Seeming Silence amidst Sinfulness - Habakkuk 1 Vs 1-11

Good morning. Welcome to Faith Bible Church this morning. Dear Lord, we thank you for today's Lord. We just pray for everyone here and everyone that couldn't make it, Lord. Just pray, Lord, that as pastor preaches and as we sing today, Lord, that your will be done today and throughout the week, Lord.

And we pray that your word penetrates our hearts, Lord, and affects us not just today, Lord, but throughout the week, Lord, and so that we are able to effectively minister to others, Lord. We love you and we praise you.

In Jesus' name. Amen. Good morning, church. And we're glad to get together. And the voices that we sing are praises not just from me, but from you. And let's hear your voices and.

Let's praise our Lord together this morning. Stand together with me, please. Today's scripture.

Reading is going to come from the book of Psalms, chapter 16, verses 7 through 11. Once again, Psalm 16, chapter 7, or chapter 16, verse 7 through 11. Verse 7, I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel.

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons. I have set the Lord always before me because he is at my right hand and I shall not be moved. Therefore, my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. My flesh also will rest in hope for you will not leave my soul in shield, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

You will show me the path of life and your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. This is the word of the Lord.

The Oracle and Complaint of Habakkuk

Open up to the book of Havokuk or Havakuk, however you say it. It's one of the minor prophets I had to look up. Havokuk comes after the major prophets, the big books, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and it comes after, I got to read it, Joel, Hosea, Jonah, Obadiah, Micah, Nahum.

So after Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Joel, Hosea, Jonah, Obadiah, which is just one page, Micah, oh I forgot Amos, Micah, and Nahum, and then Havokuk. I'll be reading from chapter one verses one through eleven.

Chapter one verses one through eleven. The oracle which the prophet Havokuk saw, oh Lord how long shall I cry and you will not hear, even cry out to you violence and you will not save. 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, therefore the law is powerless. Then justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

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. 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.

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

They all come for violence. Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. They scoff at kings and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold and they heap up earthen mounds and seize it.

Then his mind changes and he transgresses. He commits offense ascribing this power to his God. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray. Father, we are grateful that we trust in a personal God whom we can cry out to when there's suffering and sin abound.

And thank you that you are the faithful God who responds. Help us to go to you in Jesus Christ, for he has reconciled us sinners to himself through his death on the cross and rising from the dead. Help us to trust him and to love him in Jesus name.

Habakkuk's Setting and the Book's Structure

This is a new book and most of us may not have read it or even heard a sermon series on it. And that's because it's from one of the 12 minor prophets. For some reason the church doesn't touch that section, but we believe here that the full counsel of God must be preached.

And I would like to go over the structure of this block in order to see the bird's eye view, to know where we're going. Not much is known about this prophet. Have a cook or have a cook, depending on whether you're British or American.

I might mix up the two. I had to practice saying it right. The book does not tell us which kings or which time period God uses him, right? For example, the book of Micah. It's during King Hezekiah, Jotham and Ahaz, right?

This book doesn't tell us. When I first read it, it doesn't say the book or the word that came onto Habakkuk during the reign of blank. It doesn't say. Yet we know that it was during a time in which Judah, God's people, were violently rebellious against God and even itself.

And from this we can find out maybe this book could have happened during the king Manasseh. He was a wicked, evil king. And for the reason I will explain later, that would be around 698 to 642 BC. That's still around 6 to 700 before Christ's birth.

So this is an ancient text. This book starts with a dialogue with a disheartened prophet and the sovereign God. This in itself is rare, that the prophet cries out to God to complain and God actually answers immediately.

The first complaint of the prophet is that God is seemingly inactive despite Judah's rampant evil. And again, that's one of the reasons why I think it's during the king Manasseh. And I'll show you more reasons too.

And the structure of Habakkuk is fascinating. In chapter one, the prophet pleads with God to intervene and bring justice against the wicked Judeans. They're supposed to be God's people, but there's violence all around.

Immediately God responds with his answer. Although it may have seemed that God was silent, he was actually patiently preparing his judgment against Judah. And this fires off a new complaint. How could the holy God use such a wicked nation like Babylon to judge God's people?

God, they're worse than we are. How could you be using them? Yet, the prophet submits to God's sovereign plan of redemption in trust. And this is where we get the verse Habakkuk 2 .4. Even if God's plan seems slow, even if God's plan doesn't seem like it's unfolding, even if that when Babylon does come and judge Judah, God says, the righteous will live by his faith.

And that's quoted three times in the New Testament. The just will live by faith. Yes, even though God's judgment does not make sense, it seems so. Is it even coming? Is it going to happen? And when it does come, what will happen?

The just will live by faith. They'll live by trusting in God. And unless we think Babylon is guiltless in all of this because God is using them, they will themselves be judged. And that's the major part of chapter two.

Just because God used them doesn't mean they are guiltless. They're committing sin themselves on their own accord. Finally, chapter three ends with the prayer of trust. The prophet, although he does not see the plan unfolding, he focuses on God's past redemption and his appearance, his presence, and commits his trust in the Lord.

Ultimately, the tension that's found in chapter one, where the prophet complains about the evil that's happening around the world, and what is God going to do? What is God even doing? It finds its rest in the power and presence of the Lord.

Chapter three, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls.

There's nothing going right, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. After praying about it for many weeks, I've decided to preach from this short book. Fittingly, this is one of the twelve minor prophets.

It's called, although Habakkuk is called a minor prophet due to its length, it's not because it's ignored, right? It's short. It's only three chapters. It is a major lesson for us this morning. God's sovereignty during his seeming silence.

God's sovereignty during his seeming silence. For anyone who has walked with the Lord long enough, and in fact, even if you don't believe in the Lord, you may have uttered these two words, why God? Why God?

Why? You don't have to go far. When you turn on the news, you'll be bombarded with anything that causes you to fear. From wars around the world and unexpected natural disasters, at some point you might have wondered, where is God in all of this?

Well, if God is so good and powerful, why isn't he intervening? And nearly 700 years before Christ's birth, Habakkuk wondered the same thing. This is, you, that is not a new philosophical idea that you've had when you wondered, why God?

This is an ancient idea. Where is God when the world is so violent and vile? Is God inactive in all of this? And it might be even personal suffering. Something happens to you that was shocking and you didn't expect, and you wonder, where is God in all of this?

And that's, that's a question that even Carolyn might have asked through that. No one expected that to happen. I didn't. Diane didn't. Carolyn didn't. What is God doing through all of this? Where is God in this?

And these are the questions that suffering Christians have asked at least once in their minds, if not screamed outwardly, why God? And this passage shows us the answer. The main question this text asks us this morning, what do we do when God seems silent during rampant wickedness?

What do we do when God seems silent during rampant wickedness? First, despite God's seeming silence, we must cry out to him when we are surrounded by evil. Despite God's seeming silence, we must cry out to him when we are surrounded by evil.

Crying Out to God in the Midst of Evil

Verse one tells us the introduction of the book. Very short. The oracle that Habakkuk, the prophet saw. Now, some translations have the word burden and the New King James does, and I just switched it.

I said oracle instead of burden. The reason is the same word is used in other prophecy and it's oracle. The reason why they translate it as a burden is actually with the verb to see that comes after. The burden that Habakkuk saw or the oracle that Habakkuk saw.

After all, oracles are said oracles are words. How can you see words? And that's why some translators, they didn't know how to deal with that problem. So they, they said it's the burden, right? However, I think the best explanation is that when we look at chapter three, the prophet actually sees a vision of God's appearance.

And he describes it. And in that sense, in that sense, the oracle is seen. And for that reason, I do go by the oracle that the prophet Habakkuk saw. Now the dialogue begins abruptly and immediately. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry and you will not hear?

This is a rhetorical question. Habakkuk is not looking for the Lord to say, just, you know, wait three months. This rhetorical question illustrates how desperately Habakkuk has already been crying out to God.

Obviously God is not deaf, yet the prophet is frustrated with the lack of answers. He believes in the old Testament God who has intervened to deliver his people. He has a perfect record of faithfulness.

Yet this time, Habakkuk doesn't seem to get the answer. God, did you get my message? The second half of the verse, verse two details the prophet's cry and God's anticipated answer. Even cry out to you, violence and you will not save.

There's an outward oppression, the moral decay among God's people and it's bursting at the seams and it can no longer be covered. And the prophet faithfully proclaimed against it after all that is his job.

He is the covenant prosecutor to speak against it. Yet there is no response from either below or frankly from above. There's no deliverance like in the past. God, are you still there? Verse three unpacks the extent of Judah's wickedness.

Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? There's the theme of seeing. Because God has not intervened, the prophet is completely surrounded by sin and that is all he sees. This rhetorical question demands an immediate answer from God.

Why do I have to keep seeing such evil and abuse? Oh God, please take them away. I cannot bear it anymore. Now what does this look like? For plundering and violence are before me. Plundering and violence are a symptom of a great greater demise, right?

Plundering and violence themselves are only the surface issues. Plundering and violence surround the culture when the culture has been corrupted from top down. In Israel, it was the duty of the princes and kings to maintain peace and justice.

Ezekiel 45 9. Thus says the Lord God, enough oh princes of Israel, put away violence and oppression and execute justice and righteousness. That was their job. When Jeremiah cried out against plundering and violence, he was mocked by the people.

There is a core problem. The tree is rotten from the core. It's not just the withering leaves that's problematic. The tree is dying. And the fact that violence and destruction are tolerated, it's not just that they exist.

That's not the problem. After the fall of the humanity, Adam and Eve, violence has always been a problem. Murder occurs in the very next chapter. The problem becomes when the culture is tolerant of it.

It becomes the status quo. It becomes the norm. It becomes what's expected. That means God's leaders are not only compromised, but they are corrupt themselves. They're not only idle, but they're actively leading God's people down the path of destruction.

That is the time period in which this prophet is crying out. There's nowhere that is safe, even among God's people. Not only that wickedness, such wickedness has infiltrated to every facet of society.

There is strife and contention arises. It is not just the leaders who have abandoned God, but the whole people. When a nation sins against God, it naturally experiences unrest. It is not just a vertical relationship with God that suffers when the nation of Israel goes against God and rebels and worships idols.

It is the horizontal relationship that becomes corrupt. Sin robs peace between you and God, but also among each other. Strife and contention mean there's fracturing in every facet of society. There's unrest.

There's no trust. There's no security. Everyone is out for himself. There is no sense of common good. Whether looking up or looking around, there is no peace, but only violence and strife. And it is no longer offering that goes up to God, but strife and contention.

And what is the effect of the widely accepted evil? The first impact is on the law. Therefore, the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. The law of God, which was to govern God's people, has lost its teeth.

The law of God that was supposed to set apart God's people as the holy nation, the priest nation, the one that every other nations will take a look at Israel, now Judah, and say, what kind of God do they serve that there's so much justice and peace and equity?

Without the restraint of the law, justice is absent, and even among God's people. And the prophet says it does not go forth. It doesn't go out. It's muted. It's silenced. Not only that, the type of justice that goes out is in fact perverted.

For the wicked surround the righteous. Therefore, perverse judgment proceeds. Look at the wordplay here. The verb to go out, to go forth. In the first half of the verse, justice doesn't go forth. That's the problem.

In the second half of the verse, the version that goes out is twisted. The version that goes out is rotten, and the righteous cannot stand the chance. In between what's wrong with justice, one is immobilized and the other one is wicked.

The ones who suffer the most are the righteous. They're surrounded by the evil ones. They cannot survive when they're surrounded by the wicked, and they're outnumbered and overwhelmed. The very institution that was supposed to protect God's people, the innocent ones, has been compromised.

The law has been compromised. And in this, the prophet cries out, God, are you seeing all of this? God, where are you in this? When we consider Havocook's desperate dialogue with God, we can resonate with him.

There is injustice all over the world. Wars in Middle East, Europe, murders, trafficking, tyrants that seem to flourish. Even our nation is not free of violence and oppression, and it has become so normalized that in certain cities, the car owners leave the car doors unlocked so that the looters can break in and steal stuff without breaking the windows because the loss of the window is more costly and more of a hassle than the loss of the goods inside the cars.

Right? That is not the norm. That is actually the sign, it's the symptom of the rotten core of society. Our country celebrates slaughtering of the most innocent ones in the womb, and we accept any iniquity available, and we will call good and right evil.

Many faithful churches who have cried out, they're closing their doors. Pastors are burning out. The faithful flocks are aging out. God, are you seeing all this? Not only that, there's ample injustice in the church.

Let's not just focus on what's going on outside the church. There's abuse that gets swept under the rug. Financial scams that bleed dry the flock. Sexual abuses to the weak and vulnerable, and they are silenced.

Spiritual manipulation and toxic shaming done by so-called the shepherds, the pastors, and they get away with it, and when they are found out, they get a nice severance package to be hush-hush. What is our response?

What is God's response? And it is easy to get disheartened and be driven to despair, and in fact, our culture has two responses. One is, be an Eeyore. That's that donkey from Winnie the Pooh, right? What's the point in all this, right?

Depressed. Or the second one is, be an activist. Be the change. Be the change you want to see in the world, right? You hear that a lot. It's a bumper sticker everywhere. It's all up to you. You can do it, and after many disappointing results that go nowhere, after many elections that don't change a thing, eventually, it turns into option number one, despair, because a human soul can take so much of just, right, expect something and get nothing.

Neither of them is Habakkuk's response. He directly goes to the one who can make a difference. He cries out to the one who can deliver. This prayer, this cry, is not a cry of unfaithfulness, but rather, it's a cry of faith, or he wouldn't be crying out in the first place.

The fact that he can cry out to God like this shows that he has a depth of knowledge of theology, of who God is. Although he may be seemingly silent, he is a God who cannot stand injustice. Although he may be seemingly inactive, he is a God who will, in the end, act and deliver, because that is who he is.

He is merciful and righteous, and if you are frustrated with God's seeming inactivity amidst extreme evil and injustice this morning, you are not alone. You can join the club Habakkuk. Don't just give up on God.

Go to God. Go to Him who can make a difference. Cry out to the one who hears. He's not one of the false gods who can't hear and do a thing. He's the true God who hears and has done things. Habakkuk teaches us how to properly pray when God seems to be inactive while the world is burning down.

He does not sugarcoat his experience. Well, God, I'm, you know, just a slight discomfort. Everything will be okay. Hakuna Matata. That is not Habakkuk's response. No, there's violence and plundering all around.

Justice is snuffed and spoiled, and God, if you don't act now, I don't know what's going to happen to your redemptive plan of your people. When have we prayed like that? And Habakkuk shows us that we can and we must pray like that.

God's Sovereign Plan Uses Babylon to Judge Judah

Now, how does God respond to the claim of his seeming inactivity? God's sovereign plan of redemption even uses godless people. God's sovereign plan of redemption even uses godless people. Strikingly, we actually have a verbal response from God to the desperate prophet immediately after.

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. God's answer dispels any notion that he's been snoozing.

In fact, he answers to the prayer, his answer to the prayer is actually fitting. Remember, Habakkuk asked in verse 3, why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? God's answer, look among the nations and watch.

Not troubles and iniquity. I'm not showing you troubles and iniquity. I'm going to show you what I'm going to do. My answer is not that iniquity will continue indefinitely, but let me show you what will unfold.

This is my answer. I am not inactive. I've been listening and I'm fully aware. In fact, his answer is so shocking that mere talking about it, mere God just telling him, this is what I'll do. Point A, point B, point C.

You won't believe it even if it were told to you. His answer is so incredible that you'll have to watch it to unfold. God was not inactive during all of this oppression. He has been busy at work. He has, he was formulating his right righteous response against Judah for its violence and sin.

God never missed a moment. And for all of you who may be wondering, am I continuing in this seemingly pointless suffering indefinitely? Is there an end to this? Is God going to intervene at any moment?

Here's your answer. Look and watch what I'm going to do. God is not a God who is okay with sin. He always responds. Now, this verse is the reason why I think Habakkuk, although it doesn't say which king he served, was written during the time of Manasseh.

Manasseh was one of the most wicked kings in history of Judah. And he reigned from 698 to 642 BC. He drove Judah into unspeakable idolatry and injustice. And we all know the one who is in charge not only reflects the culture, but shapes it.

And imagine this king reigning for that long. Scripture, in fact, lays the blame of the Babylonian exile that will follow on him. He is one of several reasons why Babylonian exile had to occur. And he is one of them.

Not only that, during this time, what we need to remember is Babylon was not a powerful empire. In fact, Assyria was the empire in power. All throughout Judean history or Israel history, there's one empire to the next that Judah or Israel has to answer to and is threatened by.

And during the king Manasseh, it would have been Assyria. And Assyria was powerful. They were brutal. And if anyone thought that God's judgment would come through, it would have been Assyria. Right? And that's why this clarifies verse 5.

God's response would have been unbelievable to the Judean audience. Assyria taking over Judah would have made so much sense. Yes, it's an already established empire and it is the strongest military power.

In fact, their brutality is so renowned, most of them didn't fight. They said, we'll surrender so you don't skewer us. Yet God says, no, it will be the Chaldeans. That's the ethnic group that makes up the Babylonian empire.

Babylonians and Chaldeans are interchangeable in the Old Testament. They are an ancient people. And it is sort of like if you had told Americans in the 90s that, hey, you know, India is going to be a giant economic power in a couple decades.

Everyone would have said, you're out of your mind. They can't even get clean water together. They don't have highways figured out. Right? Well, now look here. They export so much of the goods. Right? God knows beforehand when we are totally blindsided.

Verses 6 to 11 describe the power and the cruelty and the characteristics of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. 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.

How will God punish the wicked who are plundering and murdering in Judah? By raising up an even crueler figure, the Chaldeans. They are bitter and hasty. They're ferocious and fiery. They will not hesitate before attacking.

They will pounce at any time. Not only that, no distance is too far for them to conquer. They will march through anywhere on earth to take their land that doesn't belong to them. If you think about it, God often raises up nations and they're not squeaky clean.

In fact, they're wicked, yet God still uses them to destroy other wicked empires. Right? For example, Nazi Germany, they were wicked, but who destroyed them from the Eastern Front? Soviet Russia. And Stalin killed more of his own people than the Nazis killed the Jews.

Right? So it's God raises up people to punish wicked people. God can raise up wicked people to punish wicked people. And verse seven further describes their characteristics. They're terrible and dreadful.

Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Verse seven is a fitting response to Habakkuk's complaint in verse four. The prophet cried out how justice is immobilized. It doesn't go forth.

Not only that, if it does go forth, it's perverted. Now God answers, justice will go forth all right. And it will be done by these ruthless people. In fact, they don't even care about justice. Justice will be done by the very people who don't have the law.

That's the irony. Their judgment and dignity proceed from themselves. This means they are autonomous. I'm not talking about cars. Autonomous literally means a law to oneself, auto, self, namus, law, law to himself.

They decide what's right and wrong. They don't care they don't care what God has to say. They'll decide for themselves. And the fact that Judah, who has the law of God, will be punished precisely by the autonomous group of people is a huge ironic twist in history.

The people of God who was given the law has to be judged by a lawless barbarians because they have perverted God's law. And that is a fitting answer. Verses eight to nine show their military capabilities.

Verse eight uses various metaphors of the predatory animals to show the Chaldeans frightful abilities. They're more fierce than leopards. They're faster than the evening wolves. And they will strike down like a hungry eagle.

Right? These are all predators. They are swift and severe. Their conquest is expansive and nothing can stop them. Good luck, Judah. And verse nine describes their unyielding intent. They all come for violence.

Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. They will capture so many people. They will be like sand. Countless. Nearly all veterans I've talked to didn't join the military to experience violence.

Right? If you talk to Victor, it's not like, oh yes, I joined so that I can see blood. Right? That's not what he would say. Same with Richard when he comes back. Right? It's not that. They often joined to serve the country.

They often joined to defend the country. Right? Not the Chaldeans. They joined for the violence sake. When they are standing outside your city wall, they mean blood. That's what motivates them to fight.

Not for defense. They want the action. And that's what they're known for. And those types of people are coming against Judah. And it's kind of, we have these ideas of different ethnic groups. Right? Like Canadians are nice.

Americans are independent. The French are stubborn. But the Chaldeans, they're gory and violent. That's the point that God's making. That is what they're known for. Now, how do they view their enemies?

They scoff at kings. And princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold. Think fortresses, walls, anything that's placed between them. They don't care. Come at me. They mock it. They don't care about hierarchies of their prey.

Whether king or a foot soldier, the Chaldeans will kill you or conquer. They will defeat them. Any obstacle that gets in their way, they will smirk and mock. Nothing will stop them. Not only that, verse 11 shows us their spiritual state.

Verse 11 has so many translations, interpretations. I think the ESV has the most accurate rendering. Then they sweep like by like the wind and go on, go on. Guilty men whose own might is their God. They're guilty men.

They're sinners. And they don't serve the Lord. They serve their own strength. They're pagans. You would think that God would use a holier nation or a less guilty nation to judge, especially his own people.

Not so. God's answer to Judah's idolatry and wickedness is another wicked nation. They're guilty. They're guilty, if not more guilty. Not only that, they worship their strength. They don't even worship the Lord.

They're not doing this for the Lord's sake. They're doing it for their own violence sake. And this is not the only time in history. Just read the book of Judges. Whenever Israel commits idolatry, they're given to a nation that's worse than them.

And what about A .D. 70, when the temple was destroyed? The Romans weren't serving the Lord. They didn't believe in Christ. They just raised Jerusalem. And they were pagans. This would be as if America had lost the Cold War to Soviet Russia, an atheist, communistic country, while America was still operating on the biblical worldview and principles.

Or even a modern day example, if America got taken over by communist China, a godless nation that commits crime against humanity. And before we question how God could do that, which will be the next sermon?

Because that is the question that the prophet will have. You won't be the only one. Let's consider what if God had no power over these godless nations. Think the opposite. What if God didn't, wasn't able to, God weren't able to use these godless nations.

Can you imagine a world in which God could not use godless people? In another view, what if God could only use Christians? The fact that God uses godless nations shows his power and sovereignty. Can you imagine a world in which things, uh, thugs, thugs like Putin, Xi Jinping, were unpredictable by God and beyond God's sovereign rule?

Whatever is happening in Kremlin, God is unaware and God can't do a thing about that. Yikes. What a scary thought. Similarly, around 700 years before Christ, God raised up Babylon to judge Judah for her unfaithfulness.

And of course, it would happen in around 600 years before Christ, right? The fall of Jerusalem is at 586 BC. So, this is what God was saying. You wouldn't believe what's coming, even if I told you. In order that Judah may turn back to God and his redemptive plan unfold.

Because God did not cause Babylon to sin, Babylon is still guilty before God and God will judge Babylon. And he did. Yet, because God is sovereign over Babylon, God's plan of redemption was not stopped by Babylon's sinfulness, but God's plan continued through Babylon's brutality.

That's the sovereignty of God. His rule cannot be minimized by the sinfulness of anyone. Yet, the evildoer's responsibility cannot be minimized by God's sovereignty. We must hold that tension. And that's what will give you peace at night.

It does not matter which tyrant is in power because the highest throne is still occupied by the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ. Ultimately, we must look to the most disturbing and unjust event in human history.

And that's when this King of Kings suffered brutality under multiple wicked rulers. The Roman governor, King Herod, and the Jewish high priest crucified Christ on the cross. Yet, God's plan was not foiled, but continued through their brutality and wickedness.

It was precisely through these wicked men that Christ sovereignly reigned from the cross and redeemed his people. In fact, God conquered sin and death by suffering in the hands of these wicked rulers.

His sovereign plan was not obstructed by violent and sinful men, but rather God used them as his instruments to unfold God's redemptive plan. It may have seemed God was silent once again when Christ cried on the cross, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

It might have seemed that God did not do a thing. It might have seemed God was completely inactive and powerless. In fact, Satan celebrated when Christ was crucified because he foolishly believed that God was inactive and couldn't do a thing.

Yet, God unfolded his redemptive plan to save sinners precisely through the injustice that the wicked rulers have brought against his son, Jesus. Because God is sovereign even over the vilest of all, just like a back hook, we can cry out to God when we suffer either personal evil or even the evil around us and can rest at night knowing that God has an answer prepared.

And even if he were to tell us we wouldn't believe, look and watch until it unfolds. Let us pray. Father, we are grateful that we can pray like this, unthinkable that we could pray, crying out, complaining, but you answer anyway because you're gracious and merciful.

Help us to cry out to you for the injustice that we are suffering or may suffer through and injustices that are happening around the world and even in our backyard. Help us to not hesitate to trust in the sovereign king who always has an answer prepared.

We are grateful for your sovereign rule. In Jesus name, amen.

Learning the Old Testament Books

I was raised in a Christian home and I didn't know my way around the Old Testament at all. So Barbara and I, when we were a little younger, were teaching the junior high group of our church. So we decided we'd teach them the Old Testament books of the Bible.

And I say these things to you to help you if you're not familiar like I was as an adult, even though I was raised in a Christian home, how to get around in the Old Testament. The Old Testament is broken up into books of, and this is the way we did it, either five books or 12 books.

So you remember that there's five. So the first five books are the book of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, right? The next group are 12, which are books of history, which are Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1st and 2nd Samuel, 1st and 2nd Kings, 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther.

And that's, so that's 12. The next group are a book of five, books of poetry, which start with Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon. And then the rest of the books are books of prophets.

And we divide them, the first we call major prophets, which are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel. That's five prophets. But then there's 12, the remaining prophets, which pastor said, are minor prophets, mainly because of their size.

The major prophets are larger books. The minor prophets are, and there's 12 of them. And when Barbara and I said, we were teaching these to these junior hires by a little ditty song, you know what I mean?

And so here's how you have to memorize this. And you have to say this back to me next week. Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. Stand now with me and let's sing from our hearts.

Holy, holy, holy.