|
|
Back to Sermons Index Back to Home Page 8th October 2006 PMWHERE IS GOD WHEN LIFE ISN'T FAIR - Pastor Colin MeadowsBible Readings: Habakkuk 1:1-11, Acts 13:38-41 · The problem of history! People today struggle with what could be called the ‘problem of history’. They long for a happy future for themselves. They hope for a time when life will get better and better, when hunger and poverty with be eradicated, diseases conquered, when wars and interracial conflicts will cease. Down through history the world has gone through one conflict after another, disaster followed by disaster. Our own days are no different. April 6th 1994 conflict broke out in Rwanda. Over the proceeding months over 800,000 people were massacred, Tutis and Hutus by armed militia. Bill Clinton called the lack of action by the US in response to this situation as the biggest regret of his administration. February 2003 conflict erupted in the Western Sudan in the Darfur region. Since then over 400,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million displaced. Over 100 people a day are still dying there as a result of violence. The problem of history and the apparent inactivity of God in response to such tragedies. Why doesn’t God clean up the world and make things easier for us? Yes, we like to focus on ourselves, on what will make life smoother for us. The Bible however looks not just at our personal salvation and safety but at the bigger picture of the world as a whole. We are part of something much bigger that God is doing. Habakkuk struggled with this problem of history in his day. He was perplexed as to how he could reconcile what he saw happening around him with what he believed. He appeared on the scene as the Assyrian Empire was waning and just before the rise of the Babylonian empire. Probably a contemporary of Jeremiah and Zephaniah, his name is thought to be of Assyrian origin. Assyria had been the dominant nation but things were changing. Around 625BC, tribes from Southern Babylon began to exert their influence. Joining with other nations, they destroyed Nineveh in 612BC. Egypt sought to come to the rescue of the be leagued Assyrians but was defeated in 606BC. Gaining strength year by year, the Babylonians slowly conquered Judah over the period 597-586BC, at the end of which time they took most of the nation into captivity. Babylon remained strong until 538BC when the Medes and Persians came to power. Habakkuk struggled to understand the times. What was God doing? Or more specifically why wasn’t God judging right now? The prophet was to find that he had some important lessons to learn. · God moves at his pace, not ours! While other prophets spoke on God’s behalf to the people, Habbukuk spoke on behalf of the people, addressing his concerns to God. He did not highlight the sins of the people – they are all too well aware of these. Thus he didn’t ask the why question. Rather he questioned God’s apparent lack of action. Why does God move so slowly? Why doesn’t he answer my prayers? His basic issue thus is that of the justice of God or of ‘theodicy’. He acknowledged the guilt of the nation but struggled with the way God brings punishment. Why does God hold back? Why the delay? Hab 1:2 “How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you ‘Violence!’ but you do not save?” He was about to learn that God was not idle. Big plans take much time to bring to fruition. God was preparing a nation to bring about his judgment, in his time and in his way. · God judges in his way, not ours! Yes, God moves at his pace, not ours. And he chooses his way to act. He had already selected out his tool to bring this judgment, the Babylonians, up until then an unknown group. Hab 1:6 “I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own.” Habukkuk would have been even more confused by these statements. Babylonians… who were the Babylonians? They were at that time a fly spot on the map and God intended to use them! Yes, God had been at work. He was not ignoring the rebellion of his people. He would bring judgment, but in his time and in his way. In a similar way, God is aware today of the sin of his people. It saddens his heart as he looks at our defiance. Yet he is quietly seeking to bring refinement into our lives. The Babylonians were worse than leopards and wolves, God explained. In fact they are like vultures, preying on the dead and dying, like a desert wind that sucks the life out of anything that gets in its way. Their way is the way of brute force, yet God would work through them. He was not limited by the sinfulness of people. · How then should we pray! The prophet was so confused. Firstly, God did not appear to be acting and answering his prayer. Then when he did act, it was not in the way he had been expecting. It is often the case for us today. How do we pull all this together? First, acknowledge that God is God. Expect the unexpected. The people in Noah’s time did not believe it when Noah warned then about the coming flood, yet God used it to bring judgment at that time. Expect the unexpected when it comes to God and his ways. When we pray for God to move, be prepared that we will begin with us and it may not be easy! Things may get worse before they get better. Second, God will work at his pace and with instruments, not ours. To question his justice and his ways will in the end be a fruitless exercise. God often chooses to use ungodly people to bring about his purposes. He did it with the Babylonians. He did it also with the Persians, the next major world power. Is 45:1 “This what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus…” God called Cyrus, the king of the Persians, his ‘anointed’ and used this heathen king to set his people free from captivity. God continues to do so today. Third, as we accept that God knows best, and will do what is best, then a sense of peace and purpose will come upon our lives. It is not being fatalistic. It is to realize our own finiteness in the face of the eternal nature of God. Fourth, as we seek to pray, the Lord’s Prayer is the best model to guide us in this regard. Stick to the basics, of worship of God, praying that his kingdom will come and his will be done, asking for our daily needs, forgiving others. Keep our prayers God focused and world focused and not self focused. When we consider the story of Habakkuk we should thus not really be surprised when God acted the way he did in Christ, responding in his time and in his way. · God acted this way in Christ! The way God acted in Habukkuk’s time was just the same when he sent Christ. In fact the Apostle Paul quoted from Habakkuk when he challenged the Jewish crowd in Pisidian Antioch to consider God’s ways. Acts 13:40 “Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:” Paul then quoted Hab 1:5, warning them to accept the Good News of Christ. God acted in his time, the right time, when he sent his son. And He acted in his way, this time using a sinless man, Jesus, to bring about salvation. The people at that time could not believe that God would have acted in that way. Thus Paul rebuked them and said the gospel would now go to the Gentiles. Have you accepted the Good News of Jesus? God has acted in Christ to bring about salvation. Perhaps this was not what you expected! Let us remember that God is God. He works at his pace in his way, using his instruments to bring about his purposes. That is what Habakkuk needed to learn. We need to learn it too!
|