Remember, Accept, Trust

Wondering, waiting, and worshipping.

Wondering, waiting, worshipping.

This is what we find in the book of Habakkuk.

Habakkuk is one of the 12 minor prophets of the Old Testament, and he was given an oracle, a burden, a message of doom for the southern kingdom of Israel.

God was going to bring judgment on them, and he was going to use Babylon, an evil nation, as his instrument for inflicting this judgment.

Habakkuk has a lot of questions, and we've been talking about this the last two weeks.

He is holding in tension the questions of, literally, are you fair, God?

Are you in charge?

Are you watching what's happening to your people?

And he's also holding in tension with those questions, faith.

He believes that God is his God.

Yet, he doesn't know what to do with this tension he lives in.

And so he's wrestling.

He's wrestling with God, and that's what Habakkuk, the name, means.

We've been talking about this image up here, the dip.

We've talked about it a lot the last two weeks, and this idea of a flow is a very simplistic idea of what life looks like.

For a Christian, you become a Christian at point A, you put your faith in Christ, and things tend to go good for you.

They should, because we are forgiven of our sins, and we find new hope and hope of eternal life, and we typically will find a new community to be part of, and things are great, and we have what might be called a mountaintop experience, and then that will drop off, and we come to point C, where the normal stuff of life encroaches on our mountaintop experience, and we start to wonder.

At times, when things go really badly, we wonder, is God in charge of my life?

And what am I going to do with these unmet expectations?

My prayers aren't seemingly being answered, so we have some options at point C.

Sometimes we go back to point B and just think, well, I'm just going to think positive thoughts.

That's not all bad.

I guess faith is all about that.

Sometimes people give up at point C and they go back to pre-A.

I'm not even believing anymore, because if God will allow things to happen to people I love, to the world, to me, like he has, I don't know if I can believe in him anymore.

All we've talked about moving on at point C into the dip.

Again, quite a simplistic view of life.

But we've been suggesting that Habakkuk has moved on, holding the tension of faith and questions into the dip, and he's learning a whole lot of truth about life, about himself, about God, that it would seem he would not have been able to learn without the experience he's in.

And so we're suggesting that the same is true today, that we tend to find an intimacy with the Father in the dip, maybe as much or even more as the mountaintop experiences.

And I think the feedback from the congregation, from you guys over the last couple of weeks, has attested to that.

Many of us feel that exact truth.

Chapter three begins in verse one, a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigionoth.

What is Shigionoth?

Well, it's a musical setting for the reading of the chapter.

Verse two, Lord, Habakkuk says, I have heard of your fame.

I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.

Renew them in our day.

In our time, make them known in wrath.

Remember mercy.

I've heard what you've done, and I'm in awe, Lord God, would you do it again?

Have you had an experience in your life where God felt so, so close?

I think many of us who are Christians have experienced that.

And other times he doesn't feel so close.

And Habakkuk is acknowledging this, that there have been times in the history of Israel when God's power has been just so felt by the people in ages past.

And it's been a while.

And so he's saying, Oh God, would you do it again?

Would you turn up as it were?

Would you do the miraculous like you have done in our past?

What do you do when you are in the dip?

We talked last week from chapter two about three ideas.

Listen to God, write down what he says and wait.

Very simple.

Listen, write and wait.

And so this week, we're going to have a think about what we can understand from chapter three about what to do in the waiting.

What to do in the waiting.

Remember, accept and trust.

Remember in the dip, in the waiting, remember, accept and trust.

We remember what God has done.

I remember what God has done in my life.

Habakkuk is remembering the faithfulness, the character, the goodness of Yahweh.

And so he decides to remember very tangibly what God has done.

Verse three, God came from Tehman, the holy one from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth twice in the Old Testament.

Mount Paran is used to describe Mount Sinai.

So what is Habakkuk, do you think, remembering here?

He's remembering the giving of the law.

The giving of the law, when God taught his people how he wanted them to live.

Remember, in the Old Testament, it was quite common for God to say, take a bunch of rocks and set up a little reminder of what I did in this place.

And so that's what Habakkuk is doing.

And we do this in the New Testament, often with communion, with the bread and the wine.

Verse four, his splendour was like the sunrise, rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden.

Plague went before him.

Pestilence followed his steps.

He stood and shook the earth.

He looked and made the nations tremble.

The ancient mountains crumbled, and the age-old hills collapsed.

His ways are eternal.

What is Habakkuk doing here, as he remembers?

He's saying, God, I remember when you appeared in fire and as a cloud, and you led our people.

I wasn't there when you did it, but I'm telling you, I remember hearing the stories from my people, from generations past, what you have done.

Oh God, do it again.

Lead us tangibly, as clearly as you have done in the past.

Renew in our day what you have once done.

God, I remember when you parted the waters of the Red Sea and you delivered my people, your people from the hand of Egypt.

You can do it again, God.

I remember when you provided my ancestors' manor in the desert.

We're in need now, Lord.

Do it again.

Renew in our day what you have done.

God, I remember when you shook the earth and the walls fell down for Israel to win different battles.

Do it again.

He's holding in tension what he's seeing in front of him and the faith he has built on those memories that have been handed down.

What do you remember when you think about what God has done in your life?

Are there memories?

Are there strong, powerful, resilient memories?

And when I was writing this, I thought, what are my memories?

And one of the memories that came to mind was saying, I love you to Leanne for the first time, Karua Street, Strathfield, probably about 1130 at night.

We said, well, I love you to each other.

And I remember driving away thinking, wow, Lord, I think that's the person I've been waiting to find all my life.

And she was.

And I remember that sense of peace, that God was with me in the car that night driving home.

I remember poignant moments when we had our first child, 1995, and I felt as a young dad and young parents, so overwhelmed with this responsibility.

But I remember the times when we were up in the night thinking, what do we do?

The temperature, just as the temperature has gone up so quickly, what do we do?

God was with us.

Do you have those memories?

Of course, so many of us do.

I remember when our son, Ben, had water on the brain as a young infant, and it was a hydrocephalus situation, and we were having our last scan, and we were praying for a miracle, and God did a miracle.

The scan came back, and the water was there, and then it was gone.

And we were like, wow, thank you, Lord.

I remember on our first anniversary being in Guatemala when we were first married on a mission trip, and we got lost in Guatemala City, and it's a pretty dangerous place back then.

It still is.

And we were just so afraid and lost completely.

We didn't have any host with us.

We were just sort of there, and God miraculously turned up by His Spirit and guided us street after street after street, and we got to the bus depot in the middle of the city that we needed to get to.

And I remember God was with us then.

There's no question.

I remember when we lost our place of worship.

Do you remember when we were Hornsby Baptist?

And of course, many of you got memories that go back for Hornsby Baptist many decades.

But we were at a school and they had to stop the arrangement of us being there.

And we only had about a week's notice.

And I remember Hornsby South saying, yes, we would love to have you.

Does anyone else remember that?

And we were like, thank you, God.

Thank you, Lord, for looking after your people.

I remember I wasn't here when it happened, but I remember hearing about, I think Richard had a connection with North Point, and we were led by the Lord to North Point Construction, who built this centre.

And they were fantastic.

They were honourable people with so great integrity in the work they did on the tower.

And here, it's just so good.

And we remembered, don't we?

God led us.

All those scary meetings that we had as a church, are we going to even do this?

Are we going to do it?

This is so risky, isn't it?

And God was with us.

And I remember hearing the stories of Davin talking to the man down the road who held the key to the whole thing happening because he owned the home that was next to the line.

And Davin was negotiating on our behalf, on God's behalf.

And I remember hearing the story from Davin about when the doctor down there that owned the house finally was moved to sell to give us a full parcel of ground to be able to build this amazing centre that's taken us to another level.

Does anyone else remember?

I remember.

I remember God opened that man's heart, renew in our day what he has done in the past.

I remember looking around our church about six years ago, thinking, I wonder who's going to lead our worship into the future.

And I remember the Lord leading me to look at a bunch of about 16, 17 year olds.

And I remember him saying, just like the boy had the loaves, the young boy had the loaves and fish.

I'm going to use these young ones, these kids, to lead this church in worship.

Did anyone enjoy our worship today?

Not everyone on stage was young, young.

But they're older now because it's about seven years on from when they were really young.

But they lead us every week.

I remember that God provided those people.

I remember when Max and I were looking for somewhere to have our admin once this building had been knocked down.

And we got to the last opportunity and it fell through, didn't it, Max?

And we're like, we need somewhere to go.

We've got nowhere to go.

And the lady that was guiding us around said, there is a new place at King Road that's just turned up.

And we walked down there after months of looking around, and God just went, here's a spot for you.

I remember that, do you?

We need to remember.

I remember two weeks ago, three weeks ago, someone came to me and said, we have a car, a car we want to give away.

Do you have anyone who needs a car?

And I remember two weeks later, someone else, and I didn't know where to put that car or where to encourage this person to give away their car to.

Two weeks later, someone came up with so much joy in their eyes and they said, our car has just exploded, and someone else came and offered us a car.

I remember that, it only just happened.

That one family in our church were moved to give away a car, and two weeks later, another family, their car blew up and they needed that car.

And if you're sitting here thinking, Lord, where's my free car?

Where's my free car?

Welcome to Habakkuk's life.

Amen?

because we're like, hey, Lord, that's a great story.

Love it, love it, but are you fair or not?

I'm waiting for my...

But that's the tension we live in, isn't it?

What are you remembering?

I remember when down at the school, one couple were desperate at our church to fill a spot at their house that they were renting out.

And a person turned up at church and sat down next to them, and they got chatting, and that person was desperately looking for somewhere to rent.

And the two linked up, and by that afternoon, they had sorted their renting problem both ways.

Can I just encourage us to remember?

When we're in the dip, and again, you're either heading to the dip in the dip or coming out of the dip, so we're going to go there.

We need to remember what God has done in the past.

Amen.

And of course, every week we are reminded, and hopefully every day we're reminded that God became a human being and lived a perfect life in our place so that he could die the punishment to take our death.

And his name is Jesus.

He's the Saviour of the world.

He's our Saviour.

He lived and he died and he rose again from the grave, and nothing's going to change that.

He's the King of the Cosmos.

And we remember that daily, certainly as we meet together.

That's the greatest thing we could ever remember, isn't it?

The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, we could spend a nice afternoon handing the mic around, couldn't we?

We'd spend all day telling stories of what we remember as God's people, because our God is faithful.

When you are in the dip, remember his glorious deeds.

Amen.

Remember, he hasn't changed.

And you know what?

Be honest and say, Lord, I don't mean to whinge, I don't mean to complain, but remember, Habakkuk did, and he's our example.

Could you do it again?

Would you just renew me, us?

Would you revive us?

Would you do again what you have done in the past that is so glorious?

The second thing we need to do in the dip is accept, accept what God is doing.

We remember what he has done and accept what he is doing.

Accept that for a period of time, we're going to be in this dip.

For a period of time, it's going to feel a bit foggy.

But remember what he's like, and he hasn't changed in the past, so I'm going to trust tomorrow.

And I'm going to trust the journey towards tomorrow, this dip experience.

I'm going to accept that I'm there, and God's at work in my life and in this world.

God is at work.

And that's what Habakkuk comes to realise, that God's plans are being carried out, and the people of Israel are very much like a person swimming in a rip down at Moneval.

You can swim against it, but it's not going to help.

It's going to take you out.

It's a bigger movement in salvation history happening here in around 600 BC for Habakkuk, the prophet.

And he's accepting it.

And I'm going to read a fair bit of the text, but try to stay with the poetry and think, what is Habakkuk saying here?

Verse 7 regarding acceptance.

I saw the tents of Kushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish.

Were you angry with the rivers, O Lord?

Was your wrath against the streams?

Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots?

You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows, you split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you and writhed, torrents of water swept by the deep rhod and lifted its waves on high.

I think Habakkuk is really verbalising his awe.

That's what he's doing.

He's accepting God is at work, but in his reflecting in this poetry, in this language, he's describing a God who is sovereign, isn't he?

God is so far above me and my questions and my sort of critique of him.

And he's actually acknowledging that not only is this God, Yahweh, the creator, he is the righteous judge and he is executing judgement.

Sun and moon, verse 11, stood still in the heavens at the glint of your fire, flying arrows at the lightning of your flashing spear.

These are judgement sentences.

In wrath you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations.

You came out to deliver your people, to save your anointed one.

You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness.

You stripped him from head to foot.

With his own spear you pierced his head when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding.

You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.

I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound.

Decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled.

I didn't find that easy to understand really, as I read it and tried to comprehend it.

But I think that's the gist.

There's a cosmic judge who is sovereign and the Habakkuk is just articulating some of that awe.

God, you're in charge of history and you're bringing judgment.

The creator of everything that we see, he's in charge.

And, you know, at the end of these reflections, his heart pounds.

He's actually in a terrified awe.

His lips quiver.

His knees tremble.

because the sovereign hand of God is about to move.

As I said, 600 BC by 587 BC, the Spirit of God has left the temple.

Babylon comes, destroys Jerusalem, and routes the temple.

Look, there's carnage.

There's carnage.

Like a deeply green storm cloud coming in the north.

And we know hail's coming.

We know a big storm is coming.

It's all quiet.

And there's that ominous sense that's Habakkuk.

And yet, he's able, through this reflection, to accept God's in charge.

I'm so scared, my knees are trembling.

Maybe you can relate.

Can you relate some of the stuff of the sea heading to D?

It's really scary.

I shared a bit about, you know, my longer-term journey of health and the aspects of that diagnosis that are really scary.

But many of you are the same.

You've got stuff in life, and it's not just health.

It's relational, it's work, it's finances.

It's scary looking at the future, and these tremble.

I think Habakkuk will speak to us today if we let him.

He says, accept that you're in the dip, accept that you need faith, accept that you're not in control, and believe that God is at work.

Embrace the fact that you're there for a reason.

We remember what he did, we accept what he's doing, and we trust what he's going to do.

That's the natural outworking.

Yet, I will wait patiently for the day of calamity, the storm is coming, to come on the nation invading us.

So God is going to use them to bring judgment, but he's also going to be just, and he will bring the correct judgment on the Babylonians.

And then this leads us to the end, to one of the most, I think, amazing portions of scripture you'll find in the Bible.

Does anyone else agree?

It's an amazing portion of scripture.

Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines.

Though the olive crop fails.

Listen to what this is saying.

And the fields produce no food.

This is dip language.

There are no sheep in the pen, there are no cattle in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will be joyful in God, my Saviour.

Surely this is something that paul found when he talked about contentment, isn't it?

I found a way to praise God no matter what my circumstance, because he hasn't changed, amen?

Now, if you haven't worked it out, this is point E on the graph.

Is the graph there?

I can't remember.

Yeah.

And E is graduate Christianity.

It's hard to live in that place because you've got to go through the dip to get to E.

because at point E, not everything is fixed.

Not everything is fixed.

At point E, my thought is, you haven't necessarily got the miracle you were praying for.

I think that's actually a mistake.

If you think, point E on the graph is everything's back to just smooth sailing.

No, no, things could still be doing dip like.

Now I'm losing my language.

They could feel very dip like.

But you've risen above it by the grace of God.

because point E is about intimacy, isn't it?

You found that intimacy in point D, and it's risen, taking you somewhere else.

And that's really what he says.

It takes us somewhere.

He is still trustworthy.

He is still good.

Though, what's it for you?

Though, dot, dot, dot.

Yet I will rejoice.

Though, the fig tree does not blossom.

Though, what is it for you?

Yet, I will rejoice in God, my Saviour.

I have learned the secret of contentment, no matter what the circumstance.

My God has not changed.

You can't do that without some time in the saddle of the dip.

You can't do that without learning it.

And I can't.

Does that mean at point E, you will never complain again?

None at all.

Complaining is great.

If Habakkuk has taught us anything, it's about being legitimately raw and honest with what we feel.

But it's not so that we can stay feeling stuff that's negative.

The suggestion we've been making is let your emotions speak so that you can actually feel what they are telling you is happening to you.

And then look at it with the grace and empowering of God and community around you.

Go, why am I feeling that?

I'm feeling it because of XYZ.

Ah, now I understand why I'm feeling what I'm feeling.

I'm not running away from that.

Now I can apply the truth that renews my mind.

Amen.

I can take captive every thought and make it a beat into Christ.

I'm not just letting those feelings rule the roost and take me somewhere I don't want to go.

I'm going to feel them, experience them, understand them with discernment from the spirit.

And then I'm going to apply the good stuff, the truth of God's word.

That's what paul did.

That's what Habakkuk is learning how to do.

Most of the time, you can't have Habakkuk 3 type faith without chapter 1 type questions and chapter 2 type waiting.

What do you reckon?

Most of the time, you can't have chapter 3 type faith no matter what.

I'm with you, Lord.

I'm with you.

You can't get there without chapter 1 type questions and chapter 2 type waiting.

As I look around, I can see lots of people who have lived the journey walking with Jesus longer than me.

I've been doing it for a while.

Probably the best part of 50 years, 40 something.

And what I've learned is his faithfulness in the yesterdays of my life is rock solid for me to believe he's going to be just as good in the tomorrows of my life.

That I can trust all of my tomorrows.

because what I've learned over the years is, I don't get to control tomorrow.

So I better start trusting the one who can.

I can't control tomorrow.

It's a fallacy.

It's a human dream that I control tomorrow.

It's a god-like idea, and I'm not god and you're not god.

The realm of god's domain is tomorrow and we trust him for it.

The book ends, the sovereign lord is my strength.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer.

And where does he enable me to go?

Point E.

He enables me to go on the heights.

The heights of intimacy, the heights of trust, the heights of faith.

And I think when you can live between that point D and point E and then go back to C, and you can be honest with the challenge that you have in keeping trusting, I'm very confident that you become a person God can use in that 2 Corinthians chapter 1 way.

You find comfort.

And what do you do with the comfort you find from God, the God of all comfort?

You give it away.

That's what 2 Corinthians chapter 1 says.

He has given you comfort so that you can comfort those who need it as well with the comfort that you found in the dip.

It's so that we can give it away and point all the glory to God.

Even though the fig tree doesn't blossom, and there are no animals in the barn, the Lord is in His holy temple.

We already knew this, but Habakkuk says the righteous will live by what?

Yeah, faith is what we are called to live in.

We remember that Jesus lived the perfect life that we could never live, and He died our death.

And we accept that we needed a Saviour, and we trust that the Holy Spirit will guide us all the days of our life.

Where are you at?

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