Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: When you wrestle with something, when you're wrestling with issues, what should you do? Well, Habakkuk does the right thing. He says, "I will stand upon my watch." It’s not like I think I’m going to just check it out and sort of investigate. No, I’m going to stand upon my watch and see what the Lord’s going to do. I love that determination. Hopefully, when you’re struggling with stuff that’s going on, don’t just half-heartedly seek the Lord, but stand upon the watch and be ready, watching, waiting with determination.

Guest (Male): The book of Habakkuk takes us from troubled questions to anchored faith. The prophet cried out over the violence and injustice before him, then waited to hear God’s answer. Pastor Brett Meador says what follows is a powerful lesson in faith from today’s word. God answered in ways Habakkuk did not expect, teaching him and us to learn, wait, listen, and to live by faith.

Brett Meador: Habakkuk lived in scary times. He was one of those guys like Jeremiah and some of these other prophets we’ve read. I refer to them as end-times kind of guys. That’s what Habakkuk was, and I think he gives us a great model of what to do if you live in scary times or end-times kind of times.

What was going on in Habakkuk’s day? Well, of course, this was Israel being threatened, its very existence, by the Babylonians. The Babylonians were knocking at their door, and Habakkuk is going to wrestle with this question: why are bad things happening to good people? He’s a wrestler. In fact, the name Habakkuk means wrestler. The name wrestler fits him wrestling with what was happening in the world and what was going to come down the pike.

Habakkuk’s ministering during the time when Israel’s about to be scattered and taken into captivity into Babylon for those 70 years of captivity. It was a dark and gloomy day. Sin was running rampant through Israel. If you’re jotting down notes, there’s three chapters and there’s three main divisions in this book. The first one is we see Habakkuk a-wondering and a-wrestling. He’s wondering and wrestling. Wondering what’s going to happen, wrestling with what’s going on in Israel. That’s chapter one.

Then, in chapter two, we’re going to see a-watching and a-waiting, where he’s going to watch and wait. Even as the Lord calls you and me in these days to watch and wait. When it comes to Jesus talking about the end times, over and over, Jesus says watch, be ready. Be the watchman on the wall, the Bible talks about. And the times and the seasons, the signs of the times. The Bible says the church should be aware and not be ignorant of those things. That’s one of the things we’re going to see Habakkuk do. He starts out with a-wondering and a-wrestling, but then he’s in the middle, he’s watching and waiting. Wise is the believer who watches and waits. Then the third chapter, we’ll see a-worshipping and a-witnessing. We’ll visit that again when we get to chapter three.

So, here we go, a-wondering and a-wrestling, chapter one. It says in verse one, "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save! Why dost thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention. Therefore the law is slacked, and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth."

Does this sound like another time in history? In the world today? Do you feel a little bit of a burden when you think about what’s going on in the world today? That’s what Habakkuk is saying. "The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see." This is the first thing that initiates Habakkuk’s ministry. It’s not the Lord saying, "Who will go for me, whom shall I send?" That wasn’t that, that was Isaiah. It wasn’t the Lord saying, "Come on, Habakkuk, I need you to go and be my mouth." That was Jeremiah. Habakkuk comes to the Lord and says, "Lord, I feel burdened by what I’m seeing." And this is what initiates Habakkuk’s ministry as a prophet.

This is all part of Habakkuk’s wondering and wrestling with this topic of what he sees. So he asks the question rhetorically, but in verse five, God answers. And he says there in verse five, "Behold ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days which ye will not believe, though it be told you." The Lord is saying, "Habakkuk, you’re not even going to believe what’s going to happen." I think that’s interesting. Like, you wouldn’t believe it if I didn’t tell you this, Habakkuk. I wonder if that’s the way it is for end times as well. We wouldn’t believe unless the Lord told us in His Word.

Then verse six, "For, lo, I raise up the Chaldeans," that’s another name for the Babylonians, "that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful: their judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves." In other words, they’re going to rely completely on themselves.

Verse eight, "Their horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves: and their horsemen shall spread themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far; they shall fly as the eagle that hasteth to eat. They shall come all for violence: their faces shall sup up as the east wind, and they shall gather the captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and the princes shall be a scorn unto them: they shall deride every stronghold; for they shall heap dust, and take it. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god."

So what’s going on here? The Chaldeans, that’s the Babylonian army. This is a description of what God would do, allowing the Babylonians to go through and wipe out Judah and the people of Israel. Verse 12 goes on, "Art thou not from everlasting, O Lord my God, mine Holy One? we shall not die. O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment; and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction." You can almost hear Habakkuk saying, "But the Babylonians are the bad ones. They're the ones that should be corrected, not us."

But the answer to that is both need to be corrected. And if you read your scriptures, the Lord’s going to use Babylon to crush Judah. We know that. But what happens after the Lord uses Babylon to crush Judah? What happens to the Babylonians? They get crushed. And that’s the Lord. The Lord says, "I will crush them."

Verse 13, "Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity: wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than he? And makest men as the fishes of the sea, as the creeping things, that have no ruler over them? They take up all of them with the angle." Or like an angler or a fisherman. For you fishermen, this should be your life verse, right here, verse 15. "They take up all of them with the angle, they catch them in their net, and gather them in their drag: therefore they rejoice and are glad."

It’s interesting because this fishing analogy, it’s like they’re going to just gather up fish. As a fisherman, it always cracks me up because I used to catch a lot of fish when I was a kid. As a kid, I remember always wondering, "What goes through a fish’s mind?" You’re just swimming along, you see a shiny thing, and you bite it. Then all of a sudden you’re out in a world you know nothing about and you can’t breathe. And there you are and some weird thing is looking at you and getting the hook, you’ve got a new pierced lip. And then sometimes they throw you back, and then you swim off and think, "What was that all about?" I remember thinking about that, but it’s like that. That’s basically what the Lord is saying through Habakkuk. They’re just going to reel you in. They’re going to take you in like a fish, and you’re toast. You’re going to be done.

Therefore, verse 16, "They sacrifice unto their net, and burn incense unto their drag; because by them their portion is fat, and their meat plenteous. Shall they therefore empty their net, and not spare continually to slay the nations?" Basically, Habakkuk here is struggling with God choosing Babylon to correct the Jews. He doesn’t really like that. It’s almost a little bit like, "Why are you going to allow them just to reel us in like fish? They don't even need us, they don't even need our stuff. But they're going to take us and they could care less about who we are or what we're doing." That’s the idea he’s saying.

But we need to reflect on that idea of why do the wicked prosper? That’s a little bit like what Habakkuk’s asking here. Why are you going to let the Babylonians prosper over your people? The answer, we know, is He’s correcting His people. But it is interesting because that’s something you and I see. Why do the wicked prosper? And the answer is probably best stated in Psalm 73. Would you keep your finger here and flip over to Psalm 73? Because there in the Psalm, it gives us the answer about this.

Psalm 73:1, "Truly," it says, "God is good to Israel, even to such of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well-near slipped." He says, "I’m stumbling on this. For," verse 3, "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men."

We see that today where the wealthy or the powerful, the political, we see some of the people that have power and money, like some of our political leaders. They’ve got escorts and security and fences built around their compounds and their houses. Meanwhile, those same people are saying, "We don't want fences on our border and you can't carry firearms." There’s this funny dichotomy. It’s like, why do the wicked prosper? I see they’re all firm and they’re all safe and sound while we’re suffering. That’s the idea of what the Psalmist is saying. We’re in trouble, but they’re not in trouble.

Verse 6, "Therefore pride compasseth about them as the chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness," their eyes are popping out because they’re so full of food, "they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly." I think of Hollywood when I think of this and what’s going on so much in Hollywood. "They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them."

And verse 11, they say, "How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?" In other words, they think God can’t really see them. And he goes on and says these people are ungodly who prosper and he’s whining. Why do the wicked prosper? But he comes to the conclusion when he goes into the sanctuary, verse 17. "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors. As a dream when one awaketh; so, O Lord, when thou awakest, thou shalt despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee."

The Psalmist ends by saying, "I was a beast. I was wicked in hating the wicked that are prospering." Do you get to a place where you hate the wicked? Because you’re like, "Those Hollywood people, the Hollywood elites, or the political people that think differently than I do." And you think, "Why, Lord, are the wicked prospering? Why are they making so much money? Why are they living in their mansions with all their money and here I am trying to live for the Lord and I'm suffering?"

The Psalmist realized that’s wicked thinking right there. And when he came to his senses, it was when he went into the sanctuary. That’s always a good place to be because that’s where the Lord speaks to us. And there in the sanctuary, he said, "But then I understood their end." It looks like they’re standing on firm ground, but they’re really not. The Lord puts them in slippery places. And that’s really something that I think we see today.

But all that to say, the sad thing is when we come to our senses like the Psalmist, we realize how tragic that really is. We should rather than being, "Why are they so prosperous?" and so angry at them, maybe we should be a little more compassionate realizing a lot of those people are going to hell. That’s what the Lord says through the Psalmist here. Asaph at the end says, "My thinking is wicked. My heart was grieved when I was pricked in my reins because foolish was I and ignorant. I was like a beast." Don’t be like a beast before God and be angry because the wicked are prospering.

That’s a little bit where Habakkuk finds himself. Back to Habakkuk. He finds himself wrestling with why the wicked prosper. Why are you going to let the Babylonians, who are horribly wicked people, come and prosper against the Jews? And he’s struggling with that. But the hope is that they would turn from their wicked ways. That’s what he’s hoping.

But when you wrestle with something, when you’re wrestling with issues, what should you do? Well, Habakkuk does the right thing. Chapter one, I already told you, is a-wondering and a-wrestling. We’ve already seen that. But chapter two is where he’s going to do the right thing. What do you and I do when we get frustrated and we’re wrestling with things that are going on in the world today? What should we do? Well, go from wondering and wrestling to number two, watching and waiting. Watch and see what the Lord’s doing, wait upon the Lord, and that’s what we’re going to see here in chapter two.

Look at verse one. He says, "I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and I will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." "I will stand upon my watch." Verse one is loaded with good stuff that he’s doing. Notice there’s a list of things I’d like you to see. Number one, I see in verse one a determination. He says, "I will stand upon my watch." It’s not like I think I’m going to just check it out and sort of investigate. No, I’m going to stand upon my watch and watch and see what the Lord’s going to do. I love that determination. Hopefully, when you’re struggling with stuff that’s going on, don’t just half-heartedly seek the Lord, but stand upon the watch and be ready, watching, waiting with determination. I love that.

Number two, we see him not only determination, but isolation. Where does he go? He says, "I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower." The tower was that place where he would be isolated away from everything else. Up and away looking and watching with a determination. Sometimes it’s good to get away and seek the Lord, and that’s what we see Habakkuk doing. Isolation.

Jesus saw fit to get away, and that makes me marvel. If anybody could have pulled it off without getting away, Jesus was the one. But isn’t it amazing that Jesus had to get away and seek the Father? He’d go and pray off by himself in isolation and we see that with Habakkuk. So you’ve got number one, determination, number two, isolation, number three, expectation. He was expectant to see something happen. He says, "I will watch to see what he will say unto me." It wasn’t like, "I hope he talks to me." No, I’m going to watch and wait until he actually says something. I’m not going anywhere. I love his expectation.

I think sometimes we lack that posture of expectation when we come to church or when we seek the Lord or when we’re in prayer. I think that when we’re in prayer, that’s one of the greatest times to expect the Lord to give you clarity about what you’re supposed to be doing or what you should not be doing. Prayer is one of the great ones. I think Bible study like this the Lord does that, but I think maybe even more so in prayer when you hear what the Lord is going to tell you to do. Posture of expectation. I hope you have that. Habakkuk does. He says, "I'm going to stand on my watch, go up to the tower, isolation, but then I'm going to wait until you speak to me." Expectation.

Then thirdly, we see patience. He’s willing just to wait. The idea of waiting. Some of us are not so good at that. Are you a patient person? Or are you short-term impatient? Standing watch at the gate is the idea. A watchman on the wall. That’s patience. It’s funny how my dad taught me stuff when I was a little kid. I used to think it was just the work that he wanted me to do, but I think it was actually there were moments he was really trying to teach me just to be a faithful, patient person.

There was one time my dad, we had a job site and my job was singular. I was just a kid at the time, I was probably seven. And my dad said, "Brett, your job is to stand at this gate at the end of the driveway because there's about two or three times today where a lumber truck is going to come and deliver lumber. But we have to keep the gate closed because there's cattle in this property. So the gate’s got to stay closed. You have to stand here all day and wait for the lumber truck." Just two times that day. And I got really bored, but I was supposed to be there guarding the gate, watching for the truck. Which it did come, but a whole day!

But I think the Lord used that as a little kid teaching me patience. I had to wait for the lumber truck all day long and when it came, I was ready, get up and open the gate and my dad rewarded me at the end of the day for my labor of waiting for the lumber truck all day long. Sometimes I wonder if the Lord has you wait to teach you patience. Could it be the Lord’s saying, "Yeah, there's not going to be much traffic here and you're going to be sitting around thinking you're just wasting your time, but I want you to learn to wait"? Because those who wait on the Lord, the Lord says, "I will renew your strength." This is what the Lord will do.

So, that’s what I see here. I see him determination, isolation, expectation, patience, but then also, check this out, open-mindedness to the Lord. Check out the very final phrase there. He says, "I will stand upon my watch, set up on the tower, will watch to see what he will say to me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved." What did he say there? That’s a phrase you kind of blow off at the end of the sentence there. "I’ll know he’ll say what to me and what I shall answer when I am reproved."

In other words, if I’m off course, the Lord’s going to give me a word of correction and I’m going to receive it. That’s the idea. Are you a person that’s open to correction of the Lord? Let me ask that a little more pointedly. Are you a person that when someone the Lord gives a word for you and it’s a word of correction, are you good at receiving it? Because some of you are not good at all at receiving correction. And that’s part of the way you’re made up and you’ve got to fight against that because the Lord, He gives us words for correction.

Some people I’ve met over the years in ministry that they just don’t listen to correction. If it wasn’t so tragic, it’s been almost laughable. I’ve had couples come in, "Pastor Brett, our marriage is not doing well." "Okay, well, tell me about it." And they tell me what’s going on. So then I kind of come up with a bit of an answer biblically. "Well, first of all, maybe you shouldn’t be," and I could talk to the wife and what she told me. "Maybe you shouldn't go to the bar after work and dance with other men and drink with your girlfriends after work." "Well, Brett, we just think you're a legalist. We don't like to hear what you're saying there."

"Well, yeah, but if you’re doing things, the Bible says to abstain from even the appearance of evil. And a lot of people would say, yeah, if you're going to the bar after work and dancing with other men that’s not your husband and stuff, that's probably not the best practice in marriage." "Well, I think you're just judgmental." See, there’s people that’ll hear me give them, I’m just going to say it, that’s wise counsel. You that are married with good marriages, amen? If you’re going out after work, busting a move with people that’s not your husband or wife, it’s not for a healthy marriage. "Well, we have a very open marriage." Well, that’s more of a Hollywood thing, not a biblical thing.

It’s like people come for counsel and then when you give them the counsel, they just say, "Well, I don't want to do that." It’s amazing to me. But I love Habakkuk’s. He says, "I'm going to seek the Lord, I'm going to watch, and I'm going to isolate, expect the Lord to speak. I'm going to have patience, but I'm also going to be open-minded to the word here," I’m going to be corrected is the idea. He’s willing to be openly corrected by the Lord. I love that. It’s a good posture.

So you’ve got this chapter two, a-watching and a-waiting, and that verse one kind of sets the pace for all of that watching and waiting in verse one. How does he go on? Verse two, "And the Lord answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon the tables, that he may run that readeth it." Do you remember this? We talked about the importance of writing down the vision for you personally as well. But I love that’s the context of this verse. So the Lord says, "Write this vision."

Verse three, "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." In other words, it may seem like a long time. It may seem like it’s not happening, but it will come to pass. Verse three is a good word for those of us that are studying the Bible as it relates to Bible prophecy because the Lord has given us very clear distinctives of what’s going to happen in the end times and there’s a lot of people, "We’ve heard you guys talking about end times for a long time." But just this verse three is such a key. The vision is yet for an appointed time and it’s going to happen. And when the Lord says it’s going to happen, it will happen. And man, that’s the truth about the Bible. I love this. Habakkuk gets that word from the Lord that it’s going to happen.

Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador drawing some important insight from the prophet Habakkuk for how best to anticipate the return of the Lord as revealed in today’s word. And stay right there as Pastor Brett will join me to help us with a question that many Christians struggle with. But first, our teacher Brett Meador is the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church in the Portland suburb of West Linn, Oregon. If you’ve missed any portion of our time today, you can find this message online at todayswordradio.com. That’s todayswordradio.com.

All right, I have Pastor Brett with me. Reading God’s Word, the Bible, is obviously very important for Christians to grow in their faith. But what about a person who struggles finding the time? Brett, what advice can you share with that person? Where to start and how to remain consistent in reading God’s Word?

Brett Meador: I think I’d like to encourage people to start with low pressure. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. I think the Bible is so huge and people feel like, "Well, I've got to read a lot." And I’ve noticed there’s a lot of people even with dyslexia or comprehension issues and they just throw it out and say, "I can't read the whole Bible." But I would encourage you start small.

Start with just saying, "I'm going to read three verses every day," or if you’re a good reader, one chapter a day. And I wouldn’t start in Leviticus. I would maybe start in the Gospel of John. What a beautiful expression of Christ and the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So start in John. Some people start in Genesis, but that’s a heavy lift, but it is interesting.

But take your time and I think day by day, daily in the Word. Remember the people of Israel would get up in the morning. There in the wilderness wanderings and they’d see manna in the morning. And they got manna daily and what happened if they tried to store up the manna? It would grow worms and get stale and ugly and moldy and what they needed to do is daily get fresh food. I think that’s what we need from the Word of God. Just to daily take small bites and see how the Lord might just use that. But the Word will always reward you.

Guest (Male): That’s such a practical and really encouraging way to think about getting into a daily reading program of the Bible. Thank you, Pastor Brett, for that. Well, I want to mention that if you’d like more information about Pastor Brett Meador or Today’s Word, just go to todayswordradio.com.

Well, that’s all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett continues in the book of Habakkuk and says we’re assured that God has a perfect plan to deal with wicked people and desperate situations, allowing us to praise Him regardless of our current circumstances.

Today’s Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.