“Working Behind the Scenes” – FBC Morning Light (8/9/2024)

Well a good

Friday morning to you, coming up on yet another weekend and looking forward to gathering together for worshipping the

Lord on the Lord's Day. I hope you are gathering with God's people at church and rejoicing in the

Lord together where we belong on the Lord's Day. Well today in our

Bible reading we're reading the minor prophet Habakkuk, all three chapters, chapters 1 to 3 of Habakkuk.

And when I look around at what's going on in our world, catch clips of news items, and you know

I just see all this stuff. It's distressing, isn't it?

It's distressing. Whether you're talking about, oh like we saw at that opening thing at the

Olympics, and you see that kind of thing which is spiritual attacks, or you think about the political mayhem in our country right now, the upheaval, the conflict in so many of our cities, you see all of this.

I mean we see all of this, and what the way the book of Habakkuk begins easily resonates with us, doesn't it?

Listen to what he says, 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 and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds.

Boy, it's like Habakkuk was watching the evening news, or caught the headlines in the

Wall Street Journal, or the New York Times, or whatever, right? Violence, plundering, strife, contention, injustice, seems like the law is powerless to do anything, or at least those who are supposed to be enforcers of the law are just not doing anything.

And we see all of this, and do we not, like with Habakkuk, cry out, Oh Lord, how long, how long, won't you hear our cry for peace, for deliverance from all of this?

We can get quite perplexed. We can be overwhelmed sometimes with all that's going on, but the point that we need to come to is where we recall the

Lord's opening response to the Prophet in his perplexity.

And here's what the Lord says, Look among the nations and watch, be utterly astounded.

Yeah, there's a good there's a good piece of advice for us today, right? Look among the nations and watch, be utterly astounded.

Because the Lord goes on to say, I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you.

It's as if the Lord is saying, there's a work going on behind the scenes that you can't see.

If I were to lay it all out before you, you'd just shake your head and say, no way, no way, that's not gonna happen, it's not possible.

Yeah, it is. That's exactly what's going on. Even right now, a few thousand years after, you know, twenty -five hundred years or so after Habakkuk uttered his complaint, that yes, right now what's going on is the

Lord is working. He's doing a work behind the scenes that would astound us if we knew all the details of it.

But the other thing I like about this book is the way it ends. Habakkuk does have his struggles, and you can read through those struggles in the rest of chapter 1, and then into chapter 2, and then into chapter 3.

In chapter 3, he finally comes to resolution, and at the end of the book, this is what he closes the book with, a strong statement of faith, and this is what we need to have.

He says this, And then he says,

In other words, if our situation is comparable to that of Job's, he says this,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

How can he say that? Well, he tells us at the end of the verse, at the end of the chapter, he says,

So though for a time everything is bleak and dark, and I don't see any light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, and times can be tough and hard and difficult, nevertheless,

I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Will you?

Can you? This is the point to which we must come. When we don't understand, we're filled with perplexity, life is tough, but God is faithful.

God is faithful. He is our salvation, He is our strength, and He will make our feet like deer's feet.

He will make us walk on those high hills. I promise blessing to come for those who are truly

God's people, and I trust that's an encouragement to you today. All right, let's pray.

Father, thank you for this encouragement, and Lord, we look around us and we're perplexed by all that's going on in our world today, but help us to come to the conclusion that Habakkuk came to, that we will rejoice in you, because you are our salvation.

We pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, well listen, have a good rest of your

Friday, have a wonderful weekend, and especially, get with God's people on the Lord's Day. Worship together, and grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ together, as God so intends.