When We Don’t Understand Why

Introduction

Good morning. If you will open in your Old Testament, it’s a Habakkuk chapter 1. Habakkuk chapter 1, that’s right. If you thought on December 24th, the sermon would be from Habakkuk, you were right, you win the bingo card. Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 1 through 4 starts with a relatable thought, a type of thought, a question, and if we’re honest, a consideration almost demanded from God by Habakkuk. And when we read the story of Habakkuk, we’re going to see that Habakkuk has an issue, a complaint that he deals with with his creator God. And God responds, and then Habakkuk has another issue based upon the response God gave to his first issue. And then God once again answers the second issue, and Habakkuk then praises God, extols him as the creator, the master of the universe that he is, and prays to him.

But if we’re honest and we think about Habakkuk, we think of him as kind of daring. The fact that he would dare question God. But if you look at Habakkuk, and as we study this, I want to examine Habakkuk’s questions and recognize how we need to know better than some of the questions that Habakkuk asked. But also keep in mind that asking questions of God is not wrong. Searching to our God, who we have a relationship with in faith is very different from questioning his existence or doubting him or leaving him. So let’s keep those things in mind as we read as we read Habakkuk chapter 1. The oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear?

Or cry to you violence and you will not save? Why do you make me see iniquity? And why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me, strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth, for the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. As you can see, Habakkuk’s not really thrilled right now with the current climate. And what is that climate? Well, most likely Habakkuk prophesied around 612 to 606 BC. And if you know much about Israel’s history and specifically Judah’s history, Israel’s already gone into Assyrian captivity as of around 722 BC. Over a hundred years later, we are right now, if that date range for Habakkuk’s prophecy is accurate, right on the precipice of God sending the big, ruthless, evil Babylonian Empire to come and take Judah away as well.

Now, why would God send Israel first and Judah second into captivity to begin with? Well, as he promised all the way back in Deuteronomy, and perhaps we even see seeds of in the book of Exodus, God demanded that his people united Israel, submit to him. And if they would just do that, he would bless them. But of course, what would happen if they did not? They would have curses. And one of those, and the ultimate tool used to design for his people to come back to him, was captivity. So here’s Habakkuk talking about the people Judah whom he’s from and who he’s with. And note the descriptions in verse 2. Whatever’s going on, he’s crying to God for help. He’s saying there is violence going on.

And what is his accusation or complaint to God? How long will I cry and you not hear me? I’m crying out for help. I’m telling you there is violence. And look at the end part of verse 2. You will not save me. Verse 3 continues why do you make me see iniquity? Why do you idly look at wrong? That’s a strong charge for God. Why do you idly sit back and doing nothing? Look at all the wrong being done. Destruction and violence are before me. Judah, what should be your people are just conquering themselves. They are living in unrighteousness and wickedness. How much so? Verse 4, the law is paralyzed. Justice will never go forth. There is nothing right about our society. In fact, not only are we upset, notice the last part of verse 4, justice is perverted.

Those who are wicked are on top. They’re prospering. And those who are righteous are being taken advantage of and put down and had being stepped on by the wicked, whom Habakkuk is calling to God, saying, God, how do you not see this? How do you not understand? Why are you not doing anything about it? This morning I want to preach a lesson from the book of Habakkuk, which I think is fitting to his comments and complaints to God. What do we do when we don’t understand why? It may be that we share Habakkuk’s exact complaints and worries. We say, we look around at society, whether in this country, overseas, or both, and we say, why is God letting this happen? We see wicked, the wicked are prospering left and right.

In fact, not only are they prospering, who are they prospering at the expense of? The righteous, the poor, the humble and lowly. The very things that God stands against, the very thing that God’s children do the opposite of. Living lives instead of righteousness, humility, and sacrifice for others. Why is God letting this happen? But perhaps, and more likely, our application of this lesson is much more broad than that. Maybe we find ourselves like Habakkuk in verse 2 saying, How long am I going to cry out for you, God, and you not answer me? Or in verse 3, why do you idly look at wrong? I know you know, I know you’re there. I know you know this, God, but why aren’t you doing anything about it?

Have you been there before? I think if we’re honest, we’ve all had that type of feeling, that type of worry and concern. And certainly if we looked at our society today, verse 4 stands out one more time. So the law is paralyzed, and justice never goes forth. The wicked surround the righteous, and justice is perverted. Why is God letting this happen? Why is my life being affected the way it is? Why isn’t it happening the way I suppose, and not even just the way I supposed? Why is God allowing his purposes, his righteousness to seemingly be trampled with great success by the very wicked God promises to judge? Habakkuk’s a great study for that. You see in this first section, Habakkuk is questioning why God won’t judge guilty Judah.

But here’s the good news. God responds, then, look with me in verse 5. Look among the nations and see, wonder and be astounded. This is the answer of God to Habakkuk’s complaint. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if I told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand.

At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on. Guilty men, whose own might is their God. God says, Habakkuk, I have good news and I have bad news. The good news is, I hear you, I see you, and I’m doing something about it. What was God doing about wicked Judah? What was God doing about all those wicked who were prospering? What was he doing about all the violence and destruction that his people were committing? Well, we see it in verse 6. I am raising up the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, and I am sending them to you, and what would be the impact of that?

The same impact that the Babylonians had on the entire region. That is a ruthless conquering. In fact, in verse 11, it could be described as God says, then they sweep by like the wind and go on, even though they are guilty men whose might is their own God. Couple really important verses in this section, as we see God replies, Babylon is coming at his design. First and foremost, any Old Testament lesson that involves these kingdoms of men is punctuated by passages like in Daniel, where we say, Who rules kingdoms of men? God and God alone. God is always there, he always sees, and he always cares. We have to remember those three facts. God is there, God always sees, and God is always in control. However, you want to think about that, those three facts are critical to understanding God and putting our faith in him, even when we don’t quite know why.

So here is his response. Of course, there’s some interesting problems with this. If you note in verse 5, note the last part of verse 5. This is really important to this story. God says, look among the nations and see wonder and be astounded. I am doing a work in your days that what? You would not believe if I told you. God tells Habakkuk, I hear you. I’m going to do something about it. But by the way, the magnitude of this, you’re not going to believe me. And that was good foresight from God, because we’re going to see in just a moment. Habakkuk didn’t like his answer. And of course he complains again. But also note the first part of verse 6. What is God going to do?

He’s going to raise up the Chaldeans. The Babylonians weren’t going to come and just punish Judah. Who was behind that? The God who rules in kingdoms of men. For I am raising up the Chaldeans, even though they are rightly described as that bitter and hasty nation. And in verse 7, by the way, what type of people were these? You don’t have to trust me. They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. You see the mighty conquering military might from verses 8 through 11. Not only were they big, not only were they ruthless, but they were successful. So here’s Habakkuk saying, God, why aren’t you judging guilty Judah? Why aren’t you doing anything about this? And God says, I am doing something about it.

I am sending Babylon to come get them. Now look at what Habakkuk says. He has his answer, you think, that’d be great. God has answered, and what a powerful passage, but no, Habakkuk has a problem beginning in verse 12. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my holy one? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. You who are pure eyes than the sea evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook.

He drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his dragnet, so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet, for by them he lives in luxury, and his food is rich. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? Stopping the reading right there for a moment. What is Habakkuk’s complaint? I think it’s most clearly stated in the second part of verse 13. Why do you idly, again standing by doing nothing, look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? This isn’t that hard to piece together. Habakkuk is communicating with God and says, God, Judah’s really wicked. Aren’t you going to do something about it?

And God says, I am going to do something about it. I’m going to send Babylon against them. And Habakkuk goes, Whoa, whoa, whoa! That’s not what I ask for. That doesn’t make sense to me. What’s his problem? You see it at the end of verse 13. He says, the Babylonians are worse than we are. God, your solution makes no sense. I wanted you to judge us, but not with someone that I think is worse than us. They’re ruthless. They’re terrible. They’re unrighteous. At least we’re Judah. At least we kind of have some history of doing what you commanded. And by the way, I think as we’re going through the plot outline, you can see the applications coming. Do you think we ever question God? Certainly. You think God reveals his truth for us?

Of course. Do you think we ever look at God’s answers to our questions and dilemmas and then further ask more questions and be more upset? Yes. In verse 1, Habakkuk shows a great attitude, though. And this is the difference between somebody just complaining to God and having a wrong spirit, and one who has a spirit of faithfulness who wants to know, who urges himself to better faith. In chapter 2 and verse 1, I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Habakkuk says, I’m going to wait for the answer of the Lord. I’m going to trust in the answer of the Lord, and I will accept it.

And God certainly gives his answer. We’re not going to read this whole section, but suffice to say, God tells him, He sees, and he knows Babylon’s wickedness. Note with me in verse two. And the Lord answered me, write the vision, make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time, it hastens to the end, it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright within him. But the righteous, who Habakkuk was very concerned with, shall live by his faith. Now note a couple verses just to see in verses six and seven that God knows who the Chaldeans were.

Verse 6, shall not all these take up their taunt against him with scoffing and riddles for him, and say, Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own, for how long, and loads himself with pledges? Will not your debtors suddenly arise, and those who you awake make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you. For the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. Woe to him, verse nine, who gets evil gained for his house, to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm. You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples.

You have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the woodwork respond. God, with all the fancy language that Habakkuk uses, and the wonderful imagery, saying, I know what Babylon’s done. I know they’re guilty, and they will be punished for their guiltiness. In fact, what do you see in verse 9? You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. You have forfeited your life. Once again, God is there. God sees, and God is in control. Habakkuk has this question for God, why aren’t you judging guilty Judah? God tells him, I am. I’m going to judge them with Babylon. And Habakkuk goes, I don’t like that solution. Why are you taking unrighteous Babylon and judging slightly more righteous Judah?

1. God Sees and God Knows All

And God says, I’m not letting Babylon off the hook. They are guilty of their crimes before me as well. The story of the book of Habakkuk is interesting because if we’re honest, we may not have these concerns with the world around us. Although if we look, I think we could raise these questions validly. But consider have you ever been one to ask God, how long are you going to keep on not answering me? Why are you standing idly by while this is all happening to me? Why is life not going the way I think it should? Consider four applications, and the lesson will be yours this morning. First of all, we have to underscore this idea. God sees and God knows all that is happening. If you know Habakkuk was worried about Judah, God introduces Babylon.

And then Habakkuk goes, Well, do you know about Babylon? And God says, Yes, I know about Babylon. They will be guilty for their violence. They will be held accountable and condemned for their sins against me as well. God knows. He’s in control, and this is one of those facts that when life’s going well, when we understand why it’s happening the way it is, and when we’re in those peaks of life instead of the valleys that we’re either about to enter or are already in, this is very obvious and true. But if we’re going to get through the tough moments when we don’t understand why, when our faith is shaking or rattling, we find ourselves on the edge of maybe leaving God’s people because we don’t understand why God’s acting the way he is or not acting the way we think he should.

We have to remember that God is there. God sees all, and he knows and is in control of all. We have to remember what God has shown us in the light for the times that we’re in the darkness and can’t quite find him. When we think about Psalm chapter 139, we see this idea that God truly knows all. Turn with me to the book of Psalms and look at the 139th Psalm. In Psalm 139, you see a God who knows, a God who cares, and a God who’s in control. In Psalm 139 and verse 1, O Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path in my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Notice with me in verse 11 If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to you. The night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. For you formed my inward parts. You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, my soul knows it very well. We need to know that God knows us, that God cares for us, and that he sees and is in control of all that’s happening.

2. When I Don’t Understand, Turn to God

Now, that’s the easy lesson that we learn from the book of Habakkuk. We see that God knows both Habakkuk, He knows the people of Judah at large, and he knows the Gentile nation, the Babylonians. And yet he’s in control of each and every one of them in various aspects of their existence. But consider with me three specific applications, taking the idea of God seeing and knowing all to heart. When I don’t understand, what is the solution? Well, first of all, rather than thinking of Habakkuk as some sort of combative enemy of God, let’s take his example positively. Because what I like to do, and perhaps someone here is with me, when we’re upset by something, what do we normally do? Run the other way. That’s what that sound was.

So it’s turning and running the other way. But when I don’t understand, I have to be willing to do what? Turn to God. Ask him. Have a faith that doesn’t say, I can’t question God. I can’t ask why I don’t understand. I have to just know. And if I don’t know, I just have to reject him. The problem is when we don’t do what Habakkuk did, we try to find answers on our own, and the answers are always only found in God. We have to be willing to seek him, to trust him, and know that if he sees all and knows all, that he has the answers that I desperately need. Isaiah chapter 55, verse 8 and 9 says it very clearly. His ways are higher than our ways.

His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, says the Lord. When we think about God’s ways, when we don’t understand, most of our inclinations is to question and never do anything about it, never pray about it. Just kind of complain about it. Or to turn and go the other way and say, you know what, I’ll have to find the answers myself. The devil wants nothing more than for us to take that final solution. He wants us to get confused, to get beaten down, and to get perplexed into saying, you know what? These group of Christians, my God, these preachers and elders and deacons and teachers, they don’t understand what I’m going through.

God doesn’t even seem to care what I’m going through. He’s standing there idly looking on. And we turn away from God. And the devil is right there, ready for us. He says, You don’t need them. Think about what God’s not doing for you. Your life is hard. Do they seem to care? Your life’s not going the way it should. Does God care? And just as the serpent tempted Eve in the garden, he’s there to tempt us and pull us away from our God and the life he offers today. And we don’t understand why. The answers most commonly are found already in Scripture. If we believe as we should, that God has revealed to us all that we need, all that is required to trust him, have faith in him, and submit to his will, then we know that’s in his book.

3. God Has a Plan, but I May Not Love It

That’s in his word. So we need to search the pages. We need to pray to God. I don’t think there’s such a thing as a Christian who doesn’t read his Bible. I don’t think there is a Christian who doesn’t pray to God. Because a Christian is a child of God, which implies a necessary relationship of a child who submits to the Father. And if we have that relationship, we communicate. We enjoy, and we learn from the wisdom that’s precious and only found in the sight of God. When I don’t understand why I have to be willing to turn to God, allow me to finish with these two thoughts. Something we learn from Habakkuk that I think is really important and really hard is that just because God has a plan, and that I can seek his will and find that plan does not mean that I will like it, that I will agree with it, and it certainly does not mean that I will always love God’s plan.

Of course, you know why Habakkuk didn’t love God’s plan. Why would it be that a great prophet of God who seems to have a strong great faith would question God’s plan? Well, before we answer the question of Habakkuk, consider another prophet who really didn’t like God’s plan. If you turn over just a little bit in your Old Testament to the book of Jonah, you see in chapter 1, we know the story of Jonah. God said go, and Jonah said, No way. In Jonah chapter 1 and verse 1, now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amitai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. For their evil has come up before me. By the way, once again, God sees, God knows and is in control.

Verse 3, but Jonah rose to flee from Tarshus from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joah and found a ship going to Tarshus. So he paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshus away from the presence of the Lord. Side point number two from the book of Jonah. What did he do when he didn’t like what God said? He literally tried, as verse 3 concludes, to get away from the presence of the Lord. That doesn’t happen because God is there, God sees all, and God is in control. But when we think about God’s plan, Jonah is told, hey, go to the people of Nineveh, go to the capital of the Assyrian Empire, kind of the precursor to the Babylonian Empire, the Assyrians, who were also incredibly ruthless, also incredibly successful in their way of tearing down the nations around them.

God says, go to them and call out their evil. And Jonah says, I don’t love that. I don’t like that plan at all. In fact, so what does Jonah do? He turns and runs the other way. Now we know that besides Jonah’s part in the story, which shockingly of everyone involved in the four chapters of Jonah, Jonah, the prophet of God is probably the worst off of any of them by the end of it, because he first tries to run from God. When he finally does what God says, he then pouts about it afterwards, and the people he spoke to actually repented and were forgiven by God. So when we think about not loving God’s plan, what is the reaction we know instinctively to what God says?

But why wouldn’t Habakkuk? Why didn’t Jonah like what God’s plan was? Why would these prophets of God even have to question him? Sure, it’s reasonable. Sure, it’s faithful in the case of Habakkuk, not quite Jonah, to wonder why God’s plan is what it is. The only time we’ll find ourselves differing with God is when we find ourselves distracted by him. That is distracted away from our God. Because if his plans are perfect, if his wisdom is too wonderful for us, if his ways are higher than our ways and his thoughts higher than our thoughts, and God’s are here and mine are there, who is wrong? I give you a hint. It’s never going to be God who’s wrong. I want to always love God’s plan, but I need to love the God who made it.

When we think about what God has done for us, we know passages like Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, but God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. If that’s our God, a good, gracious, merciful, loving, and forgiving Heavenly Father, then what type of children should we be? Can we agree that at a minimum, even if we don’t understand or love God’s plan, we can accept, acknowledge, and practice the idea that God is in control and that he’s worth our trust and worth our sacrifice of this temporary life. We know from Habakkuk that God sees all and knows all. We know that when we don’t understand why we should turn to God, and we know that even turning to God doesn’t mean that in this fleshly way we’re going to love God’s plan.

4. We Have to Literally Wait on the Lord

And sometimes why we don’t love it, the reasons we don’t understand, why we don’t want to practice it, is in some parts because we have to literally wait on the Lord. Now there’s a lot of passages in the Bible that we use wait on the Lord, and I think sometimes we don’t quite get the idea of the word wait, meaning trust, meaning accept and fall into. But if you look at Habakkuk chapter 2 again, you see wait, and I think there’s both sides. There is the trust aspect, but there’s certainly also a time aspect to what God tells of Habakkuk. Look back in chapter 2. Remember, Habakkuk started this by looking at people of Judah saying, God, why are you letting these really wicked people prosper and not do anything about it?

God says, I’m going to send Babylon, I’m going to do something about it. And Habakkuk says, Well, why are you going to send these more wicked people to come after these less wicked people? And God says, watch, wait, and listen. And Habakkuk chapter 2, note this idea in verse 2. And the Lord answered me, write the vision. Make it plain on the tablets. Why? So he may run who reads it. Why would you run when you read something? First of all, because it’s terrifying, but more than that, because you know it’s fixed and certain to occur. Verse 3 underlines that very point. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it.

It will surely come, it will not delay. What God is about to do, if you see in passages like verse 6 and verse 9 and verse 12 and verse 15, over and again he gives these woes to Babylon. Their sin was before him. He knew what it was. He would punish Babylon. He’s telling Habakkuk, I know who they are. I know who you are. I will handle them according to their deeds. But what you need to do, what we all must do, is recognize that what God has said is true, as the middle part of verse 3 says, it hastens to the end, it will not lie. Our God cannot lie. Our God is faithful. He is just. He will commit to what commit to us what He has promised.

And the last part of verse 3 is important as well. If it seems slow, wait for it. If God is faithful, if God cannot lie, if we know He is there, He sees and He’s in control, even if I don’t love God’s plans, I’m going to submit to it. It might mean that I have to wait. This is the most disliked part of prayer, is it not? The idea that God could give three answers, yes, no, or maybe later. Because I think some of us, if we think about it, we’re certainly happy when we get what we want. That part’s pretty easy. And when we don’t get what we want, if there was a clear no, at least we can kind of move on. But when we have to wait, that’s when all these questions happen.

Wasn’t that the beginning of Habakkuk’s problem in chapter one? He’s looking around and saying, This wickedness has gone on for a long time. Why is God doing nothing about it? It had to have been for a long time. First of all, we know historically and biblically that’s true. But secondly, for Habakkuk to charge God, saying, Why do you stand idly by? I’m assuming this meant more than one or two days of wicked prospering at the hands of the righteous. God says, wait. My ways are sure. Not only can you trust in me, you can know that it’s coming. And if it hasn’t come yet, what should Christians do? What should children of God know? That it’s coming ever sooner. God has promised us many things. He’s promised us a chance to be with him eternally in heaven.

He’s promised us that Jesus is coming again. And in many ways, you see a tie to 2 Peter chapter 3 here, when in the last days people are going to be scoffing, saying, God’s not going to come again. But we know that passage that is so often taken out of context. So a day is like a thousand years to the Lord. God’s ways are sure. God is faithful to his promises. He will not and cannot lie. And so what that means is I can wait on the Lord because I know his word is true. I know his plan will come into place. And as the end of verse 3 says, if it seems slow, I will wait for it. Why? The last part of verse 3, we should commit this to our minds.

It will surely come. It will not delay.

That certainly was Habakkuk’s question from the beginning and the end of this book. Wasn’t the way he expected, it wasn’t in the time he expected. But it was in God’s ways. It was in God’s plan. And as we know from biblical and secular history, Judah did fall. Babylon did fall. And all throughout history, God has been in control of the kingdoms of men. And as we read his word, we can trust in his ways. But sometimes we’ll have to wait for them. If you look at one final passage with me this morning, the Book of Lamentations. By the way, you completed the bingo card if you also thought Habakkuk and Lamentations this morning. In the book of Lamentations, if you look at the third chapter, as you consider the words of waiting on the Lord, and you consider the idea that God’s ways are sure, that we should trust in him, that he is faithful, he will keep what he has promised.

Consider Lamentations 3, verse 22 through 27. The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. His mercies are never coming to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, says, My soul, therefore I will hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul that seeks for Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord. It is good for a man that he should bear the yoke in his youth. As we consider these verses, we see in verse 22, why would we love God? His steadfast love endures forever. It never ceases. What has God done for us? His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning.

Conclusion

Great is the faithfulness of God. In verse 24, what is our attitude? The Lord is my portion. Verse 25, the Lord is good to those who wait for him and the soul who seeks for him. If we’re going to be pleasing to God, even when we don’t understand why, even when we don’t understand why God wants us to do what he says, even if we don’t love it when he does tell us what he says for us to do. I’ll know that sometimes, all the time, God is worth my trust.

And God is good to those who wait on the Lord. Will you go to God and pray with me? Our dear God and most gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you, and we humbly come before you now for allowing us this opportunity to speak to you. We’re so thankful for you revealing yourselves to us in creation and in your word. In just all manner of life, we recognize that we can know that there is a God and we can identify who you are. We praise you. We exalt your good, holy and perfect name. Thank you for creating us with love. Thank you for sending Jesus to die on the cross for our sins. Even while we were sinners and enemies of your cause. We thank you for humbly coming into our form and being sacrificed on the cross so that we might live.

Thank you for revealing your word to us in a way that we can understand, be moved, and be transformed by it. Help us to submit to you and to trust in you always. Forgive us of when we stumble, forgive us of when we allow ourselves to be sidetracked. Help us to have courage, conviction, and trust and assurance to wait upon you, to know that your ways are sure, that you are faithful, that you are just and you are worth our entire lives. Thank you for this opportunity to worship you this morning. We pray that we don’t let it go by, that we don’t worship vainly, but rather our hearts are centered in worship towards you. Help us to worship you in a way that’s pleasing in your sight, doing so in work spirit and in truth, recognizing that you are worth our everything, not just a few hours on your day, but recognizing that we owe you our entire lives every day, every hour, and every minute.

You bless us with breath in this life. Thank you for all of your blessings. Help us to humbly accept your will, and it’s in your Son’s name we do pray. Amen. We’re now dismissed to our Bible class.