Waiting with Joy

Good morning, everybody. It is always a joy and privilege to be able to preach.

As Jen said, Sean is out at our Sister Church Crossway preaching for them this morning.

And some of you may know I've been taking a class on preaching, and I had to preach various sermons

and turn them in for homework. And Sean thought it would be a good idea to take the last sermon,

which I've already done, and use it and update it for this week as Sean is out.

So because of the nature of the class, I had to pick different parts of the Bible to preach from,

and eventually it came to the prophets. So we're not going to be in Revelation today.

We're actually going to be in the minor prophet Habakkuk.

So if you can open your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk, that would be great.

If you do not have a Bible, please raise your hand, and someone will kindly give you one.

Habakkuk is one of the minor prophets. It might be a little hard to find.

He is after Nahum and before Zephaniah, and if that doesn't help you, then you'll probably need your index

to help you. It's the fifth from the last book in the Old Testament.

And I specifically chose this passage because I love it.

However, I wanted to study it more.

To give some context, Habakkuk was a prophet during the time of ancient Israel,

and he likely preached around the time from 640 to 615 BC.

So this is decades before the Babylonian Empire invades and destroys the city of Jerusalem.

While there are no other records of Habakkuk in the Old Testament,

we do know that he was likely around that time because of the way he's talking about the Babylonians,

what makes Habakkuk particularly stand out among the various prophets and the books of the prophets

is that this is actually a dialogue between God.

Normally, the prophets are just like a one-way communication between God and his people

through the prophet, but here Habakkuk is speaking, and God is responding back and forth,

and that's what makes it particularly special.

While our passage today is going to be just the last three verses, Habakkuk 3, 16-19,

I do want to give us some context and talk about the whole book.

It's only three chapters long, so if you're there, I want you to first look at Habakkuk 1, 2-3.

This is how the conversation begins.

Habakkuk 1, 2 says,

Habakkuk 1, 2 says,

That's how Habakkuk begins.

God responds to him, and he says,

He is doing a work that he would not believe.

In verse 6, it says,

He is raising up the Chaldeans, this nation, the Babylonians,

and they're going to come in, and they're going to destroy and judge the people of Israel.

However, Habakkuk is somewhat taken aback.

He can't believe it.

How are you, God, going to use this terrible, bloodthirsty nation to do something like that?

In chapter 2, God responds again, and he says,

I myself will also judge the Chaldeans.

And that brings us to chapter 3, where Habakkuk, having heard God's final response,

offers a prayer to the Lord.

So, if you're willing and able, please stand for the reading and preaching of God's word.

I'm going to go through all of Habakkuk 3, even though we're doing the last few verses, just for context.

Habakkuk 3, a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to the Shigionoth.

He said,

He looked and shook the mountains.

Then the everlasting mountains were scattered.

The everlasting hills sank low.

His were the everlasting ways.

I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction.

The curtains of the land in Midian did tremble.

Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord?

Was your anger against the rivers?

Or your indignation against the sea?

When you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation,

you stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows.

You split the earth with rivers.

The mountains saw you and writhed.

The raging waters swept on.

The deep gave forth its voice.

It lifted its hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in their place.

At the light of your arrows as they sped.

At the flash of your glittering spear.

You marched through the earth in fury.

You threshed the nations in anger.

You went out for the salvation of your people.

For the salvation of your anointed.

You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck.

Selah.

You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors,

who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.

You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.

Verse 16.

I hear, and my body trembles.

My lips quiver at the sound.

God, rottenness enters into my bones and my legs tremble beneath me.

Yet, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon those who invade us.

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold, and there will be no herd in the stalls.

Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength.

He makes my feet like the deer's.

He makes me tread on my high places.

To the choir master, with string instruments.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Many of you in high school might have read the book Night by a man named Elie Wiesel.

He was a survivor of the Holocaust.

He was one of the 5% of the 1.3 million people who went through Auschwitz and survived.

Of his many experiences there, one particular one stuck out with him.

It was a strange trial.

He says,

In the kingdom of night, I witnessed a strange trial.

Three rabbis, all erudite and pious men, decided one winter evening to indict God for allowing his children to be massacred.

I remember I was there.

I felt like crying.

But nobody cried.

This is an introduction to the play The Trial of God.

That night, evidence was gathered and witnesses were cross-examined.

And God was put on trial.

Now, the idea of God on trial might be strange to some.

I know we've had, just by coincidence, some fairly high-profile trials in the news.

So it's very easy to imagine politicians or tech CEOs or celebrities on trial.

But it's not too strange to think about God on trial.

If you have thought about the sufferings of the world.

Or if you yourself have faced deep trials.

You have been probably tempted to take up the gavel and persecute God.

To prosecute God.

To say, God, where are you?

Where are you doing?

Why do you idly stand by?

This is Habakkuk's question.

And God knows.

This is the world he created.

He knows that we are tempted in this way.

To accuse him and doubt him.

So we have this book of Habakkuk today.

If we are to be Christians who live by faith, we must be able to answer these accusations.

Answer these doubts when they arise.

And therefore, we have this book.

So I want us today to learn from Habakkuk.

What it means to, instead of listening to the accusations and letting the doubts sink in.

Instead to live a life of faith.

And a life of faith that rejoices first in the Lord.

By waiting quietly.

By waiting quietly.

Because he brings trouble on his enemies.

And rejoicing triumphantly.

Because he will rescue you from the day of trouble.

So the first lesson from Habakkuk today.

That we get from verse 16.

Is that we should wait quietly.

In faith.

For trouble will come upon his enemies.

Look back into chapter 3 verse 16.

Habakkuk is describing his body trembling.

Rottenness entering into his bones.

He can't stand in the face of the frightening news that he has gotten.

This prophecy of doom that the Lord has given Habakkuk would be fulfilled.

The Babylonians would come.

And their war would be terrifying.

It would be disastrous.

The book of Lamentations describes the siege of Jerusalem.

If you were, back in those days, if you wanted to destroy a city.

You would encamp around it.

Cut off its food.

Starve the people.

And when they were weak, you would enter the city and defeat them.

The famine from the siege was so terrible.

That Lamentations 2, 11 through 12 says.

That infants were fainting in the streets.

Dying in their mothers' bosoms.

The young and old.

Woman and men.

Were laying dead.

Killed by the sword in the streets.

Woman.

Even boiled their own children.

Ate them to survive.

Princes.

And the royalty were hung in the streets.

Turns your legs into jelly.

Just thinking about it.

But it doesn't just make you weak in the legs.

Something else comes up.

Something else arises in your heart.

That voice that says,

God, what are you doing?

How could you idly stand by?

Why?

However, Habakkuk, knowing what war is like, knowing what war is like, knowing that these things would come,

he can say, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come up on people who await us, invade us.

What we see here is that quietly waiting first involves putting down the gavel.

Chapter 3, we read it all.

It sounds nothing like the beginning of chapter 1.

Gone is the accusatory voice.

Gone is the voice ascribing to God iniquity.

Perversion of justice.

So, when evil comes our ways, when people wrong us, yes, it's right to raise our voice,

to use whatever legal means it is, or within our grasp.

But when we are tempted to prosecute God,

we should quietly wait and put down the gavel.

And Habakkuk can do that because his quiet waiting faith is a waiting faith in God's justice.

He believes that God will repay that.

Whatever this day of trouble that comes upon these invaders will make things right.

Specifically, God tells the Babylonians in chapter 2, verse 17,

the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you.

So, they would come in, and they would destroy Lebanon,

but that violence would return under their head.

Habakkuk has an expectation that accounts will be settled.

Now, the thing is, this kind of quiet waiting faith first has to be a waiting faith,

because things happen in God's time.

God's timing is not ours.

It would take 50 years after the fall of Babylon,

so probably a century after this prophecy,

for the Babylonians themselves to be defeated by Persia,

which is another bloodthirsty and war-hungry nation.

Unfortunately, we live in a society that is not so patient.

If I see that my prime order is coming in three days and not one,

I get to complain.

If my flight is delayed five or six hours, that's the worst thing ever, right?

Used to be regular.

Can you wait a century for God's justice?

This quiet waiting faith also must be quiet,

because God's judgment is terrifying.

There is something worse than death by the sword,

death by an invading empire.

It is judgment in the hands of an almighty God.

Habakkuk starts his prayer in chapter 3

by speaking of the report of the Lord's work.

O Lord, I have heard the report of you,

and your work, O Lord, do I fear.

That is the real source of his fear.

Throughout chapter 3, there are allusions to God's work in creation,

and in judging various nations,

you can see references to various battles,

such as in Joshua 10,

where he stops the sun and moon in their place,

and that corresponds to verse 3, 11 here.

God shows his power,

and Habakkuk has faith that because God has already shown his power,

he will be able to enact that power in justice.

You see, faith is not believing something

in spite of everything that says otherwise.

That is a Dawkins atheist definition of faith.

That is just not what the Bible says.

It's a sad description.

Faith is, it's kind of like a chameleon.

You know how chameleons have two eyes,

and they can move independently?

Well, faith has one eye looking at the past.

It is looking at God's work,

and trusting that whatever it's looking to in the future

will come to pass.

God knows that,

or we know,

that whatever will happen in the future

can happen because of what has already happened.

That is a true picture of faith.

You see,

when people wrong you,

and we people bring trouble to you,

you can also respond with that same faith.

You see,

we,

every single person,

from the kingdom of Israel,

Babylonians,

us here,

we are all made in the image of God.

God is infinitely worthy,

infinitely beautiful,

infinitely good and righteous.

However,

he has put his image into us,

so we bear a slice of that infinite beauty,

and God will defend it.

And he will defend it with his zealous wrath.

So when people sin against you,

know that whatever petty vengeance you have

is nothing but petty.

If we even knew for a bit

what his judgment would actually look like

in the final day,

we would also be quiet.

We get a picture of that today

with people who witness executions.

Ted Bundy

recently had a show or two

produced about him.

He was a serial killer

who operated

in 40 years or so.

He was sentenced to death

by electric chair

for the murder

and sexual abuse

of over 36 women,

though he claims to have

murdered even more.

Throughout his trial,

he displayed

unbelievable arrogance,

smiling and laughing

as he confessed

to the murder of these women.

He turned down

a public defendant

and decided to defend himself

in court

and, of course,

lost.

After a lengthy appeals process,

which he himself

used every method

to complicate,

he was finally

sentenced to death

on January 24,

1989.

He was led

to the electric chair.

On that day,

the self-assured Bundy,

normally cocky

and ready to speak,

was ashen.

He didn't even eat

any of the food

in his last meal.

In front of him

were 42 witnesses,

many of them relatives

of his victims.

He was tied to a chair.

The latch,

the lever was flipped.

2,000 volts

went through his body.

His body stiffened,

went limp,

and he was dead.

As the witnesses

filed outside

of the compound,

they were shocked.

The LA Times

says they were shocked

because apparently

outside,

hundreds of people

had lined the streets

and they were playing music

and celebrating

the death of Ted Bundy.

Outside,

they had signs

like,

Happy Friday!

because,

to them,

it was something

worth celebrating.

But to the eyewitnesses

of the execution,

who the LA Times

called the somber bunch,

they couldn't imagine

other reaction

than grim silence.

If you knew

what God has in store

for those who do evil

to you,

I think it would be

silence.

Hebrews 10,

31 says,

it is a fearful thing

to fall into the hands

of the living God.

The Lord will repay.

Vengeance is his.

So when someone wrongs you

in any way,

know that God will repay.

It can be something

even as small

as an insult.

Jesus says

that if anyone

is angry with his brother,

he is liable to judgment.

If anyone says,

you fool,

they will be liable

to the fires of hell.

Now that judgment

may not come in this life,

but it will come one day.

Hebrews 9, 27,

it says it is important

for man to die once

and after that

comes judgment.

There will be a day

when we are brought

not into a human court

but God's court

and books will be opened

and judgment

will be passed

for every evil deed

and thought

and I tell you

there will be silence

in heaven.

And we know

he can do that

because he created

the world.

Every tree,

every atom,

every plant,

every galaxy

and universe

was made by him.

He can,

he has the power

to judge.

So if someone wrongs you

and they're not

in the church,

it's your first reaction

to feel deep,

deep sorrow for them.

You know,

it seems outdated

but there is a prayer

that says,

may the Lord have mercy

on your soul.

And it's actually often

spoken

in death sentences

when judges

hand down death sentences,

they often end them

by saying,

may the Lord have mercy

on your soul.

people need that mercy.

Now if it's someone

in the church,

it's a different situation.

Someone sins against you

and they're in the church,

you know,

there is no condemnation

for those who are in Christ.

However,

God does discipline

and his disciplines

are painful.

So instead of

the imagery

of a courthouse,

instead we have imagery

of perhaps two kids

fighting.

And one of them says,

if you don't make up,

daddy's gonna come.

So,

in that situation,

there's still

a response of faith

to trust that God

as a heavenly father

will come.

So that's our first lesson

from verse 16

so that we,

like Habakkuk,

can respond in faith

by waiting quietly

for the day of trouble

whenever evil comes

our way.

The second lesson

we can learn

about living a life

of faith

is that it rejoices

triumphantly

in verses 17 through 19.

for he will rescue us

from that day of trouble.

Verse 17

is a beautiful,

poetic,

and haunting description

of devastation

and loss.

Each of these things,

the fig trees,

the vines,

the grapes,

the olives,

and the fields,

they're all hallmarks

of a flourishing

agricultural society.

Same thing

with the flock,

the sheep,

and the herd

in the stalls

like the oxen.

If you had these things

in abundance,

you were doing well.

But if you had them,

you were lost.

Imagine how devastating

it would be

to not have a harvest

of any grape.

You don't even have seeds

to plant

for next year's crop.

It would be like

being fired

from your job.

Your bank account

being empty.

You can't even afford

the internet

to look up

other job interviews.

You can't afford

the transportation fees

to get your next interview.

Now, the loss

of these things

could have been literally

because invading forces

as Joel describes,

waste the vine

and the fig tree.

It could also just be

a symbolic description

of Israel's particular judgment

because Israel is described

as a nation

that is God's fig tree.

It is his olive garden.

So for it to be destroyed,

it would be a picture

you could use

the similar language.

However you interpret it,

it is clear.

In the face

of absolute ruin,

terrible devastation,

complete loss,

Habakkuk is able to say,

I will rejoice

in the Lord.

Yet,

I will take joy

in the God

of my salvation.

And he's able to do it

because the God

is his God of salvation.

He says,

the Lord God

is my strength.

He makes my feet

like the deers.

He makes me tread

on my high places.

This description

of having feet

like the deers,

the Lord being his strength

is almost a direct quote

from Psalm 18.

Psalm 18

is described

by its subtitle

as a psalm

in which David

celebrates God

rescuing him

from the hand

of all his enemies

in the hands of Saul.

There's another story

of God saving people

from disaster.

If you have feet

like a deer,

you can bound up a mountain.

You go faster

than any human.

If you are treading

on the high places,

you have at least

a military advantage

because you can see farther.

Your projectiles

have the help of gravity.

The high places

also have a spiritual connotation

because the higher you are,

the closer you are to God,

which is why

by that time,

the word high places

referred to places of idols,

places where they were

enemies of God

and God was expected

to trample down

those enemies,

tread them underfoot.

So this picture of

flight,

the flight of the deer

who treads upon

the high places

is a picture of the Lord

giving safety

and victory.

And this is what

Habakkuk believes in.

He believes that

he can live.

Habakkuk 2, 4

specifically says,

the righteous

shall live by his faith.

The Lord tells Habakkuk,

the righteous

shall live by his faith.

And we see that

literally throughout

the Old Testament.

We don't know

what happens to Habakkuk,

but we do know

what happens to Daniel

and a lot of the people

who are captured

by the Babylonians

and exiled.

Daniel,

there are many stories

of this in Daniel,

but one of them

is that of Daniel

in the lion's den,

a very common

Sunday school story.

Daniel faces a law

that says,

if you pray to any

other God but him,

you'll be thrown

to the lions.

But he keeps faith

in God,

prays to God.

And when he is thrown

to the lions,

God sends an angel

and shuts the lion's

mouth and he comes

out alive.

He lives by his faith.

Now,

Hebrews 11 tells us

these stories

these saints

of great faith

are examples

for us today

of what it means

to live by faith.

And we are going

to need that faith

because a day of trouble

is coming.

And this day of trouble

is not just for

great criminals,

invading empires,

but it is a day

of trouble for you

and me.

You see,

all have fallen short

of the glory of God.

Now,

I spoke about Jesus

saying that anyone

who is angry

with his brother

is liable to hellfire.

I imagine that

that would include

all of us.

We all need

to live.

How can we do that?

600 to 700 years later,

the apostle Paul

would write

in Romans 1, 16,

that he is not ashamed

of the gospel

for it is the power

of God

for salvation

to everyone

who believes,

to the Jew first

and also to the Greek.

For in it,

the righteousness

of God

is revealed

from faith to faith.

As it is written,

the righteous

shall live by faith.

That is a direct quotation

from Habakkuk 2, 4.

This salvation

that Habakkuk wrote about

is fulfilled

in the gospel.

In the gospel,

Christ reveals himself

as Lord and Savior.

And if we believe

in him,

we take him

as our God,

then we will be saved.

His righteousness,

his perfect righteousness

from that life

of purity

that he lived

will be granted to us

and our sins

will be placed on him.

And in that divine trade,

we will have the righteousness

of Christ

and by that,

we will survive

that day of judgment.

The books will be opened

and our names

will be written there

and instead of a long list

of every evil we've done,

it'll just be Jesus' name.

Righteous.

So that is something

worth taking joy in.

And this joy

is not a happy-go-lucky

type of joy.

It's not that fleeting high

that people chase

in this world

through, among other things,

sex, money, and drugs.

But it's a deep,

deep abiding joy.

And that joy starts

with thankfulness.

John Piper says that

thankfulness is a species

of joy,

and I love that.

Christ has risen

from the dead.

Let us rejoice in that.

He has not only risen

from the dead,

but he promises new life

to all those

who believe in him.

Death, that final enemy,

is defeated.

And not just death,

but the power of death,

which is sin.

Sin is the source.

It is the actual source

of the suffering

in this world,

not God.

And while sin reigns

in this world

for a moment,

there will be that day

after that judgment

where there will be

no more sin.

And we can look forward

to that day

by the Spirit,

the same Spirit

who allow Jesus

to overcome

the temptations

in the wilderness.

We too can overcome

the lies of the devil.

We can take his word,

the sword,

and have victory,

the same victory

that Christ has.

And we can do that

with our eyes fixed

on that final day.

And that is something

worth rejoicing over.

Now,

that doesn't mean

in this life

that we'll be free

from troubles

and free from trials

and tribulations.

Apostle Paul

in 2 Corinthians

gives a long list

of his various trials.

One of the most

faithful apostles

was faced with

imprisonments,

countless beatings,

being shipwrecked,

toil and hardship,

sleepless nights,

hunger and thirst,

and cold and exposure.

Indeed,

Jesus says,

in this world,

you will have tribulation.

But in John 16,

33,

he also says,

take heart.

Take heart.

I have overcome

the world.

Jesus,

our Lord of salvation,

has overcome the world

so we can take heart

by faith in him.

So we should ask ourselves,

what does it look like

to live by that faith

that Jesus

is our salvation?

You know,

we may not be like Paul.

We may not have been

shipwrecked

or facing beatings,

but we will also face

toils and hardship

in this world.

And we await his salvation

and his vindication

that on that final day,

when the books are opened,

he will make

all things new.

Everything will make sense.

And we will be able to say,

as we've seen in Revelation,

that we will call

God's justice and judgment

true and holy.

And we can do that by faith.

And again,

the faith that does that

is not this blind faith

that just

has

no bearing on reality.

Habakkuk looked back

to God's work

to inspire his faith

and we can look

to God's greatest work,

the death of his son

on the cross

to inspire our faith

that whatever may come,

God is working.

If God can take

the death

of his son

and make it out

to be something

as great as the salvation

of the world,

then he can make good

come out of

whatever troubles

come your way.

Romans 8.32 says,

He who did not

spare his own son

but gave him up for us,

how will he not

also with him

graciously give us

all things?

God can make good

come from the death

of his son.

He can make something

good come from

your troubles.

Now, I can't tell you

exactly what that looks like

in the same way that

I can't tell you

exactly what God's judgment

will be like.

We can't fully imagine it,

but I can tell you

it will be right.

It will be rich

and it will be worth

enduring with patience

the troubles of this world.

So when your fig tree

does not blossom,

when there's no fruit

on your vine

and when your olive tree

has no produce

and your field

yield no food,

how will you live?

What will your heart say

when instead of prosperity

and abundance,

we have desolation,

utter loss?

Will you rejoice

in the Lord

of your salvation?

One great way

we can express that joy

is through song.

If you noticed

in Habakkuk 3,

there's various,

it's not just a prayer,

it's actually a song.

It says in Habakkuk 3, 1,

that it's according

to the Shigiona,

that's a musical direction,

saying it's kind of like

how the song

All Glory Be to Christ

is according to

Agil Sing,

which is that New Year's song.

Throughout it,

it's punctuated

with the word Selah,

another common refrain

during Psalms,

and it ends

to the choir master

with string instruments.

You see,

on that dark night

in Auschwitz,

these three rabbis

convened,

and they set God

in trial,

and they came down

with a sentence.

Their sentence,

depending on the interview

with Elie Wiesel,

was either guilty

or recompense needed.

But Habakkuk's verdict

was not a verdict,

but a verse.

It was not a sentence,

but a song,

and we can learn

from him.

And we should learn

that we should be people

to sing

in the face

of our trials.

We should be people

of song,

and not just on Sundays,

because trials come

every day of the week.

I highly recommend

if singing

is not a part

of your regular devotional

daily practice,

I recommend you

to make it a part of it.

So, for example,

every morning,

I try to,

with Nora,

my two-year-old daughter,

I try to read a little bit

from the Bible.

She doesn't understand much.

That's okay.

I try to sing a little,

and then I just do

the Lord's Prayer together.

If you're not singing

every day,

I think you're missing out.

And don't just sing.

I would highly recommend

you to also consider

writing your own psalms.

Write your own psalms.

They don't have

to be good.

You don't have

to perform them.

They're not going

to be stuck in a Bible

for literally billions

of people to read.

They can be stolen

and copied from other people,

just like Habakkuk

probably copied from David.

All they have to be

is dreadfully honest to God.

Every trouble of your life,

from the worst to the least,

bring before Him.

Recount your current struggles,

your fears for the future,

and recount His good works.

I don't know what your psalm

would sound like,

but I've thrown something together.

Maybe it would sound

something like this.

Though the traffic

in Boston suck,

and though the guy

in front of me

at the stoplight

won't look up

from his phone,

and now I'm late from work,

I will rejoice in the Lord.

Though I can't find a date,

and my romantic hopes

and dreams are shattered,

I will take joy

in the God of my salvation.

Though the price of groceries

skyrockets,

money is tight,

and the job market

is hopeless,

you, God,

are my strength.

Though political turmoil,

war, and rumors of war

are on the horizon,

you, Lord,

make my feet like the deer's.

Though I lose everything

I have

because of my faith.

Though I may even be

diagnosed with cancer,

have but months to live.

Though

maybe

my wife,

child,

my loved ones

pass away before me.

Though all my friends

be miserable comforters,

and I have nothing left

but you.

Though you give,

and you take away,

and you take away,

you still make me tread

on my high places.

I will rejoice in you,

Lord.

You are the God

of my salvation.

Let us be a people

who rejoice in song

as we recognize

that he saved us

from that day of trouble.

So I want to end

by clarifying

that I'm not being hard

on these rabbis

in Auschwitz.

They, of course,

they had reason

to be asking

the questions they did.

In fact,

Elie Wiesel

ends his account

with something

in incredible detail.

that after the rabbis

had convened

and delivered

their verdict,

God being guilty,

they concluded

by saying,

it's time

for evening prayers.

Who are they praying to?

There's something

commendable

in that type of faith.

We, on the other hand,

have the full,

the true revelation

of Jesus Christ.

we, by faith,

believe that he has died

and he has risen

and he will come again

and he will come

to judge the living

and the dead

and on that day

he will make

all things new.

It will be a day

of trouble

for those who do evil

who have not believed

in him.

The trouble for his enemy

but it will be salvation

for the one

who loves him.

So in the meantime,

while we are on this earth,

while trials

and tribulations

come our way,

let us be people

of faith.

Let us wait quietly

in that faith

and rejoice triumphantly.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father,

we trust you

that though

the evils of this world

are countless,

you have let the evil

of the death of your son

be used for good

we don't know exactly

what that good is

in its fullness

but we trust one day

we will see it

face to face.

Let us live

rightly

and well before you.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.