Trust in the Lord No Matter What

In one paragraph

The pastor opened the book of Habakkuk, a three-chapter Old Testament book that rarely gets its own Sunday morning. The sermon traced the back-and-forth dialogue between the prophet and God, landing on the truth that trusting God is not something reserved for easy times. It is the posture God calls his people to hold onto even when everything around them looks like it is falling apart. Habakkuk...

Read together

1. Habakkuk 1:1-4 Habakkuk's opening lament about violence, injustice, and God's apparent inaction
2. Habakkuk 1:5-11 God's first answer: He is raising up the Chaldeans as his instrument of judgment
3. Habakkuk 1:12-17 Habakkuk's second complaint: God is holy yet watches the wicked Babylonians devour those more righteous than they
4. Habakkuk 2:1 Habakkuk stations himself to wait and hear what God will answer his complaint
5. Habakkuk 2:2-3 God tells Habakkuk to write the vision plainly so that he who reads it may run
6. Habakkuk 2:4 The proud soul is not upright, but the righteous shall live by his faith, quoted also in Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews
7. Habakkuk 2:5 Wine is a traitor and the arrogant man's greed is as wide as Sheol
8. Habakkuk 2:6-8 First woe against those who heap up unjust gain and load themselves with pledges
9. Habakkuk 2:9-11 Second woe against those who get evil gain to set their nest on high, with the stone crying out from the wall
10. Habakkuk 2:12-14 Third woe against those who build a town with blood, followed by the promise that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God's glory
11. Habakkuk 2:15-17 Fourth woe against those who make neighbors drink to gaze at their nakedness, with the cup coming around to them
12. Habakkuk 2:18-19 Fifth woe against foolish idolaters who say to wooden and silent idols, arise
13. Habakkuk 2:20 The Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him
14. Habakkuk 3:1-19 Habakkuk's closing prayer and hymn: fear of God's report, plea for mercy in wrath, description of God's majesty, and trust in God despite all circumstances
15. Galatians (unspecified verse) Cited as one of the New Testament books that quotes the righteous shall live by faith from Habakkuk
16. Romans (unspecified verse) Cited as one of the New Testament books that quotes the righteous shall live by faith from Habakkuk
17. Hebrews (unspecified verse) Cited as one of the New Testament books that quotes the righteous shall live by faith from Habakkuk
18. Ephesians 2:10 We are God's workmanship, Poiama, created in Christ Jesus for good works to walk in them, quoted in the offertory prayer
19. Romans 15:13 The benediction: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit

Talk about it

1. Habakkuk took his frustration and grief directly to God rather than just venting to people around him. What does it look like in your own life to bring a complaint or lament to God, and how is that different from just talking about your problems with others?
2. God told Habakkuk he was doing a work in his day that Habakkuk would not believe even if God explained it. Can you think of a time when you looked back on a hard season and recognized that God had been at work in ways you could not see while you were in the middle of it?
3. Pastor John pointed out that the social oppression Habakkuk described was coming from inside God's people, not just from outside enemies. What does that challenge us to examine about our own community and our own behavior toward one another?
4. The sermon noted that idols are not just wooden things overlaid with gold, and that we have plenty of our own. What are some of the things we treat as idols today, and how does bowing to them compare to trusting God as our provider?
5. Habakkuk ends by saying he will rejoice in God even if the fig tree does not blossom, the vines bear no fruit and there is nothing in the stalls. What would it take for you personally to get to that place, and what do you think Habakkuk understood about God that made that possible for him?