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Unlocking the Wisdom of Habakkuk: A Journey Through Faith
In the Wednesday Evening service at Middletown Baptist Church on June 4, 2025, Pastor Josh Massaro elucidates the profound themes encapsulated within the Book of Habakkuk, particularly focusing on the significance of asking authentic questions of God. He asserts that while it is imperative to approach the divine with respect, believers are encouraged to communicate their queries honestly and earnestly. The discourse further emphasizes the necessity of revival intertwined with repentance, illustrating that genuine revival cannot exist without a turning away from sin and a turning towards God. Pastor Massaro elucidates how Habakkuk, amidst dire circumstances, exemplifies the unwavering faith that leads to joy rooted in salvation rather than material circumstances. Ultimately, he encourages listeners to recognize their reliance on God's strength, regardless of life's adversities, affirming that true satisfaction and joy are found in the relationship with the Lord.
Takeaways:
- The Book of Habakkuk addresses the importance of asking God authentic and respectful questions regarding our circumstances.
- Pastor Josh emphasizes that true repentance involves turning away from sin and towards God and His Word.
- In times of trouble, believers are encouraged to find joy and strength in their relationship with God, regardless of material circumstances.
- Habakkuk's journey from confusion to clarity illustrates the believer's need to seek God for understanding and confidence in His plans.
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This podcast is produced by Ralph Estep, Jr., host of Financially Confident Christian, a daily podcast on Christian Finance you can find it at https://www.financiallyconfidentchristian.com
Transcript
Hello and welcome to the Middletown Baptist Church Podcast, where we are proclaiming the truth to the world.
Speaker A:My name is Pastor Josh, and I want to thank you for listening to this podcast.
Speaker A:I hope that this podcast can be a blessing to you and strengthen you in the word of God.
Speaker A:Now, come along.
Speaker A:Let's look into the Bible and see what God has for us here today.
Speaker A:We're going to start our Bible study here this evening.
Speaker A:And actually, we're going to start in conclusion, because what we're going to do here this evening is follow up with all of what we talked about in the Book of Habakkuk and conclude the whole book of Habakkuk.
Speaker A:Habakkuk is only three chapters.
Speaker A:It's a book of the Bible that specifically deals with questions and how we as believers can properly ask questions to God in a way that's respectful, honorable, but at the same time authentic.
Speaker A:I think in so many times in our Christian life, we have those authentic questions, but sometimes we're fearful to ask them because we don't know how to ask God.
Speaker A:And maybe we've been told it's wrong to ask God questions.
Speaker A:And I don't believe it's wrong to ask God questions.
Speaker A:I do believe it's wrong to question God and his goodness and his character.
Speaker A:But here in the book of Habakkuk, Habakkuk asks two main questions.
Speaker A:Number one, God, are you going to ever deal with the sin in the land?
Speaker A:And God answers, yes, I will deal with it, and I will bring judgment.
Speaker A:And I'm going to bring judgment through the Chaldeans or the Babylonians and the Habakkuk second question was, God, why are you going to do it that way?
Speaker A:And so sometimes that's how we ask God questions.
Speaker A:We ask God questions of.
Speaker A:Of the nature of God.
Speaker A:Are you.
Speaker A:Are you paying attention?
Speaker A:Do you know what's going on?
Speaker A:And really, truthfully, we should know that he knows what's going on.
Speaker A:But sometimes it feels like he doesn't know what's going on.
Speaker A:And so in that case, Habakkuk goes, God, do you understand that there's sin?
Speaker A:Do you understand that it needs to be judged?
Speaker A:And God says, yes, I understand that.
Speaker A:And then he gives him an answer.
Speaker A:Then sometimes we question God in why he's doing what he's doing or how he's doing what he's doing.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk asks that question, and then God doesn't answer him right away.
Speaker A:Chapter two, Habakkuk says in verse one, I'm going to Stand upon my watch.
Speaker A:I'm.
Speaker A:I'm going to wait for God to tell me where I'm wrong.
Speaker A:And he says, I know God's going to answer me, and I know he's going to reprove me.
Speaker A:I know he's going to tell me that I'm thinking about this the wrong way.
Speaker A:And ultimately God does.
Speaker A:God does speak to Habakkuk and basically tells Habakkuk, I'm in control.
Speaker A:I'm God, I'm perfect.
Speaker A:I love you.
Speaker A:But at the same time, I cannot condone sin.
Speaker A:Therefore, I'm going to bring judgment not only to Israel, not only to Judah, but all those that are in sin.
Speaker A:And that would include the Babylonians.
Speaker A:And so we get to all of that.
Speaker A:And essentially last week, what we looked at was all of these different elements of.
Speaker A:Of a prideful man.
Speaker A:He says, woe to him that is greedy.
Speaker A:Woe to him that is violent.
Speaker A:Woe to him that.
Speaker A:That.
Speaker A:That is addicted to alcohol.
Speaker A:In this case, he's talking here about drunkenness, and he talks about that.
Speaker A:And then he goes on and talk about those that are in idolatry.
Speaker A:And then ultimately Habakkuk is going to give a response here.
Speaker A:And that's what we're going to look at here this evening.
Speaker A:We're in chapter three, verse 16.
Speaker A:Habakkuk is starting this chapter with a prayer.
Speaker A:It's actually a song.
Speaker A:It's a song that's a prayer.
Speaker A:And he says, lord, give us revival.
Speaker A:He asked God for revival, and he says, revive your work in.
Speaker A:In our lands.
Speaker A:Revive your work in our hearts.
Speaker A:And we spoke about last week the idea of revival being linked with repentance.
Speaker A:And I want you to think about those two words and what those words mean for you.
Speaker A:The word revival just means to bring back to life, to be recharged, to be renewed.
Speaker A:But also, I think that scripture points directly to the fact that with that revival comes repentance.
Speaker A:Because literally, repentance means to turn away from something.
Speaker A:And so for us to go the right direction and we're going in the wrong direction, we have to turn away from the wrong direction and go that right direction.
Speaker A:And so repentance doesn't mean sinlessness, because sometimes people think that, man, I repented, but I still went back to sin.
Speaker A:So therefore it must not have been repentance.
Speaker A:Well, repentance just means I'm turning away from something.
Speaker A:But turning away from something also means to turn to something.
Speaker A:So what are we turning to in repentance?
Speaker A:We're turning to the word of God, we're turning to the truth of God.
Speaker A:We're turning to his way and not our own way.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk's prayer was for revival, but with revival comes repentance.
Speaker A:And so at the end of all of this, what essentially Habakkuk is saying is this.
Speaker A:I don't understand God, why you're doing what you're doing.
Speaker A:Your ways are above my ways.
Speaker A:But I'm going to praise you for who you are and I'm going to call out for the need for revival in my own heart.
Speaker A:And I think that that's what we have to understand.
Speaker A:There are going to be times where we don't understand the works of God, the ways of God.
Speaker A:But what we have to say is, lord, help me understand.
Speaker A:But if I don't understand, just give me the concept of how good you are.
Speaker A:And I need to worship you and I need to rest in your goodness and I need to have my heart revived to the truth.
Speaker A:And so what we're going to look at this week is the end of the book.
Speaker A:Basically this is the confession of Habakkuk.
Speaker A:This is his truth, this is his heart.
Speaker A:And he says in verse 16, when I heard, he's saying.
Speaker A:Heard what?
Speaker A:Heard the truth of Habakkuk, basically the truth that God had given to Habakkuk here in this book to tell to the people.
Speaker A:He says, when I heard this truth, my belly trembled.
Speaker A:And this speaks to the awe inspiring power that God has.
Speaker A:I think all of us have to understand the, the difference between our power, our human power and the power of God.
Speaker A:Obviously our power can be more than others, but our power is limited.
Speaker A:But God's power is what we would say, omnipotent.
Speaker A:He's all powerful.
Speaker A:And so he says in the the face of your word, Lord.
Speaker A:My belly trembled, my lips quivered at the voice.
Speaker A:Rottenness entered into my bones and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.
Speaker A:When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.
Speaker A:And so here in this case, Habakkuk shows the proper response to the truth of God, the proper response to the power of God.
Speaker A:He recognizes his weakness and it brings him to humility.
Speaker A:And that humility brings him to a place of reliance and confidence in God.
Speaker A:And I was having a conversation with someone today and I said, you know what, there's going to be times in our life or we have to be reminded how we are not in control.
Speaker A:Sometimes we think we're in control even if we're not in control.
Speaker A:Sometimes we think we are in control.
Speaker A:And sometimes what God has to do is bring in a situation in our life to make us realize very quickly that we were never in control.
Speaker A:And I think that's the reality that we have to understand in our lives, is that we can try to control and manipulate situations and circumstances, but at the end of the day, it is God who is in control.
Speaker A:And, and we have to humble ourselves before him.
Speaker A:We have to recognize that power.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk shows here, in this case, the proper response to someone facing the truth of God, the power of God, and then recognizing the weakness.
Speaker A:And in that weakness, we understand humility.
Speaker A:And in humility, the Bible says we find God's grace.
Speaker A:God gives grace to the humble.
Speaker A:Lot of the proud grace of the humble.
Speaker A:He, he, he pulls down the prideful.
Speaker A:He lifts up those that are humble.
Speaker A:So if we want to find the power of God, if we want to find the uplifting strength that God brings to us in our life, we must humble ourselves and recognize that weakness.
Speaker A:And so essentially what Habakkuk is doing is recognizing his weakness and identifying God's greatness, recognizing God's great.
Speaker A:Greatness.
Speaker A:And so the prophet remembers that the Babylonians are coming.
Speaker A:He, he knows that the Chaldeans are coming for judgments.
Speaker A:And basically what he says is that, hey, God, this is your work.
Speaker A:I'm submitting myself to your work.
Speaker A:I don't understand it, but I'm submitting.
Speaker A:And sometimes that's the hardest thing to do.
Speaker A:None of us, none of us in our flesh like to submit.
Speaker A:I don't like to submit.
Speaker A:I like to have my way.
Speaker A:But when Habakkuk saying is, lord, this is not my decision, this is not my plan.
Speaker A:I must submit to this judgment that you are bringing.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk basically describes the circumstances here in verse 17.
Speaker A:He says, this is the circumstance that Israel is going to face.
Speaker A:And some of us might characterize our life at certain periods with this description.
Speaker A:He says, although the fig tree shall not blossom.
Speaker A:And so he's, he's very picture picturesque here.
Speaker A:Hebrew literature is very poetic.
Speaker A:And so here what he's doing is he's trying to paint a picture of fruitful fruitfulness in contrast to unfruitfulness, emptiness in comparison to, um, all the blessings that a lot of people thought that was equated with the power of God, the blessing of God, the love of God.
Speaker A:So, so what I mean by that is this.
Speaker A:There's a lot of people that think that God only loves those that are fruitful.
Speaker A:God only loves those that are successful.
Speaker A:God only loves those that have profitable things in their life.
Speaker A:That's a sign that God loves them.
Speaker A:But what he's saying here is that, hey, though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines.
Speaker A:The labor of the olive oil shall fail.
Speaker A:The field shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.
Speaker A:That sounds like a pretty bleak picture there.
Speaker A:Basically, they're left with nothing.
Speaker A:They're left with nothing beneficial on the material side of things.
Speaker A:No fig tree blossoming, no fruit on the vines.
Speaker A:The labor of the olive oil fails.
Speaker A:The fields have no meat, the flocks will be cut off.
Speaker A:There's no herd in the stalls.
Speaker A:That was all equated with material blessing back then, right?
Speaker A:Back then.
Speaker A:Material blessing was, we have fruit on the trees, we have animals in the fields, we have all of our flocks coming together, and everything is the way that we expected to be.
Speaker A:He says, when things are not the way that we expect them to be.
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What?
Speaker A:What does he say he will do?
Speaker A:Verse 18.
Speaker A:Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, he says, with all of those bad circumstances happening around me, all the things that the world would say would be that God had forgotten about you.
Speaker A:He says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker A:And he gives his reason why he rejoices here.
Speaker A:It's not because there's fruit on the trees.
Speaker A:It's not because everything is the way that he expected to be.
Speaker A:He says, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Speaker A:He finds his joy.
Speaker A:He finds his satisfaction.
Speaker A:He finds everything, his peace, in the fact that he has a God who cares about him and loves him and saves him.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk saw that there was going to be emptiness coming, there was going to be pain coming.
Speaker A:And in the midst of complete loss, what does he say here?
Speaker A:He says, I can still rejoice in the Lord.
Speaker A:This is where we should be as believers.
Speaker A:It's not where we all are.
Speaker A:It's not where necessarily we want to be.
Speaker A:But the truth is, in many cases, Christians equate things with God's love.
Speaker A:If I have this, God must love me.
Speaker A:If I don't have this, God must not love me.
Speaker A:And in the case of Habakkuk, he's saying here, it doesn't matter what I have in my field, it doesn't matter what I have in my bank account.
Speaker A:It doesn't matter what my health is.
Speaker A:God still loves me.
Speaker A:Why because he has given me salvation.
Speaker A:And so at the core of this, his satisfaction is in his relationship with God.
Speaker A:And I can tell you there's.
Speaker A:There's a whole book written about this in the book of Ecclesiastes, that the things of this world will eventually run out.
Speaker A:Vanity of vanities, emptiness.
Speaker A:And so Solomon, of all the guys in the world who had everything, and he gives his testimony at the end, Solomon didn't say, well, hey, you know what?
Speaker A:All those things that I had, that was worth it.
Speaker A:It was amazing.
Speaker A:It was a great life.
Speaker A:No, what does Solomon say?
Speaker A:He says all of those things were empty.
Speaker A:All of those things were empty in sight of what God had told me to do and the wisdom of God and the blessings of God.
Speaker A:And so I think all of us have run down that rabbit trail at some point in our lives, trying to find things and gain things and say, well, God must love me if he brings me this.
Speaker A:And I'm going to tell you that there's going to be times in your life, and you know this.
Speaker A:You've lived long enough on this earth to know that there are gonna be times in your life where you ask God for something and he doesn't give you what you want.
Speaker A:He doesn't give you the circumstance that you were hoping for.
Speaker A:And that doesn't mean that God has stopped loving you.
Speaker A:It just means that God has a bigger plan, he has a bigger purpose, and that at the end of the day, we can all say, and.
Speaker A:And I hope that this is our testimony.
Speaker A:When.
Speaker A:When I'm in complete and utter loss, when I feel broken and empty and.
Speaker A:And darkness is covering me in my circumstance, I can still rejoice.
Speaker A:He says, I will have joy in the God of my salvation.
Speaker A:So Habakkuk here is not just.
Speaker A:I think a lot of times people in this world practice what's called the power of positive thinking.
Speaker A:I think there's like a whole book about that and the whole way of thinking.
Speaker A:I don't think it's just like, positive thinking.
Speaker A:Like, hey, just spin everything in a good slight.
Speaker A:You know, if you came to me because.
Speaker A:Because this is sometimes how Christians act.
Speaker A:At least I've seen this and I've tried to do this with people.
Speaker A:They've come up to me and they said, hey, I'm really going through this hardship.
Speaker A:And I try to think of a way that.
Speaker A:That can spin around to be something good in their life.
Speaker A:Like, well, you know, all things work together for good.
Speaker A:So, you know, you lost your loved one because this person's going to come to Christ.
Speaker A:But what happens when we don't go back and see the reason why?
Speaker A:You know, I wish we could have a reason for everything that God allows in our life, but we don't always have that.
Speaker A:So I don't think he's just saying, like, hey, spin everything in the positive light here.
Speaker A:I.
Speaker A:I think what he's trying to teach us is that God is greater than anything we have or that we lose in our life.
Speaker A:To, to know God is the greatest gift that we could ever have.
Speaker A:And I've said this before, and this is harder to practice than.
Speaker A:Than just profess, but if God took away everything that we have materially in this world, we would still have Him.
Speaker A:And the Bible says that's enough.
Speaker A:Now, will he do that?
Speaker A:Probably not.
Speaker A:Most of us have more than what we've ever needed in our life where we live in excess.
Speaker A:But the idea here is this.
Speaker A:The.
Speaker A:The spirit of our rejoicing cannot be found just in the things that we have, but in who we have as our Savior.
Speaker A:And so in this case, I.
Speaker A:I believe that Habakkuk is essentially talking about the same principle that we see in Philippians chapter four.
Speaker A:And we don't have time to go through the whole book of Philippians, but a good parallel passage is read through Philippians chapter four and Habakkuk chapter three.
Speaker A:Because we have a guy named Paul in Philippians chapter four who gets the verse number four in chapter four.
Speaker A:And he says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Speaker A:And again I say, rejoice.
Speaker A:And some of you that have been following our act study, I've seen a similar thought, that Paul does not wrap up his joy in the Lord with what's going on around, even though we can be joyful about things.
Speaker A:I mean, I know for, for me, some of the most joyful times in my life were obviously the day I got married, the day that my Ch.
Speaker A:The days that were my children were born.
Speaker A:Those are exciting days.
Speaker A:And we should celebrate those things.
Speaker A:And God gives us beautiful things.
Speaker A:Every good gift comes from God.
Speaker A:So I'm not preaching that everyone has to be in spiritual poverty.
Speaker A:I'm not saying that.
Speaker A:But what I am saying is that if we wrap up everything in our relationship with God to the things that he has given us, instead of thinking about just the fact that we have him, we miss the point of this Christian walk.
Speaker A:We.
Speaker A:We miss the point of being a disciple for Christ.
Speaker A:So will God give us things?
Speaker A:Yes.
Speaker A:He gives us above and beyond.
Speaker A:We know that God loves us and he loves his children.
Speaker A:But.
Speaker A:But we also have to understand that Paul, when he wrote Philippians chapter four, was not in the best of situations.
Speaker A:He was in prison.
Speaker A:He.
Speaker A:He was being persecuted for what he believed.
Speaker A:And so he says, rejoice in the Lord always.
Speaker A:And again I say, rejoice, and then say, how could Paul say that one?
Speaker A:Verse six, Be careful or anxious for nothing, but in everything.
Speaker A:By prayer and supplication, let your requests be made known unto God.
Speaker A:So Paul says, you want to know how to have that joy in the midst of difficulty.
Speaker A:Bring everything to God.
Speaker A:Bring everything to him with prayer and supplication and thanksgiving.
Speaker A:Let your requests be made known unto God with thanksgiving, with thankfulness, having a heart of gratitude, having a heart of humility.
Speaker A:And then he says in verse seven that let your request be made known to God.
Speaker A:And that what does that bring?
Speaker A:That brings the peace of God which passes all understanding.
Speaker A:So it's the joy of God, which Nehemiah says, the joy of the Lord is.
Speaker A:Is my strength.
Speaker A:That's Nehemiah 8, 10.
Speaker A:And then we see that in the case of the joy, this real substantial joy in Christ, what does that bring that brings peace in the peace of God which passes all understanding, Rule your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
Speaker A:And so it is essentially knowing Jesus, knowing the joy that he brings, knowing the peace that he brings.
Speaker A:And it's really good.
Speaker A:If you want to tie all this together, you can look at Galatians, chapter 5, verses 22 and 23.
Speaker A:This is not a pitch for the Bible study this summer, but we're going to be saying, the fruits, the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker A:Now, the fruits of the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, which.
Speaker A:There's elements of the fruit of the Spirit.
Speaker A:And you have love, which starts the fruit of the Spirit, but then you have two that follow that are connected together.
Speaker A:Love, joy, peace.
Speaker A:So to be a Christian means to live in the love of Christ, but it also means to live in the joy of Christ, which also means live in the peace of Christ.
Speaker A:And again, there's more of the elements of the fruit of the Spirit that we could study for another time.
Speaker A:But in this case, what Habakkuk says is that you can have joy in the midst of emptiness.
Speaker A:And so then we get to verse 19.
Speaker A:This is essentially his testimony.
Speaker A:Here.
Speaker A:He says, this is where I stand.
Speaker A:In emptiness I will rejoice in.
Speaker A:In emptiness.
Speaker A:I will have the joy of the Lord in the fact that he is my Savior.
Speaker A:And then he says, the Lord God is my strength, so tied to that joy is the strength, which is exactly what we see in the book of Nehemiah.
Speaker A:The joy of the Lord is my strength.
Speaker A:And so Habakkuk here, in this case, I don't think that Habakkuk could say these words in verse 19 in when he was in chapter one.
Speaker A:I don't know about you, but there's some times in my life where I feel like I'm.
Speaker A:I'm Habakkuking.
Speaker A:Chapter one.
Speaker A:Lord, why, Lord?
Speaker A:I don't understand.
Speaker A:Lord, this is, this is not the way that I would do this.
Speaker A:And then sometimes I feel like I'm Habakkuk in chapter two.
Speaker A:Lord, I'm waiting.
Speaker A:Why?
Speaker A:Why am I thinking the way that I'm thinking?
Speaker A:Change my mind.
Speaker A:Show me the difference.
Speaker A:But then I think that as we grow and mature and understand and see God, we're able to worship him in chapter three, right?
Speaker A:The first few verses.
Speaker A:And then we're able to recognize the power of God and the judgment of God, and we're able to recognize our humility.
Speaker A:And then we can say in verse 19, the Lord God is my strength.
Speaker A:So.
Speaker A:So I believe Habakkuk could properly declare this after he prays the prayer of faith.
Speaker A:You're not able to say this without faith.
Speaker A:This is Habakkuk's confidence.
Speaker A:So if you could break up Habakkuk into basically two categories, you have Habakkuk's confusion.
Speaker A:Well, let's break it up into three categories because pastors like to do three alliteration.
Speaker A:Three, three point alliteration.
Speaker A:So you have his confusion, his clarity and his confidence.
Speaker A:Think about it that way.
Speaker A:So he starts with confusion.
Speaker A:I don't know God, why.
Speaker A:God gives him clarity.
Speaker A:And in that clarity comes confidence in God.
Speaker A:Not confidence in himself, not confidence in his king, not confidence in his country, but confidence in his, in the Lord.
Speaker A:And so for us there is that season sometimes of confusion.
Speaker A:But when we seek God with all of our hearts, and the Bible says if we seek him in faith, he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Speaker A:That's Hebrews chapter 11, verse 6.
Speaker A:In that confusion, then comes that faith, and then that faith brings clarity.
Speaker A:God gives us clarity to the situation.
Speaker A:He might not give us the answers, but he gives us the clarity.
Speaker A:And in that clarity, then comes the confidence.
Speaker A:And I've broken down that word confidence before.
Speaker A:It's two words, con with vide, faith, to live with faith, to live with confidence.
Speaker A:And so I see here Habakkuk living a life of confidence, living A life of faith.
Speaker A:And so he can do that because he has trusted in the right object of faith.
Speaker A:If you don't trust in the right object of faith, you're not able to sit there with confidence.
Speaker A:Because if, like, for example, you know, if I told you, hey, you know, bring all of your problems to me, I'll handle all of your problems.
Speaker A:I'll take care of everything for you.
Speaker A:I have all of your answers, okay?
Speaker A:That can only last in a way that's helpful for so long, until I've run out of wisdom, I've run out of strength, I've run out of resources.
Speaker A:And so me being the object of faith would only take you so far.
Speaker A:It would only bring you so much confidence.
Speaker A:And for some people, they might say, I don't have a lot of confidence in you on that.
Speaker A:You know, for example, like, let's say.
Speaker A:Let's say you.
Speaker A:You say, pastor, I've got a big issue at my house.
Speaker A:I need you to repair my back porch collapsed in, and I need you to come over and build that for me, okay?
Speaker A:You would only have confidence in me for a short amount of time until you started seeing me pull out the tools and look at things and go, I'm.
Speaker A:I'm totally confused, right?
Speaker A:But if you brought someone over from the church that knew exactly what they were doing, they knew exactly where to go, you would say, I've got a lot more confidence in that person.
Speaker A:So, so it was the object of faith that brought you more faith.
Speaker A:And so in this case with Christ, we as Christians can put our faith in all the wrong places, but those objects of faith are eventually going to crumble.
Speaker A:But the object of faith of Christ will never crumble.
Speaker A:And so he says, hey, I.
Speaker A:I can have strength in the Lord.
Speaker A:And then he.
Speaker A:He gives this awesome analogy.
Speaker A:He says, he will make my feet like hinds feet or, or deer's feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places to the chief singer of my stringed instrument.
Speaker A:So he closes out the song with, with that statement.
Speaker A:But he gives this really interesting analogy here at the very end.
Speaker A:He says, God's going to make me like a deer walking through the high places, running through the high places.
Speaker A:And so I, in this case, I.
Speaker A:I have a picture when, when I was in Israel, they have these.
Speaker A:They're not deer, but they're called ibex.
Speaker A:And they look similar to deer.
Speaker A:And they're kind of like goats.
Speaker A:So they're like mountain goats.
Speaker A:And we were walking through this place called Eni, which was a Place that David fled, saw and hid there for a while.
Speaker A:And when we're in Engetti, we just looked up.
Speaker A:And I'm.
Speaker A:I'm an animal person, so I'm always looking for animals no matter where I am.
Speaker A:Like, Micah and I are the same.
Speaker A:We, like, go out and we're like, exploring, trying to find animals.
Speaker A:So the very first thing I saw at Eneti has nothing to do with what I'm about to tell you, but you might find it interesting.
Speaker A:There's like this little, like, gopher monkey looking thing sitting up on the top of this one branch.
Speaker A:And I'm looking at that, I'm like, I have no clue what this is, but I'm gonna take a picture of it and look it up later.
Speaker A:Found out it's something called a hyrax.
Speaker A:Interesting little creature.
Speaker A:If you want to see a picture, I have it on my phone.
Speaker A:But then there's these ibexes, and they're like, on the side of the mountain.
Speaker A:Like, literally, the mountain's like this.
Speaker A:It's like a cliff, and they're just standing on it.
Speaker A:I'm like, how are they standing up there?
Speaker A:And their little hooves are just planted in there, and they're just running around the mountains on the side of the mountains, and they.
Speaker A:They don't stumble, they don't fall.
Speaker A:And I'm like, if that was me up there, I'd fall to my.
Speaker A:To my demise right there, right off the bat.
Speaker A:And.
Speaker A:And I thought about that, and I thought about this passage of scripture, like, how those animals are able just to be able to navigate that tough terrain so easily without even a second thought.
Speaker A:It's in their nature.
Speaker A:And I believe that's what he's talking about here.
Speaker A:He's talking about this idea that as a believer, though the terrain around us can be rough and difficult and treacherous, we can have that confidence when we're taking a step in the Lord's will.
Speaker A:And that's where.
Speaker A:Where I see that.
Speaker A:And actually, when.
Speaker A:When we were pulling out of the parking lot, there's this tree.
Speaker A:And I thought I was seeing things.
Speaker A:I mean, it was really hot that day.
Speaker A:And I looked out and I saw a goat, one of these ibexes in the tree.
Speaker A:And I thought I was dreaming.
Speaker A:I'm like, that I didn't think that a goat would be up in the top of the tree.
Speaker A:And I asked the guy, he's like, yeah, that's good.
Speaker A:So I had to take a picture of that.
Speaker A:He was up in the tree.
Speaker A:So it's pretty neat to See that?
Speaker A:But I, at the end of the day, I thought about the idea there of how God can guide our steps even in difficult places.
Speaker A:The Bible says in Psalm 119, 105, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light into my path.
Speaker A:And when we're following the will of God, he's able to set forth for us even in difficult places, a sure foundation.
Speaker A:And we might slip, we might stumble, but we'll never fall.
Speaker A:The Bible says though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.
Speaker A:And so I see that as a big contrast, even though it's only three chapters in Habakkuk, you see Habakkuk at the very beginning going, why does thou show me iniquity?
Speaker A:And he is basically asking God all these questions and he has no clarity.
Speaker A:But at the end, we see him completely confident in the Lord's strength.
Speaker A:And I think that's the path that we can all take in our lives.
Speaker A:I know that there are many people, including myself, that have fallen into that.
Speaker A:That dark place of not understanding why God has to do the things that he does.
Speaker A:And, you know, in our humanity, we.
Speaker A:We fall short of understanding his ways.
Speaker A:But we can at, at the end go, lord, I'm going to rejoice in you.
Speaker A:I'm going to have joy because you've given me salvation.
Speaker A:And because of that, you are my strength.
Speaker A:You are my guide.
Speaker A:And so I've really, I've really seen a lot through the book of Habakkuk that can help us, I think, when it comes to those difficult things in our life.
Speaker A:And I wish I could tell you that things are.
Speaker A:Are easy.
Speaker A:But we all know that life is not easy.
Speaker A:Life's not easy for anybody.
Speaker A:You know, I.
Speaker A:I think that sometimes we think that only Christians have it difficult, but the world has it difficult.
Speaker A:The only difference between us and someone who's in the world that has no faith is, is that they're going through these things with no hope, and they're trying to find hope in wrong places.
Speaker A:But we as Christians are not going to necessarily avoid the struggles, but we have someone that's going to go with it through us and guide us and protect us and give us hope and real, substantial hope.
Speaker A:And so I wanted to go through the hood book of Habakkuk.
Speaker A:And the reason why the book of Habakkuk kind of tied together with what we were studying is because we were basically going through questions, right?
Speaker A:And a bunch of people ask a bunch of questions and I didn't have the answers for all of them, but I thought that Habakkuk will be a good study to look at when it comes to asking questions.
Speaker A:Asking good questions, asking good questions are.
Speaker A:Is a really good thing.
Speaker A:And I think God, as a pastor, I appreciate good questions.
Speaker A:I love when people ask me questions about the Bible.
Speaker A:Like, it is not a bother.
Speaker A:I want to, like, I don't like some questions.
Speaker A:Like, you know, I don't like when people ask me questions about things I don't know about.
Speaker A:Like, like I have no interest in.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker A:That's like, not my thing.
Speaker A:Okay, okay.
Speaker A:But if you're going to come and talk to me about the Bible, I love questions.
Speaker A:I don't have all the answers, but I love questions.
Speaker A:And I think that if I, as just a lowly pastor, have a joy in hearing questions, authentic, real questions.
Speaker A:How much more does God, our Heavenly Father, enjoy us asking true questions to say, lord, why?
Speaker A:I want to know.
Speaker A:I want to know your way.
Speaker A:And he might say, you might not understand.
Speaker A:I love when my kids ask me questions, but sometimes they don't.
Speaker A:They don't get an answer.
Speaker A:Sometimes it's just because I'm your dad and that's the way it goes.
Speaker A:And sometimes we do have times where we talk about those answers.
Speaker A:But if my child is running to the road and there's a car coming and I say, son, stop.
Speaker A:And he turns around and goes, why?
Speaker A:I'm not going to sit there and go, because, son, if you go any further, there's going to be this and there's going to be this.
Speaker A:I might not have the time or the disposition to give him all of the answers.
Speaker A:It might be an emergency situation.
Speaker A:I'm not going to give you the answer for this because I'm your father and I love you.
Speaker A:But there's going to be other times where we talk and we go through those things.
Speaker A:And so that's how God, I think, deals with us as a perfect heavenly father.
Speaker A:And so I hope that it's been a good study for you at whatever piece you've been in on.
Speaker A:Even if tonight's you only night.
Speaker A:I hope that it's been a time that maybe has spurred you to say, you know what, I might want to go back and read the book of Habakkuk when I've got more questions to look at, a highlight and a theme that I can see and frame in in my own mind.
Speaker A:So I've had some questions about where we are going next.
Speaker A:And we, we have tried to tackle a lot of different things in our Wednesday night series.
Speaker A:But what we are going to go to next is, is I've had some people come to me over the years and say, I don't.
Speaker A:I'm wrestling with my assurance of salvation because of this reason.
Speaker A:I, I don't really know if.
Speaker A:Not if I'm not saved, but I just don't feel saved.
Speaker A:I don't feel like God is, is.
Speaker A:Is working in my life the way that he used to.
Speaker A:And I just have a lot of confusion about that.
Speaker A:So the book of the Bible that I tell people to read, when it comes to that and getting clarity on that, is First John.
Speaker A:First John is a book written to Christians to explain to Christians what it means to be a Christian.
Speaker A:And there's a lot of really good teachings within the book of First John.
Speaker A:And I think that it'll be a blessing for us.
Speaker A:It's not a long book of the Bible.
Speaker A:It's only five chapters.
Speaker A:Uh, but we're going to do a study in First John and we're going to.
Speaker A:We're going to look at what it means to be a believer.
Speaker A:Because it's one thing to say that we believe.
Speaker A:It's another thing to live like we believe.
Speaker A:And so if you've ever struggled with that, or if you know people that might be struggling with the concept of, like, well, am I a Christian?
Speaker A:Am I a believer?
Speaker A:Well, we don't just say, well, did you say this prayer?
Speaker A:Did you repeat after me?
Speaker A:We, we look at Scripture and we say truly, Truly and truly.
Speaker A:At the core of all of this, the thing that makes us a Christian is belief.
Speaker A:Faith.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:But I can't.
Speaker A:I, I can't look into your heart and mind and see faith.
Speaker A:And so what, what we need to do is we need to understand that real faith produces real things.
Speaker A:And it doesn't mean we're going to be perfect in that.
Speaker A:But there is that standard that God has set for us that we are to strive for.
Speaker A:And so we're going to look at First John.
Speaker A:We're going to talk about a lot of different things that I think will help us when it comes to identifying clarity when we are living our lives as believers and helping other people to see it as well.
Speaker A:So First John, we'll be back in that.
Speaker A:So I know that some people want to know what we're studying next.
Speaker A:So for the next foreseeable future, that's where we're going to be, Lord willing, unless something changes.
Speaker A:Well, I appreciate your attention here this evening.
Speaker A:I know that it's It's a lot to go through if you hear people asking questions about God, and sometimes it's a it's a difficult thing to deal with.
Speaker A:But I'm glad that we're able to talk about it.
Speaker A:Thank you again for listening to the Middletown Baptist Church podcast.
Speaker A:I hope that this sermon has been a blessing for you.
Speaker A:If you would like to find out more information about our church or this sermon, you can find us at middletownbaptistchurch.org or find us on Facebook or YouTube.
Speaker A:You can also email me directly at Josh Massaroiddletownbaptistchurch dot com if you've enjoyed this podcast, please subscribe and subscribe.
Speaker A:Follow along for future podcast and updates.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:God Bless.
Speaker A:Have a wonderful day.
