Summary & Key points
- Moral decay and societal corruption
- Political turmoil and instability
- Violence and global unrest By bringing these issues to God in prayer, believers can strengthen their relationship with Him and seek His guidance.
- Real, honest prayer that addresses life’s struggles
- Seeking God’s presence and wisdom in every situation
- An active, trusting relationship that doesn’t shy away from hard questions
You know, as I was thinking about these last three months, if we look at the news, it’s not very encouraging, is it? The world news is not all that exciting. In fact, it makes your palpitations go quicker. We look at issues, we look at our own economy—yeah, the ringgit seems to be doing a bit better, but economically, there are challenges. They’re talking about the, uh, what do you call it, the, uh… not the equal… the income… oh dear, the word escapes my mind… you know… minimum wage, 2,000. Oh dear. Minimum wage, you know, 2,000. Why? Everything is getting more expensive.
We hear of wars, looming wars, possible wars, instigation of wars. We look at, you know, religious issues. So, when you look at the news, it’s not—nothing excites you, is it? In fact, it’s like, “Oh dear, another thing. What’s next?” And then, if you are like most people, we pause and say, “God, what’s happening?” Have you ever paused and asked those questions? Maybe even in our own lives.
You know, we all like good times. Anybody like hard times? You sure? Okay. Everybody likes to be in health. We like to have enough money. If we are studying, we would love to be able to engage our education well, correctly, have no needs. If we had work, employment, we would like the environment to suit our desire. End of the year’s coming, we would like to think of good bonuses, and if we are in business, we would like things to increase. We would like things to change. In the family, we have so many desires that are all positive in nature. Is that not true? In nature, we want.
But in reality, when we look, God gives us this amazing understanding, which I think I kind of labored a bit during the months. It starts with God creating, God’s grace, God’s mercy, but then the entry of sin, and that’s where it all gets messed up. And God begins His redemptive purpose out of His grace, out of His love. And when we are in the midst of things, sometimes we don’t see God’s hand. Sometimes we cannot see God’s hand. We cannot see purpose. We cannot see a way out. But we read history in the Bible, and we see God working through, God working through a few people, then God working through a nation, and then God working through His church.
And then, in the church itself, we’ve got so many different understandings of what it should be and how it should be. But one thing you and I can be certain of: the Lord is going to return. We had a few meetings—this has been an interesting week—and I had a meeting in the evening, and somebody was telling me, with a bunch of business people, they’re saying, “Can God come quickly? Can God come quickly?” He says, “My goodness, I just traveled different parts of the world, and he said just look at things. It’s so intense.”
And yet, at the other end, God is saying, “I am coming. Will you get ready? Will you find clarity? And will you join me in this whole plan to reach others and say I have a purpose and a plan, and I want to see everybody up there with me when I finally return?” What do you think, church? Okay, I’ll ask you a question. What do you think? Okay, so we go through all these various things.
But today, as we prepare to come to the table of the Lord, communion, I want to talk about this issue of trusting God in difficult times. You may say, “My time is not really difficult.” Well, if it’s not, get ready—you may have it next year. Somewhere, soon, all of us face some issue where—help me out here, help me out here—all of us face some issue where we say, “God, where are you?” Anybody like me? None? Okay, come on. It starts with being honest. How many of us: “God, where are you? God, where are you? Why is this taking so long? What’s happening?”
So, I want to look at a very small book here in the Old Testament, the book of Habakkuk. So, let’s say the inspiration of Habakkuk came, and I actually heard a Chinaman say, “Actually, this is why bak kut teh originated from.” I said, “The things that we think of—God, have mercy.” I don’t know, because they don’t exactly believe in pork.
So, I want to take us through this for five weeks, to think through this as we bring a focus to the end of the year, as we think of next year, as we reflect on our own life, disappointments, failures, uncertainties, future. We want to think about it. And what was happening here in God’s word is true, it’s eternal. God writes it here not so that we can cut more trees down and print the Bible and, you know, do different things. It gives us—it’s a framework, it’s a guide for us, it’s a North Star, it’s the manual of the owner who says, “Hey, okay, you need this. It’s your compass in life, and this is how you’re going to get through.”
And I’m going to give you historically everything there, and you’re going to be helped through it. So, when we look at this book, it actually helps us connect with our current times. In many different places in the Bible, it gives us a place to understand: How can I trust God when things really look not all so pretty and things look quite challenging? Because God’s message is always timeless.
How do I have faith in difficult times? How do I trust God? Or do I lose hope in difficult times?
So, what’s happening here is there’s great moral corruption. We look at our world—we have enough moral scandals to last us for eternity. All kinds of scandals, all kinds of perversions that take place. Then you have political instability here, and political corruption. We have that; it’s rife. It’s not just our country—the world is rife with political corruption. Religious hypocrisy—our world is full of it. National crisis, unrest in society. Today, we have global instability.
So, the messages that we want to look at in this season are to say: Times are dark. How can I have a handle on God? How can I trust God? And I want to see the light at the end so that I can navigate my life through.
So, if you would turn—we’re going to read a bit of it here, but I’m going to read to you from the book of Habakkuk. It’s in the Old Testament. You can miss it very quickly—it’s only three chapters. I’m going to start with verse 2, and I’m going to read through a bit more here, and then just a couple of thoughts I want to share with you today. I sincerely pray, as we come to the table of the Lord, we will be able to pour our heart out and say, “God, I really want to take a handle of holding your truth and your love in the challenging times.”
He says:
“How long, O Lord, will I call for help, and you will not hear?
I cry out to you, ‘Violence!’ Yet you do not save.
Why do you make me see iniquity and cause me to look on wickedness?
Yes, destruction and violence are before me.
Strife exists, and contention arises.
Therefore, the law is ignored, and justice is never upheld.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore, justice comes out perverted.”
Now, I don’t know about you—just, I want you to pause and look again. Does this not describe our days? He says here, “How long?” I think that’s the cry of many people, isn’t it? “God, how long? How do wicked men, perverted men, rich people, politicians—how do these tyrants, these bullies go around doing things like this? How can people be so racist and abuse race through race? You know, God, I call out to you. God, how long? It doesn’t make sense. What’s happening? God, will you not save?”
So, verse 3, then he says, “Why? Why do I have to look at all this evil? Why am I here?” You know, sometimes we pray and say, “God, can you take me quickly or not, because I’m so tired of this world.” “Why do you cause me to look at wickedness? Why must I engage all this wickedness? Why must I see? Why must I be a recipient of wickedness at every level of society? Destruction and violence are all around us. Strife, contention. Law is ignored. People make laws to break them, and those who are above the law, they ignore it. Justice is never upheld.”
We all laugh, isn’t it? “Justice. Oh dear, why?” Wickedness surrounds the righteous. It says, “Therefore, justice comes out perverted. Wow.” I want to draw us to this one thought here: What was he seeing? What was this prophet—what was he looking at?
If you and I were to write—God was to inspire us to write something, and we were engaging, and we were grappling in faith, in prayer, in conversation—would we write something similar, with different language? What’s happening in our world? What’s happening in this country? What’s happening, O God, with all these wars?
So, what did he see? He saw a world of injustice. Can you and I say we see a world of injustice today? What is he saying—a world of injustice? Verse 3, he says here, “Why do you make me see iniquity? Why do you make me see this evil?” And yet we will read in political speeches, “We are changing the economy. We are going to pass a bill that will make things look good.” Politicians are always promising us a better tomorrow, is that not true? They are always promising. And then we, in our jobs, different people will say, “Everybody is promising.” We assure our children, maybe, and say, “Hey, don’t worry. We will go through this,” or we will speak to somebody in the family and say, “Hey, we will get through this.”
We are always saying—we are hoping—that there will be a better tomorrow, there will be a better day. And quietly, within us, we’ll say, “I hope next year is a better year.” And yet, we will find messages and say, “Everything is going to be good, everything’s…” That’s false hope, because you’ve got to read the end. The Revelation and different parts of the end-time scriptures say it is not going to be hunky-dory. There are going to be challenges.
God spoke to us, but the issue is this, dear ones: How do I live in the midst of injustice? How do I continue standing with God and finding that hope? How do I continue and inspire others to find hope? How do I go on to the next day where I can actually say, “Because He lives, I can face tomorrow. I know there’s a storm, but I know He is in the boat, in the storm, and He will take me through the storm, and at the end, I will come out at the end”? Are you with me? That is the hope I hope to trigger in all of us.
That we look just like the prophet. We see it. The times are evil, and so are our times. What I want to draw us into is a right perspective of living daily so that we don’t lose hope.
So, he sees violence, and he cries out. Verse 2, he says, “How long, Lord, must I call out for help, and you don’t seem to listen?” And if we’re honest, some of us stop praying because we say, “What’s the point of praying?” And that is also a wrong posture. He says, “God, why are you not doing anything?” And that truth resonates with all of us.
But the thought that I want to give you—the next thought—is this: You know what inspires me here is this, okay? That doesn’t inspire me. What inspires me is this: The prophet is not afraid to pour his heart to God. Have we stopped pouring out our heart to God because we see too many issues that we struggle with, that we are so drowned in our issues that we do not know how to take hold of the lifeline of God’s truth and presence and peace and clarity? That we end up capturing a cancer of despondency? That we catch the flu of negativity? And we actually come to the point where our hearts within us are backslidden, and we no longer believe that God is there with us, for us?
Now that is actually a very deceptive place, but it’s a very real place in many Christians, because we are overwhelmed with issues and problems and challenges, and we no longer look at anything else. What do we do? We can go in a few directions. We have this hyped-up faith, confess, “Oh, confess, I speak, I confess,” and then tomorrow, still… and then you’re in. Why? Because I’m not holding on to Jesus, but I’m just mouthing off things.
The prophet gives us a very inspiring posture—that we can bring our frustrations to God. And a bit later, I want to talk about the misunderstanding of us pouring out our hearts to God in certain religious postures. Can I ask you a question? When was the last time you honestly, sincerely poured out your heart to God without superficiality? Just raw conversation and saying, “God, I really don’t understand what’s happening. God, this is so frustrating. Why do you not do anything? Look around, God. See what’s happening. Lord, look at this thing that I’m going through in my life. God, will you speak to me?” When was the last time we actually got into this raw, honest conversation with God?
Faith does not mean we suppress our doubts or emotions. I know there are certain teachings that say, “Oh, cannot confess, that’s wrong. Oh, don’t pray negatively. Don’t…” Stop, stop. I want to pray realistically. I want to pray honestly. Every place I read in the scripture where it says “pour my heart out,” it actually pours my heart out and says, “God, this is how I’m feeling.” Because it’s in that moment I encounter a certain grace that I normally will not encounter. This peace of God, this reality of God, that says, “Let me calm the storm in your heart and in your mind.”
So, these two scriptures—Psalm 13:1–2 says:
“How long will you forget me, forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts?”
And I want you to think of this word wrestle, because I’m going to talk about it a bit later.
“…and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”
Sometimes there are certain situations, day after day. It can be a relationship issue, it can be a monetary issue, it can be different things, but there’s sorrow, isn’t it? We’re struggling with it.
Job says here: “I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer. I stand up, but you merely look at me.”
I think, in this last year, I don’t know how many times I’ve visited scriptures like this, gone through that, and said, “God, I actually really don’t see a way out of this situation I’m in. You’ve got to help me here.”
So many of us ask a similar question: Where is God in the midst? And one of the best books in its genre written is Philip Yancey’s. He wrote a few things—”Where Is God When I Hurt?” It’s one of the best books that deals with it. And he deals with it very logically, very practically, you know, about healing, about issues, about problems. “Where Is God When It’s All Going Down South?” It’s all breaking down, and he walks us through different stories and scriptures, and it’s very inspiring, actually. So, maybe somebody needs to get that book.
Anyway, the message is clear: God is not absent, even if he seems silent for a time. Why? Because we read at the end what happens when he returns.
We look at it now, we see all the chaos, but we cannot take our eye off the end because that is the place we focus our hope and say, “Yes, I see this now, but God, you are coming back, and I will see eternity at the end.”
Can I at least say an amen?
So don’t go home depressed, okay? So the issue is this: we can see it, but God is not absent. He may seem silent, but He is not absent. Some of us need to hear it because many times, when we don’t hear God, when we don’t feel it, we begin to get bitter inside. We react to people, we react to church, we react to God, we react to everything in life. We get negative, we get depressed, we go through so many psychosomatic issues, and what happens? Our health deteriorates. We do not know how to handle problems. We become—it’s all about us. Me, my, I, my problem. And I cannot live the life that God wants me to live because the circumstances have drowned me.
And this is for young and old. When you are frustrated, young people, when you are frustrated, you cannot see. And then it begins to translate into rebellion and anger, and then we label it. “This is Gen Alpha, Gen Z.” Rubbish! Yeah, there are issues, but God didn’t, when you go, say, “Chop Gen Z, chop Millennial, chop Baby Boomer.” No! When we are dead and gone, if our brains are examined, does it say, “Oh, this is a Millennial brain”? So, we have to use our brains also when we talk about these things. We must use our brains a bit also.
So, these are issues. So young people, you go through different issues. Maybe you don’t see the opportunities. And then we, who are older, say, “Yeah, those people.” So this battle. But if we cannot pause and pour our hearts out to God, we cannot see the way out. God may be silent, but God is not absent.
So, the next truth is this: what did he do? He saw all this. He cried out. He called out to God. What did he do? He wrestled with God. Verses 5–11, God actually tells him what He’s going to do, how He’s going to do it. Actually, it wasn’t very pretty because God says, “You know what? I’m actually going to send the Babylonians to spank all of you.”
Historically, when you look at it, the invasion was looming. So there was a lot of political uncertainty, so they were afraid. So, in the midst of all this, all these reactions are coming about. But how does he respond? Now, this is a very interesting term here. He says—this is his second prayer, and listen here, young people, especially young, old—this is recorded for you and me because it’s going to help us. And today, as we come to the table of the Lord, it’s really going to help us because I’m going to ask us to do a few things together, and I believe, with a very strong certainty in my heart, if today we take hold of the reality of God’s truth and the reality of where we are, there’s going to be a measure of freedom in our hearts and our minds and our spirits today.
He says here:
“Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment.
You, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.”
He’s talking about the Babylonians, okay? He said, “You have ordained them, okay? Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?”
If you read it carefully again, it’s a very sarcastic prayer.
“Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?”
So, I want to draw you in. He does two things. He does two things. Number one, he’s very bold. He’s very honest in his conversation: “God, why do you tolerate injustice?” We read that in verse 3. “Why? Why do you let all this nonsense happen? You know what’s happening here. I see this. I see that. Look at the way justice is perverted. Look at the way abuse is taking place.”
Then, he does the second thing. Actually, we would call it a rhetorical question. That means he’s asking the question—please get this—the question he’s asking here, he’s not asking God for an answer. Actually, he’s being quite rude, actually.
He’s actually saying, “I thought…” Go back to verse 12, please. “I thought you are so great and powerful, God.” Has it crossed your mind sometimes, true or not? This one—God is great, God is good.
Have we encountered that thought? You’re not alone. “If the promise is true, why? Why, God, where are you?” Anybody go through that? Okay, let me start. I go through that. Anybody else? Honesty helps us. Okay, like here, honesty helped Habakkuk find reality in God’s truth.
Church, if we cannot be honest in our hearts before God, we can never find the freedom of faith to walk daily.
He says, “Lord, are you not from everlasting? Hey, I thought you are this great fancy God. Aren’t you? I thought you are this awesome creator from everlasting to everlasting. Wow! Hey, you are holy. You’ll never die, and you are doing this? You’re bringing the Babylonians to do this?”
Then he goes, what, verse 13. He says, “Your eyes are too pure. You can’t even look at this. Then why is it that you allow this to take place?”
I want to take the next 10 minutes to land this. I’ve got four points. I’m only going to do two, and we’ll carry on next week.
He says, “Why do you tolerate wrong?” How many of us have been wronged, and we feel God didn’t come through for us? Any other honest people? Any liars? You picked up your hand at the wrong time. Any liars? Like, oops, timing is all. Timing is everything.
And that is why I cannot stand happy-clappy messages because people are struggling, and we need the reality of our faith to kick in.
“Why do you tolerate…” Sorry, let me close this. Because he’s saying, in verses 2–4, “Look at the injustice. Look at all this.” He says, “I thought you were great, verse 12.”
He is upset with God’s response. He’s actually very upset with God’s response in verses 5–11. He’s like, “Did you not hear me? Did you not hear what I’ve just said?”
And here, God is saying, “I’m going to bring in the Babylonians, and I’m going to deal with this. If you think this is a problem, wait till this invading army comes. Then you will know what a problem is.” Isn’t it sometimes like parents? “You think that was bad? Wait till I take my belt out,” you know, something like that. “You think this is bad? Wait till your father comes.” Some mothers say, “Wait till I deal with you.” We’re telling the kid, “You think this is bad? Wait. It’s going to escalate.” And the kid is like, “What am I doing here, man?”
So we feel like God—you know, if you speak to a 5-year-old and you tell them to do the right thing, a 5-year-old is still not going to comprehend it fully. But they will trust you. And what is God drawing us into in this whole thing? When He’s saying, “Why do you allow injustice? Did you not hear my cry?” He’s actually challenging God.
You see, we have this place that says, “You must be all reverential. You cannot question God.” And we go, “God, you are good. You give, you take. Oh God, I question you not.” Rubbish! Nowhere in the Bible tells you to pray like that. Nowhere in the Bible tells you to pray like that. That is religious bigotry. Religious hypocrisy.
And the other extreme is this here: listen here. “You know what? Hey, why should I bother with God? God’s so good. You can keep God. I am going out, I’m going to do my own thing. I’m going to do it my way. I will make my own future.” You see, there are two ways of responding. So, we respond with our own arrogance, our own ability. And the ability given by God—now we say, “I will do it the way I want to do it. I’m going to react the way I want to react. I’m going to solve the problem the way I want to solve it.” Instead of saying, “In all my ways, let me acknowledge Him, and He will direct my path.”
But no. “Where’s God?” So when we read this again, the tension is amazing.
Church, let’s be honest in conversation, in prayer. Prayer is not mechanical. Prayer is not, “Bless me, bless me, bless her, bless him, bless her, bless, bless, bless. Help me, help me, help me.” That is selfishness. But prayer is coming before God and really pouring out our hearts daily and saying, “God, I have all these things to get done. God, this thing I’ve been praying for weeks and months now, Lord, there are these issues.”
You see, the problem is this: we have understood prayer and engagement and covenant—when you look at this again carefully, it’s all covenant language. And I talked about it a bit a few weeks ago.
Our problem is this: when we get saved, what do we get saved into? Do we understand that we are sinners saved by grace? And it is the grace of God that enables us to live in good times, in bad times, and in whatever times. It’s God’s grace that helps us and takes us through. It is my daily engagement with God and His Word as I mature and grow, and my mindset changes, my emotions are changed, my attitudes are changed, I’m being shaped. I understand where I belong, how I belong, how I respond to God, how I walk with Him—even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because I know You are there with me, God. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me. God, I thank You. You prepare a table. God, I thank You. Even in the darkest times, God, I know You are there. Hey, the reality of faith.
How long, God? Honest conversation.
So if prayer is boring, can I say this to you? You are never going to engage the wisdom of God.
If prayer is mechanical, and a task, and tedious, you and I will never engage the reality, the truth, and the deliverance of God because I’ve made Him something else.
So I start with this honest conversation: “Why, God? Why is this happening?” And sometimes God will just say, “Go look in the mirror; you’ll find out why.” Okay, I’m the problem.
So God says, “Hey, Habakkuk, I’m going to send the Babylonians. I’m going to deal with this.” So that’s the first part.
The second thing he does is this, which I’ve alluded to: covenant prayer.
He does not disconnect. He does not walk away. He’s intellectually honest. He’s emotionally honest. He has a real conversation with God. He is wrestling. It’s like Jacob. He knows he is going to meet his brother Esau, and he says, “You know what? Oh dear. This may be the last day of my life. Because when Esau sees me, he’s going to remember all the nonsense that I did, and what I did to him. And he is going to have revenge.”
And he begins to wrestle with the angel, which they believe, of course, is Jesus. And he begins to wrestle. What was he having? A WWE match? Was he really doing wrestling? “Okay, I’m wrestling. Okay, okay, I lost round one. Round two.”
No. The whole idea is he is engaged in honest, sincere prayer, conversation, and saying, “I cannot walk out from this if I don’t understand Your purpose and Your plan. Because the moment I walk out from here, if I have not met You, and if I don’t understand this, when I walk out from there, I know I will either die, or I will have to run away.”
We can get lazy in prayer, or rather too casual, or maybe, you know what, why pray?
So here it is: he gets into this honest engagement. And sometimes it’s okay to ask questions about God’s methods. Say, “God, I really don’t understand how You’re doing it, why You’re doing it, and why it has to be this way.”
Do we not ask questions to each other, or even in the home, or at work, or in business, or in different areas? We will say, “Can you help me understand why you made this decision? Can you help me understand why this decision was made? Can you help me understand why is it that we are doing it this way?” Why? Are you being difficult? No, because you want to understand what’s happening there, isn’t it?
And the issue is this: we have a shallow understanding of God. Hence, we don’t get into an honest conversation called prayer because we’ve been told, “He’s a genie. Rub. Abracadabra. What are your three wishes?” And if they don’t come true: “Ha! God, where are you?”
No! That’s not true because we need to understand the purposes of God. And maturing as a believer is important. Taking hold of God’s Word, understanding God’s Word is important. Wrestling with His Word, His truth.
This posture that Habakkuk took actually is a posture of wrestling honestly in conversation, in covenant, and saying, “God, I’m not being rude, but I hinge on one thing: listen to this here—because I know You are holy, and Your grace is abounding, I can come to You as I am.”
And the truth is also beyond that. The truth is this: God, knowing how we feel, wants us to be honest enough to say, “I want you to encounter my grace. I want you to encounter my peace.”
You see, trusting—can I have that slide, please? Trusting God doesn’t mean passive acceptance. It means being real with Him in prayer.
Does that make sense, Church? Being real with Him in prayer.
This is where we grow in our faith. This is where we deal with evil and difficult times. We don’t respond legalistically or hyper-spiritually. We don’t respond arrogantly or rebelliously or by denying God and walking away. No, we do neither of that.
This prayer is recorded to help us see that God’s grace is there.
So when we come to the table today, what does it remind us? “In the world, you will have tribulation. In the world, you will have problems. But be of good cheer.”
Be of good cheer. Where are you struggling in your faith? Where are you struggling? What are you struggling with? Who are you struggling with?
Because God knows how we speak when we are desperate. And today, that’s where I want to draw you: will you pray an honest, desperate prayer?