Habakuk 1:12-2:1 Is God Still Good? | January 18th, 2026

When I gaze upon his [singing] beauty, when I see him as [music] I should, then my eyes [singing] are lifted upward for his glory and my good. There is hope in every trial. For I can trust [music and singing] the Lord. He will turn my heart towards him and help me bear the throne. So in faith I follow [music and singing] Jesus on the road not unerstood. For I know [singing] that he is working for his glory [music] and my good. To [music] our God be the glory. To our God be praise. He alone. [music and singing] The name above all. I will boast only in the Lord my [singing] God. [music] For I know his glory is my good. The open arms [music] of Jesus upon the cross [singing] that day. What they understood as we deserves [music and singing] my every praise for the charge that was against me. It was nailed [music] into the Lord. Yes, I know that he has saved me for his glory and my good. [music] To [music] our God be [singing] the glory. To our God be praise. [music] He alone the name above all [singing] names. I [music] will boast only in the Lord [singing and music] my God. For I know his glory is my good. [singing and music] >> Would I [singing] gladly be made nothing? that Christ would be made [singing] more. Would [music] I seek the only kingom, that far outweighs [singing] [music] them all? I will stand before my father where the faithful saints [singing and music] has stood. And with

joy my heart shall praise him for his glory and my [music] good. And with joy my heart shall praise him for his glory and mighty good. [music] To [music] our God be the glory. To [singing] our God be praise. He alone the name above all names. I will boast [music] only in the Lord [singing] my God. For I know his [music and singing] glory is my good. To our God be the glory. To our [music] God be praise. He alone the name above all [music and singing] names. I will boast ever [music] in the Lord my God. For I [music] know his glory is my good. Yes, I [music and singing] know his glory is my good. [singing] >> [applause] >> Let us pray. Our gracious father, we come today in freedom and and without persecution and we offer up these tithes to you in that freedom. Lord, let us remember our brothers and sisters in Iran who are suffering through brutal persecution. Let us be thankful for what we have here in your name. Amen. >> Our catechism today is what is the fourth commandments and how do Christians obey it. Exodus 28-11 says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. You or your sons or your daughters, your male servants or your female servants or your livestock or the sojourer who is within your gates. For six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord has blessed the Sabbath day and make made it holy. Deuteronomy 5:12-15

says, "Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. on it you shall not do any work. You or your sons or your daughter or your male servant [snorts] or your female servant, your ox, your donkey or any of your livestock or the soager soldier in your with who is within your gates. You that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath day. >> Invite you again to uh stand with us as we continue in worship. As [singing] the dear so my [singing] soul longs after you. You [singing] alone are my heart's desire and I [singing] long to worship you. You alone [singing] are my strength, my [music] shield. to you my brother [singing] even though you are a [singing] king. I [singing] love you more than any other [singing] so much more than any. You alone [singing] are my strength, [music] my shield. To you [singing] alone may my [music] spirit [singing] yield. You [singing] alone are my [music] heart desire [singing] and I long to worship [music] you. I [music] [singing] want you more than gold or

silver only you [singing] can sisfy. You [singing] alone [music] are the real joy giver [singing] and the apple of [singing] my heart. You alone [singing] are [music] my strength, my shield. To you alone [music] may my [singing] spirit give. You alone [singing] are my heart's desire and I long [singing] to worship [music] you. You alone [singing] are my strength, my [music] shield. To you alone [singing] may my spirit [music] give. [singing] You alone [singing] are my heart's desire and I long [singing] to worship you. Here [music] [singing] am I [music and singing] I take [music] my life [music] so it's all for me here and >> [music] >> All of me. Take [singing and music] my life. It's all [music and singing] for thee. >> [music] >> Take my [singing] life and let it be [singing] consecrated Lord to [music and singing] thee. Take my moments and [singing] my days. Let them flow in ceaseless praise. [music]

Take my [singing] hands and let them move at [singing and music] the impulse of thy love. [music] Take [singing] thy feet and let them be swift [singing] and beautiful for thee. [music] And let [singing] me [music] sing. Oh, is it only for my [singing] king? Take [music] my lips and let them be filled with me [singing and music] from thee. Take my [music and singing] silver and my gold. Not of [singing and music] my word I hold. [music] Take [singing] my lift and use every [singing] power as you choose. Here and my all of me. [music] Take my [singing and music] life. Take my life. It's all for me. It's [music] all for Here you [music] hold [singing] me. Oh me. Take [music and singing] my take my soul for thee. [music] Take my will and make it [music and singing] thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, [singing and music] it is thine. Oh, it shall be [music] thy royal throne. Take my [singing] love, my [music] Lord, I pour at your feet in this treasure [music and singing] store. Take myself [music]

and I [singing] will be ever only [music] for thee. Here. [music and singing] Take [music and singing] my life. Take my hand. So [music and singing] for thee. So for me [music] here at my [singing] >> [music] >> Oh, take [music and singing] my life. My heart [music] so [singing] worthy. You are [music] my me. Take [music and singing] my life. My eyes [singing] for thee. [music] Take my [singing] life [music] and let it be consecrated [singing] [music] Lord to thee. >> Lord, we thank you for this opportunity to worship you this morning. Here we are. We have nothing and this is what we have to give and we just thank you for bridging the gap from what we needed and what we were. We love you Lord and we thank you for this opportunity to worship. We just pray that you would just challenge our hearts this morning for whatever we need to hear in your name. Amen. Well, good morning church. >> Uh if you have your Bible, and I hope that you do, please turn with me to Habach chapter 1. We're going to be dealing with verses 12 to uh chapter 2 verse one back in uh May of uh 2023. I was dealing with with severe stomach pain. It started happening around noon on Monday

and uh I left work and you know I go I went home and I laid down and uh my stomach pain felt a little bit better but uh it was still something I was like might want to go get this checked out but as a good man I just kind of delayed. Um and then Tuesday it was the same thing and Wednesday was absolutely brutal. It was an awful day. Um, and that night I was I was laying there in just excruciating pain. I was like, well, I could suffer here in my bed or I could go to Lake Regional and suffer. Uh, I might die here, but dying is better than just sitting there and waiting in the ER at Lake Regional. And uh, so I had an appointment the next morning and uh, woke up and I was feeling a lot better. I only got like two hours of sleep or something like that, but I was feeling a lot better. And my wife, she was like, "No, I really think that you need to keep your appointment." I was like, "Fine, I'll go." And so I went and I I had a a crazy busy schedule that weekend. I had a a paper due for college that Friday. This is Thursday morning. I had a paper due on Friday. Uh I had uh Brother Ron Abrams, we still miss him dearly. We had his memorial service. We had Betty Van's funeral service on Saturday. Had a memorial service for Deb Cro's son on that Sunday. And I was just like, I can't miss these things. Lord, I just pray that as I go into Dr. Martin's office that everything is just fine. He lays me down. He pushes on my stomach. I went, he goes, "Yep, you're going to the ER." And I was like, "Uh, I really don't have time for this. I really don't want to do this." Uh, he's like, "Well, they're going to give you a scan. They're going to tell you that you have appendicitis." I was like, "Please Lord, anything but appendicitis." And uh uh unfortunately God had other plans. Don't you just doesn't that just irritate you when those things happen? It's like this is not my plan, God. This

is not what I want. This is not what I will to be done. And yet God has other plans. It still kind of bothers me to be honest. I still don't understand why. But what do we do when the answers to our prayers aren't what we want it to be? That's what Habach is going through here because there's a real problem in his nation. There was violence. There was injustice. The law wasn't working. The righteous were suffering. How long was the question? And the answer is shocking. In fact, God says, "You won't believe this, but I'm raising up the Babylonians, the Chaldans." In other words, this is going to hurt because the disease among my people is very deep. This is not going to be a pleasant experience. And the passage that we're going to look at today is where Habach gets really honest because the prophet is not wrestling with the sins of Judah anymore. He's wrestling with God's answer. He's wrestling with God's methods. And so today's sermon is built around a question that many believers, they really don't want to ask. Is what if I don't like God's answer to my prayer? What if God's response isn't necessarily comforting to me? What if it doesn't fit into my timeline or my plan or my desires? Habach is going to show us how we are to respond when God's answers to us are heaven. So with that in mind, I would ask you to please stand in honor of God's word as we read Habach 1 12 to chapter 2 verse one. God's word it says this. This is Habach speaking. Are you not everlasting. Oh Lord, my God, my holy one, we shall not die. Oh Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment. And you, oh rock, have established them for reproof. You who are of pure eyes

than to see evil and cannot look at wrong. Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings them all up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his drag net. So he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his drag net. For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever. I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. And so Lord, we do ask that you would be with us today as we uh wrestle with this uh question that we've all asked. What do we do when the answer that you give to us is not the one that we really wanted? We've all been in those situations. We've all had to wrestle with those thoughts and those fears and those doubts and those insecurities. God, the Lord is your people. We know that you're a God that keeps his promises and you're faithful and you're good and you're wise and you're loving and you're holy and we know all those things, God, but sometimes it's hard to reconcile. So, Father, help us to teach uh help us to learn, I guess, uh learn to understand uh your ways a little bit better. If our uh little minds can even begin to compare to your infinite magnitude, God, we're just like little down here and we cry out and we're needy and we're poor and we're messy. But Lord, you're a good father. So help us to understand what you're doing and how you're working and uh to see uh from

a bigger perspective than what we have at work and what we don't understand. Teach us how to walk by faith. Father, just uh right now um just pastorally we want to lift up to you Harvey and Phyllis Fenders as they fight CO um Lord they're not in good health they're struggling but Lord I just pray that you just help them and heal their bodies God we pray that you give them many more years together if that's according to your We want to continue to remember brother Steve Warren and uh as he recovers from chemo and things like that, Father, for our many other brothers and sisters that we know and that we love all around the world and even in our own community. Lord, we lift them up to you. Help us, God, as a First Baptist Church to be your ambassadors here in this community to to reach the lost, to help them to be rooted in Christ, and help us to reproduce disciples and to renew lives for your glory. God, we ask that you would enable us with your Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we've got u this uh this response that Habach doesn't like from God. And the first thing that Habach does instead of complaining to a friend or anything like that is he goes to the Lord in prayer. And his prayer doesn't start with but God, how could you do such a thing? Or but God, why? He'll get there. He doesn't start with what he perceives to be the problem. He starts with God. And when you're going through a season and you don't like God's charact God's answer to a question, you need to center yourself in God's character. Remind yourself of his character. Before

Habach starts [snorts] to share his burden with God, he reminds himself of who God is. It's not some sort of theological exercise here. This firmly grounds Habach in the character and the nature of God so that he can endure the coming storm spiritually without losing faith. And the first thing that Habach reminds himself of is good biblical truth. And the first thing that he reminds himself of is that God is everlasting. He he anchors himself in God's eternity. Are you not from everlasting, oh Lord my God? He's just simply reciting what he knows to be true from Psalm 90. He says,"Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, forever you had formed the earth in the world from everlasting to everlasting. You are God." In the New Testament, we read this in James chapter 1. Every good and perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. God he never changes. He is from the beginning. He is before time. He is before space and matter. His character never changes with the times or the seasons. Creation is is and history is not outside of his control. It is unfolding according to God's eternal plan. The rise of Babylon doesn't catch God offguard. Doesn't. It's just simply a a tool that God is using for his glory and the good of his people. All of history is in God's hands. And it's easy for us to look back and see God's hand in that history, right? But that should give us tremendous confidence for today because that means that today is in God's hands. That should give you confidence for tomorrow because the Lord, he already knows what's going to happen. And yet he is there tenderly guiding all creation

to one redemptive point in the future for us where Christ will return and he will rule and he will reign forever. He's still working and he's still good. Habach calls God my holy one while struggling to understand how can God a holy God use an unholy people. God he's he's not going to compromise his holy nature. He's not going to change that. We we've already established that based upon scripture based upon what we know about God. He never ever changes. And so Habachi refuses to change God's character because of the things that he sees going on in his life. God's holiness is a non-negotiable. We do not get to redefine God just based on the times and the seasons that we find ourselves in. Notice also that he's a covenantal God. What does Habach say? He calls him my God, my holy God. That that's a personal thing. Habach is not making some sort of abstract claim here. He's clinging to the covenant identity of who he is as a chosen person of God. He's saying, "You are my God. You are my Lord." From the creation of the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are my God. This is just simply Psalm 105. He is the Lord our God. His judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever. He's not going to forget his covenant toward you. If you are in Christ, you are sealed. He's not going to forget you. The word that he commanded for a thousand generations, the covenant that he made with Abraham, his sworn promise to Isaac, which he confirmed to Jacob as a statue, to Israel as an everlasting covenant. Habach, he calls God my rock. And and that's just points to God's unchanging faithfulness, his consistency, his reliability, and and this is just covenant language. In Deuteronomy 32, this is what they called God the rock. His work is perfect for all his ways are

justice, a God of faithfulness, and without iniquity. Just and upright is he. And so the Lord, Yahweh is his name, is an unchanging rock of security. And the people of God are protected by the Lord and they are kept by his covenant promise. But Habach, he declares this truth. We shall not die. Which points to the truth that God, he is faithful. This is total confidence in God. Judgement is coming. The Chaldans, as decreed by the Lord, are going to come and they are going to be instruments of God's judgment against Judah. Judgment is coming, but destruction of God's people forever is not. This is this is a a reproof. This is a disciplinary action. For the Lord reproves him whom he loves as a father the son in whom he delights. But God he does not forsake his promises. And so what is Habach doing in this prayer? He is anchoring his worries to the character and the promises of God. It's like a a ship. It doesn't drop anchor after the storm has passed, right? It drops anchor when it sees the storm approaching. That way, it's it's locked in. That way, it holds true. And so, Christian, before the waves hit, before the storm comes, anchor yourself in the promises that you find in God's word. Anchor yourself in the character, in the nature of who he is. in who he is toward you. The Lord is a solid rock. He is a firm foundation that we can trust in and it will not move even in the fiercest storms. Let's look at verse 13 together. It says, "You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than you? So the the problem here is not necessarily about evil because it's like

you know you see the evil but why are you idle about it? So the the the issue is about God's silence here. We talked about that last week and Habach knows he's that God sees everything. And this brings us this point which is that we are to wrestle honestly with God's silence without letting go of God's holiness. See, there's this tension that Habach is wrestling with that all of us who are in Christ must learn to hold in tension because Habach knows that God, he sees everything, but he knows that God, he condemns evil. He hates injustice. He possesses unlimited power. Yet, he appears to do nothing. Does that make God immoral? Big question. What happens when we start to feel like Habach does? There's really two ditches that we can get in. The first one is that we may be tempted to redefine holiness. Right? The easy way out would be to say, "Well, maybe God is not as holy as I think that he is, or maybe he's a little bit more way morally ambiguous than what I thought he was. But Habach, he insists that God, he cannot approve of evil. He cannot even look at evil. He doesn't overlook injustice. His holiness is essential to his nature. So he says, I know that this is true. That's not conjecture. That's not my feelings. That's not my opinion. I know that this is true. And so then someone might say, well then God is not actually in control. he's not actually sovereign. We can say, well, God maybe didn't intend for this to happen. Or maybe it's just man's free will playing out in history. But Habachi says that God raised up the child, that God has ordained the judgment, that God is active in history. And so, he's got these two truths that he's holding intention. And that's why he's praying to the Lord. He's not denying his character. He's not denying

his control. But Habach is confused. Lord, if you are who you say that you are, then I need you to help me understand how these things fit together because I'm not letting go of these things that I know are true about you. So, it's this petition, this prayer. It's not rooted in doubt. It's rooted in faith because what he knows about the Lord is true and he's not going to accept the easy answers. And so this question of why it really comes together at one point in time at the cross of Jesus Christ. It is at the cross. Holiness is not compromised when Christ suffers. His justice is not ignored at the cross. Jesus he said from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He was suffering on the cross. Jesus himself asked why and the father turned his face away from the sun. Why? Why did he do that? Why did he bear our griefs and carry our sorrows? Why did we esteem him as stricken and smitten by God and afflicted? He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that bought us peace. And with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray and everyone to his own way. And the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. Why? Why did he do that? The the sinless son of God, why did he face the justice and the wrath of the father? What happened is is that Christ, he bore the curse for our sake. And as such, the father forsook him on the cross by becoming a curse for us. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree." The curse brought Christ under judgment from the father. And Jesus, he bore our curse on the cross. This doesn't mean that God stopped loving his son. It doesn't mean that there was a break in the trinity or that Jesus ceased to be God or anything like that.

God. He poured out his wrath on Christ because of his love for sinners like you and like me. It wasn't because of hatred towards his son. At the cross, God was silent. At the cross, the father forsook the son. And we we look at this. The only perfect human that was truly righteous suffered for sinners. Why? Why was just satisfied. What was God up to when he was being silent towards his son? He didn't come down and be giving this big elaborate explanation. They knew what the plan was from the beginning. But from our perspective, we would expect an explanation, wouldn't we? But the redemption that he was working out was through judgment. Notice what Habach does in verses 14-1 17. He doesn't he doesn't or he refuses to soften or sanitize evil even when God is using. Habach's not excusing Babylon just because God is using them. There's a a phrase in our vernacular uh of the necessary evil, right? doesn't exist. There's no such thing as a necessary evil. Uh God does not need evil to accomplish his purposes, but he does. He uses it for his own glory. Not that he's the author of it. Not that he's a cause or the originator of it. Evil is never morally justified and humans are never excused for the sins that they commit. Even if everything works out, even if we can justify it in our own minds, Paul, he explicitly writes against this when he says, "And why not do evil that good may come as some people slanderously charge us with saying? Their condemnation is just." In other words, he's saying, "No, that's that's not the position of any Christian." Habach, he names evil honestly. Look at the passages. Dehumanization, the

They're brutal with their hooks and their nets and humiliation. There's idolatry. They're worshiping their own strength and their power. They're relentless. There's violence without any mercy. And God, he ordains this judgment. Two two errors that Christians really have to avoid here. Calling evil good simply because it serves a purpose. Okay? Like Satan served a purpose with Job. We don't call Satan good. Okay? Evil is always evil. Fire, it can refine metal. Uh, it can clear out land, but that doesn't make a house fire any good. We might say that good came out of a house fire, but no one says that the fire itself is a good thing. God, he might use the fire, but scripture never asks us to praise the flames. Second thing, aside from calling evil good, we don't we don't do that just simply because it serves a purpose. But secondly, this phrase kind of bothered me all week. Um when it says, "Why do you remain silent there in verse 13, when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he?" You know, we can't can't assume that moral comparisons guarantee God's favor. Habach, he writes exactly what I just read, more righteous. What does he mean by more righteous? We know this. None is righteous. Know not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one. There's no such thing as more righteous or less less less righteous. God, he judges all s in truth and injustice, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I mean, imagine for a moment that you're

in a court of law and uh you've broken the law. It's clear. You admit to it. Stand before the judge. You say, "Yeah, yes, listen. I broke the law, but I'm not as bad as the other guys that you judged before me." You think that judge is going to look at you and go, "You know what? You are totally right. compared to those other guys, you're not as bad you can go. That's not the way that the world works. It's not the way the legal system works. The law doesn't work through comparisons. It works on guilt. You don't get off just simply because someone else committed a worse crime than you. The wages of sin is death. If there's two cups on the table, two cups of tea, and uh one cup has teaspoon of poison in it and the other one is just simply a whole cup of poison. Which one is safe to drink? Less poison doesn't make something harmless and less sin doesn't make someone more righteous. God, he doesn't look at us and judge us on a on a bell curve. We're either innocent in Christ or we're guilty in our sin. We're saved by his grace. We're not protected by our righteousness and our good works. So, Habach, he knows that Babylon is wicked, but moral comparison is not repentance and it's not a refuge. And if you're here and you've never trusted in Christ, you might think that you're a pretty good person. And you might be comparatively a pretty good person, but quit comparing yourself to others and look to Christ. The judgment rests on you the same way that rests on the worst criminal in history. That's why God, he sent Jesus to suffer and to die. It was to take your place and to pay for your sin so that you could be acquitted and made righteous by God. The last thing here, look at uh Habach

2:1. says, "I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint." When you find yourself in a situation where God answers your prayer and it's not the way that you wanted, you need to cling to God's character. You need to wrestle with God's silence. You need to refuse to minimize evil. And lastly, you need to wait for God's answer. This is where Habach start stops arguing and he starts to listen. Habach, he doesn't walk away. He doesn't lean on his own understanding. He doesn't make explanations or anything like that. He's just waiting for the Lord to speak. And this is where faith is tested. Faith is tested in the silent times. It's in the watching and the waiting. And watching and waiting, it requires for you to be humble. Look at what he says. Habach, he is ready to be corrected. He even expects God's correction. Look at verse one. He says, "Look out and see what he will say to me, what I will answer concerning my complaint." That line is kind of weird sounding there at the end, but basically what he's saying is is I'm waiting to see what God says so that I can answer him back. He expects that he himself might be wrong. He's not assuming to be correct or even that his interpretation of events is right. He's willing to be rebuked. He's not willing to just be reassured and coddled. And how different that is from modern Christians. Many people, they say, "I'll listen to God as long as he agrees with me. As long as he affirms the things that I affirm, as long as he's that God of love that I really enjoy, but never a God of justice. Because I don't like that God.

There's no such thing as different gods. There's one God. Biblical waiting means God, speak to me. Even if it's not what I want to hear. Even if I don't agree with it when I first hear about it, I want you to speak to me. Even if what you have to say corrects me, that's what being humble in your waiting is. Just like Psalm 25, he leads the humble in what is right and teaches the humble his way. Habach, he's not looking just for answers. He's looking for God to adjust his outlook. Secondly, look at this quietness. Notice that Habach, he puts himself on a tower. This is intentional withdrawal to be with the Lord. You can't expect to hear from the Lord when your when your mind is racing and you're in the busyiness of life and your heart's ready to argue. You're surrounded by noise. Waiting requires for you to be still spiritually, mentally, physically. And I don't mean that God only speaks in the silence, okay? I don't mean that. But we will not hear him until we stop talking. He oftenimes answers when we finally stop arguing long enough to listen. He says, "It is good that One should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It's a good thing to wait. Thirdly perseverance. Being a watchman on the wall isn't just simply looking out once at 10 p.m. and saying, "All right, all clear." It's assuming a posture of attention when most people are asleep. You're the one looking out there into the darkness. You're listening carefully. A good watchman doesn't just give up. He's vigilant. They listen. They listen real close. They stay alert. They don't jump at the sound of a twig snap. They they they continue to listen and to look out upon the darkness. They don't get so tired that they fall asleep. Habach, he doesn't set a deadline for

the Lord. He doesn't say he's got till sunrise. He's aware and he's watchful. Even though it doesn't seem like there's a response. Look at what the word says. But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Persevering through that darkness, through those watchful nights, is not passive patience. It's persistent hope that I believe that God has an answer and I'm just going to wait until he gives me that answer. Fourthly trust. That's the foundation between everything else that Habach is doing is he is waiting because he expects an answer. He doesn't believe that God is indifferent toward him. He waits because he trusts that God's covenant has not failed in his judgment. Here's what he says. Let me Hear what God the Lord will speak. For he will speak peace to his people, to his saints. But let them not turn back to folly. To give up, to quit looking for the Lord's answer is to go back to folly. Habach, he waits because he trusts the Lord. He believes God is not finished speaking through the prophets. God is not finished with his people. John Calvin, he captures this beautifully. He says, "The prophet finding himself overwhelmed rises above human judgment and waits for the spirit's light." You know, we live in a in a very fast-paced world where we can get entertainment at the push of a button. We can fly halfway around the world in less than a day. We can explore almost any corner of the planet with uh Google Earth. You can uh check out entire libraries. We've got AI where you can learn about just about anything and pretend to be an expert at least. We

can communicate with almost anyone at almost any corner of the planet with just a little little device that we carry around with us. Isn't Isn't that amazing? But God, he doesn't work like that. He doesn't operate according to our microwave schedules. He doesn't respond to text messages and alerts and notifications. He works by watchtowers. And it takes time because God is operating patiently, moving all of history to that one point in time where Christ will return. He's not rushed. He's not hurried, but when he moves, he moves. Let me tell you. And so, what do we learn? Well, Habach, he teaches us how we can question God without walking away from the faith. We can ask really tough questions. We can ask questions based on his character. But it's extremely danger dangerous to ask these questions about God without spending time with God or talking to God. I mean, when we're spending all of our time sharing all these doubts with others and not with God, when we're looking online for others to sympathize with our struggles and our complaints, when we rehearse arguments and we never spend time to pray, it's a dangerous path to go down. But faith, it doesn't require for us to understand it. It requires for us to trust God. So, do you trust the Lord? Do you trust the Lord? Then then go to him with your struggles. He invites you to come to him because God, he is faithful. He does keep his covenants. He is everlasting and he is holy and he loves you. So talk to him. Talk to him about your doubts and your struggles. His ways are too marvelous for us to comprehend. And we may not even get all the answers while we're on this side of eternity. But his goodness is so much deeper than our comprehension. And he will answer us

in a way that we understand. So will you be listening when he speaks to you? Head, heart, hand, head. God, he wants you to know that he is perfectly holy and absolutely sovereign. Even when his ways are confusing and his answers are painful, he never reacts. He never compromises. He's never absent. He governs history according to his holy character, according to his covenant faithfulness that he has toward you. And even when judgment comes, he is still the same good and holy sovereign God that has a plan and a purpose heart. God, he wants you to believe that when his answers are painful, his purposes can be trusted even when you don't understand them. So like You were called to hold fast to his character. So trust the God who judged sin at the cross and he will never act unjustly towards his people. And God, he wants you to bring your hard questions to you. So wait on his word and live by faith because God is perfectly holy and sovereign. Because his purposes can be trusted even Even when his answers are painful, God, he calls you to respond to him with a watchful fa faith, with a prayerful faith. So pray honestly and live humbly and wait patiently without walking away or looking for answers. Father Lord, we do thank you so much for this day. Thank you for your word and help us God to root ourselves in your character and in your goodness. We do declare God that you are good and you are holy. You are from everlasting. God, your ways are so marvelous and so high. And Lord, we may not understand everything that you allow. Uh but Lord, we do declare that you have a purpose. You have a plan. And for those of us on this side of eternity, we only get to see part of the story. Lord, we know

that you are working all things out. We know that you are working towards redemption. Uh Lord, we know that you have a plan even for the lost. Lord, we know that you desire to have relationship with them. And I pray for anyone that's here that maybe they don't know you. I pray that today would be that day that they come to know you and trust in you. And they may say, "I I don't I don't have all the questions, but I know that I trust God and I I want to walk by faith." So I pray today would be that day that they turn from their sins and they trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. I pray that you would continue to work in our church and that you move us towards deeper holiness, God, looking for your answers and looking for your your spirit, God, to move and to prompt us to walk with you in deeper, more meaningful ways. Father, we ask that you your mercy and your grace be on us. We ask that you would uh continue to have a greater rule and authority in our lives. Father, when we struggle with faithlessness, Father, help us, God. We love you. We submit ourselves to you. We ask this in Jesus name. Amen. Let's all stand and let's respond in worship together. Take my [singing and music] life and let it be consecrated [singing] Lord to thee. Take my [singing] moment [music] and my days. Let them flow in ceaseless [singing] praise. Take my hands and let [singing] them move at the impulse of thy love. Take my feet and let them be [singing] swift [music] and beautiful for thee. Take my [singing and music] voice and let me sing always [singing] holy for [music] my king.

Take [singing] my lips and let them be filled with me from me. Take my silver [music and singing] and my gold. Not [singing] of my would I withhold. Take my [singing and music] leg and use every [singing] power as you choose. [music] Here and my [music and singing] take [music and singing] my blood so you >> [singing] >> me. Take [music and singing] my life so take [singing and music] my will and make it thine. It [singing and music] shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it [singing and music] is thine own. It shall be thy royal throne. Take my [singing] love, my Lord, I pour. [music] At your [singing] feet is treasure store. Take myself [singing and music] and I will be ever only [singing] for thee. Here [singing and music] am I take [music and singing] my life. >> [music] >> So [singing] worthy [music] here. [music] Oh, take [music and singing] my hand so [music and singing] [singing and music] I [singing] Save my life. [music] My life

for you. >> Take my life [music and singing] and let it be consecrated Lord to thee. Lord, that that is a song of surrender, God. Uh take our lives. Uh use us, pour us out, God, always uh for your glory, even when we don't understand what you're doing, how you're working. Uh we just want you to use us because we love you, Lord. Uh help us, God, uh to be useful vessels for your glory, God. That's our sole desire when you give us these answers, Lord, that we wrestle with. Help us to walk by faith and listen closely, Lord, as we'll learn about next week, God. What do you expect of us? What do you require of us? Father, help us to walk by faith in Jesus name. Amen.