Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Who Do I Turn To? Habakkuk 3:17-19a

17 Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights. (NIV)
 
Over the last few months I have tried to get us to take a hard look at our walk of faith and I have included the church in that reflection.  Last Sunday night two men from the church and I went down to a home in the Central Davidson area for a time of entertainment, food, fellowship, and listening to the Word of God proclaimed.  As I sat there I looked around at the men who were there not knowing what they were dealing with in life, but I saw retirees, businessmen, farmers, teachers, people who worked for manufacturing companies, salesmen and many other professions represented. I saw husbands, grandfathers, dads, uncles, sons, and brothers represented.  As a good friend of mine was delivering the message the Holy Spirit laid on my heart that someone there was going through something major and I needed to lay hands on him and pray over him.  I asked God to show me who that might be and during my friend’s message he spoke of a man they had laid hands on that morning at church and prayed over.  I knew what I needed to do – as soon as our fellowship was over I sought out this man and we began to talk.  This man was dealing with LIFE!  He had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer; stage 4 cancers have often metastasized, or spread to other organs or throughout the body.  This is as bad as it gets.  As we talked I knew this man’s hope and faith was in Jesus Christ by his attitude toward the days that lay ahead of him.  In your insert the first point in that line says: Life is…  I have purposely left this blank for you to fill in what you see your life as.  Some may see life as uncertainty, others as hard or difficult, some may see life as breathtaking, and others as frustrating, some may want to write down that life is awesome.  I know what some of you are dealing with in your life, but in reality this part of the outline is for you to think about what life is in your own eyes.  The one thing I know is that life is real! Sometimes like the man I met last Sunday night life smacks us in the face with something that has to overwhelm us.  That is what has happened to Habakkuk in today’s Scripture text and I want us to see how he reacted to a life that had become hard, difficult and frustrating.
 
The book of Habakkuk is a conversation with God. Habakkuk is upset because he sees evil winning and it is frustrating to him and he cries out in prayer to God for an explanation.  As I read this small book of the minor prophets I could only think how this book reflected what is going on today in the world in which we live.  It seems that evil is winning, but I stand before you today to say that God is in control and He showed this to Habakkuk.  He said to Habakkuk in chapter 2, 2 Then the LORD replied: "Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that whoever reads it may run with it. 3 For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay."  Prior to this Habakkuk had said he would stand watch for the Lord and then this reply came.  We need to be ready and waiting to receive the message or messages God wants to give us!  This message that came from God is a message of hope that something is coming and although it may be a while in coming to fruition, it will come in the proper time – God’s time.
 
In life we have some really trying and difficult times.  We have financial burdens, health issues, times of depression and loneliness, times of struggle, and it is easy to focus on the difficulties in our life.  We must fight this urge because our feelings cannot be controlled by the events around us.  When we focus on the giants in our life this provides the fodder that Satan needs to bring doubt, worry, and discontent into our life.  One thing I have seen more and more recently is the overwhelming power that Satan is using to try to destroy our relationship with God.  Satan desires that we allow our feelings of unworthiness, uncertainty, harsh realities, and guilt to become the focus of our thoughts and beliefs. Sadly it gets to the point we don’t think we are good enough for God to heal us, fix our financial burdens, or place people in our lives.  We begin to have a negative, defeatist attitude because of where our focus is placed. However, I stand before you today and proclaim that we must have faith in God’s ability to handle what we are dealing with in our life.  Around 2000 prophecies found in the Bible have been fulfilled; Jesus fulfilled about 351 of them.  What I am trying to say is that God does what He says He will do!  Brothers and sisters we must believe in God’s ability because there is no one greater.  Remember the man I spoke about earlier in today’s message.  He was prayed for and prayed over by men and women of God.  Tuesday night I had an opportunity to spend time in a prayer ministry at a local church.  During this time of prayer the pastor came in and told us that the man I spoke to you about earlier had been to the doctor that day and test were run.  Miraculously the test showed he was cancer free!  Now you don’t go from stage 4 cancer to cancer free two days later without the intervention of the Lord.  As I sat there I listened as this group of men and women spoke of the miraculous healings that had taken place over the last 9 years in their church.  These people believe in God’s ability and it shows in the results of His intervention in the life of the people of this church.  With that said we are told at James 5:14 that if…“any one of you sick; he should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.”  I stand before you today saying if you would like the elders to come out and pray with you – we are willing and able, just contact one of the elders or me and we will set up a time to come out and pray over you or your loved one.
 
Now as I said life is real and there are times in life when life just doesn’t make any sense.  When times in your life seem as if nothing makes sense remember God gives strength.  It is easy in times like these when life is confusing and full of chaos and we see in the book of Habakkuk that Habakkuk didn’t understand life, but instead of turning his focus to the difficulties of life he chose to look to God.  As I read the Scripture this morning did you see that things were bleak in the eyes of Habakkuk.  The crops were gone – no food to be found; the sheep and cattle were no more – no meat to sustain them – life was as bad as you can get; yet, through all of this did you see what Habakkuk said?  He said, “I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength.”  Here was a man that didn’t know where his next meal was coming from or what his future held, but in the midst of the chaos and confusion of his life he chose to rejoice in the Lord, to be joyful that God was still his Savior in this very difficult time, and even though the future was unclear he was choosing to put his hope and trust in the Lord that he knew was still in control of His Creation to be his strength.  What a testimony and what an example for us to follow this morning when we face a life that is difficult.  Just like Job when confronted with the loss of everything said, “The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; Blessed be the name of the LORD.” (Job 1:21) Habakkuk was finding a blessing in the midst of his despair because His eyes were on the Lord and what the Lord could do in his life and the world in which he lived.  You see Habakkuk understood that God gives His followers strength and confidence in difficult times.  It is so easy to see our own limitations in contrast to God’s unlimited power and control.  Human nature tells us to look at the negative, to look at the harshness of life, to look at certain parts of life with pessimism because if God chooses not to take us out of the midst of the difficulties of life we will not be as disappointed.  We pray the small and weak prayers because we feel as if our hurt will be less if God chooses not to answer our prayers in our favor. Yet, we are told in Hebrews 4:16 “… approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  Jesus tells us in John 14:13, “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father.”  Brothers and sisters we need to quit falling into the trap Satan sets that causes us to focus on our own idea of what we can do, you know our limitations, because when we do we tend to carry that mentality over to how we view God and in turn we limit what He can do for us and through us because of our lack of faith and trust in Him.
 
The final point today is we need to come to this morning is the realization that God gives us confidence and hope in a confusing world!  God desires for us to live an intimate life with Him.  He wants us to succeed and not fail.  At Jeremiah 29 we read, “11 For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Now notice God wants us to prosper and not fail, He wants to give us a hope and a future, but we need to understand that this can only happen when we call upon Him, come to Him, pray to Him, and seek Him with all our heart; when we do this we will find Him!  I put a number of Scripture texts on the back of your bulletin which deal with living a life that focuses on faith in God – look over these passages this week and meditate on them.  In the verses I read to you from Habakkuk we see a man who lived by faith; a man who did not focus on the difficulties of his life, but understood where his strength came from - GOD; and because he knew this he chose to find joy in the harshness and difficulty of his life.  If you are struggling this morning lean on this Scripture and this man Habakkuk’s example of giving God glory and honor in the deepest valleys we may face in our life – when we do focus our attention on God we will realize that our walk of faith will be one that is strengthen by our Lord and Savior and life will be so much better because our focus will be on Him and not us! 

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