to step into this situation.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need you to do something in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: God, I need you to fix what is broken in this land.
SPEAKER_00: Has anybody out there ever prayed that prayer?
SPEAKER_00: God, I need you to step in right now, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever is broken, fix it, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: See, because what he's seeing is completely unbearable.
SPEAKER_00: And he's saying, God, why are you letting me see this?
SPEAKER_00: God, why are you allowing this to continue?
SPEAKER_00: God, why aren't you stepping in to stop it at this moment?
SPEAKER_00: And ultimately, this is what he's crying out for.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, God, you're the judge.
SPEAKER_00: So I need you to judge.
SPEAKER_00: He's saying, Lord, I need you to restore what's broken.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to fix what's unjust.
SPEAKER_00: Bring back to order to a world that's falling apart.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's his prayer.
SPEAKER_00: It's not just help me, God, but it's make it right, God.
SPEAKER_00: See, God, God, don't just, we, you know, sometimes we're just praying, and and and and what we're saying is, God, I just don't want help in this moment, God.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to make it right, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to vindicate it, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: I need you to redeem the injustice, Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And after an undisclosed amount of time, we don't know how long it was that he was praying that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: It could have been, it could have been days, it could have been weeks, it could have been months, it could have been years.
SPEAKER_00: That he didn't hear anything back from the Lord, that he kept praying that prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And then finally, God responds to Habakkuk in chapter 1, verses 5 through 11.
SPEAKER_00: He says, look around at those at the nations, look and be amazed.
SPEAKER_00: For I am doing something in your own day, something you wouldn't believe, even if someone told you about it.
SPEAKER_00: And after hearing that, I mean, I would I would be excited.
SPEAKER_00: I'm like, wow, God is gonna do something.
SPEAKER_00: He's just gonna completely just blow my mind in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: And before we get excited about how God is gonna blow our minds in this in this moment, before we start rejoicing in this moment, because God is gonna do something that we can't even imagine with our own, we can't even fathom.
SPEAKER_00: And then God continues with, I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people, and they will march across the world and conquer other lands.
SPEAKER_00: So the question isn't, God, why are you silent?
SPEAKER_00: The real question is, what is God doing in the middle of it?
SPEAKER_00: And here's what we need to reconcile within ourselves the tension that's within us.
SPEAKER_00: That God's version of working doesn't always match our expectation of fixing.
SPEAKER_00: Because Habakkuk is praying, he's calling out to Lord, God, remove the corruption, God stop the injustice, God restore the righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: And God responds, I am, but not the way that you think.
SPEAKER_00: God says, I am raising up the Babylonians.
SPEAKER_00: And I can imagine Habakkuk at that moment, what?
SPEAKER_00: The Babylonians?
SPEAKER_00: Lord, anybody but them?
SPEAKER_00: How about revival?
SPEAKER_00: Can you raise up some revival?
SPEAKER_00: How about reform?
SPEAKER_00: Can can can you raise up some reform?
SPEAKER_00: How about how about righteous leadership?
SPEAKER_00: Can you raise up some righteous leadership?
SPEAKER_00: But the Babylonians of all people?
SPEAKER_00: And then God describes them.
SPEAKER_00: And I can imagine this part where Habakkuk is like, you don't need to describe them because I already know who they are.
SPEAKER_00: We all know people like them.
SPEAKER_00: They say that somebody mentions their name and they're like, yeah, they're like they were like, I know, girl.
SPEAKER_00: You don't need to tell me, I know.
SPEAKER_00: And then God describes them.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, they are a ruthless people, a feared nation, a people who answer to no one but themselves.
SPEAKER_00: They sweep through the lands that aren't theirs, they gather captives like sand, they mock kings and laugh at authority.
SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk is crying out, God, there's injustice in Judah.
SPEAKER_00: And God responds, I know.
SPEAKER_00: And I'm sending Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: God is probably thinking, Listen, if you think what's happening in Judah is bad, wait until you're taken over by Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And let's be honest, that that doesn't feel like an answer.
SPEAKER_00: But sometimes God allows what breaks us to build something deeper in us.
SPEAKER_00: You see, it feels like things are about to get worse because you know what?
SPEAKER_00: It's about to get worse.
SPEAKER_00: See, there are times we want God just to deal with the symptom.
SPEAKER_00: And he doesn't just deal with the symptom, he deals with the source of the problem.
SPEAKER_00: And what's the source of their problem?
SPEAKER_00: Their hearts were far from God.
SPEAKER_00: And in dealing with the source of the problem, sometimes God allows disruption to confront what we have tolerated.
SPEAKER_00: See how many of you know that sometimes there needs to be disruption for there to be change?
SPEAKER_00: Which means that we need a big disruption to change the circumstances that we have put up with far too long.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God's answer is not immediate relief, it's unexpected refinement.
SPEAKER_00: And being held captive by a cruel nation would one would force them to turn to God to save them, would force them to trust God and would strip away everything else that they were trusting in.
SPEAKER_00: See, God was going to use Babylon to bring judgment to Israel.
SPEAKER_00: And if we go back to Habakkuk's original question, he wants to know God, why are Aren't you doing anything?
SPEAKER_00: And God says, I am doing something.
SPEAKER_00: You just don't understand it.
SPEAKER_00: Then Habakkuk in chapter 1, verses 12 through 13, he complains again because that's what we do, right?
SPEAKER_00: We just keep going back to the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You're like, no, but you didn't hear my complaint the first time.
SPEAKER_00: Let me repeat that for you.
SPEAKER_00: He complains again.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Oh Lord my God, my holy one, you are eternal.
SPEAKER_00: Surely you do not plan to wipe us out.
SPEAKER_00: Oh Lord, our rock.
SPEAKER_00: You have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins.
SPEAKER_00: But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.
SPEAKER_00: Will you wink at their treachery?
SPEAKER_00: Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they?
SPEAKER_00: And that's the real struggle, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: Not just waiting on God to move, but trusting him when he moves in ways we didn't ask for, in ways that we didn't expect.
SPEAKER_00: And honestly, in some ways, that we don't even like at all.
SPEAKER_00: Because now the question shifts from God, are you working?
SPEAKER_00: To God, can I trust you when I don't understand what you're doing?
SPEAKER_00: Because real faith isn't just trusting God when he makes sense, it's trusting him when he doesn't make sense.
SPEAKER_00: So when everything feels uncertain in your life, you don't anchor yourself in answers, you anchor yourself in faith.
SPEAKER_00: See, Habakkuk teaches us some important lessons when God seems completely silent in your life.
SPEAKER_00: He teaches us that silence invites us to position ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: After Habakkuk's second complaint, he says in chapter 2, verse 1, I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost.
SPEAKER_00: There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint.
SPEAKER_00: See, a watchtower is a place of perspective and a place of patience.
SPEAKER_00: You climb up, you get above the noise, and you wait with expectation.
SPEAKER_00: What I love so much about Habakkuk is that he doesn't quit, he waits intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: See, waiting is not weakness, is disciplined trust in God.
SPEAKER_00: And the book of Habakkuk itself is showing us something very important.
SPEAKER_00: When God seems silent, the righteous don't live by explanation, they live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And then God tells Habakkuk in in chapter 2, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: He says, Look at the proud.
SPEAKER_00: They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked.
SPEAKER_00: But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
SPEAKER_00: So faith is not living by outcomes, it's choosing to trust what is true, even when it doesn't feel true.
SPEAKER_00: God does not promise explanation, he calls for trust.
SPEAKER_00: So let me show you how this book is actually designed that supports his call to trust.
SPEAKER_00: But before I get there, I want to tell you something a little funny.
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk is written in what's called a chiastic structure.
SPEAKER_00: And you know this because Pastor Keith has taught us this many, many, many times.
SPEAKER_00: And even though he has taught us this many, many times, you would think I would have caught it by now.
SPEAKER_00: So in Pastor Keith giving me some feedback about my Noah message, which I was very proud of, he was like, that was a great message.
SPEAKER_00: I was like, thank you very much.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Keith, if I don't say so myself.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, I have a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: I said, the minute he says I have a question, you're doomed.
SPEAKER_00: He said, I have a question for you.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Did you know in the middle of Noah that there is a huge chiastic structure?
SPEAKER_00: He said, Or did you know it and you just didn't include it?
SPEAKER_00: Y'all know I believe in pivotal moments.
SPEAKER_00: I believe that this was a pivotal moment in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Do I lie to the pastor as a pastor?
SPEAKER_00: Or do I just tell the truth?
SPEAKER_00: But if I lie, I know Pastor Keith's gonna have five more questions after that.
SPEAKER_00: Because y'all know Pastor Keith.
SPEAKER_00: So I said, no, I I didn't know that there was a chiastic structure in the middle of that.
SPEAKER_00: He said, okay, that was it.
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
SPEAKER_00: What I heard, okay, was you better check the next time.
SPEAKER_00: Does anybody feel that?
SPEAKER_00: Okay, it can be so so heavy sometimes, right?
SPEAKER_00: Like you could, he just spoke a whole message without just by saying, okay.
SPEAKER_00: So I went back to my template and I wrote, look for the chiastic structure in the passages, right?
SPEAKER_00: So next time I wouldn't forget.
SPEAKER_00: So I did that.
SPEAKER_00: This time I said, I'm gonna, I'm gonna teach on Habakkuk.
SPEAKER_00: So I went to my friend, the Googles.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Is there a chiastic structure in Habakkuk?
SPEAKER_00: And it said, the whole book is a kiastic structure.
SPEAKER_00: The whole book is a kiastic, literally.
SPEAKER_00: I, y'all never see me run so fast with a laptop.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Keith! Pastor Keith, I did what you said.
SPEAKER_00: And the whole book is a chiastic structure.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, the joy of discovery.
SPEAKER_00: The whole book is a chiastic structure.
SPEAKER_00: Let me try to explain it my way.
SPEAKER_00: Chiastic structure is a common feature of ancient Hebrew writing, which is the style used throughout much of the Old Testament.
SPEAKER_00: It's like a mountain.
SPEAKER_00: You climb up one side of the mountain and you reach the peak.
SPEAKER_00: And then you come down the other side of the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever is on one side of the mountain is mirrored on the other side of the mountain.
SPEAKER_00: And at the peak, well, that's the whole point of the book.
SPEAKER_00: So here's the journey.
SPEAKER_00: It starts with a complaint.
SPEAKER_00: How long, Lord, how long?
SPEAKER_00: How long will injustice continue?
SPEAKER_00: How long will you stay silent?
SPEAKER_00: That's chapter one.
SPEAKER_00: Then God responds.
SPEAKER_00: He says, He's raising up Babylon.
SPEAKER_00: And Habakkuk is even more confused now.
SPEAKER_00: And he says, Why would you use someone more wicked than us?
SPEAKER_00: And so we have a complaint next.
SPEAKER_00: Then we have confusion.
SPEAKER_00: And then all that builds towards the center in chapter two.
SPEAKER_00: At the very center of the book, God says in chapter 2, verse 4, he says, the righteous will live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: See, that's the turning point in the whole book.
SPEAKER_00: Everything before it moves towards that statement.
SPEAKER_00: The righteous will live by faith.
SPEAKER_00: And everything after it flows from that statement.
SPEAKER_00: See, then the pattern mirrors back.
SPEAKER_00: Babylon will eventually be judged for his own wickedness, and God will come in power.
SPEAKER_00: And then the book ends, not with changed circumstances, but with praise.
SPEAKER_00: In Habakkuk chapter 3, verses 17 through 18, it says, Though the fig tree does not bud, though there are no grapes, though the fields produce no food, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, Habakkuk says, There's not going to be any prosperity, there's not going to be any productivity, there's not going to be anything that you might enjoy around you, but yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: Do you see what the structure is teaching us?
SPEAKER_00: God didn't remove the tension, He structured it to lead Habakkuk and the people of Israel to faith.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing changed externally.
SPEAKER_00: The invasion was still coming, the hardship, the suffering, that was still real.
SPEAKER_00: So what changed in this whole situation?
SPEAKER_00: Habakkuk changed.
SPEAKER_00: He starts with, How long, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: And then ends with, Yet I will rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: So silence wasn't actually silence from God, it was waiting.
SPEAKER_00: So when God seems silent in your life, he's actually not silent at all.
SPEAKER_00: It's that God has spoken and now he's asking you to wait.
SPEAKER_00: And waiting patiently on God does not remove the storm, it produces stability in the middle of the storm.
SPEAKER_00: And waiting reveals what and who we should worship.
SPEAKER_00: Do we worship God because He answers us quickly?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we worship Him because He is worthy?
SPEAKER_00: Do we worship God because of what He can do?
SPEAKER_00: Or do we worship God because of who He is?
SPEAKER_00: You see, waiting reveals whether our faith is transactional or if our faith is relational.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do when we are waiting on God?
SPEAKER_00: Because that's the real question, right?
SPEAKER_00: That is the real question.
SPEAKER_00: Pastor Jess, I am waiting, and waiting is hard.
SPEAKER_00: What do I do in the middle of all this waiting, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: What do I do?
SPEAKER_00: Well, we do what Habakkuk did.
SPEAKER_00: We go to the watchtower.
SPEAKER_00: We stay at our post and we don't give up.
SPEAKER_00: So what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: We do not abandon prayer just because clarity hasn't come.
SPEAKER_00: We keep praying and we keep waiting on God.
SPEAKER_00: See, the name Habakkuk means to embrace or to cling.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so appropriate for him because that's exactly what he does.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't walk away from God, he leans into God, he wrestles, he questions, he struggles, but then he stays where he's supposed to stay, waiting on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You see, while we wait on God, we anchor ourselves in what we already know about God.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we know about God?
SPEAKER_00: That God's character does not fluctuate with your circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: God's character remains the same through the whole thing.
SPEAKER_00: It remains steady even when the world does not.
SPEAKER_00: And while we wait, we shift our prayer.
SPEAKER_00: We shift it from God fix this to God form me.
SPEAKER_00: God mold me.
SPEAKER_00: God grow me.
SPEAKER_00: God glorify yourself through me.
SPEAKER_00: God make me look and act just like you.
SPEAKER_00: See, that is the prayer.
SPEAKER_00: And while we wait, I challenge you to practice the yet faith.
SPEAKER_00: What does that mean, Pastor Jess?
SPEAKER_00: Yet even if nothing changes, I will rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: If my circumstances don't change, I will rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: If I never get healed, I will rejoice.
SPEAKER_00: See, and then we ask ourselves honestly: if the breakthrough does not come when I want it to and how I want it, will I still trust him?
SPEAKER_00: You see, ultimately, waiting is used to transform us.
SPEAKER_00: We go from impatiently complaining to learning how to wait on the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: See, Habakkuk begins with, How long, Lord?
SPEAKER_00: How long?
SPEAKER_00: Then he ends with, The sovereign Lord is my strength.
SPEAKER_00: See, silence did not shrink his faith, it strengthened it.
SPEAKER_00: God is not withdrawing from you.
SPEAKER_00: God is not hiding from you.
SPEAKER_00: He is developing you.
SPEAKER_00: He is building a believer who can't be shaken by delay, who can't be shaken by disappointment, who can't be shaken by confusion.
SPEAKER_00: See, silence is not the absence of God, it's often the classroom of God.
SPEAKER_00: See, I want you to remember this today, and I want you to remember this always.
SPEAKER_00: Pray even if you feel nothing.
SPEAKER_00: Worship even if nothing changes.
SPEAKER_00: Obey what God has already spoken into your life.
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to declare this every single day to your very last breath.
SPEAKER_00: I want you to declare though I do not see movement, though I do not hear clearly, though my circumstances remain uncertain, yet I will trust the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And why?
SPEAKER_00: Because mature faith is not built in noise and distraction, it is developed in silence and waiting.
SPEAKER_00: See, there was a story from the hiding place written by Corey Ten Boom.
SPEAKER_00: Corey and her sister Betsy were imprisoned in Ravensbrook concentration camp during World War II for hiding Jewish families.
SPEAKER_00: When they were transferred into a new barracks, it was overcrowded, it was filthy, and it was infested with fleas.
SPEAKER_00: Not just a few fleas, an infestation of fleas.
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you have had a cat or a dog, you know exactly what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_00: Corey was completely overwhelmed in this situation.
SPEAKER_00: She was exhausted from being in the concentration camp.
SPEAKER_00: She was exhausted from working hard.
SPEAKER_00: She was exhausted of being hungry.
SPEAKER_00: She was exhausted of these horrifying conditions that they experienced.
SPEAKER_00: She was grieved and sad.
SPEAKER_00: She was disgusted.
SPEAKER_00: But her sister Betsy, who was so optimistic, she opened up the scriptures and she read from 1 Thessalonians 5, 18A.
SPEAKER_00: And it said, give thanks in all circumstances.
SPEAKER_00: In that moment, they begin thanking God for the roof over their heads, for being together in the concentration camp, for the Bible they had smuggled in.
SPEAKER_00: And then Betsy said, Corey, I need you to thank God for the fleas.
SPEAKER_00: I really believe that we all have a Betsy in our life.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes we don't want to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the suffering in my life.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the grief.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the illness.
SPEAKER_00: Thank God for the financial struggle.
SPEAKER_00: It's in those moments where we think, are you actually my friend?
SPEAKER_00: Betsy says to his sister, thank him for the fleas.
SPEAKER_00: And Corey refused at first.
SPEAKER_00: We all know that I'm I will not thank God for that.
SPEAKER_00: But she could thank God for so many things in that moment.
SPEAKER_00: But just not that.
SPEAKER_00: Eventually, she did thank God for it.
SPEAKER_00: And weeks later, they made a discovery.
SPEAKER_00: The guards rarely entered their barracks.
SPEAKER_00: Why?
SPEAKER_00: Because of the fleas.
SPEAKER_00: That meant that the women were able to hold Bible studies openly every single night.
SPEAKER_00: And the book actually says that as they read the scripture, that you could hear the other woman interpreting the scripture in multiple languages so that everybody that was in the concentration camp, that everybody that was in the barracks with them, could understand the word of God.
SPEAKER_00: They read, they studied, they prayed, they encouraged one another without interruption.
SPEAKER_00: The very thing that felt like meaningless suffering became the unseen protection that allowed ministry to flourish.
SPEAKER_00: But they didn't see that immediately.
SPEAKER_00: They only understood it later.
SPEAKER_00: And from their perspective, in that moment, it felt like abandonment.
SPEAKER_00: From heaven's perspective, it was God's protective care.
SPEAKER_00: So sometimes what feels like God's silence is actually God's strategy.
SPEAKER_00: And sometimes the thing you are asking God to remove is the very thing He is using to protect and to prepare you.
SPEAKER_00: So Corey later reflected that God was never absent in the barracks.
SPEAKER_00: He was simply working in ways that she could not see him at the time.
SPEAKER_00: That is often how silence and waiting functions.
SPEAKER_00: It's not empty, it is not hidden activity.
SPEAKER_00: And some of us are praying for the fleas to die or leave.
SPEAKER_00: And God is asking you to thank him for the fleas so that he can grow you in ways you could not imagine, or through you, he could, so that through you he could be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: So Habakkuk reminds us that when God seems silent, he is often not absent, but he is working in ways that we just don't understand and calling us to live by faith while we wait.
SPEAKER_00: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_00: God, I thank you for every person in this sanctuary and for everyone that's watching online.
SPEAKER_00: I pray that as they go through waiting seasons, as they go through times of silence, that you would give them strength, Father.
SPEAKER_00: That they would pray for the fleas, Lord Jesus, that they would thank you for them, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: That they would see that in the middle of whatever it is that they are going through, that you are at work and you are doing an incredible work in their life, Lord Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: So that through their life, Lord, that you would be glorified.
SPEAKER_00: So, Father, we thank you.
SPEAKER_00: We pray all this in the mighty name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Amen, amen, and amen.
SPEAKER_00: If you need prayer, our chaplains will be right here in the front, ready to pray with you.