Who among you love to watch “Awards Nights?” Like the Academy awards or Golden Globe awards? I love to watch awards nights especially the part when the host would announce the winner and the winner will go on stage and thank some people. Lately I hear some winners giving glory to God for their victory which is good.Even in sports – you now hear the interviews of Tim Teebow or Jeremy Lin or Manny Pacquiao -- when they get interviewed after a touchdown, a winning three-point shot or a knock-out, they give glory to God. In the midst of the glitters and the achievements– they acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ and that’s good.
On the other hand, I seldom see an interview with the loser of the game, and you hear the person saying “I thank God for allowing me to lose tonight” or “I praised God that I missed a winning shot.” “I thank God that I got knocked out tonight.”
Even for ordinary people, we seldom hear people saying “thank you Lord that I lose my job” or “thank you Lord that I failed my exam” or “thank you Lord that I am sick today.”
Let us make it more serious – we seldom hear people thanking the Lord for getting cancer or thanking the Lord because he lost a loved one.
It´s hard to worship the Lord when things don’t go according to our plans. It´s hard to worship the Lord in the midst of pain or sufferings. It´s hard to worship the Lord when we feel that our world is upside down and that we are on the verge of losing our sanity because the things that are happening around us don’t make sense. It´s hard to worship the Lord when friends or loved ones betray us or when those people whom we are hoping to protect us are the ones oppressing us.
There are a lot of reasons why things won´t go well in our lives, why we might experience pain and sufferings. Sometimes it is because of our own mistakes and because of the consequences our own sins. And since God loves us and He disciplines whom He loves, He allows certain things to happen:
• If you choose to cheat at work, you may lose your job.
• If you choose to have sex before you’re married, you may get pregnant.
• If you act inappropriately with someone of the opposite sex at work, you might end up having a sexual harassment lawsuit
• If you cheat on your spouse, you might end up getting divorced and pay a huge amount of money.
Sometimes the consequences of our sin seems too much. We cry “its unfair!” Sometimes, the punishment doesn’t seem to fit the crime…so we say.
And do you know what is worse? Sometimes, things don’t go well even if we are following the right path. We have read from different stories in the Bible that bad things happen to good people. We knew what happen to Job. He was blameless and yet things didn’t go well in his life.
So whether or not we are guilty of something, things don’t go well sometimes. To some people rather than turning to GOD and worship him, they become bitter and angry… even blaming God for the mess they are in. They give up.
Can we truly worship God when things don’t go well? This is our overarching question and we shall hear from a not so familiar prophet in the Old Testament. He is the prophet Habakkuk.
Let us read from the last words of this prophet in Habakkuk 3:17-19.
The name Habakkuk is a Hebrew word meaning “to embrace.” So my wish is at the end of the message, you shall Habakkuk your loved ones, meaning you should embrace them.
He cannot understand why God doesn’t just take their sins away and draw His people back to Himself. He can do that, He is God! Habakkuk is a lot like Job or Abraham. He argues, he complains but realizes that God should be worshiped simply for Who He is. He is our God.
Habakkuk had all reason to complain, but he chose to be thankful instead! He chose to continue worshiping God.
LESSON POINTS
I can draw three lesson points from the Scripture we read today. I would like to think that these three lesson points are progressive. It goes in the right order. The first one, this is not a very good one, I know, but it’s a reality that we have to face.
Look again at verse 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.” What is the picture that Habakkuk is trying to paint in here?
Remember that the economy of Judah at this time was based on agriculture and livestock. The permanent agricultural crops were fruit trees, olive trees and grape vines and the annual field crops, like wheat and barley. According to this verse,the permanent crops: figs, grapes, and olives. Same with the annual crops and the staple foods - both the permanent or the annual crops have yielded nothing. The flock and cattle – these are the sheep and cows and all their livestock are dead.
Habakkuk was talking about losing everything. He was talking about losing every source of income and every source of food. In our language, we might say say, “Even if I lose my job and the E.I. runs out, even if my money in the bank is all exhausted.”
Things don’t always go well in the life of a believer. I know even at this very moment, to some of you, things are not going well. Jesus said… Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. For as long as we are in this world, there will always be trials, and sorrows and persecutions. Jesus said that. Jesus experienced that.
But you know what, things don’t go well with us in the world. Sometimes, things don’t go well within the church!
One time I told my wife “You know, in my twenty something years of working in the secular world, back there in the Philippines and here in Canada, I have never been disrespected, doubted, oppressed and questioned – and we`re talking of mostly unbelievers. But in the church, I experienced all those things from people who call themselves Christians, from people who call themselves family, from people who call themselves “brothers.”
Do you want to know what my wife told me? Well, when Jesus walked here on Earth, who were the first persons who mocked Him, ridiculed Him, persecuted Him and even crucified Him? Pharisees! Religious people! Church people if you want to use the term! People who are supposed to be models of righteousness and godly living. So nothing is new! History just repeats itself. Do we, as Christ´s followers expect to be treated differently? Things sometimes don’t go well even in the church. Why? Because we are just people, imperfect human beings who still commit sins. This is the reason why Jesus have prayed for His sheep over and over again.
I heard Charles Stanley saying that 80% of problems that pastors deal in the church are internal problems and it consumes their energy and their time. I disagree with him. It´s probably 90%. No wonder it gets even more difficult to go out there and evangelize.
Things don’t always go well in the life of a believer. Habakkuk knows that. But he did not stop there. He moved on. In verse 18, he said “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.” We cannot control these bad situations from happening. A lot of times, we cannot prevent all these afflictions, in fact, most of our problems and trials happen on a day and time we do not expect. No, we cannot control them most of the time. But you know what? We have a choice on how we are going to react. We have a choice on how are we going to respond.
I believe Habakkuk got it right. I hope and pray that we do too. Habakkuk did not lash out at God in anger.
• He does not say “God, you have no right to destroy your people! He doesn’t withdraw himself into a fantasy world, saying, “That’s too terrible!" He does not sit in front of the TV set and tune himself out from what is happening around him.”
With the imminent Babylonian siege, Habakkuk not only foresees the possibility that he could lose everything. Looking what lies ahead with the terrors of Nebuchadnezzar, he said “I will be joyful in the Lord and I will rejoice in God my Savior.”
This is consistent with what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Corinthians, Jesus speaking to Him saying --
“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2nd Corinthians 12:9 NLT
So the secret to all this -- which is no longer a secret because God is revealing everything to us now -- we can be joyful in the Lord, we can rejoice in God by realizing that He is our Savior. We can rejoice in our situation because of God´s grace. Because He saved us.
Things won´t go well sometimes, and it’s a certainty but we can still rejoice because Jesus said “my grace is all you need.” No matter what kinds of trials and problems and persecutions you are experiencing… these are nothing compared to the grace that Jesus has given us, the same grace that allows us to spend eternity with Him in heaven. We are heading towards a permanent place where tears and sorrows are not known, where there no mourning or weeping and these are all made possible because of the grace of God.
Isn´t that wonderful? God´s power works best when we are weak. His power works best in our lives when things don´t go well!
The third and final point that Habakkuk is trying to make, he said “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
He enables me to tread on the heights.
You see church, after recognizing the fact that things don’t always go well, and realizing that we can always be joyful in the Lord because He is God who saves us, we now have that grateful and thankful heart.
Habakkuk said “God makes his feet like the feet of a deer and God enables him to tread on the heights. In the New King James translation, it says there “He will make my feet like deer’s feet,
And He will make me walk on my high hills.”
Let us try and understand this. Why a DEER? And what is interesting about a deer´s feet? The King James version used the word HIND instead of deer which clarifies that he was referring to a female deer. What is significant about a hind. Well a hind is a female deer and with her unique feet, when she runs, she can place her back feet exactly where her front feet stepped so she is able to run with great strength and speed without getting off-track. A hind´s feet is very strong and thick and tough that she can tread on high mountains, on difficult terrains and even in snow. She doesn’t slip, she doesn’t fall. It´s in the design of her feet. God designed a hind´s feet for climbing to higher terrains.
Yesterday, I was so happy that I was able to buy a pair of boots that is perfect for snowy conditions. It´s insulated and it has thick soles. It gives me more security and safety while walking on snow. I thank the Lord for the gift card that I received from someone. The hind´s feet was like my winter boots, it´s strong and it has a special design.
Just like Habakkuk, we can rejoice because God gives us strength and enables us to overcome difficult situations and even achieve greater things for Him. Amen?
Let´s wrap up this message with these final thoughts.
When things don’t go well, we should continue to worship God even more.
And we know why. He has saved us and He gives us the strength and specially designed us to overcome difficult situations.
The Apostle Paul said to the Ephesians…sing and make music from your heart to the Lord.”
God had to remind us today, through the prophet Habakkuk, that yes we all face difficult situations in life, but we can rejoice in Christ. We can sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord, we can worship Him when things don’t go well because that is how God has designed each one of us. He has set eternity in the hearts of man. We are supposed to see beyond what is in this world, beyond what is temporal. We should see what eternity would bring.
I would rather have security in my eternal life in heaven. Knowing that full well, it gives me the strength and the will to persevere even when things don´t go well here on Earth. Can we worship God even when things don´t go well? Yes, we certainly can!
Let us pray.
Prayer:
Wherever you are, whatever you situation you may be -- you need the love of Jesus in your life. Please say this prayer sincerely from your heart:
Father God, I confess all my sins to you today. Please forgive me. Today, I open my heart to your Son Jesus Christ. I accept Him in my life as my Saviour and as my Lord. May the Holy Spirit come to my life and make me the kind of person you want me to be. In Jesus Name, I pray. Amen.
The above article is an excerpt from a sermon delivered at WCCC Richmond during its service on Sunday, January 8, 2017
I apologise if there are grammatical and spelling errors.
I also apologise if I have missed acknowledging or making proper references to my sources, if any, as it is purely unintentional.
If you are looking for a church in British Columbia, Canada please visit our website at:
www.wordchristiancommunity.com
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