July 2020

A SANE MESSAGE IN A CRAZY WORLD
2. O LORD, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you, “Violence!” and you will not save? Habakkuk 1:2 (ESV)

The world, as we know it, seems to be spinning out of control. Not only have we been dealing with the sudden pandemic that has changed our lives so drastically, but now we are facing civil unrest in our country that is hard to navigate. There are no easy answers to explain our predicament, and we all have our theories as to what has brought about our present chaotic climate.
Some of us have become rather fatigued and even depressed. We throw up our hands in disgust or in surrender, not wanting to fight the prevailing winds of change any longer. Tired and weary of the struggle – when we had enough and cannot give any more – we cry out to God, “Why?”

You may or may not be able to relate to these sentiments. Regardless, I am going to suggest for those who find themselves in this place at this time, you are in a good place. That’s right, I said a GOOD place. In the very least, if you find yourself struggling and buckling under the present circumstances in the world and in our nation, I am suggesting that you are positioned to experience great growth in your faith in Christ –provided you bring all your fears, your burdens, and your questions to Him.

In Christianity Today, Philip Yancey writes:
When Princess Diana died, I got a phone call from a television producer. "Can you appear on our show?" he asked. "We want you to explain how God could possibly allow such a terrible accident...." At the 1994 Winter Olympics, when speed skater Dan Jansen's hand scraped the ice, causing him to lose the 500-meter race, his wife, Robin, cried out, "Why, God, again? God can't be that cruel!” … I once watched a television interview with a famous Hollywood actress whose lover had rolled off a yacht in a drunken stupor and drowned. The actress, who probably had not thought about God in months, looked at the camera, her lovely face contorted by grief, and asked, bizarrely, "How could a loving God let this happen?" Perhaps something similar lay behind the television producer's question.... Exposed as frail and mortal, we lash out against someone who is not: God.

In times of distress, we tend to question, or even doubt, God. Maybe that is where you are right now. After we finish the sermon series on Galatians, I have decided to preach from the Old Testament book of Habakkuk. It seems to me that the Prophet Habakkuk speaks to the issues of our day, even though he was primarily addressing issues that took place 2700 years ago and spoke to a situation that was very localized. Nevertheless, the kinds of questions he presents to the Lord under difficult circumstances are the kinds of questions we may still be asking today as we face our own trials and tribulations: “Why does God allow evil to prosper in our world?,” “Why does God do things that seems so illogical to our minds?,” and “How can we praise Him when things do not seem to be going well?”

I hope you take a few minutes to read through Habakkuk in the next few weeks just to get a feel for the book and see the similarities between the issues of his day and the ones of our day. After reading through Habakkuk, try answering this one question: How can a person reconcile the fact that God is love and all-powerful and yet, at the same time, evil exists in our world? Though the world may seem to be falling apart, know that we serve a worthy Savior who holds all things together! (Colossians 1:17).

In His Grace, Pastor Kevin