Have you ever wondered if God is really in control of things

1
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Some will see the wicked prosper and conclude
  that it does not pay to serve God. (Psa
  7312-14)

2
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• (Psalms 7312-14 NKJV) Behold, these are the
  ungodly, Who are always at ease They increase in
  riches. 13 Surely I have cleansed my heart in
  vain, And washed my hands in innocence. 14 For
  all day long I have been plagued, And chastened
  every morning.

3
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Men of faith can have these doubts!

4
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Men of faith can have these doubts!
• The key is that the man of God will pursue these
  doubts to God Himself rather than quit and join
  the wicked.

5
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Men of faith can have these doubts!
• The key is that the man of God will pursue these
  doubts to God Himself rather than quit and join
  the wicked.
• Habakkuk, a prophet of God had such doubts. (Hab
  11-4)

6
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• (Habakkuk 11-4 NKJV) The burden which the
  prophet Habakkuk saw. 2 O LORD, how long shall
  I cry, And You will not hear? Even cry out to
  You, Violence! And You will not save. 3 Why
  do You show me iniquity, And cause me to see
  trouble? For plundering and violence are before
  me There is strife, and contention arises.

7
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• 4 Therefore the law is powerless, And justice
  never goes forth. For the wicked surround the
  righteous Therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

8
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Did God see Judahs wickedness? Indifference?

9
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Did God see Judahs wickedness? Indifference?
• Why does God not act? Good people are losing the
  battle!

10
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Be careful when you seek such answers. God had a
  plan. Ex. God does not see what I am going
  through, He does not see the hardship

11
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• "We are born questioners. Look at the wonderment
  of a little child in its eyes before it can
  speak. The child's great word when it begins to
  speak is "why." Every child is full of every kind
  of question, about every kind of thing that
  moves, and shines, and changes, in the little
  world in which it lives. That is the incipient
  doubt in the nature of man.

12
Have you ever wondered if God is really in
control of things?

• Respect doubt for its origin. It is an inevitable
  thing. It is not a thing to be crushed. It is a
  part of man as God made him. ... Doubt is the
  prelude of knowledge." -- Henry Drummond from
  Listening to the Giants

13
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• Gods answer was not what Habakkuk wanted to
  hear. (Hab 15-11)

14
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• (Habakkuk 15-11 NKJV) Look among the nations
  and watch Be utterly astounded! For I will work
  a work in your days Which you would not believe,
  though it were told you. 6 For indeed I am
  raising up the Chaldeans, A bitter and hasty
  nation Which marches through the breadth of the
  earth, To possess dwelling places that are not
  theirs.

15
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• 7 They are terrible and dreadful Their
  judgment and their dignity proceed from
  themselves. 8 Their horses also are swifter
  than leopards, And more fierce than evening
  wolves. Their chargers charge ahead Their
  cavalry comes from afar They fly as the eagle
  that hastens to eat.

16
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• 9 They all come for violence Their faces are
  set like the east wind. They gather captives like
  sand. 10 They scoff at kings, And princes are
  scorned by them. They deride every stronghold,
  For they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.
  11 Then his mind changes, and he transgresses
  He commits offense, Ascribing this power to his
  god.

17
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• It is important to know that God knows what he is
  doing.

18
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• It is important to know that God knows what he is
  doing.
• The Babylonians were very evil. God was going to
  use them.

19
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• It is important to know that God knows what he is
  doing.
• The Babylonians were very evil. God was going to
  use them.
• They were going to make a great slaughter of the
  people and never give God credit.

20
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• It is important to know that God knows what he is
  doing.
• The Babylonians were very evil. God was going to
  use them.
• They were going to make a great slaughter of the
  people and never give God credit.
• We need to now that some people are beyond
  repentance. God knows!

21
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• Habakkuk now has a greater problem.

22
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• Habakkuk now has a greater problem.
• Have you ever had a problem that started out bad
  and then grew worse?

23
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• Habakkuk now has a greater problem.
• Have you ever had a problem that started out bad
  and then grew worse?
• How could God use such a wicked people? (Hab
  112-13)

24
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• (Habakkuk 112-13 NKJV) Are You not from
  everlasting, O LORD my God, my Holy One? We shall
  not die. O LORD, You have appointed them for
  judgment O Rock, You have marked them for
  correction.

25
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• 13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil,
  And cannot look on wickedness. Why do You look on
  those who deal treacherously, And hold Your
  tongue when the wicked devours A person more
  righteous than he?

26
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• The destruction would be great! They were going
  to use three kinds of nets. Nothing much would be
  left. They would then worship their net. (Hab
  114-17)

27
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• (Habakkuk 114-17 NKJV) Why do You make men
  like fish of the sea, Like creeping things that
  have no ruler over them? 15 They take up all of
  them with a hook, They catch them in their net,
  And gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they
  rejoice and are glad.

28
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• 16 Therefore they sacrifice to their net, And
  burn incense to their dragnet Because by them
  their share is sumptuous And their food
  plentiful. 17 Shall they therefore empty their
  net, And continue to slay nations without pity?

29
Gods Reply and Habakkuks Dismay

• How could God allow this to happen?

30
The Second Answer of God

• Habakkuk to his credit knew when to be quiet and
  listen. (Hab 21)

31
The Second Answer of God

• (Habakkuk 21 NKJV) I will stand my watch And
  set myself on the rampart, And watch to see what
  He will say to me, And what I will answer when I
  am corrected.

32
The Second Answer of God

• You cannot learn when you complain all the time.

33
The Second Answer of God

• You cannot learn when you complain all the time.
• You cannot learn when you close your ears in
  anger.

34
The Second Answer of God

• "Your doubt can become a good quality if you
  "train" it. ... Ask it, whenever it wants to
  spoil something for you, "why" something is ugly,
  demand proofs from it, test it, and you will find
  it perhaps bewildered and embarrassed, perhaps
  also protesting.

35
The Second Answer of God

• But don't give in, insist on arguments, and act
  in this way, attentive and persistent, every
  single time, and the day will come when, instead
  of being a destroyer, it will become one of your
  best workers--perhaps the most intelligent of all
  the ones that are building in your life.

36
The Second Answer of God

• God simply repeated what He said. You can count
  on it! (Hab 22-3)

37
The Second Answer of God

• (Habakkuk 22-3 NKJV) Then the LORD answered me
  and said Write the vision And make it plain on
  tablets, That he may run who reads it. 3 For
  the vision is yet for an appointed time But at
  the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
  Though it tarries, wait for it Because it will
  surely come, It will not tarry.

38
The Second Answer of God

• God is not like us and is swayed by emotion.

39
The Second Answer of God

• When we act on principle we will see a great
  consistency.

40
The Second Answer of God

• When we act on principle we will see a great
  consistency.
• When things do not go our way is when we show
  our faith.

41
The Second Answer of God

• When we act on principle we will see a great
  consistency.
• When things do not go our way is when we show
  our faith.
• God did see the sins of Judah. (Hab 24-5)

42
The Second Answer of God

• (Habakkuk 24-5 NKJV) Behold the proud, His
  soul is not upright in him But the just shall
  live by his faith. 5 Indeed, because he
  transgresses by wine, He is a proud man, And he
  does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his
  desire as hell, And he is like death, and cannot
  be satisfied, He gathers to himself all nations
  And heaps up for himself all peoples.

43
The Second Answer of God

• He knew their pride. Only the just shall live by
  faith, this is the key to the book.

44
The Second Answer of God

• He knew their pride. Only the just shall live by
  faith, this is the key to the book.
• The righteous would also suffer in such a
  judgment. Still, we must respond in faith.

45
The Second Answer of God

• He knew their pride. Only the just shall live by
  faith, this is the key to the book.
• The righteous would also suffer in such a
  judgment. Still, we must respond in faith.
• God now gives five woes towards Judah. (Hab
  26-19)

46
The Second Answer of God

• (Habakkuk 26-19 NKJV) Will not all these take
  up a proverb against him, And a taunting riddle
  against him, and say, Woe to him who increases
  What is not his how long? And to him who loads
  himself with many pledges? 7 Will not your
  creditors rise up suddenly? Will they not awaken
  who oppress you? And you will become their booty.

47
The Second Answer of God

• 8 Because you have plundered many nations, All
  the remnant of the people shall plunder you,
  Because of mens blood And the violence of the
  land and the city, And of all who dwell in it.
  9 Woe to him who covets evil gain for his
  house, That he may set his nest on high, That he
  may be delivered from the power of disaster!

48
The Second Answer of God

• 10 You give shameful counsel to your house,
  Cutting off many peoples, And sin against your
  soul. 11 For the stone will cry out from the
  wall, And the beam from the timbers will answer
  it. 12 Woe to him who builds a town with
  bloodshed, Who establishes a city by iniquity!

49
The Second Answer of God

• 13 Behold, is it not of the LORD of hosts That
  the peoples labor to feed the fire, And nations
  weary themselves in vain? 14 For the earth will
  be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the
  LORD, As the waters cover the sea. 15 Woe to
  him who gives drink to his neighbor, Pressing him
  to your bottle, Even to make him drunk, That you
  may look on his nakedness!

50
The Second Answer of God

• 16 You are filled with shame instead of glory.
  You also drink! And be exposed as uncircumcised!
  The cup of the Lords right hand will be turned
  against you, And utter shame will be on your
  glory. 17 For the violence done to Lebanon will
  cover you, And the plunder of beasts which made
  them afraid, Because of mens blood And the
  violence of the land and the city, And of all who
  dwell in it.

51
The Second Answer of God

• 18 What profit is the image, that its maker
  should carve it, The molded image, a teacher of
  lies, That the maker of its mold should trust in
  it, To make mute idols? 19 Woe to him who says
  to wood, Awake! To silent stone, Arise! It
  shall teach! Behold, it is overlaid with gold
  and silver, Yet in it there is no breath at all.

52
The Second Answer of God

• It is almost comical to think that we could ever
  think that we know something that God does not
  know! I am sure Habakkuk learned much he never
  knew.

53
The Second Answer of God

• "I believe that justice and mercy are simply one
  and the same thing without justice to the full
  there can be no mercy, and without mercy to the
  full there can be no justice.

54
The Second Answer of God

• Such is the mercy of God that he will hold his
  children in the consuming fire of his distance
  until they pay the uttermost farthing, until they
  drop the purse of selfishness with all the dross
  that is in it, and rush home to the Father and
  the Son, and the brethren--rush inside the center
  of the life-giving Fire whose outer circles burn."

55
The Second Answer of God

• What we need to do is shut our mouths and listen!
  (Hab 220)

56
The Second Answer of God

• (Habakkuk 220 NKJV) But the LORD is in His
  holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence
  before Him.

57
The Second Answer of God

• Here is when we show our faith.

58
The Second Answer of God

• Here is when we show our faith.
• Gods wrath is coming upon this earth as well.
  (Rom 118)

59
The Second Answer of God

• (Romans 118 NKJV) For the wrath of God is
  revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and
  unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in
  unrighteousness,

60
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• While Habakkuk has a time of struggle, he has
  resolved that and give God the praise. (Hab 31-2)

61
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Habakkuk 31-2 NKJV) A prayer of Habakkuk the
  prophet, on Shigionoth. 2 O LORD, I have heard
  your speech and was afraid O LORD, revive Your
  work in the midst of the years! In the midst of
  the years make it known In wrath remember mercy.

62
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• We too must not sit on the sidelines fuming very
  long.

63
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• We too must not sit on the sidelines fuming very
  long.
• We cannot fight God. God knows best.

64
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• We too must not sit on the sidelines fuming very
  long.
• We cannot fight God. God knows best.
• God was doing the very best for His people. (Hab
  313)

65
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Habakkuk 313 NKJV) You went forth for the
  salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your
  Anointed. You struck the head from the house of
  the wicked, By laying bare from foundation to
  neck. Selah

66
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• All of history stands because of what God wants
  for His people.

67
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• All of history stands because of what God wants
  for His people.
• When we give up our faith we pervert the purpose
  for the whole universe.

68
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• "God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the
  liberty of a nation be secure when we have
  removed a conviction that these liberties are the
  gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when
  I reflect that God is just, that His justice
  cannot sleep forever." -- Thomas Jefferson

69
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• While Habakkuk has resolved his doubts, he knows
  difficult times are ahead for the faithful.

70
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• What if you knew this country would fall?

71
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• What if you knew this country would fall?
• There is a good deal of grief for Habakkuk. (Hab
  316-17)

72
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Habakkuk 316-17 NKJV) When I heard, my body
  trembled My lips quivered at the voice
  Rottenness entered my bones And I trembled in
  myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble.
  When he comes up to the people, He will invade
  them with his troops.

73
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• 17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor
  fruit be on the vines Though the labor of the
  olive may fail, And the fields yield no food
  Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,
  And there be no herd in the stalls

74
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• Still there is a joy that no circumstances could
  remove from the righteous. (Hab 318-19)

75
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Habakkuk 318-19 NKJV) Yet I will rejoice in
  the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
  19 The LORD God is my strength He will make my
  feet like deers feet, And He will make me walk
  on my high hills.

76
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• This attitude must be in the Christian. (Micah
  77-8 Phil 413)

77
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Micah 77-8 NKJV) Therefore I will look to the
  LORD I will wait for the God of my salvation My
  God will hear me. 8 Do not rejoice over me, my
  enemy When I fall, I will arise When I sit in
  darkness, The LORD will be a light to me.

78
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Philippians 413 NKJV) I can do all things
  through Christ who strengthens me.

79
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• Where is your faith?

80
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• When we stay the course with God, much good will
  result. (Rom 828)

81
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Romans 828 NKJV) And we know that all things
  work together for good to those who love God, to
  those who are the called according to His
  purpose.

82
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• Those who quit have lost all. (Heb 1035-39)

83
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• (Hebrews 1035-39 NKJV) Therefore do not cast
  away your confidence, which has great reward.
  36 For you have need of endurance, so that
  after you have done the will of God, you may
  receive the promise 37 For yet a little
  while, And He who is coming will come and will
  not tarry.

84
Habakkuks Response of Faith

• 38 Now the just shall live by faith But if
  anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in
  him. 39 But we are not of those who draw back
  to perdition, but of those who believe to the
  saving of the soul.