[0.00 --> 10.38]  this morning in our worship we're gonna start a new series together we're gonna
[10.38 --> 20.94]  spend the next few weeks looking at the book of Habakkuk Habakkuk Mr. Eric there's one B not
[20.94 --> 28.08]  Habakkuk so we're gonna spend our time in Habakkuk and we're gonna read this morning the first 13
[28.08 --> 34.26]  verses and so really encourage you as always to open a Bible have that up on your phone whatever
[34.26 --> 39.92]  the case may be it will also be on the screen but if you have a Bible or with your phone in hand you
[39.92 --> 48.38]  can refer back as we go through I'm going to read starting at verse 1 through to verse 13.
[48.38 --> 60.80]  The Oracle that Habakkuk the prophet received how long oh Lord must I call for help but you do not
[60.80 --> 68.86]  listen or cry out to you violence but you do not save why do you make me look at injustice why do
[68.86 --> 74.98]  you tolerate wrong destruction and violence are before me there is strife and conflict abounds
[74.98 --> 83.76]  therefore the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails the wicked hem in the righteous so that
[83.76 --> 92.00]  justice is perverted look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed for I am going to do something
[92.00 --> 100.90]  in your days that you would not believe even if I told you I am raising up the Babylonians that
[100.90 --> 107.48]  are ruthless and impetuous people who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their
[107.48 --> 113.86]  own they are a feared and dreaded people they are a law unto themselves and promote their own honor
[113.86 --> 121.56]  their horses are swifter than leopards fiercer than wolves at dusk their cavalry gallops headlong
[121.56 --> 130.40]  their horsemen come from afar they fly like a vulture swooping to devour they all come bent on violence
[130.40 --> 138.64]  their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand they deride kings and scoff at
[138.64 --> 145.10]  rulers they laugh at fortified cities they build earth and ramps and capture them then they sweep past
[145.10 --> 155.76]  like the wind and go on guilty men whose own strength is their God oh Lord are you not from everlasting
[155.76 --> 164.60]  my God my holy one we will not die oh Lord you have appointed them to execute judgment oh rock you have
[164.60 --> 174.96]  ordained them to punish your eyes are too pure to look on evil you cannot tolerate wrong why then do you
[174.96 --> 185.28]  tolerate the treacherous why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves
[185.28 --> 187.76]  this is the word of the Lord
[187.76 --> 206.48]  as we begin together this morning i am well aware of what our experience has been for the past year
[206.48 --> 215.76]  and we are well aware of the unknown and the confusion and the chaos that exists in the midst of the right now
[215.76 --> 224.56]  a series that we are beginning this morning i'm calling wrecked and worshiping and it comes out of a context
[224.56 --> 232.72]  in which many of us are just feeling wrecked and weak and overwhelmed with everything that has been going on
[232.72 --> 243.12]  now as we jump into this first know that you are not alone that we are all experiencing this together
[243.12 --> 250.16]  and we all have these kinds of experiences and out of that we all ask the same sorts of questions and so
[250.16 --> 258.00]  let's ask those questions today together i'll begin with a bit of a personal story
[260.00 --> 269.28]  a number of years ago while i was still in seminary i had what you know i would call rightly i think a crisis
[269.28 --> 276.88]  of faith i was in seminary and i was taking a graduate level class on post-enlightenment philosophy
[276.88 --> 283.60]  and i was reading a lot of books and a lot of essays from people who were just opposed to orthodox
[283.60 --> 289.68]  biblical christianity and these authors in their writing right would challenge the authority of the bible
[289.68 --> 297.44]  they would attempt to kind of dismantle the claims of authority of faith and the rationality of faith and
[297.44 --> 303.76]  they would challenge right from the very existence of god on the basis of reason or science or logic or
[303.76 --> 314.88]  history or whatever the case may have been i was reading this all and unfortunately due to the busyness of
[314.88 --> 321.92]  my schedule in school i didn't make time to read other things to read good things constructive things
[321.92 --> 333.36]  devotional things helpful things and so i was eventually consumed by the chaos of this thinking
[333.36 --> 341.92]  and thought and i began to slide and slide and slide and i slipped into a time that can only be called
[341.92 --> 349.68]  spiritual depression right and maybe faith apathy and for a couple of months maybe even half a year
[349.68 --> 360.48]  my friends and i would argue and debate and we would fight and i would push buttons and i would raise concerns
[360.48 --> 368.56]  and i would make arguments against faith and christianity together and i was in seminary remember
[369.20 --> 374.24]  and a good seminary at that it got dark in my heart
[374.24 --> 385.52]  and i would challenge my friends and my professors and myself and how could god let this kind of thing
[385.52 --> 393.52]  happen right how could god create a world in which he knew there would be sin right right down to the
[393.52 --> 400.08]  sometimes more complicated questions of why is there no external evidence for the resurrection of jesus don't
[400.08 --> 405.28]  you think that the annals of roman history would have recorded something as significant or important as that
[408.00 --> 413.20]  really i was in deep and i was spiraling out of control
[415.28 --> 423.36]  i suspect many of you if not all of us know what that's like right i was in seminary training to be a
[423.36 --> 428.88]  minister of the word and i had these doubts i had this crisis of faith i had this spiritual depression
[428.88 --> 434.40]  and if church leaders like me or future church leaders back then like me can face those kinds of
[434.40 --> 443.12]  things surely everyone does i know that many of us had these sorts of struggles maybe you aren't sure
[443.12 --> 451.44]  what to believe or if you believe or even if belief is possible maybe you're there right now maybe you're here
[451.44 --> 459.92]  looking for answers maybe you know someone who's there right now maybe you have questions but you don't
[459.92 --> 469.92]  know who to ask or how to ask them whatever the case may be i think we all know what it is to have a crisis of faith
[471.76 --> 479.20]  now the sort of pinnacle of my crisis of faith or maybe we could say the deepest part of my crisis of faith
[479.20 --> 485.44]  came down to one thing and that's what i now know to be called the problem of evil
[486.88 --> 492.72]  right really simply if god was truly good and loving and all-powerful then he wouldn't let people
[492.72 --> 499.44]  who love him go through these bad things right since good people go through evil things either
[499.44 --> 505.36]  god isn't good or he isn't all-powerful in which case in either case he wouldn't be god
[505.36 --> 514.56]  that's the question really that's the state of belief that we will address this morning that
[514.56 --> 522.24]  habakkuk is finding himself in the middle of this is habakkuk's struggle it is our struggle it's really
[522.24 --> 526.24]  every human person's struggle whether you have a religious answer to it or not
[526.24 --> 536.32]  why is there evil in the world what i hope and it's my prayer that this morning we will see that
[536.32 --> 544.16]  that god is bigger than our struggles with evil that evil has been decisively dealt with in history
[544.16 --> 554.32]  and that for god to be god he must have his reasons for everything we face in life even the evil things
[554.32 --> 562.48]  now to get there this morning we start with the back now let me set the stage for you with a little
[562.48 --> 567.76]  bit of history and i'll try to do this quickly because i know not everybody loves history the way that i do
[569.20 --> 576.24]  in actual fact we know very little about the prophet habakkuk right who he is and what he did as a prophet
[576.24 --> 582.64]  whether he was in the official temple system as a prophet or if he was outside the official system as one
[582.64 --> 590.88]  especially called by god but we can figure out when he roughly prophesied right habakkuk is a prophet in
[590.88 --> 601.20]  judah which is the southern kingdom and it's around 600 to 610 bc and so it's near what we now call the
[601.20 --> 608.88]  end of the first temple period right these are the last kings in israel and judah for those of us who
[608.88 --> 616.40]  know the sort of bigger story of the drama of redemption we might say that this is near the beginning
[617.12 --> 625.12]  of the exile period which started in 586 bc with the fall of jerusalem so what's happening on the global scale is
[625.12 --> 634.80]  the babylonians are shifting the balance of power now we have a map that's going to appear on screen and that will
[634.80 --> 641.04]  help you see what's going on and where it's happening as i tell the story and you see the map there those
[641.04 --> 647.68]  circles and the legend down the side moves through in the manner in which i will tell the story one through
[647.68 --> 657.36]  six i think it is so israel and then later the smaller judah have been allies with the babylonians
[657.36 --> 665.76]  going back to when they were first called the chaldeans in 705 bc you have king hezekiah king
[665.76 --> 671.84]  hezekiah this happens in the time of the prophet isaiah to draw some lines for you isaiah also prophet
[671.84 --> 678.88]  prophesied about the exile that would come hezekiah who is king worked with the chaldeans to repel
[678.88 --> 685.44]  the armies of one sennacherib as he marched through israel down towards jerusalem
[685.44 --> 693.28]  now a century later the chaldeans now the sort of neo-babylonians right have defeated assyria who
[693.28 --> 700.24]  had an empire in 612 with the fall of nineveh nineveh was the capital city of the assyrian empire
[701.52 --> 710.32]  and in 609 bc the egyptians start marching their way east and north through the the crescent of the
[710.32 --> 717.20]  around the mediterranean in a last ditch attempt to partner with the assyrians to defeat the
[717.20 --> 726.24]  babylonians in the battle of haran but this time as the egyptians marched through king josiah of judah
[726.24 --> 732.24]  would come with the armies of judah and he would attempt to stop the advancement of the egyptians
[732.24 --> 741.12]  who were led by pharaoh neko the second now king josiah is killed in this battle at megiddo trying
[741.12 --> 749.60]  to help their allies the babylonians in 605 you have the battle of carcamesh that happens on the
[749.60 --> 756.64]  euphrates river and here the babylonians finally and decisively defeat the egyptians and send them back
[756.64 --> 765.76]  to egypt now all around the region of syria and israel the babylonians have taken over and this
[765.76 --> 772.88]  battle after this battle rather the babylonians that come in and annex judah they take control of the
[772.88 --> 780.64]  region of judah and they start treating them as a hostile vassal state as you see backtracking just a
[780.64 --> 789.68]  few years after josiah is killed in the battle at megiddo pharaoh neko the second left his armies in
[789.68 --> 797.36]  the region as they continued on to go battle against the babylonians and he returned with a group back
[797.36 --> 804.08]  to egypt and on his way through jerusalem returning back to egypt he deposed the new king who was the
[804.08 --> 813.20]  younger son of josiah jehoah has and took him back to egypt as a prisoner and instead he installed jehoiakim
[813.20 --> 822.56]  another son of josiah as a puppet king now jehoiakim agreed to and paid the levy that egypt imposed on
[822.56 --> 831.92]  judah now jehoiakim gets very little on the pages of the bible but in second kings 23 verse 37 it says
[831.92 --> 841.04]  that he did evil in the eyes of the lord just as his predecessors had done but still even with that
[841.04 --> 850.40]  happening many in judah would have considered babylon's actions a betrayal because they had been historical
[850.40 --> 852.24]  allies for a century
[852.24 --> 858.40]  and so you can imagine how habakkuk feels
[860.88 --> 870.88]  when the lord says i am raising up babylon to exercise my justice right part of the evil that
[870.88 --> 878.72]  habakkuk is reacting to right that babylon betrayed them that's why he calls them a treacherous people in
[878.72 --> 886.96]  verse 13 right and the word that's used there in hebrew can mean disloyal or betrayers right that's why
[888.00 --> 897.04]  habakkuk feels so torn now this is sort of the global backdrop and if the map is still up we can take
[897.04 --> 903.36]  that down this is sort of the global backdrop to what's going on right there's warfare and there's
[903.36 --> 911.04]  evil everywhere and judah is caught up in the middle of it right they are dying and they're being taken
[911.04 --> 920.88]  prisoner right evil is literally to the north and south and east and it's pressing in on them with vigor
[923.04 --> 930.16]  but there's also a more local concern that's causing habakkuk to cry out to the lord
[930.16 --> 936.88]  i've already mentioned two names that we can come back to here right king josiah and king jehoiakim
[938.00 --> 945.44]  now josiah as king instituted a number of reforms in jerusalem and really brought the people back to
[945.44 --> 953.60]  a more biblical faith and a more biblical practice of worship but before him and after him the religious
[953.60 --> 961.28]  and political leadership are corrupt and even abusive right look at what habakkuk says in in verse 4 he
[961.28 --> 969.28]  says the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails now that word translated paralyzed can mean numb
[970.08 --> 975.60]  right like when your foot falls asleep and you try to stand only to find that you just collapse to the
[975.60 --> 983.52]  floor and fall over right the rulers and rule of law have become numb to the plight of ordinary citizens
[985.68 --> 994.56]  there's a general uh biblical scholarly consensus that habakkuk is reacting to the abuses of power
[994.56 --> 1001.28]  that have further marginalized the poor and exploited the less privileged and we know from the rest of the
[1001.28 --> 1008.48]  the bible that jehoiakim is accused of dishonest gain he has forced people into unpaid labor to build his
[1008.48 --> 1015.44]  houses he's taxed people to pay the levy that the egyptians have imposed we know that jehoiakim is
[1015.44 --> 1021.76]  implicated in the obstruction of justice in the shedding of innocent blood and in the murder of prophets
[1021.76 --> 1033.68]  the point is evil and injustice are everywhere globally the babylonians have betrayed them and locally the
[1033.68 --> 1043.20]  king has never looked out for them the moral order of habakkuk's world has been upended things aren't the way
[1043.20 --> 1051.12]  they should be evil prevails over good injustice over justice death over life and habakkuk cries out and
[1051.12 --> 1060.88]  says since god is good his world should be good too but in habakkuk's eyes it's not that's the problem
[1062.48 --> 1069.92]  and like we said i'm gonna guess that that's not just habakkuk's problem right and in fact it's not just
[1069.92 --> 1078.32]  an intellectual issue right a question to be answered right every single person who says they are a
[1078.32 --> 1085.92]  christian or a theist really of any stripe has to wrestle with the question if god is god and god is
[1085.92 --> 1092.96]  good why is there evil in the world but like i said it's not just an intellectual issue for us right
[1092.96 --> 1101.44]  there are racial tensions and realities that beg the question why god there are issues of poverty and hunger
[1101.44 --> 1108.00]  globally and locally that beg the question if you are good why is there so much bad right there are
[1108.00 --> 1114.48]  issues of violence against women and children of issues of parents losing children of marriages
[1114.48 --> 1121.04]  breaking up that beg the question that cause us to cry out like we began our worship this morning how long
[1121.04 --> 1132.96]  oh lord we've got cancer and covid and countless others chronic diseases that rob us of life and the ability
[1132.96 --> 1142.00]  to live things aren't the way they should be evil prevails over good injustice over justice life over death
[1142.00 --> 1148.24]  and since god is good his world should be good too but in so many ways it's not
[1150.56 --> 1153.12]  how long oh lord
[1156.56 --> 1165.68]  now to start addressing this situation i want you to notice something carefully in the text
[1165.68 --> 1175.68]  starting in verse 3 habakkuk says destruction and violence are before me there is strife and conflict
[1175.68 --> 1184.88]  abounds therefore the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails and notice two things here right
[1185.28 --> 1194.32]  habakkuk is making an assertion in these words right first because he sees violence and destruction and
[1194.32 --> 1202.48]  strife and conflict that's why the law is paralyzed or numb and justice doesn't prevail right because of all
[1202.48 --> 1210.40]  that he can see his conclusion is that god is absent or his goodness challenged but think carefully
[1210.40 --> 1217.60]  with me right that's all he can see and in a sense it's all he sees
[1217.60 --> 1229.36]  but we know that habakkuk doesn't see all right and it's really then from his limited perspective
[1229.36 --> 1234.80]  that he ends up making these universal and absolute statements about the nature of god
[1235.92 --> 1241.20]  right the person who raises the problem of evil as an argument against the existence of god and this
[1241.20 --> 1246.40]  was me a number of years ago the person who raises the problem of evil as an argument against the existence
[1246.40 --> 1252.72]  of god presumes that we have the right viewpoint from which to make those sorts of absolute kinds of
[1252.72 --> 1263.04]  statements this is habakkuk's problem this was my problem this is our problem and what's more when you
[1263.04 --> 1272.96]  say that you are presupposing that something true will be knowable experientially and empirically that it
[1272.96 --> 1279.44]  will be knowable to all but that's just obviously not true right just because we doesn't we can't
[1279.44 --> 1286.96]  understand it doesn't mean god does not have good intentions for allowing such things to happen or even
[1286.96 --> 1296.96]  using them like he uses the babylonians now of course we can't always prove we can't always even know
[1296.96 --> 1304.24]  the reasons that god has or his ways right and i'm not trying to prove that all i want to say is that
[1304.24 --> 1312.32]  he has them and the question really that remains for me is what takes more faith right does it take
[1312.32 --> 1318.48]  more faith to believe that god has a purpose for all the events to that occur or does it take more faith
[1318.48 --> 1323.36]  to believe that there is no purpose there is no god there is no director of history and all of it
[1323.36 --> 1327.76]  stumbles blindly forward or to me the answer is obvious
[1330.64 --> 1341.68]  in actual fact for any of our suffering to make any sense god has to be sovereignly in control of all of
[1341.68 --> 1349.92]  history right if he isn't none of my suffering makes sense or has any purpose or greater good or greater
[1349.92 --> 1357.60]  glory in the purposes of god and i can never know which may or which may not be for his glory and his
[1357.60 --> 1365.36]  purpose but if he is sovereignly in control of everything then everything is for his purpose
[1365.36 --> 1376.32]  and if god isn't in control that's actually what's truly heartbreaking and the second thing then to
[1376.32 --> 1387.60]  see from habakkuk comes when he says justice never prevails never now that's a really strong word right
[1387.60 --> 1395.12]  when we struggle or face suffering or challenging situations right it is individual human nature to
[1395.36 --> 1402.40]  um exaggerate or to hyperbolize right my kids even do this or mr eric even does this right and says
[1402.40 --> 1411.28]  this is the worst it's just a mouse in your car the worst but that's what we do right we make things out
[1411.28 --> 1418.32]  to be big and huge and universal and look i'm not trying to be unsympathetic right and i don't want to
[1419.20 --> 1424.32]  diminish or minimize the hardships and struggles that we face
[1425.52 --> 1434.80]  and i'll concede that that even in that moment that may be the worst for you that may be the hardest
[1434.80 --> 1444.64]  thing you have ever faced but is it the absolute right does justice never prevail when justice isn't
[1444.64 --> 1456.00]  prevailing but you catch the difference that we're making now look and here's what it comes down to
[1458.00 --> 1464.80]  will we have enough humility to let god be god
[1464.80 --> 1472.96]  now let me be really clear again right we may never know the reasons that god does something or
[1472.96 --> 1480.00]  doesn't do other things or permit some things to happen all we can do in faith is trust and believe
[1480.00 --> 1489.36]  that god is god and that he has his glorious reasons i love the words of the christian philosopher
[1489.36 --> 1498.08]  named peter kreeft he says this he says the christian god has come to earth to deliberately put himself
[1498.64 --> 1506.00]  on the hook of human suffering let me be clear on the hook of human suffering not for human suffering
[1506.00 --> 1513.28]  he's not taking responsibility for it he is living in it on the cross in jesus christ kreeft continues
[1513.28 --> 1521.52]  god experienced the greatest depths of pain therefore though christianity does not provide all the
[1521.52 --> 1529.12]  reasons for each experience of pain it provides deep resources for actually facing suffering with hope
[1529.12 --> 1538.72]  and courage rather than with bitterness and despair end quote because jesus came and lived the life of
[1538.72 --> 1547.20]  perfect righteousness and died the death that is my penalty for sin i can face tomorrow because this
[1547.20 --> 1555.84]  is my father's world and he has laid its foundations and controls every aspect of it because he has made all
[1555.84 --> 1566.80]  that is fair i can live today though he slay me i will yet praise him
[1569.76 --> 1576.32]  here's where we will end this morning and in a few weeks pastor kevin is going to preach on this text
[1576.32 --> 1580.88]  explicitly and so i'm not going to steal his thunder now but if your bibles are open flip over to chapter
[1580.88 --> 1591.20]  three and look at verse 17 chapter 3 verse 17 habakkuk writes though the fig tree does not bud and there
[1591.20 --> 1598.56]  are no grapes on the vines though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food though there are
[1598.56 --> 1605.12]  no sheep in the pen no cattle in the stalls in other words though nothing is the way it's supposed to be
[1605.12 --> 1611.60]  though there isn't any prosperity and only hardship and suffering yet habakkuk says i will rejoice in the
[1611.60 --> 1622.16]  lord i will be joyful in god my savior the sovereign lord is my strength he makes my feet like the feet of
[1622.16 --> 1633.84]  a deer and he enables me to go to the heights what is the antidote to our experience of the problem
[1633.84 --> 1640.32]  of evil what is the antidote to those times and places where our belief in god is challenged because
[1640.32 --> 1654.08]  of the evil and injustice we see in the world worship worship right we may be wrecked we may be facing
[1654.08 --> 1662.64]  trials of all kinds right we live in a time of confusion and chaos but god is calling us to worship
[1663.84 --> 1684.80]  the glory of god worship is crying out how long worship is lament worship is seething prayers calling for god's justice
[1684.80 --> 1691.20]  worship is tears at the brokenness we are in the midst of
[1691.20 --> 1704.72]  but instead of unbelief in response to evil imagine what your life imagine what our life together imagine
[1704.72 --> 1712.96]  what our world would look like if instead of unbelief in response to evil instead of apathy instead of fear
[1712.96 --> 1724.80]  fear instead what if we worshiped i promise you when doubts and hardships come and they will
[1726.88 --> 1734.56]  and if when they do you worship more and not less truly worshiped right in spirit and in truth in song
[1734.56 --> 1744.88]  and in word and in sacrament if you worship when you are wrecked you will find rest for your souls because you
[1744.88 --> 1748.24]  will be found by jesus
[1750.32 --> 1752.48]  that is the point
[1754.48 --> 1763.20]  that is why we are called to worship in the midst of confusion and chaos that is the legacy of habakkuk for us
[1763.76 --> 1766.00]  today i pray
[1768.48 --> 1777.28]  that you know that story of faith and i pray that when your faith is broken and you can't do it that
[1777.28 --> 1779.60]  there are people in your life who will lift you up
[1782.00 --> 1782.80]  and if there aren't
[1784.80 --> 1790.48]  would you let me be that person if there aren't would you let someone from church one of our elders or a
[1790.48 --> 1794.88]  small group member or a community group member someone whom you know from this place would you let us
[1794.88 --> 1800.08]  be that for you because that is the strength of christian community
[1800.08 --> 1805.36]  alone we might stay
[1805.36 --> 1806.40]  alone we might stay wrecked
[1806.40 --> 1808.00]  but together
[1808.00 --> 1809.92]  we can worship
[1810.96 --> 1811.84]  let's pray together
[1811.84 --> 1818.72]  lord our god we come to you
[1818.72 --> 1825.84]  in the midst of the chaos of our lives from the midst of the confusion we may be facing now we come to you
[1825.84 --> 1827.84]  to worship to sing your praises
[1829.04 --> 1836.24]  we rest god on your sovereign rule on your promise to to guide history towards your purpose and
[1836.24 --> 1837.68]  the glory of your name
[1837.68 --> 1847.52]  no matter what we face though you may slay us we yet praise you
[1847.52 --> 1861.52]  in our heart of hearts today may we sing your praise in jesus name amen
[1861.52 --> 1865.52]  you