Worship in the In-Between (Hab 3:1-19)

Worship in the In-Between and the Call to Habakkuk 3

To come closer together. So we'll start that series next week, God's Black and White on gray areas. Do that for four weeks and then we'll start the study on the personal work of the Spirit. But for this morning we return our thoughts to the prophecy of Habakkuk.

If you have your Bible, I hope you turn with me to Habakkuk chapter 3. Habakkuk chapter 3 this morning. Habakkuk chapter 3, if you have that portion of God's Word, I invite you to stand with me as we read it.

We like to stand in reverence for God's Word. Habakkuk chapter number 3. I'm going to read the entirety of the chapter, all 19 verses. Habakkuk chapter 3, beginning in verse 1. Once again, brothers and sisters, these are the words of God.

A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, according to Shigyonoth. Yahweh, I have heard the reports about you. Yahweh, I stand in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these years. Make it known in these years.

In your wrath, remember mercy. God comes from Teman, the Holy One, from Mount Paran, sailor. His splendor covers the heavens and the earth is full of his praise. His brilliance is like light. Rays of rays are flashing from his hand.

This is where his power is hidden. Plague goes before him and pestilence follows in his steps. He stands and shakes the earth. He looks and startles the nations. The age old mountains break apart. The ancient hills sink down.

His pathways are ancient. I see the tents of Kushan in distress and the tent curtains of land of Midian tremble. Are you angry at the rivers, Yahweh? Is your wrath against the rivers? Or is your fury against the sea when you ride on your horses, your victorious chariot?

You took the sheath from your bow. The arrows are ready to be used with an oath, sailor. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains see you and shudder. A downpour of water sweeps by. The deep roars with its voice and lifts its waves high.

Sun and moon stand still in their lofty residence at the flash of your flying arrows, at the brightness of your shining spear. You march across the earth in indignation. You trample down the nations in wrath.

You come out to save your people, to save your anointed. You crush the leader of the house of the wicked and strip him from foot to neck, sailor. You pierce his head with his own spears. His warriors storm out to scatter us, gloating as if they are ready to secretly devour the weak.

You tread the sea with your horses, stirring up the vast water. I heard and I trembled within. My lips quivered at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones. I trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress to come against the people invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud and there is no fruit on the vines. Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food. Though the flocks disappear from the pen and there are no herds in the stalls.

Yet I will celebrate in Yahweh. I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Yahweh, my Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like those of a deer and enables me to walk on mountain heights for the choir director on stringed instruments.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will abide forever. Join with me as I breathe one more word of prayer and ask for the Spirit's help as we come to this portion of God's word.

Our Father and our God, we thank you because you have been so good to us. You've been good to us to bring us to worship and now you've been good to us as we've heard your word read and we pray that you would continue to be good to us as we hear your word taught.

Father, before we engage in our sermon this morning, we also want to take a moment and pray for the people of Beirut, Lebanon. The explosion that happened this week that took so many lives and injured so many.

Pray especially for City Bible Church, a church plant there in Beirut. Whose building was destroyed by the blast and now are having to hurriedly put together their worship space once again as they gather.

May they know your blessing. Pray that they can be faithful witnesses to the people of Lebanon as they come to terms with this horrific, horrific accident. Be with us as we gather in worship. Open our eyes that we would see wonderful things out of your law.

Prepare our hearts. Make it fertile ground for this word. We ask these things in Jesus name for his sake.

Amen.

Please be seated this morning. Well, this morning we come to Habakkuk chapter three as we close out our brief study in this prophecy. If I could tag this text, I'd give it the title, Worship in the In-Between.

Worship in the In-Between. Have you ever grappled with that feeling of being in between? Like you're not quite here, but you're not quite there. You can think of a couple of times in my own life I grappled with that.

Just before I moved over here in April 2017, I had a two-month period. I remember it from February to about when I left in April when, in all honesty, life just felt weird. I couldn't make any plans beyond a week because, okay, how close is this to when I'm.

Leaving?

Okay, maybe not. Couldn't buy some of my favorite things because, well, if I buy it, I've got to pack it and move it across the pond in a couple of months. Couldn't go certain places because going would cut it a little bit fine in terms of my travel plans.

In short, being in between frankly annoyed the life out of me. So I decided to do it all over again a couple of years later when we bought a house. And for anyone who has ever moved, we didn't move that far.

We moved a mile down the road. It was still one of the worst experiences ever. That period of, okay, boxing up all your stuff. For me, the hard part was I had to box up the library. Oh, I was still teaching and stuff at that point.

So, oh, I have to box up all my stuff that I use all the time. But it was just a nightmare. Being in between was not great. And then we move into the house and then you know you have that period. You're still living out of boxes.

Couldn't do any work because I just didn't have an office. Office still needed work. So I'm having to go to Medford Library. Oh, I've got to pay for that because they don't let you park there for free.

It was just horrible. I mean, those are insignificant examples in the grand scheme of things. And I'm sure that if I were to poll the room, you could all give me way worse examples of having to be in between.

Having to live in that already but not yet kind of moment. I mean, it takes work to live in that place. And if that's true in the physical realm, I would venture to say that it's equally true in the spiritual realm.

Between God's promise and its fulfillment lies a lot of uncertainty at times. And more often than not, as we live in that weird space between,.

Okay, God, what are you doing?

I know you're going to do something. I just don't know what. And I'm living in this in-between time. When we find ourselves in those periods, if we're honest, worship is the furthest thing from our minds.

We literally could be thinking about anything else except worship. Like I said, we've come to our final message in this study through the prophecy of Habakkuk. It's been quite the journey. I don't know for you.

For me, as I've been digging into this week after week and re-examining what's going on in this prophecy, it's been astounding to observe how Habakkuk responds. As he asked some really difficult questions.

We've seen him ask the question of, God, don't you see the injustice that's in the world? Don't you see the unfaithfulness? And then God tells him what he's going to do. He's like, God, no, seriously, are you going to use them to deal with the problem?

Habakkuk's asked some difficult questions, the kinds of questions that we ask. Okay, God, how is it that you allow evil in the world, that you are good God created? How is it that we can see the world is falling apart and you seem not to be doing anything?

We've seen Habakkuk ask some difficult questions, but we've also seen God push past the perplexity of the present and help the prophet and us by extension to see God's greater purpose at work. So God steps up and he answers Habakkuk's questions, which itself is an act of grace.

He answers his questions and yes, the questions raise, the answers, excuse me, raise more questions. But God is still faithful in saying, let me give you the bigger picture. You'll recall that I've said that there, like I say for every book of the Bible, that there's a melodic line to the prophecy of Habakkuk.

I've described it like a drum beat that you can hear over and over as you kind of lean in and listen into the book. I've summarized that melodic line as this, that even when we have difficult questions, we're not to stop trusting in the just and faithful God.

Habakkuk had some difficult questions, but it's interesting, his faith in God is never deterred. And when we come to this third chapter, as we hit this final section in the prophecy of Habakkuk, that lesson, that melodic line, even when we have difficult questions, don't stop trusting the just and faithful God, that melodic line is gonna come into really sharp focus this morning.

Because we're gonna see Habakkuk's response to everything he's heard. I personally take the view that Habakkuk wrote this sometime after the prophecy that he receives in chapters one and two. And so he's had some time to think and to reflect and to ponder what it is that God is doing.

Habakkuk is officially living in the in-between. He's living in the world as it is, but the world as it is, isn't the world as it's going to be. It's going to change for him and his seed very quickly.

So he's living in this in-between. And yet, let's not miss the obvious. I hope you caught it as we read it, that this is a prayer psalm. This is worship. Think about that. How can Habakkuk possibly worship as he lives in this weird space between the world as it is and the world as it will be?

Let's not leave this in the realm of the past. Let's ask ourselves the question, how can we worship living in the in-between? Because if you haven't quite gotten my point this morning, we are living in the in-between.

We are living in between God's promise and the fulfillment of that promise. Well, how do we as God's people live in that weird in-between space? How do we live between the world as we know it right now and the promise of God's soon coming kingdom where he'll make everything right?

How do we live in the in-between? Well, I think Habakkuk chapter three has some lessons to help us in that. I believe with all my heart that God wants to teach us this morning how to worship. He gives us, here's the alternate title for this message.

If you don't like the title worship in the in-between, here's another one, worship in the weird place. How do I worship in a place that doesn't seem to make sense? Well, in particular this morning, we're gonna learn four principles that ought to fuel our worship even when it doesn't seem like the time or the place for it.

As you look at Habakkuk chapter three, I think Habakkuk gives us some lessons that we can learn for how to worship even when it doesn't make sense to do so. And so let's take some time this morning and march our way through this.

Four principles that ought to fuel our worship even when it doesn't seem like the time or the place for it. Can I give you the first of these? If you're gonna worship faithfully in the in-between, if you're going to properly engage in worship.

In the weird place,.

My recommend number one that you ready your heart for worship. That you ready your heart for worship. Where do I get that from? Well, I get that from the introduction and the conclusion to this prayer song.

Again, let's note the structure of this. It's structured just like one of the Psalms. You have a title, that's what you see there in verse one, a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk according to Shigyonoth.

You have kind of an introduction to it, verse two. Look at the end of the Psalm in verse 19, right at the end there. He gives some instructions for how this is supposed to go. He says, for the choir director on stringed instruments.

That's why some have taken the view, and I would agree with them, that Habakkuk writes this for public worship. As he's giving this prophecy and he's telling the people this, he writes this so that they can respond properly to what they've heard.

Why do I say that this, why do I give this first point the title of readying your heart to worship? Because Habakkuk is not haphazard about his worship. Habakkuk puts some thought into it. Can I recommend three lessons for worship real quick as we look at these opening verses?

Because I think they have something to teach us about the nature of worship. Three lessons real quickly. Number one, before you come to worship, think about what you're doing. Before you come to worship,.

Think about what you're doing.

Habakkuk clearly has thought about what he's doing before. He engages in this. You look at this chapter, Habakkuk chapter three, and it resembles a lot of the Psalms that are prayers that you have in your Bible.

I don't have time to look at them all, but for those taking notes, Psalm 17, Psalm 86, Psalm 90, Psalm 102, Psalm 142. Those five, this Psalm look, this Psalm here in Habakkuk chapter three looks just like those.

I pointed out that end of 19, he's even got instructions to whoever is directing the choir as to how this is to be played. He said, play it with these instruments. It's even got musical notation. So you look there at verse one, prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, according to Shigianoth.

We don't know for certain what that term Shigianoth means. We do know that a similar word appears in the Psalms itself, Psalm seven to be exact. And if you look at Psalm seven, Habakkuk three, they have some interesting similarities.

I'm not gonna chase that rabbit this morning, but I encourage you when you have time, go home, read Psalm seven and read Habakkuk three. You'll see there's some similarities there. But let me not get bogged down.

Don't miss the big picture. Habakkuk has put some thought into his worship before he worshipped. We're early in the sermon, but can I pull over on the sermonic hard shoulder for a second and get practical?

How much preparation do we put into coming to worship each week? As I was putting this message together, that kind of hit me. I was thrown back to growing up. I grew up in a pastor's home. For those of you who didn't know, my dad's a pastor.

Grew up in a pastor's home. And we all kind of knew that when it got to about 7, 8 p .m. on Saturday, whatever you're doing, it got a little late as we got older because we all became night owls. But when we were younger, we knew about 7 or 8 p .m.

Whatever you're doing, start to wrap that up. Because at some point, my dad would say, everybody needs to come downstairs. We need to look over the Sunday school material for tomorrow. And we'd sit there.

It felt like an eternity. In hindsight, it wasn't actually that long. But we sat there and it felt like an eternity as my dad would laboriously go over the Sunday school quarterly that the denomination I grew up in put out.

We'd spend time in preparation for that service. Had to iron your clothes the night before because my dad and I share something in common. We both hate being late. And so get ready the night before because we have to get church on time.

And of course, we had to get church on time. My dad was the pastor. But there was something about that preparation. Sure, it was kind of ritual. And sure, for most of that time, I wasn't even saved. But it demonstrated that there was something about this time when we got together on a Sunday morning that was more important, that was different to any other time in the week.

Some may say that that was excessive and everyone's favorite word nowadays, legalistic. But I think there's something to be said for thinking about what we're doing when we come to worship. There's a very deliberate reason that our weekly email, if you don't get our weekly email, come see me, I can put you on the list.

There's a reason why our weekly email is ordered the way it is. There's a reason why some preachers hate telling people what they're gonna preach up front. I don't care. It's like, no, if people will actually prepare themselves by reading the passage beforehand and praying through it, I'd rather tell them up front.

There's a reason why we include the songs in there. Because we want you to be thinking about what we're going to be singing. There's a degree to which, as with most things in life, you get out of worship what you put into it.

And so you see Habakkuk puts deliberate thought into this. He organizes this. He gives it musical notation. He tells the person who's gonna be leading, this is what it should sound like.

Here's the instruments you should use.

There's structure and thought to this. Because he's thought about what he's doing when he comes to worship. Can I give you a second lesson though we learned from this opening to this prayer psalm? See, not only do you need to think about what you're doing, but secondly, worship is grounded in and regulated by divine revelation.

Did you catch the verbs there in verse two? Lord, I have heard the report about you. I stand in awe of your deeds. I think a good case can be made and I would agree that the report and the deeds that are referenced here are a reference to what God has said that he will do in the course of giving this prophecy.

Habakkuk had heard God's word.

And so whatever he's about to say next is in line with what God has already said. You see, when we think about worship, I think often in the modern church, we kind of lose sight of what worship is really about.

You can say, well, worship was good because I felt it this week. In tradition, I grew up and this was always a problem. Oh, that service was dry. That was the phrase we used growing up. Service was dry.

If the choir didn't quite hit the way that they should or the person leading the special number couldn't sing. To be honest, the person leading the special number usually couldn't sing, but I can say that because both my parents aren't here.

Either way, I didn't get the emotional response that I wanted out of this time of worship. But if you make that the barometer for faithful worship, that might make you feel good, but that's subjective.

Maybe you'll say, okay, it's not the emotional response, but man, like, did you hear Nate and Darren and Mandy? They were killing today and they were, but that was great worship. But sure, musical excellence might make your foot tap, but that's shallow.

That's what happens in a week when they don't hit. Hasn't happened, but I don't think it would either. But let's suppose there's a week where it's not quite as great as it usually is. If that's your barometer, that's a very shallow barometer.

Other people might say, nah, emotional response, no. Musical excellence, well, yeah, you probably wanna be good. But what you really want is people packing the pews. If people are coming, that's a sign that our worship is acceptable.

Now, that might make you proud of your efforts, but that's pragmatic. That's more, okay, I'm doing this, it works, so I'm gonna keep doing it because it works. No, no, no, no, it's interesting. For Habakkuk, the barometer for faithful worship is the word of God.

It's the word of God that regulates our worship. In our Reformation tradition, we call this the regulative principle of worship. We had a booklet on the table that we've run out. I wanna order some more about this.

In the 1689 London Baptist Confession, it says this, quote, the light of nature demonstrates that there was a God who has lordship and sovereignty over all. He is just and good and does good to everyone.

Therefore, he should be feared, loved, praised, called on, trusted in, and served with all the heart and all the soul and all the strength. But the acceptable way to worship the true God is instituted by him, and it is delimited by his own revealed will, in other words, the scriptures.

Thus, he may not be worshipped according to human imagination or inventions or the suggestions of Satan, nor through any visible representations, nor in any other way that is not prescribed in the holy scriptures.

The word of God has to regulate our worship. That's why, do I read them? Yes, yes, let's go here. That's why it bugs me when you can go to churches and the preaching of the word is watered down, it's diluted, and the people like it that way.

That's a problem.

Why?

Because what's regulating the worship at that point? How I feel?

Well, good luck.

I'm sorry, you feel one way today and feel one way the next. I don't know about, can I be honest for a moment? I feel one way right now, I will probably not feel that way in a couple of hours. Sundays are especially rough for me, I'm just tired the whole time.

And as you know, when you're tired, the first thing that goes is your mood. If how I feel is the barometer for worship, and I think it's good we have this conversation now as our church is young, if our barometer is, well, this is how it makes me feel, I'm trying to go for an emotional response in people, well, good luck.

Because people feel one way today and one way tomorrow. No, no, no. I go with the Apostle Paul who said that we shouldn't be conformed to this world, but we should be transformed by the renewing of our minds.

That's why you need the preaching and teaching of the word of God. If I can tread on some evangelical toes for a moment, if I can grill some sacred cows for burgers, this is why you can't sing everybody's songs in church.

This is why certain songs are just not appropriate. I don't care how good they sound. I don't care how popular they are. Don't sing them in church. Because they don't fit with the word, either in their origin or in their content.

We have to allow the word of God to radically order the way in which we worship as the people of God. And so before you come to worship, think about what you're doing. Two, worship is to be grounded in and regulated by divine revelation.

Can I give you a third lesson real quickly as we're in this first point? To get the most out of worship, you need to come with expectation. To get the most out of worship, you need to come with expectation.

Where do I get that from? Look at the end of verse two. He says, revive your work in these years. Make it known in these years. In your wrath, remember mercy. Habakkuk makes two bold requests. The first two lines are a recapitulation of each other.

So really, you have two requests. That God would manifest his power again. And that as God was acting, he would do so in power and in mercy. Let me say that again. Two requests that God would manifest his power again.

And that as God was acting, he would do so in both power and mercy. Habakkuk came to the time of worship and he wasn't just passive saying, well, God will do what he does. He comes with a spirit, with a demeanor, with a disposition that expects that God will do something.

So I've got to ask, do we come to worship expecting God to change us in this time? I mean, do we gather each week in anticipation of God using the word by his spirit to, as I say each week, to awaken greater faith in Jesus?

Can I be honest and say that for some of us, maybe worship appears to do nothing because we don't do anything. We don't get anything out of this time because you don't put anything in. You see, if you're going to worship in the in-between, you've got to prepare.

You've got to ready your heart. You've got to be in the word. You've got to prepare. You've got to come with expectation that God will use this time, as his word says, to spur us on to love and good works.

So much more I'd love to say. So much more, but I've got to hasten on. You need to ready your heart for worship. Can I give you a second principle? Second principle? Remember what God has done. Not only do you need to ready your heart for worship if you're going to worship in the in-between, you need to remember what God has done.

Remember what God has done. Now, verses 3 through 15 in this psalm, they form the body. So you have your introduction in 1 and 2. 3 through 15 form your body. And it's unusual. This section is really unusual because it looks back in order to look forward.

Let me say that again.

It's unusual in that it looks back in order to look forward. What I mean by that is that Habakkuk uses a ton of language relating to God's greatest act in the past, to that point, the exodus and the time at Sinai.

And he uses that language to explain, what God will do in the future. So again, he looks back so that he can look forward. Well, that starts here in verse 3. In verse 3, he starts with a look back to God's appearance on Mount Sinai.

For those of you taking notes, that's Exodus chapter 19. So verse 3, he says, God comes down from Timan, the holy one from Mount Paran. Those are areas in the general vicinity of Mount Sinai. You read Exodus chapter 19, you don't have time to look at it.

But in Exodus chapter 19, you see the scene that day. And it's one of a great display of power. God literally comes down on the mountain. The mountain shakes. God has to tell Moses, listen, warn them.

Nobody touch this mountain. Even if an animal touches it, it dies. This great display of power after God's act of deliverance in the exodus. There's no doubt that Habakkuk found comfort in recognizing that God was not impotent.

Remember how we started this, where he's asking God these questions and you kind of get the sense that Habakkuk is worried that God doesn't know what he's doing. Well, something has shifted in Habakkuk from when he started to where he is now.

He's recognized that God is not impotent like he thought. And so as he reflects back to God's appearance on Mount Sinai and that awesome, terrifying display of power, Habakkuk has to pause. He has to kind of take his breath for a second.

Do you see that word there? Some of your translations will have it. The word seelah, sailor that's there. There are some Bible translations nowadays have started taking that out because they say, well, it's just a pause.

You don't need to include that in there. I disagree wholeheartedly. We don't know for certain what the term means, but generally speaking, it seems to carry the idea of a reflective pause. Like I've just said something, you need to take a minute, let it sit.

Just stop for a second. Habakkuk doesn't want his fellow worshipers, as it were, to move too quickly. As he reflects on the fact that God has acted in power before, he says that and he says, okay, now think about that for a second.

Let that percolate. Let that rattle around in your brain for a moment. Sometimes in our worship, I sometimes think about this stuff. Not often, but I do think about it. In our desire to, you know, have it clean and packaged and have it flow.

Sometimes I wonder if we move a little too quickly. We think heaven's coffee. Do you know how long our worship service is? We don't need a longer worship service. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that.

But maybe there's something to be said allowing for there to be times of pause. Allowing for the times when we've just sung something and the weight of that needs to hit us a little bit. Sometimes there's value, great value, I'd argue, in just stopping for a second, contemplating.

Habakkuk takes a moment, calls for a stop for some contemplation, for some thought. And then verses four through seven, he picks right back up. And he begins to discuss God's work in the exodus and God's work in Sinai.

Verses four through seven, his brilliance is like light. Rays are flashing from his hand. This is where his power is hidden. Plague goes before him and pestilence follows in his steps. I believe that's a reference to the plagues that fell on Egypt and the times that God would send plagues before the people.

Verse six, he stands and shakes the earth. He looks and startles the nations. The age old mountains break apart. The ancient hills sink down. His pathways are ancient. I see the tents of Kashan in distress.

The tent curtains of the land of Midian, again, that general region around Sinai, tremble. Think back to what God did in the exodus. He powerfully delivered his people, plague after plague after plague, challenging the gods of Egypt.

He shook Sinai when he gave Moses the law. He literally put the fear of God in the surrounding nations. On that basis alone, Habakkuk doesn't have to see God do anything. He just has to look back at what God did and he's comforted.

He feels great confidence. If God acted like that in the past,.

He will do it again.

I think there's a lesson to be learned from how Habakkuk handles himself in this section. I think at times it's good for us to look back at what God has done. I think there's an unhealthy way to do that, but just because there's an unhealthy way doesn't mean there isn't a healthy way to do that.

That there isn't something to be said like, God, you did that in the past. I'm encouraged that you could do that.

Because if you could do it then,.

Maybe there's a likelihood you could do it again. The Prince of Preachers, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, has something to say about this. He preached a sermon for 1 Samuel 12 and the theme of Ebenezer, the stone that was raised up in remembrance.

Spurgeon said this, quote, I think we do our Lord an injustice when we suppose that he wrought all his mighty acts in days of yore and showed himself strong for those in the early time, but does not perform wonders or lay bare his arm for the saints that are now upon the earth.

Let us review, I say, our own diaries. Surely in these modern pages, we may discover some happy incidents, refreshing to ourselves and glorifying to our God. Have you had no deliverances? Have you passed through no rivers supported by the divine presence?

Have you walked through no fires unharmed? Have you not been in six troubles? Ye in seven, hath not Jehovah helped you? Have you had no manifestations? The God that spoke to Abraham at Mamre, has he never spoken to you?

The angel that wrestled with Jacob at Peniel, has he never wrestled with you? He that stood in the fiery furnace with the three holy children, has he never trodden the coals at your side? In classic Spurgeon fashion, oh beloved, he has manifested himself unto us as he does not the world.

Forget not all these manifestations, fail not to rejoice in them. You see, sometimes worship in the in-between looks like looking back so that you can look forward. While we await God's great deliverance, while we await God's great work in the future, there's great value in seeing how God delivered us in the past.

Traditionally, I grew up and we sang a song, some of you have heard it, count your blessings, name them one by one. Count your blessings, see what God has done. Count your blessings, name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

Well, there's some biblical basis for that. I would say a lot of biblical basis, Psalm 77 verse 11. The psalmist says, I will remember Yahweh's works. Yes, I will remember your ancient wonders. In fact, Moses commanded the children of Israel, Deuteronomy 32, seven.

Remember the days of old, consider the years of past generations. Ask your father and he'll tell you. Your elders and they will teach you. 1 Chronicles 16, David leading the nation to worship says, give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name, proclaim his deeds among the people.

Sing to him, sing praise to him. 1 Chronicles 16, eight through 12. Tell about all his wondrous works, boast in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice. Seek the Lord and his strength.

His face always. Remember the wondrous works he has done, his wonders and the judgments he pronounced. There's something to be said, brother and sister, for looking back at how God kept you, how God delivered you, how God did something powerfully for you as you're going through, as you're in the in-between time, as you're in the weird place so that you can say, if God was able to do that, then I have confidence that he'll do it again.