WEBVTT 00:00:01.314 --> 00:00:13.044 And so today, we're closing out a series, and I think it would be right for us to close out this series the way that Habakkuk closes out this prayer. 00:00:14.105 --> 00:00:16.806 For those of you who haven't been here for a while, I want to catch you up to speed. 00:00:16.867 --> 00:00:22.292 For some of you who are visiting, because of various reasons, I want to kind of just let you know what's been going on. 00:00:22.332 --> 00:00:25.155 The last four weeks, we've been going through a series of Habakkuk. 00:00:25.175 --> 00:00:27.036 Habakkuk is a prophet in the Old Testament. 00:00:27.457 --> 00:01:02.673 God would raise up prophets in the Old Testament to point people back to God, to tell them about you know where they need to repent where they need to turn to to stop worshipping idols or corrupt leaders or whatever it might be but turn back to God Habakkuk is very rare and one of the minor prophets because he's one of the only three prophets who instead of talking to the people of God he goes directly to God for three chapters and he only talks to God he doesn't say anything to the people of Judah who have rebelled who have turned away from God he doesn't say anything to them, but it's for them. 00:01:03.975 --> 00:01:05.736 His focus is on God. 00:01:05.777 --> 00:01:16.968 What takes place here is that Judah, due to corruption, political corruption and leadership and kings, very many kings in their history, and only a handful of them were actually faithful. 00:01:17.349 --> 00:01:18.930 What does that say about politics today? 00:01:18.971 --> 00:01:28.962 We place our hope in political leaders, and if we look at the history of God's people, there's only a handful that have actually been righteous. 00:01:30.442 --> 00:01:55.269 And so then what happened is Habakkuk sees that what happens when people turn away from the law of God, the Torah, when they turn away from the ways of God, when they have corrupt leaders, when injustice and evil and chaos and violence and poverty and greed takes over a community or a nation, what happens is Habakkuk, he begins by talking to God saying, man, I don't understand this. 00:01:55.650 --> 00:01:56.932 This doesn't seem right. 00:01:57.432 --> 00:01:58.253 I can't stand it. 00:01:58.332 --> 00:02:00.715 I know you can't stand it because you're too holy. 00:02:00.756 --> 00:02:37.802 You're too righteous and you're too just to allow this to happen God why are you allowing your people to be unfaithful and then God says wait until you get a load of me you won't believe this if I were to tell you but I'm going to go ahead and show you what I'm doing to judge my own people is I'm actually going to raise up another people who's actually even more evil and unruly than my people have become and I'm actually going to take this people to judge this people and hold up don't believe that just because I'm raising up this group of people against my people that I'm actually with those people. 00:02:39.681 --> 00:02:41.444 I'm actually doing this for your good. 00:02:43.367 --> 00:02:50.179 We better be careful about who we think wins and whose side they're on. 00:02:50.218 --> 00:03:00.775 If we begin to try to think that the people that we think that we're picking, sometimes God raises up the opposites to correct the chosen. 00:03:02.397 --> 00:03:15.823 And at the same time, he's also inviting the people who seem more ruthless into his salvation plan as well, because God is good. 00:03:15.862 --> 00:03:24.751 And so the first part of this series, it was really about a confession, and his confession was, Lord, you confuse me. 00:03:26.051 --> 00:03:26.953 I'm confused, God. 00:03:26.973 --> 00:03:32.056 I don't know what you're doing in this season or what's going on, but you're confusing me. 00:03:32.097 --> 00:03:39.082 God says, well, I'm about to raise up the Babylon to actually overtake them, to overtake my people. 00:03:40.183 --> 00:03:41.724 And then he moves and he says, okay. 00:03:41.866 --> 00:03:44.828 And then he goes on, he talks again and says, God, you seem holy. 00:03:45.588 --> 00:03:46.909 But he says, I'll wait for you. 00:03:47.931 --> 00:03:56.018 Even in the midst of chaos, even in the midst of trouble, even in the midst of doubt and uncertainty, the question for us is, will we wait for God? 00:03:57.318 --> 00:04:05.186 Because he goes on to say in chapter 2, verse 4, that the righteous shall live by faith. 00:04:07.042 --> 00:04:13.527 That leads us into chapter three, where God is looking, Habakkuk is looking to God. 00:04:13.548 --> 00:04:18.072 So the first part is horizontal, and then from that point on, the relationship is just vertical. 00:04:18.591 --> 00:04:21.413 He's looking around and sees all of the chaos in his life. 00:04:21.814 --> 00:04:37.588 And sometimes us, like Habakkuk, whether it's nationally, globally, or even individually, sometimes when we experience things in our life, we have the tendency to fixate ourselves on what we see more than the God that we don't see, but we say, we trust. 00:04:38.750 --> 00:04:46.778 And then what happens is the things that we see drowned out the voice of God and we find ourselves as people without hope. 00:04:47.939 --> 00:04:50.541 Remember, we're called to grieve as those who do have hope. 00:04:50.562 --> 00:05:00.673 There's never a point in a Christian's life if your faith is in the completed and finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross. 00:05:00.793 --> 00:05:02.035 Yes, it will be painful. 00:05:02.394 --> 00:05:03.355 Yes, it will hurt. 00:05:03.776 --> 00:05:11.644 Yes, it will sometimes seem hopeless, but it's never without hope because the finished work of what Jesus has done on the cross is already done. 00:05:14.850 --> 00:05:16.432 And then we get to this last part. 00:05:17.112 --> 00:05:21.158 So we talked about all of chapter 3 except for the last three verses. 00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:23.201 So you look up and around. 00:05:23.221 --> 00:05:24.062 Do you worry? 00:05:24.283 --> 00:05:25.184 You look up and listen. 00:05:25.223 --> 00:05:26.384 You look up and listen. 00:05:26.425 --> 00:05:28.908 You begin to attune to God and see what God is doing. 00:05:28.949 --> 00:05:38.482 And then this last part is really looking ahead and believing because what we've seen in most of chapter 3, we see judgment taking place. 00:05:38.502 --> 00:05:42.786 We see language that reminds us of Exodus. 00:05:42.807 --> 00:05:43.468 Exodus. 00:05:45.026 --> 00:05:53.132 But God is pointing Habakkuk to a future exodus, even in the midst of the Babylonians about to take over. 00:05:54.274 --> 00:05:58.377 Remember, he told Jeremiah, 70 years, you're going to be in exile. 00:05:59.177 --> 00:06:06.685 It's going to be rough for 70 years, but go ahead and commit your life to building homes, planting gardens, go on about life. 00:06:06.725 --> 00:06:07.886 It's going to be rough for a while. 00:06:08.646 --> 00:06:10.168 And then God eventually delivers them. 00:06:10.348 --> 00:06:12.629 But ultimately, it wasn't to stop there. 00:06:12.670 --> 00:06:20.737 It's actually to point to Jesus, on the cross, who comes in, who dies, and dies for people while they're still sinners. 00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:22.540 This is the thing about God. 00:06:22.600 --> 00:06:30.048 God, through Christ, he loves even those people who seem to be outside of God's will and invites them into God's will. 00:06:30.367 --> 00:06:32.951 This is the kind of God that we serve. 00:06:34.273 --> 00:06:51.790 But it doesn't stop there because he's also pointing to a future exodus when the Lord God Almighty returns and he comes to judge and make all things new to the point to where he will dry every tear from our eyes. 00:06:54.434 --> 00:06:55.875 And there should be no more death. 00:06:57.276 --> 00:06:58.677 There should be no more sickness. 00:06:59.978 --> 00:07:07.384 There shall be no more evil, no more injustice, no more oppression, no more marginalization. 00:07:07.404 --> 00:07:10.088 It doesn't just stop. 00:07:11.588 --> 00:07:17.293 And what God wants us to see is that throughout all of human history, God is sovereign. 00:07:18.415 --> 00:07:24.399 There's never a time throughout history where God has not been sovereign. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:25.382 sovereign. 00:07:27.706 --> 00:07:31.937 Please stand with me as we read the word of God. 00:07:35.846 --> 00:07:42.300 Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 through 19. 00:07:48.514 --> 00:08:06.697 And it reads as follows. 00:08:19.009 --> 00:08:34.476 Though I will rejoice in the God of my salvation, the Lord God is my strength and he has made my feet like hinds feet and makes me walk on high places. 00:08:34.616 --> 00:08:37.081 Father God, in these next few moments. 00:08:39.745 --> 00:08:53.817 Would you help us to reorient, to repent, to change our mind, to change our perspective, to change the way that we see things in you rather than what we see in the world. 00:08:54.499 --> 00:09:05.388 Would you help us to look at you no matter what's going on in the world and to know that you're sovereign and may that lead us into hopeful praise. 00:09:06.649 --> 00:09:08.270 In Jesus' name, amen. 00:09:09.231 --> 00:09:41.225 You may be see that I'm going to talk about these three verses real quick and then what's going to happen is the worship team is going to come up and they're going to lead us through three songs of worship and praise and I want to invite you during these 15 20 minutes of worship and praise whatever the Holy Spirit does in this time maybe longer I want to be on the Holy Spirit's time not on my time and I also want to be mindful of time that maybe God would help you shift your perspective. 00:09:42.207 --> 00:09:43.610 Shift your focus. 00:09:44.491 --> 00:09:46.173 Shift the way that you see things. 00:09:46.715 --> 00:09:49.219 Many of us have lost loved ones this year. 00:09:50.721 --> 00:09:51.543 Mothers and fathers. 00:09:53.625 --> 00:09:56.671 Children, siblings. 00:09:56.811 --> 00:10:00.576 Many of us have had hard times this year. 00:10:00.817 --> 00:10:02.880 Some of us maybe say I had hard times my whole life. 00:10:04.524 --> 00:10:05.365 That also is true. 00:10:06.881 --> 00:10:16.274 In our nation, in our world, as we've gone through this series, we've seen not only are we having hard times, but people in Venezuela are having hard times. 00:10:17.517 --> 00:10:21.041 People in North Korea are having hard times. 00:10:22.062 --> 00:10:37.134 People in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Africa, where we power our smartphones, through the blood of the people. 00:10:38.596 --> 00:10:48.130 Children, men, women, the most vulnerable people in society working in cobalt mines for a dollar a day and dying. 00:10:49.653 --> 00:10:50.595 Look it up sometime. 00:10:51.756 --> 00:10:55.964 To power our overconsumption and greed. 00:11:00.961 --> 00:11:26.426 maybe we can begin to look outside of our circumstances and realize that we're not alone that we all go through things that we all been through things and we all will go through things again and maybe each and every time that we go through something it's another invitation for us to see God in a different light or maybe even a light that we haven't seen yet. 00:11:27.889 --> 00:11:29.371 Verse 17, this starts off. 00:11:30.234 --> 00:11:45.221 It starts off here and it says, though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls. 00:11:48.162 --> 00:11:50.443 What does that have to do with anything, right? 00:11:51.705 --> 00:11:52.966 Babylon's going to take over. 00:11:55.028 --> 00:11:55.327 Judah. 00:11:56.609 --> 00:11:58.030 I mean, they're going to come in and take over. 00:11:58.211 --> 00:11:58.910 They're going to pillage. 00:11:58.931 --> 00:11:59.751 They're going to take over. 00:12:00.273 --> 00:12:14.365 The people in Judah have been experiencing some, the people in power in Judah, I should say, the people of privilege in Judah, I should say, have been experiencing a lot of great gain and economics have been great. 00:12:14.384 --> 00:12:15.946 That's typically what happens. 00:12:16.005 --> 00:12:19.129 You have the few who takes more than what they need so let the rest have to suffer. 00:12:19.390 --> 00:12:22.337 This is typically, this is just simple mathematics throughout history. 00:12:22.697 --> 00:12:27.389 You only have so much and some of us take more than what we need and guess what? 00:12:27.428 --> 00:12:30.937 That leaves others with less and sometimes even nothing. 00:12:33.121 --> 00:12:40.408 So here, even in this verse, even as we're talking about here, as we're talking about figs and fruit, what is this about? 00:12:40.567 --> 00:12:41.688 What is this about? 00:12:42.389 --> 00:12:44.971 This is an ascending order here. 00:12:45.753 --> 00:12:49.076 From least to greatest economic damages. 00:12:49.495 --> 00:12:58.783 Even back then they were talking about the way that economics are impacted and most of us, or many of us, are probably somehow feeling the election coming up on Tuesday. 00:13:00.605 --> 00:13:05.149 How are we going to be impacted by whoever wins you know what's always on the line? 00:13:06.091 --> 00:13:06.511 Economics. 00:13:08.714 --> 00:13:10.495 I was talking to my brother this morning from Chicago. 00:13:10.576 --> 00:13:12.357 Actually, two brothers prayed with him this morning before church. 00:13:13.278 --> 00:13:15.160 One's on the south side, one's on the west side. 00:13:15.221 --> 00:13:19.465 Roseland, one of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago. 00:13:19.625 --> 00:13:22.328 My brother, David Washington, is a church planter there. 00:13:22.349 --> 00:13:32.940 And David, a couple of years ago, he said to me one time, he said, no matter who's in office and no matter what party is in office, my hood never changes. 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:34.333 Amen. 00:13:34.977 --> 00:13:36.820 It never changes. 00:13:38.000 --> 00:13:46.388 And it ain't because the people who live in that neighborhood are just broken or poor or bad or dumb or stupid or crazy or criminals. 00:13:46.447 --> 00:13:47.129 No, no, no, no, no. 00:13:47.489 --> 00:13:55.655 There's a sinful structure that all of us, if we're not careful, we participate in, whether willingly or unknowingly, we participate in something beyond what we see. 00:13:57.697 --> 00:13:59.099 And so this here is about economics. 00:14:00.120 --> 00:14:02.442 Figs were served as a delicacy in Israel. 00:14:03.363 --> 00:14:04.182 This is delicacy. 00:14:04.222 --> 00:14:04.744 This is actually... 00:14:04.943 --> 00:14:06.125 It's not something you need to survive. 00:14:06.144 --> 00:14:06.806 It's just extra. 00:14:07.407 --> 00:14:08.187 It's a delicacy. 00:14:08.587 --> 00:14:09.969 That's what figs were. 00:14:10.789 --> 00:14:13.113 But their loss did not produce severe hardship. 00:14:14.254 --> 00:14:16.176 Grapes provided the daily drink. 00:14:17.437 --> 00:14:23.943 But again, the loss of the fruit vine would produce inconvenience rather than destitution. 00:14:24.024 --> 00:14:27.408 Sometimes what we think is struggle really ain't struggle. 00:14:27.707 --> 00:14:28.990 You're just uncomfortable. 00:14:29.009 --> 00:14:29.710 That's all it is. 00:14:29.990 --> 00:14:31.572 You're just a little uncomfortable. 00:14:31.993 --> 00:14:33.153 You're just uncomfortable. 00:14:33.173 --> 00:14:34.355 You ain't going to die. 00:14:34.895 --> 00:14:37.366 No matter who wins this election, ain't nobody gonna die. 00:14:40.066 --> 00:14:42.948 Go to different places in the world and see what happens with their poor. 00:14:45.551 --> 00:14:46.871 Want to talk about American privilege? 00:14:48.572 --> 00:14:49.934 Even our poor have benefits. 00:14:50.455 --> 00:14:53.236 I went to Honduras several years ago with my brother Clay in the back. 00:14:53.697 --> 00:14:55.278 You know what their welfare plan is? 00:14:56.360 --> 00:14:59.202 Because of political corruption, they ain't even got nothing for nobody poor. 00:15:00.484 --> 00:15:02.566 Their welfare is get it out the dumpster. 00:15:04.047 --> 00:15:06.469 Go hop in the dumpster and get it out. 00:15:07.169 --> 00:15:10.813 There's no nothing at all for the poor. 00:15:11.557 --> 00:15:13.984 No benefits, no HIPAA, none of that. 00:15:14.404 --> 00:15:14.785 Nothing. 00:15:15.929 --> 00:15:19.801 If you're poor, go get it out the dumpster. 00:15:21.922 --> 00:15:27.706 Even our poor in America, we sometimes have a jaded perspective on what's going on. 00:15:27.726 --> 00:15:30.769 Now, that doesn't mean that the poor in America don't matter. 00:15:30.789 --> 00:15:32.510 Absolutely, we all do. 00:15:33.672 --> 00:15:36.274 But it helps us to put things into perspective. 00:15:36.855 --> 00:15:37.775 Grain and barley. 00:15:38.395 --> 00:15:40.018 Oh, you all remember that. 00:15:40.038 --> 00:15:48.085 If you were around for the Revelation series, olive crops, olive crops, olive here, olive crop produced oil for cooking and lighting. 00:15:48.105 --> 00:15:53.929 If you were around for the Revelation series, there was a writer on a horse. 00:15:55.851 --> 00:16:02.178 Revelation chapter 6, I want you to understand throughout history, we see the same things. 00:16:03.559 --> 00:16:19.557 Babylon today, Babylon 400 years ago, Babylon 1,000 years ago, Babylon at the beginning, you want to go from Egypt, Pharaoh, you go up to Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar actually repented towards the end, but it was still Babylonian practices. 00:16:20.118 --> 00:16:29.549 You want to go to the New Testament, Bible time, We're talking about Rome who has the same Babylonian spirit that existed at the beginning with Pharaoh. 00:16:31.692 --> 00:16:36.097 And America is no different. 00:16:36.219 --> 00:16:39.503 You better watch who you call the greatest. 00:16:41.384 --> 00:16:43.628 How do you even measure greatness? 00:16:44.328 --> 00:16:46.451 You measure it by economics? 00:16:48.225 --> 00:17:04.472 So then what you're saying is you can do anything that you want to do for profit, and as long as there's some return, ROI, baby, as long as there's some return on investment, God blesses us. 00:17:06.035 --> 00:17:11.845 Again, based on Habakkuk's story, some people might say the Babylonians were blessed. 00:17:13.247 --> 00:17:13.768 God did it. 00:17:16.130 --> 00:17:33.886 So we better be careful when we talk about who's blessed because there's a fruit that is in alignment with the will and way of God that equals success even when we use metrics that are actually ungodly and then say God blessed it. 00:17:35.309 --> 00:17:35.851 Ain't that something? 00:17:37.473 --> 00:17:38.255 Revelation 6.6. 00:17:38.434 --> 00:17:38.996 Go to it. 00:17:39.215 --> 00:17:39.876 Go to it, Elisha. 00:17:40.778 --> 00:17:41.599 Revelation 6.6. 00:17:42.961 --> 00:17:43.442 Can we see it? 00:17:44.563 --> 00:17:52.453 I heard what sounded like a voice from somewhere among the four living creatures that said a quart of wheat will cost you a whole day's wages. 00:17:52.513 --> 00:17:53.335 This is injustice. 00:17:54.636 --> 00:17:56.499 The measuring system, the math ain't math. 00:17:57.980 --> 00:18:01.465 Three quarts of barley will cost you a day's wages too. 00:18:02.366 --> 00:18:05.070 But don't ruin the olive oil or the wine. 00:18:05.090 --> 00:18:07.453 The olive oil or the wine will cost you a whole day's wages. 00:18:07.554 --> 00:18:12.138 were things that the rich in this time had immeasurable access to. 00:18:13.681 --> 00:18:19.528 And at the end of the day, wherever we're going, the rich, the super-rich are always going to be okay. 00:18:22.270 --> 00:18:22.770 Does it make sense? 00:18:23.071 --> 00:18:23.471 You picking up? 00:18:26.295 --> 00:18:37.169 Those who have more than what they, way more than what they need, don't touch that! But what he says is, God says, I'm going to use Babylon to disrupt the economic system. 00:18:37.990 --> 00:18:38.471 Why is that? 00:18:38.511 --> 00:18:42.161 Because sometimes we become too dependent on things that are not of God. 00:18:43.944 --> 00:18:45.208 And it doesn't have to be money. 00:18:45.248 --> 00:18:49.980 It could be whatever you place at the center as an idol. 00:18:51.298 --> 00:18:52.839 It could be your power. 00:18:53.079 --> 00:18:55.844 It could be the need to have things your way. 00:18:57.046 --> 00:19:01.892 Whatever it is that you want to place there, that's your economy. 00:19:03.054 --> 00:19:06.979 And oftentimes, and most times, it's not the same economy as God's. 00:19:08.201 --> 00:19:10.044 Sheep and cattle, grain. 00:19:10.503 --> 00:19:12.968 Grain was a staple for the Palestinians. 00:19:13.008 --> 00:19:15.049 Palestine is where this is taking place at in the Bible. 00:19:15.570 --> 00:19:16.952 Palestine, here, right here. 00:19:18.753 --> 00:19:21.218 Grain was the staple diet for Palestine. 00:19:22.641 --> 00:19:27.108 Sheep and cattle also made up most of the wealth in Palestine. 00:19:28.090 --> 00:19:33.661 So what is it here that we have placed our hope in other than God? 00:19:33.681 --> 00:19:37.888 And when you start messing with it, all of a sudden we lose our hope in salvation. 00:19:41.214 --> 00:19:42.877 All of a sudden. 00:19:43.298 --> 00:19:50.635 We lose our hope in salvation because we listen to a narrative that God actually was never in, no matter how much you say he's in. 00:19:51.938 --> 00:19:54.799 Secondly, verse 18, hold up, hold up, hold up. 00:19:55.500 --> 00:19:56.142 Let me take that back. 00:19:56.201 --> 00:20:07.171 No matter what you eat or drink, Habakkuk understood something because he would have been formed in the Torah, the law of God, the teachings of God, the first five books of the Old Testament. 00:20:07.612 --> 00:20:10.594 And so Habakkuk understands that you can take away my comforts. 00:20:11.095 --> 00:20:14.597 You can take away the things that I have relied upon maybe too much. 00:20:14.657 --> 00:20:17.099 You can take it away, but let me tell you something. 00:20:17.640 --> 00:20:19.682 Deuteronomy 8.3, go ahead and put it up there, Elisha. 00:20:20.182 --> 00:20:21.903 Habakkuk knew something, and then he gave you him. 00:20:21.903 --> 00:20:25.127 manna, a kind of food that you and your ancestors had never been heard about. 00:20:25.888 --> 00:20:29.373 The Lord was teaching you that people need more than food to live. 00:20:29.413 --> 00:20:32.776 They need every word that the Lord has spoken. 00:20:32.817 --> 00:20:40.945 But if you don't have the word in you, you will only feast and eat on the idols that you create around you. 00:20:40.965 --> 00:20:46.352 And they will not sustain you in difficult times. 00:20:48.546 --> 00:20:49.086 Next slide. 00:20:49.366 --> 00:20:50.067 Next thing. 00:20:50.106 --> 00:20:51.528 So we're going to go on to the next one. 00:20:53.230 --> 00:20:57.993 The entire world may pass away, but the word of God will never fade away. 00:20:59.214 --> 00:21:00.115 What's in your diet? 00:21:00.415 --> 00:21:01.576 What are you eating on? 00:21:01.616 --> 00:21:03.098 What are you relying upon? 00:21:03.138 --> 00:21:04.019 What are you depending on? 00:21:04.058 --> 00:21:08.202 And then here, the next part of here is verse 18 here, I think is unique too. 00:21:08.542 --> 00:21:13.448 Verse 18, he says, Yet I will exalt in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 00:21:14.428 --> 00:21:18.432 This is much more than just telling somebody, man, just get over it. 00:21:18.511 --> 00:21:21.301 Man, just white knuckle it, some people. 00:21:21.583 --> 00:21:22.326 White knuckle it. 00:21:22.346 --> 00:21:23.230 Just push through it, man. 00:21:23.250 --> 00:21:24.674 Just hang in there. 00:21:26.079 --> 00:21:27.144 Man, just tough it out. 00:21:27.970 --> 00:21:29.131 Suck it up, buttercup. 00:21:29.550 --> 00:21:33.434 This is much more, you know our faith is much more than just telling people to suck it up. 00:21:35.175 --> 00:21:42.942 You know that when people are experiencing a hard time, people in faith suck it up, that actually can be demeaning at times. 00:21:43.784 --> 00:21:48.367 Now I understand the sentiment behind it and I'm guilty of this at times too. 00:21:50.088 --> 00:21:50.288 I am. 00:21:52.411 --> 00:21:53.152 But he says this. 00:21:55.094 --> 00:22:02.461 He says, I will exalt in the Lord and I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. 00:22:04.417 --> 00:22:15.007 Habakkuk is reflecting the kind of relationship where it shows that he delights in God. 00:22:16.568 --> 00:22:25.916 That he delights so much in God that no matter what he goes through, he finds his joy in God. 00:22:26.557 --> 00:22:32.682 This is much better and much more than suck it up and get over it and get through it or tough luck, trust God. 00:22:32.762 --> 00:22:33.103 No, no. 00:22:33.844 --> 00:22:39.289 He's saying that my life is dependent upon the way I see God. 00:22:39.329 --> 00:22:48.279 And when I'm not delighting in God, I will find joy and delight in things around me that will always fail me. 00:22:49.040 --> 00:22:52.424 People, jobs, money, relationships. 00:22:54.106 --> 00:22:55.828 At some point in time, all of these things will fail. 00:22:57.711 --> 00:23:02.057 It will always expose where you find your delight. 00:23:04.289 --> 00:23:10.461 And if we're honest with ourselves, we're not any different from the people of Judah. 00:23:11.805 --> 00:23:20.300 We have found our delight in the wrong things, and God is simply inviting us back to delight in Him. 00:23:22.806 --> 00:23:23.487 Will we do that today? 00:23:26.306 --> 00:23:27.467 He repents from the beginning. 00:23:28.087 --> 00:23:31.590 He starts out with this doubt and he ends in rejoicing. 00:23:32.092 --> 00:23:35.275 That doesn't mean that he doesn't have hurt and pain and lament. 00:23:35.535 --> 00:23:37.317 No, both can be true at the same time. 00:23:40.138 --> 00:23:54.232 What this means is, is that these strong emotions that are used to describe some things, even earlier when Habakkuk was describing the anxiety that he was feeling and the worry, these are strong emotions in Hebrew. 00:23:56.066 --> 00:24:00.631 This word for joy is also a strong emotion. 00:24:02.512 --> 00:24:12.944 The same energy that you use when you worry and have anxiety actually needs to be more energy towards finding the light in the Lord. 00:24:12.984 --> 00:24:22.335 Are you matching the energy or are you actually exceeding matching the energy to point and focus on God? 00:24:23.876 --> 00:24:24.958 This is what he's talking about. 00:24:28.321 --> 00:24:37.432 Even though he might lose everything in the world, which brings about life and happiness according to the world's standards, he vows to rejoice in the Lord. 00:24:37.471 --> 00:24:47.163 His faith is tested and it's refined by real trials in life, much like all of us today. 00:24:48.104 --> 00:25:09.651 What if I told you that every trial that you have experienced in your life At the same time, God wanted to use to refine your faith or to help you see something that you don't see even if you don't like it, even if it was devastating, traumatic. 00:25:10.972 --> 00:25:15.480 What if I told you that God is still greater? 00:25:16.742 --> 00:25:18.685 Would you believe me? 00:25:20.130 --> 00:25:27.138 This last part, I want to invite the worship team up now because this last part is very important. 00:25:29.521 --> 00:25:30.522 And this is where he ends. 00:25:32.967 --> 00:25:41.758 There are six times in the Old Testament where there's a word used to describe Yahweh. 00:25:43.105 --> 00:25:44.509 It's a very unique word. 00:25:45.573 --> 00:25:50.688 It's only used six times, and I find it interesting that Habakkuk uses this. 00:25:51.912 --> 00:25:55.261 The other five times that it's used is using the song. 00:25:56.321 --> 00:25:58.403 But there's something that Habakkuk knew. 00:26:00.405 --> 00:26:12.579 There's something that he knew about God that in devastating times, he ultimately knew still who was in control. 00:26:14.942 --> 00:26:21.789 He says this, the Lord God is my strength. 00:26:23.394 --> 00:26:24.435 God is my strength. 00:26:24.615 --> 00:26:28.382 The word in Hebrew is Yahweh Adonai. 00:26:29.983 --> 00:26:34.750 Yahweh Adonai, it means the Lord is sovereign, the sovereign Lord. 00:26:34.971 --> 00:26:47.069 That is the one who sits on top of all of creation, inhabits all of the praise of his people, the one who holds everything in the palm of his hands, baby. 00:26:47.682 --> 00:26:52.347 The death, the trauma, the pain, the addiction, the regrets, the sin. 00:26:52.929 --> 00:26:57.253 He's big enough to hold all of that in his hands. 00:26:58.075 --> 00:27:01.299 So much that he sent Jesus to die for us. 00:27:01.319 --> 00:27:05.224 And that death could not hold Jesus down. 00:27:05.545 --> 00:27:12.413 But because Yahweh Adonai is sovereign, he raises Jesus up from the dead on the third day. 00:27:13.057 --> 00:27:20.106 because he has all power over sin and the most brutal enemy is death. 00:27:22.329 --> 00:27:27.236 That Yahweh Adonai is sovereign. 00:27:27.256 --> 00:27:30.098 The Lord is sovereign, Drew. 00:27:30.119 --> 00:27:33.824 He's sovereign over your health. 00:27:33.844 --> 00:27:36.386 He's sovereign over life. 00:27:36.406 --> 00:27:37.729 He's sovereign over loss. 00:27:38.561 --> 00:27:40.164 He's sovereign over losing your mama. 00:27:40.826 --> 00:27:42.909 He's sovereign over losing your daddy. 00:27:43.509 --> 00:27:45.532 He's sovereign over your marriage. 00:27:45.973 --> 00:27:47.876 He's sovereign over your mental health. 00:27:48.317 --> 00:27:49.819 He's sovereign over your life. 00:27:50.240 --> 00:27:52.023 He's sovereign over your body. 00:27:52.403 --> 00:27:54.366 He is sovereign over America. 00:27:54.667 --> 00:27:56.369 He's sovereign over the Congo. 00:27:56.750 --> 00:27:58.653 He is sovereign over North Korea. 00:27:58.954 --> 00:28:00.978 He is sovereign over Venezuela. 00:28:01.198 --> 00:28:02.681 He is sovereign. 00:28:03.842 --> 00:28:15.142 And because he's sovereign, because he holds it all in his hands, he calls us to trust him. 00:28:15.221 --> 00:28:21.554 He calls us to say yes, even when we don't always feel it, even when we don't always see it. 00:28:24.499 --> 00:28:28.445 He's sovereign over me losing my son earlier this year. 00:28:28.673 --> 00:28:32.941 He's sovereign over me losing my son earlier this year. 00:28:35.163 --> 00:28:40.372 He's sovereign over my other son, who I've been praying for for the last 10 years to come back to God. 00:28:40.392 --> 00:28:41.614 And he did. 00:28:43.656 --> 00:28:44.238 And he did. 00:28:45.539 --> 00:28:47.143 And I promise you, I don't know when. 00:28:48.284 --> 00:28:49.405 I don't know how. 00:28:50.145 --> 00:28:57.837 But whatever we're all going through, I promise you, whether now or later, he's even sovereign over that. 00:28:59.721 --> 00:29:06.451 And the righteous will live by faith. 00:29:06.471 --> 00:29:08.394 Would you join us in worship and praise?