Why Does God Do Nothing?

Matthew 4, my name is Steve Jeffrey. I'm the senior minister here at St. Paul's.

And as we've been told, we are already moving into a new season and we're looking at the book of

Habakkuk. So if you've got a Bible there with you, it'd be great if you could open up Habakkuk

chapter one, or you can go to the St. Paul's app and open that up and you'll find an outline for

my message, but also the Bible passages there in front of you. As we have said, we, and as you're

fully aware, we are in a, one of those strange and odd seasons. Last Thursday, as I was finalising

this message, there were 3.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 infections around the world,

of which the death toll at that point was 227,000 people. Now, while today this is not the worst

pandemic or in fact catastrophe that this world has experienced, we know that we are not at the end of

this just yet. We are living through a unique and what many have called an era defining period.

Many of our old certainties are now gone and whatever our view of the world or the, or whatever

our beliefs are, they are being challenged. So, so whether you are a Christian or not, this coronavirus

pandemic is perplexing and unsettling for everyone and we're reaching for answers. How do we begin to

think through and cope with this season that we are in? And while restrictions might be easing,

the pandemic is long from over. In the past, in times of national disaster like this, and especially

in the Western world, people have flocked into churches to pray in, in moments like this. And

such occurrences are fairly rare nowadays. Nowadays, fewer and fewer people in our society have any

God dimension in their lives whatsoever. Since churches all over the world are being closed in

order to limit the spread of this virus, you have to wonder where is God if it's impacting even the so-called

people of God? That is, is he there at all? Is he accessible? Is he self-quarantined? Where or from whom

can we get any solace or hope in a season like this? Now, for many people, the presence of evil,

the presence of suffering in this world is one of the biggest issues for them when it comes to the

existence of God. Some find the unjust suffering and especially the unjust suffering of innocent

people is a philosophical problem that they just can't intellectually get over. For others,

it's, it's, it's not so much an intellectual problem, it's an intensely personal issue for them.

They don't care so much about the abstract question of whether God exists or not.

They just refuse to trust and believe in any God who allows history and life to proceed

as it has for centuries. Now, this little Old Testament book of Habakkuk that we're beginning into

today really deals directly with this issue of suffering and evil because Habakkuk, even centuries

ago, lived in a world very similar to the world in which we live and he asked the sort of questions

that we ask. So if you've got the St. Paul's app there, you'll notice I've got an outline. It'd be

great if you could just launch into that and take some notes as we're going along. Let me just give us

some background information with this little book. It might help us understand a little bit. The very

first verse introduces us to the man Habakkuk. It just says the prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet

received. There's no little bio there outlining his education, his family, his interests. There's not

really much known about him at all, but there is a little bit of a clue about his place in history

when you look down into verse 6. And in verse 6, it appears that the Babylonians were about to

prounce on Israel at any moment. So what that means is that Habakkuk was written sometime around the

period between the rise of the Babylonian empire in 625 BC and their attack on Jerusalem in Israel,

which began in 592 BC. Now Babylon was the world's superpower in its day, although they only held that

position for about 80 years. They were the, if you like, the schoolyard bully who you really did not

want to mess with. They weren't particularly nice people. Habakkuk is written with Babylonians ready

to pounce. And it's a straightforward, it's an interesting, and it's a practical book. And the

structure of it is really easy. The argument, the application is kind of easy to grasp, and yet at the

same time, difficult for our minds and our hearts to come to grips with. So have a look at it with me.

Again, get the St. Paul's app open. And my first point, I want to go through four things this morning,

and let's first of all see what Habakkuk saw. As we kick off, there is something interesting to note

about Habakkuk. He's a prophet of God. We're told that in verse 1. And as a prophet, his job is to be a

messenger of God to God's people. And yet, this is the one prophet who says nothing to God's people at all.

Not a single word. This book is Habakkuk the prophet speaking to God about what God has revealed to him.

Wrestling with God. And Habakkuk's got two complaints to raise with God. In verse 2, he says,

How long, O Lord, must I call for help? And then down in verse 3, he tells us what he saw.

Why do you make me look at injustice? So Habakkuk is surrounded by violence and injustice and carnage and sin.

And in his frustration, he cries out for help. And he asks God to intervene.

And it seems like he gets nothing from God. Habakkuk looks around and he sees the bad guys winning.

He sees the wicked ruling. Now this is Israel he's speaking about. This is historically to God's special people.

And he sees military threats from the outside. He sees corruption on the inside.

These are evil times. And he's wondering why God is silent. Why God's not doing anything about this.

He says to God in verse 2, 3 and 4,

Why aren't you listening to me?

He wants to know why God seems to tolerate the evil.

Why, God, are you absent?

Why have you abandoned us?

In verse 4, he says he can't even find justice amongst God's special people.

He says even the law of God is perverted and the righteous people suffer endless abuse.

That is, the prayers of the righteous are going unheard.

Maybe that's, you're sitting here this morning and that's an experience that you know yourself.

Where you have prayed and prayed and prayed and you've asked God to intervene in a situation.

And yet something, nothing appears to ever happen.

So what do you do about that?

What did Habakkuk do?

That's what he saw.

Now what did he do?

He did two things.

Firstly, he was bold and he was honest.

In verse 3, he says,

Why do you tolerate wrong?

Now that's pretty bold.

That's pretty honest.

He's actually, in actual fact, he's challenging God at that moment.

But if you cast your eyes down to verse 12,

he does something that's even more remarkable.

Have a look at it.

Lord, are you not from everlasting?

In other words, aren't you the infinite God?

The God who's always been.

Aren't you the infinite God?

Now that doesn't seem too remarkable or too confronting when you read it in the English language.

And yet in the original language that Habakkuk was written in, the Hebrew language,

that is a punishing statement.

Habakkuk is saying something like this.

I thought you were infinite.

You're supposed to be the God who's wise and everlasting.

And he's coming so close to saying to God,

you're none of those things.

One Hebrew scholar says of the Hebrew word that is translated in verse 12,

Are you not?

It occurs 96 times in the Old Testament.

And almost every single time,

it is in vigorous human argument.

Nothing could have been more abrupt in Habakkuk's second prayer than the beginning of verse 12.

God is not being approached here with any sense of courtesy and respect.

Which makes the second thing that Habakkuk did quite interesting.

Now we'll see more of this in the coming weeks,

but let me just give us a bit of a glimpse into it here.

On the one hand, Habakkuk is challenging God.

But on the other hand,

he never even hints that it's an option for him to walk away from God.

To stop obeying God.

To stop praying to God.

To stop following God.

Not even an option.

Because Habakkuk is actually praying here.

He comes to God with his anguish.

And as soon as he accuses God in verse 12,

he calls him,

My God.

My Holy One.

He's wrestling safely with God.

Hardly anyone treats God like this.

Hardly anyone does this.

Members of your traditional religious communities would say,

Oh, you know,

you don't speak to God like that.

You don't accuse God.

You don't challenge God.

You don't have doubt.

You don't question.

You don't have doubts.

You see,

they see God as a king.

As a harsh ruler that needs to be appeased.

A God you'd better not say anything negative to.

Or this God may well bring his big stick out and he'll wipe you out.

More modern people have such an enormous confidence.

This is us on the other hand.

Have such an enormous confidence in our human reason and perception.

And we say,

I can't see why God would allow all of this suffering or evil.

So frankly,

I'm just not going to believe him.

And Habakkuk does neither of those things.

He is emotionally and intellectually frank and honest with God.

But he doesn't even think about leaving.

Habakkuk seems to be saying,

If I can't figure out life with you,

how on earth am I going to figure out life without you?

This is unconditional faithful wrestling with God.

So thirdly,

God speaks.

And what does Habakkuk hear from God?

That made him so frank,

so blunt,

to speak to God without courtesy and respect in verse 12.

Habakkuk's first answer to,

sorry,

God's first answer to Habakkuk's first complaint

starts in verse 5.

Have a look at it.

Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed

for I am going to do something in your day

that you would not believe even if you were told.

So God says to Habakkuk,

okay,

I'm going to tell you,

but you're not going to believe it.

You're not going to understand it.

This is what I'm going to do.

Verse 6.

I am raising up the Babylonians,

that ruthless and impetuous people

who sweep across the whole earth

to seize dwellings not their own.

God is going to use the Babylonians

to punish Israel

for their evil and their injustices.

They are powerful.

They are ruthless.

If they want something,

they will plunder,

they will kill in order to get it.

And Habakkuk is horrified.

God's answer to Habakkuk's complaint

about the injustice and the violence

is to bring more injustice and violence.

This is how God is going to work out

his plan of salvation

for his people and for the world.

This is how God is going to deal

with the injustice and the violence,

the sin,

the evil and the carnage.

And Habakkuk goes,

what?

Are you serious?

It makes no sense.

How can you use a wicked nation like Babylon

to punish a more righteous nation like Israel?

Wow.

It's like Hitler being the presiding judge

at the trial of Joseph Stalin.

Makes no sense at all.

What are you doing, God?

In the end,

the Bible is a theology book

that teaches us about God

and the way things actually are.

And we discover God's ways

are not our ways.

God's ways are surprising.

God's ways are often hard for us to work out

because we do not have the mind of God.

You see,

to our finite grasp of reality,

they seem wrong.

Most people in our society

would be a lot more comfortable

with a God who's much more like Oprah

or Dr. Fenn

who dispenses advice

or prefer a God more like a fairy

who waves his wand

and fixes things

the way that we want them to be fixed.

Now, to be fair,

on God here,

he did say to Habakkuk,

if I told you,

you're not going to understand it.

God says to Habakkuk,

and it was,

however,

don't you dare judge me

by your calendars

and your time frames.

Habakkuk knows

that God's promised salvation

to the world

through his people

in the Old Testament.

Habakkuk knows that.

But his people

are just as corrupt,

just as wrong

and as evil

as everyone else.

He wants God

to do something

about his plan of salvation

and God says,

I am.

I'm going to wrap up

the Babylonians

to come on in

to conquer my people,

to take them away

into exile.

And Habakkuk says,

that can't be the plan.

See, Habakkuk can't see

what God can see.

And Habakkuk can't even see

what we can see

with the perspective

of history

from Habakkuk's time.

You see,

if Israel had never been

taken into exile,

then they would never

have eventually spread

throughout the whole

Roman Empire

centuries later.

Wherever they spread,

they built synagogues

for Jews

and synagogues

for God-fearers

these God-fearers

were pagan Gentiles

who got interested

in the God

of the Bible.

And when Christianity

began to spread

through those synagogues

and beyond those synagogues

in the first century,

the most receptive people

in the entire world

to God's message

of salvation

through Christ

were the Gentiles

in those God-fearing

synagogues.

They embraced it

and through them

the message

of salvation

went global.

And the great irony

of all this spread

of the Christian faith

in the early centuries

was that it,

in fact,

made the world

a less violent place.

the influence

of Christianity

changed nations,

changed cultural practices

in such a way

things like

human sacrifice,

infant suicide,

slavery,

gladiator competitions

were stamped out

right across the Roman Empire.

The violence

of the Babylonians,

the Persians,

the Romans,

the Greeks

led to a Christianity

which has made

all nations

less violent.

And Habakkuk

did not see,

could not have known

that perspective

on history

in the same way

that we can't see

what God is doing

right now.

For instance,

even more recent

than Habakkuk,

when the communists

took over China,

they expelled

all of the

Western missionaries.

And the church

in the Western world

assumed

that after

100 years

of Christian

mission work

in China,

the gospel

in China

was over.

At the time,

there was questions,

what is God doing?

What is he doing

abandoning China?

But we now know

with the perspective

of history

that because

the Western missionaries

were kicked out

of China,

the Chinese

made their Christian

faith indigenous

and now

is one of the

fastest growing

Christian movements

in the world.

We don't have

God's perspective

on history

or his time

to bring out

his plans.

So often

we sit back

with our finite

view of history

and life

and we go,

I don't get it.

I don't understand

what you're doing

and so frankly,

I'm not going

to believe in you.

If you've got children,

you will understand this.

Maybe you don't

understand it,

but you've worked out

why a three-year-old

is always screaming

as they tend to

all the time.

It's because

they don't understand

what you're doing.

That's why.

They don't understand

what you're doing.

They want something

to eat

and so they go

and grab something

to eat

and you take it

off them

because it's poison

or because it's

a container of sugar

or it's because

it's the pet guinea pig

and they scream

because they don't

understand why

you've taken it

from them

and you can sit

them down

and you can

explain it to them,

the basis of nutrition,

the danger of poison

or the cruelty

to animals,

to the guinea pig

and they might get

the guinea pig thing

but they're not going

to understand

the poison

and the sugar thing

and you say to them,

you have to trust

me on this

and they go

on screaming.

The distance

between the capability

of the mind

of God

and the mind

of a human being

is infinite.

It's vast.

It's much greater

than the capacity

of a mind

of an adult

and a three-year-old

to grasp reality.

We expect

to understand

everything God

does.

To say that God

has to make sense

to me

in everything

he does

in fact

makes no sense

at all

that statement.

When we say

we don't believe

in God

because of suffering

and evil

makes us worse

than a three-year-old.

At least

they put their trust

even if they

don't understand

in their parents.

If we don't

trust God

with what

he says

even when we

don't understand

it

the consequences

we die.

So have a look

at what this

meant for Habakkuk.

This revelation

meant for Habakkuk

and also for us.

That's what he saw

it's what he did

it's what he heard

finally what it meant

for him

and what it means

for us.

What does it mean

when God says

I'm doing something

here

that you will

not understand?

What does it mean

for God

to bring about

salvation

out of judgment

justice

out of violence

and injustice?

Centuries later

from Habakkuk

the Apostle Paul

one of the

early

adopters

of Christianity

and certainly

one of its

major opponents

in the first century

if not the

major proponents

in the first century

was on his first

missionary journey

in Acts chapter

Acts 13 · chapter mention

13

if you've got a Bible

in front of you

flick into Acts

Acts 13 · chapter mention

chapter 13

and we arrive

we see here

that the Apostle Paul

arrives at town

into a town

and he does

what he normally

does

he goes into

the synagogue

and his sermon

on this particular

day

is a brief

history

of the Old

Testament

and how

all through

history

God has

been pointing

people to

the person

of Jesus Christ

how all of

history

is heading

in that direction

and especially

the death

and the resurrection

of Jesus

and then he adds

this

in verse 38

of Acts chapter 13

Acts 13 · chapter mention

this is the

implications

of what he's

just said

he says

therefore my

brothers

I want you

to know

that through

Jesus

the forgiveness

of sins

is proclaimed

to you

through him

everyone

who believes

is justified

from everything

you could not

be justified

from by the

law of Moses

so what he's

saying there

is if

because of

everything I've

just said

if you put

your trust

in Jesus

Christ

you have

faith in

Jesus

you are

justified

that is

you are

declared

right

before the

God of

the universe

despite any

of your

evil

and

injustices

and violences

and wrongdoing

from the past

that is

there is no

fear in the

future

that the

righteous God

is going to

pour out

his

justice

on you

as he

does here

on his

own

people

Israel

through the

Babylonians

all of our

injustices

against God

and people

are forgiven

and then

what the

apostle Paul

does in

Acts 13

is he quotes

from Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:5

chapter 1

verse 5

look at

the nations

and watch

and be

utterly

amazed

for I'm

going to do

something in

your days

that you

would not

believe

even if

you were

told

Paul's

saying

God's

doing it

again

he's doing

something

that you

cannot

grasp

Paul

looks at

Habakkuk

Habakkuk 1:5

chapter 1

verse 5

when God

says he's

going to

bring

salvation

out of

injustice

and violence

and says

God was

talking

about

Jesus

in that

moment

the thing

that God

said to

Habakkuk

the principle

that God

brings

salvation

through

violence

and injustice

finds its

ultimate

expression

in the

person

of Jesus

Christ

when God

came into

this world

and went

to the

cross

he took

the

judgment

that we

deserve

for our

crimes

against

God

he

experienced

absolute

injustice

he

experienced

the absolute

injustice

he

suffered

he died

at the

hands

of the

unrighteous

why

because

he

is

righteous

because

he

is

holy

Habakkuk

couldn't

understand

why God

put up

with all

the

injustices

and all

if

you're

a holy

God

why do

you put

up with

all the

injustice

and violence

and wrong

and on

the cross

it's

finally

explained

centuries

later

it's

finally

explained

because

God

is

holy

and

just

our

sin

had to

be

paid

for

he

doesn't

just

forget

it

in the

same

way

we

don't

just

forget

it

he

experienced

his

own

justice

on

the

cross

he

paid

our

penalty

he

is

the

ultimate

fulfillment

and

example

of

bringing

salvation

out

of

injustice

justice

and

violence

light

out of

darkness

redemption

out of

suffering

evil

and

difficulty

and the

cross made

no sense

to anyone

as it

often makes

no sense

to anyone

today

no one

could understand

what God

was

what good

he could

bring out

of the

cross

it

didn't

make

sense

and

yet

it

was

the

ultimate

good

and

because

of

it

because

of

the

cross

of

Jesus

Christ

we

can

look

at

our

life

we

can

look

at

evil

times

we

can

look

at

coronaviruses

and

we

don't

understand

what

God

is

doing

and

we

don't

understand

what

God

is

doing

but

we

can

know

that

he's

bringing

salvation

out

of

it

on

the

cross

we

also

have

the

ultimate

Habakkuk

Habakkuk

in this

book

is

wrestling

with

God

and

yet

he

is

faithful

Jesus

is

the

ultimate

Habakkuk

in the

garden

of

Gethsemane

on the

night

that

he

is

arrested

just

before

his

execution

and

he

pleads

with

God

in the

garden

of

Gethsemane

if

there's

any

other

way

take

this

cup

from

me

if

there's

any

other

way

to

bring

salvation

out

of

the

injustice

and

the

violence

please

take

it

from

me

and

find

another

way

he

wrestled

with

God's

plan

of

salvation

and

yet

he

submitted

to it

regardless

even

at

great

personal

cost

he

unconditionally

faithfully

wrestled

with

his

father

for

your

sake

and

for

my

sake

for

the

sake

of

the

whole

world

Jesus

was

abandoned

on the

cross

so that

we

might

never

be

abandoned

by

God

even

when

we

might

feel

like

we

are

being

abandoned

by

God

his

promise

to

us

in

Jesus

is

that

he

never

abandons

us

God

is

always

working

he

is

always

doing

things

even

if

we

can't

see

it

even

if

we

don't

understand

it

because

Jesus

stuck

at it

on the

cross

when

the

evil

times

came

upon

him

for

you

and

for

me

when

the

evil

times

come

for

us

when

the

days

of

darkness

come

for

us

we

can

still

say

because

of

Jesus

we

can

still

say

I

know

God

is

working

I

know

God

loves

me

I

know

that

God

has

not

abandoned

me

and

so

I

will

trust

him

I

will

be

faithful

and

I

will

be

patient

and

I

will

live

by

faith

there

is

a

reason

for

everything

that

God

is

doing

we

may

not

know

what

it

is

but

because

of

Jesus

it

will

result

in

redemption

and

salvation

if we

put

our

trust

in

him

and

live

by

faith

in

him

but

there'll

be

more

of

that

next

week

as

Jane

comes

and

opens

up

the

early

parts

of

chapter

two

for

us

bless

you

a

tomb

a

wherein

another

kun

a

piece

at

a

high

and

and

to

a

good

and