The Integrity of Waiting . . . Not Worrying, Part 3

Even when it's painful, God's way is always best. God should have His way, and sometime His way is a very painful, painful way. As in this case, Judah will fall, Jerusalem will be sacked, burned to the ground. The people will be brought to Babylon.

New culture, new language, unknown people, barren country. God knew what was best. Habakkuk was a prophet who carried a huge burden for Judah, and in the Old Testament book that bears his name, we're given colorful details about his leadership. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Squendall will show us how the prophet's confidence in God is a model for us all. Sometimes our most sincere prayers seem to bounce off the ceiling, but in this passage we'll discover that even during the silence, God is working out His perfect plan.

We'll begin with a summary from yesterday as Chuck continues to describe the integrity of waiting, not worrying. Habakkuk is so burdened, he decides to write it out. He says, must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all of this misery wherever I look? I see destruction and violence. I'm surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. That sound like the day? How long must that go on? Lord, where are you?

I can't figure you out. I can't see good coming from such a source of evil. I can't see how invading our nation will be best for us.

I mean, how can you give them another nation for them to brag about conquering? And we are your chosen people, so I'm going to look at it. I'm going to climb up on my tower. I'm going to stand quietly and I am going to, that's a novel thought, I'm going to wait and listen.

Here's the integrity of waiting, not worrying. I think at this point Habakkuk left it in the Lord's hands and now the Lord takes over and he begins to describe his game plan and he goes into it carefully as he spells it out. I want you to especially move down to verse 4. This is the most important verse in Habakkuk 2.4.

Look at the proud they trust in themselves and their lives are crooked. Look at the next part of the verse. But the righteous one will live by faith. He will trust in me. He will live by faith. God went on to say to him, there's more to my plan. I will wipe out the Chaldeans ultimately. I'll bring the people of God out of captivity and you'll become again a nation.

You will have learned a lesson. My plan will run its course. So Habakkuk realized I must let God be God as I stand back and wait for him to work. Now when I say that it sounds like a cliche. You've heard it most of your Christian life. I'm going to stand back and wait for God to work. So I decided to put that into statements, simple one-line statements. There are five of them, five statements.

I'm so firmly convinced that they will help you from this day on. I want you to find a place in your Bible where you've got a blank sheet, a blank piece of the Bible paper. Look for it there.

Maybe it's at the end of Habakkuk. You have a little space to write. These will be statements we embrace as we claim faith in our sovereign God. You say, I want to live like that. I want to believe like that. I want to have that kind of worryless faith and trust in my God. I'm tired of talking about it. I want to go there.

I want to make that a reality. Here are the five statements. Please write them down.

You ready? God is able, I am not. That's statement one.

Just write it on the first line. God is able, I am not. There's nothing Habakkuk could do to fix his day, to change people around him. It was a great day in my life when I realized I can't fix anybody, but I serve a God who specializes in that. He's able, I am not. God is able, I am not.

Here's the second. He knows what's best. God knows what is best. I do not. Now because we're proud people, we think we do. That's why we keep doing what we think is the best and we make a mess of things. And so when we embrace a life of faith and put our trust in a sovereign God, we say to him, God you know what is best. I do not. I do not.

I'm waiting for you to do what's best. Here's the third. He sees the end from the beginning. I cannot. God sees the end from the beginning. He sees it all.

I cannot. That's called being infinite and we are finite. He knows how all of this is going to work its way out. He knows all the answers at the back of the book. No problem is unsolved to him.

We live in unsolved problems and we can't see how they're going to work out. He sees it all. So this is third.

He sees the end from the beginning. I cannot. Number four. He should have his way in this. I should not. He should have his way in this situation.

I should not. You know what I thought of when I came up with that fourth line? I thought of the prodigal's father. Let his boy go. He couldn't probably, he couldn't predict what was going to happen. Even though he was much older than his son, he let him go. He let him go. Because God should have his way in this.

He should not. Parents cling. We need to know how to release. Most of our worries revolve around our adult children or younger ones, but often when they get older, things get complicated. They act on their own and we often disagree with their decisions. You're not going to change an adult child.

You try, you're just going to make them angry. I've learned this. No extra charge for this.

No extra charge. We won't take an extra offering because I'm giving you this. Anytime you offer unrequested advice, you make things worse.

So will you agree with me that we stopped doing that? If they want our advice, they'll ask for it. If they don't ask, and I know you have this vast amount of wisdom that you were just waiting to dump, or at least to squeeze out, don't.

Don't. God should have his way, and sometime his way is a very painful, painful way. As in this case, Judah will fall. Jerusalem will be sacked, burned to the ground. The people will be brought to Babylon. Remember the psalm?

We hung our harps on the willow trees. How can we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land? It was hard to go to Babylon.

New culture, new language, unknown people, barren country. God knew what was best, took that. So the fourth is he should have his way I should not. And the fifth, God must be glorified through this, I must not.

God must be glorified through this, I must not. I'll tell you, you memorize those five lines, your life will change. Your life will change. You will find that there will be calm in place of panic. You will rest rather than living restlessly.

You will not search for a way to work it out on your own. You'll back away and you'll be comfortable leaving it with him. Even if the disease gets worse, you've done all you know to do.

It's in his hands. If it's his time for you to go, you're going to go. Rest in that. If your adult son or daughter is way out of the plan of God and you know that they're working against God, leave them alone. God knows what's best. He's gonna be glorified and you won't be.

You must not be. Once Habakkuk took his stand, waited, got that straight, accepted it by faith, by the way, I should have said that all through the five lines, each one you do, by faith, by faith. It is remarkable what happens to you. You see by chapter three, as I mentioned earlier, the man is now singing.

He's now singing. He's letting God have his way. You want to use the Chaldeans? Bring them on. You want to wipe out this nation?

Wipe it out. By the way, how about America? But you wonder what his plan is?

I'm gonna give you some upsetting news. Straight from a classroom at Dallas Seminary, from the mouth of the late J. Dwight Pentecost, my hand went up and I said, Dr. Pentecost, you're considered one of the foremost authorities on eschatology, future things, study of future things. He said, I'm not sure. I said, well, whether or not you believe it, we believe it. So I want to ask you, now that we were about through with our study in Daniel and Revelation, where's America? Where are we?

He said, frankly, Chuck, it's awfully hard to find us anywhere in those future prophecies. It's hard to hear, isn't it? You know, we think because we're great, we're gonna be great forever. I love this country. I served time in the Marine Corps because I believe in defending this country. We honor our veterans because of the same reason.

I salute the flag and stand ramrod straight as I pledge allegiance to it. But we're changing and it breaks my heart and I'm seeing the comment from J. Dwight Pentecost emerge. God's plan doesn't revolve around the United States of America.

Many people have an American theology, but it's not a biblical theology. He went on to say, I'm not saying we're not there, I'm just saying we don't have a prominent place in the plan. That'll cut you down to size. Maybe we need that.

Maybe we need that. Habakkuk, you know who's singing? You know who's singing in Chapter 3? The man who has just heard his country's gonna be invaded.

Who just heard it's gonna be the Chaldeans. I've heard all about you Lord, verse 2. I'm filled with awe by your amazing works. Lord, you are great. Hard as it is for me to hear it being a Jew right here in Judah, as hard as it is for me to realize what's coming, you're great.

You've never made your first mistake. And I rest my case with you and I sing to you my praises and you read through this this last chapter and you see nothing around Habakkuk is straight. He's changed. He's a different man because he's now gotten God in clear focus.

The Lord God is the supreme being of his life and he sings his prayer to his God. You are able and I am not. You know what's best and I do not.

You know the end from the beginning I cannot. You should have your way in all this I should not and you must be glorified I must not. So praise God from whom all blessings flow.

This is your plan. It is not mine. He's a changed man. Verse 19, the sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes me as sure-footed as a deer. I'm able to tread upon the heights.

I began with Eugene Peterson's introduction. Listen to the way he renders the end of this book. Though the cherry trees don't blossom and the strawberries don't ripen, though the apples are worm-eaten and the wheat fields stunted, though the sheep pens are sheepless and the cattle barns are empty, I'm counting on God's rule to prevail. I take heart and gain strength.

I run like a deer. I feel like I'm the king of the mountain. I'm on the top. I'm not on the bottom any longer because oh Lord you are my God. When I finished this study I I just bowed at my desk and I said Lord please burn these words into my heart. Make my wife and me models of those kind of followers of yours so that whatever we have to endure it's all about you.

It's all for you so that we might live above it, live beyond it, and trust you through it. Now if you do not know the Lord this this sounds like a lot of gobbledygook. You you may even think it sounds passive.

Sounds like somebody standing back with his arms folded. I've never known anyone who had us an accurate understanding of the sovereignty of God who is passive. It means that I am now trusting in my God and I refuse to worry when things don't work out my way.

All the inhabitants of the earth are is nothing. He does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can stop him or say to him what are you doing? That's straight out of Daniel 4 verse 35 one of my favorite verses.

You know what you're doing and you stop me in my tracks and I wait and I listen and I pray. So if it is like gobbledygook to you obviously you've never come to the cross. You've never released your will to his. You've never turned over your life. You've never come to the Lord God or to his son as your Savior.

Let's take care of that. Bow with me please. You've listened so well.

Listen even better now. If you're without the Lord Jesus Christ you don't have to keep the rules of the law. You don't have to clean up your life. You don't have to make 15 permanent promises to God.

You're not saved by works. He has done for you what you cannot do for yourself. It's called grace. He has sent his son who died for you. So it's a simple prayer. Lord God I'm lost.

I've missed it in life but I need what you have to offer. I need your forgiveness. I claim your grace.

I take your son. I turn my life over to you and I trust you for my eternal destiny. Thank you for forgiving me my sins.

I take the gift. Thank you. If you've offered up that prayer you need to connect with us and let us help you take the next few steps. We want to help you know how to carry out that walk from earth to heaven in it as clear and simple a way as we can. We'll do that for you.

Let us hear from you or better still trust now right now. Lord we are all bowed before you and we acknowledge that you're able. You know what's best.

You know the end from the beginning. Your plan is far better than ours. You're gonna be glorified. You're gonna get the credit and we rest in that. I pray that anyone without Christ your son will trust in him now right now. Give us an afternoon of calm confidence in you our sovereign God since you do all things well. In the name of Christ I pray this. Everyone said?

Everyone said? Amen. A powerful reminder that God is sovereign. He's in control even when we don't fully understand. You're listening to the Bible teaching of pastor and author Chuck Swindoll.

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