Things in life just aren’t fair somethings. And we look at those injustices and wonder – God why do you let this happen. How long will you let it go on? Turns out, we wouldn’t be the first person to have asked God those questions.

Have you ever been in a place, a tight spot, a difficult spot? Things aren’t going right. Things just aren’t fair. It’s ugly. It’s painful. It’s uncomfortable. And you think to yourself, “God, what is going on here? What are you doing? Why are you letting this happen? This is so unfair!”

Kind of an odd question isn’t it? Because, chances are, we’ve all been in that place. Sometimes it seems like God lets things go on forever. Things that just aren’t right. Things that are so unfair. And it’s easy for you and me to start thinking, “well God, why do you let this go on? I mean, you could step in any time and act. You can end injustice. You can end pain. You can do whatever you like. I come and ask you, day after day. I pour my heart out to you. You’re supposed to be the God of love and justice aren’t you? Isn’t that the whole point? Isn’t that who you are?”

Today we’re kicking off a series called How Long O Lord, How Long. It’s something we’re going to be talking about over the next couple of weeks. “How Long O Lord, How Long?” Now it turns out, you and I, aren’t the first ones to ask God that question.

If we think back to our past, you to yours, me to mine, we think back to times where injustice has plagued our lives. For me it was a time of betrayal. Deep betrayal. And it seemed to me, at the time, that those people who betrayed me also came out on top. Not only had they been dishonest. Not only had they done things that they should never had done. They stripped me of much of my dignity and my worth.

It was a time in my life where I often went to God. Sometimes, in fact often, through tears and deep pain. And I had two questions to ask God. Why and how long? How long God can this go on?

What about you? What do you see in your past? Maybe even your present. Maybe even as you look forward to the future such as it is. What do you see that causes you to ask those questions? God – why and how long?

I’m always so conscious when I sit here and share things with you that, well, you might be listening to this program in a place that’s safe. Perhaps uncomfortable. Perhaps not quite where you’d like to be right now. But in the scheme of things, pretty safe. And yet the next person, that person could literally be in an incredibly dangerous place in a refugee camp where children are dying of AIDS. In a jungle fleeing from soldiers or rebel fighters. In a village, should I stay, should I go?

For every person that’s sitting today listening to this program in the relatively wealthy, relatively safe comfort of a middle class home in a country like Australia or England or the US. For every one of those there are thousands, tens of thousands, listening in their places of poverty and injustice, war and oppression. That’s the reality. So when we talk about those questions. “Why?” and “how long O Lord?” For many, many people listening today, these are questions which are matters of life and death.

And that’s why we’re going on a journey these next few weeks on the program. A journey to discover what God is up to when we ask those questions of Him. Because when we’re in that place where we cry out, “God, why and how long!?” When we’re in that place, we feel incredibly alone. But it turns out we’re not.

I want to introduce you today to a man, Habakkuk. He was an Old Testament prophet who was exactly, exactly in that place. In fact, we’re going to be looking at the discussion that he had with God from that very place, today, this week, next week on the program.

As I’ve sat and read this conversation, this ping-pong match between Habakkuk and God, I’ve been really amazed. Amazed at these two things. Firstly, how Habakkuk learned and grew and found himself in a completely different frame of mind as a result of his discussion with God. And secondly, how amazing God’s plans were. How big and sweeping and surprising His plans were compared to Habakkuk’s narrow human perspective.

Today, I just want to share with you the cry of Habakkuk’s heart. This is just one man crying out to God. Have a listen. You can read it for yourself in Habakkuk in the Old Testament, chapter 1 beginning at verses 1 to 4. This is what it says:

The oracle of the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord how long shall I cry out for help and you will not listen. Or cry to you violence and you will not save. Why do you make me see wrong doing and look at trouble. Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous. Judgement comes forth perverted.

This oracle of the prophet literally means an utterance, a burden, a load on his heart. Habakkuk comes before God with a heavy heart to ask God some serious questions. He’s pouring out the burden of his heart.

What burden? “Well God, you haven’t answered my prayer. How long will I cry out to you for help? Where are you? What are you doing? Look at what’s going on here. I’ve been telling you about this violence. Crying out to you and you don’t say anything. Wrong doing. Trouble. Destruction. Violence. Strife. Contention.”

This is all the stuff that was going on in the nation of Israel back when Habakkuk was writing in the late 7th century BC. God’s people, God’s own people were doing this stuff. And the one thing that was meant to prevent this, God’s law, God’s justice, even that’s become slack and blunted and there’s no justice at all. The wicked outnumber the righteous. They surround them. Judgement is perverted.

Pretty bad stuff. Hard to imagine a less desirable combination of circumstances than wrong doing, trouble, destruction, violence, strife, contention. And on top of all of that – injustice.

We’re going to look at how God deals with this. How He answers tomorrow on the program. But right now I just want to rest a moment in Habakkuk’s burden. The burden that this man has in his heart. The cry of his heart to his God.

See it’s easy to imagine that when we front up to God we have to put on our Sunday best. We have to make sure we have our act together and be strong and confident and bold. A great man or woman of faith. But here it is in the Old Testament, in the Bible. One of God’s own prophets crying out from the wilderness of his despair. Sharing with God the deepest burden of his heart. “God, look at what’s going on here amongst your people. Look at the violence. Look at the wrong doing. Look at the injustice. God, why are you letting this happen? How long are you going to let this go on?”

As we’re going to see, over the coming days on the program, the cry of this mans heart opened him up to a journey of discovery with God. He didn’t necessarily discover the things he wanted to discover. God is not going to dance to any mans tune. But by the end of it all, Habakkuk was a profoundly changed man. This man who came crying out to God out of this terrible circumstance. Well this dialogue he has with God changes his heart.

It happened because he poured his heart out to God and then dared to listen to what God had to say. And by the end of this book in the Old Testament, Habakkuk is singing God’s praises and yet none of his circumstances have changed.

I wonder, I wonder if there’s not something in that for you and for me.

Sometimes we go to God with life’s problems – you know the doubts or the injustices or the hurts – we take those to God and ask for His Help. And so often He responds in ways that not only would we never have dreamed of, but in ways that, well frankly, we’d rather He hadn’t.

Every generation looks at their parents and wonders, “why did they do that?” Do you remember that as a kid? You’d want to have fun or play and yet your parents had different plans. Maybe it was time to set the table or do the homework or go inside and have a bath. Seems that parents think so differently and act so differently from their children. And so often, when you’re a child, it doesn’t make sense.

When you’re a child it seems, so often, that our parents are there to stop us from having fun. And then, then your kid brother does something to you, pokes you in the eye or something so you hit him back and they see that and you’re the one that gets punished instead of this little brat kid brother of yours. You’re with me right?

When we look at things through the eyes of a child they look so different from how they appear through the eyes of a parent. And it’s not until we do the growing up that we figure it out. In fact, when we become parents we look back on some of those things that our parents did that kind of offended our senses of justice at the time and we can see exactly why they did what they did.

Why did they do this? How come they let this go on for so long? It all makes sense when we grow up and understand where they were coming from.

A man by the name Habakkuk, an Old Testament prophet, had this problem. He was a man who saw the injustices being suffered amongst his people. God’s chosen people. And he poured out this burden to God. This is what he said:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen? How long do I cry to you ‘violence’ and you will not save? Why do you make me see wrong doing and look at trouble?

Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous and therefore judgement comes forth perverted.

Now, if you look at that, Habakkuk’s talking about God’s own people. God’s own people are doing some seriously bad stuff. It’s hard to imagine a less desirable combination of circumstances than wrong doing, trouble, destruction, violence, strife, contention and on top of that, injustice. And here he is, pouring his heart out to God because he doesn’t understand why God’s letting it go on:

Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not listen?

That’s our story, so often, too. We suffer injustice. We take it to God. We see all this bad stuff going on around us. Well this time, this time God answers Habakkuk and right now we’re going to take a look at what God had to say. What He had to say may shock us. It certainly shocked poor old Habakkuk. And yet there’s something really important in this for you and me, here and now.

Have a listen to what God says to Habakkuk in that book, chapter 1, verses 5 to 11. God says:

Look at the nations and see. Be astonished. Be astounded. For work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

In other words, God is going to unleash the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. He might well have said to Habakkuk, “Hitler’s third Reich”. Because that’s the effect of it. And have a look at how God goes on to describe these Chaldeans:

Dread and fearsome are they. Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more menacing than wolves at dusk. Their horses charge, their horsemen come from far away. They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. They all come for violence with faces pressing forward. They gather captives like sand.

At Kings they scoff and of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress and heap up earth to take it. Then they sweep by like the wind. They transgress and become guilty. Their own might is their god.

Now admittedly the things going on amongst God’s people, well they’re pretty ugly, they are. And interestingly God has no dispute with anything that Habakkuk had to say. God doesn’t turn round to him and say, “Well, no Habakkuk, you’re being a bit tough on them. A bit emotional. Pull yourself together man.” No, clearly God agrees with Habakkuk.

That’s great, God sees the injustices even more clearly than Habakkuk. But look at how He responds. He says:

Look at the nations and see. Be astonished. Be astounded. For work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

God is promising Habakkuk a holocaust. I don’t use that word lightly, I use it very deliberately. The Chaldeans had risen rapidly to become the dominant world power. And God promises to use them as His sweeping arm of judgement against His very own chosen people. Because of the strife and the injustice and the violence being perpetrated in their midst.

Now, would you expect God to do that? No, me neither. See I would expect Him to step in and slap the bad guys across the wrist. Even deal with them severely and then to bring peace to the rest of us. You notice I rather conveniently number myself among the righteous rather than amongst the unrighteous. I suspect we all do that.

But what Habakkuk discovers here is that God’s thoughts aren’t his thoughts. God’s ways, they’re not his ways. This is a loving God and yet He promises an horrific judgement. Look at how He describes the Chaldeans:

Dread and fearsome. Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more menacing than wolves at dusk. Their horses charge, their horsemen come from far away. They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. They all come for violence with faces pressing forward.  They gather captives like sand.

You know something, it’s pretty scary. It’s not what we expect God to say. But I wonder, I wonder if there isn’t something in this for us. You and I. We’re the little people. We’re the people who, so often, we’re impacted by forces of injustice and oppression that seem overwhelmingly greater than anything, anything we could ever deal with. And when we’re in the middle of that mess, suffering the pain of injustice, it feels as though God can’t even do anything.

Well, it’s time to think again. Because God is an awesome and a mighty God. God who created the trillion, trillion stars that we know of in the universe. God who created our Milky Way, just one little dot in the universe. A milky way so big it takes a 100,000 years for light to travel from one side to the other.

And God hates injustice. This mighty powerful God hates injustice and violence and unrighteousness and oppression. He hates it more than you and I could ever imagine. And that’s why this God of infinite love is also the God of judgement.

For a long time it never made sense to me. But the fact that He loves us so much is the reason that His judgement against those who rebel against Him and harm those whom He loves. It’s the reason that His judgement is so awful.

Whatever injustice is going on in this world. Whatever violence, oppression, evil, whatever it is. Wherever it is. However it’s being perpetrated. It will not go unpunished. God sees it. He aches for those being impacted by it. And one day, one day He will bring His unique brand of justice and righteousness and holiness to bear on this injustice.

I don’t know about you, but sometimes that things that God does, the things that He says, the things that seem to be in His will just don’t make sense to me. And so, what I want to do is find out from God what He’s really up to here.

You know something, there’s this one thing about God I would love to change. Just one thing. I wish I could make Him see things my way. No, not every day. Just once in a while. You know, when I’m in a difficult situation I have a plan of how to get out of it. And my plan, my plan is always a good one. I draw a straight line from where I am to where I want to be. The most direct route. The quickest path from A to B and my plan is for me to travel that path in the blink of an eye.

A pretty good plan, don’t you think? I mean hey, it doesn’t get any better than that. But can I tell you how rarely, how very rarely it actually happens that way? It seems to me that God’s plan is always this convoluted journey over hill and dale. Through deserts and storms. One step forward and three steps back.

God’s plan is so rarely my plan. God’s way is so rarely my way. And hopefully you’ve gathered by now I’m being just a little bit “tongue in cheek” here and having a bit of a go at myself. But wouldn’t it be nice, just nice if God’s plans were like our plans, just now and then. From A to B by the shortest path possible.

Over the last couple of days on the program we’ve been looking at the story of a man with the very same dilemma. Habakkuk. He’s been crying out to God about the violence, the injustices in his land amongst God’s very own chosen people. Crying out. Unloading the burden of his heart.

Finally, finally God answers but Habakkuk definitely doesn’t get the answer he was looking for:

O Lord how long will I cry out for help and you will not listen. Or I cry to you ‘violence’ and you will not save. Why do you make me see wrong doing and look at trouble? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous therefore judgement comes forth perverted.

That’s Habakkuk’s complaint. And then God responds:

Look at the nations and see. Be astonished. Be astounded. For work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans. That fierce and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

In other words, God is going to unleash the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. He might have well said to Habakkuk, “Hitler’s 3rd Reich”. That was the effect of it. He’s going to unleash them on God’s very own people. Have a look how God describes them:

Dread and fearsome are they. Their justice and dignity proceed from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more menacing than wolves at dusk. Their horses charge, their horsemen come from far away. They fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for violence with faces pressing forward. They gather captives like sand.

At kings they scoff. Of rulers they make sport. They laugh at every fortress and heap up earth to take it. They sweep by like the wind. They transgress and become guilty. Their own might is their god.

Well needless to say, old Habakkuk, he has a bit of a problem. He’s bawling his eyes out before God. And instead of God giving him exactly what he wanted – the shortest, most convenient route from A to B – God promises something completely different. So shocking. So fearsome. That the very first thing that God says is designed to cushion the blow of what’s about to come next:

Look at the nations and see. Be astonished. Be astounded. For work is being done in your days that you would not believe if you were told.

And so Habakkuk responds to God with his concerns. Have a listen to what he has to say to God about this stunning plan that God’s just unfurled before his very eyes. Habakkuk chapter 1, beginning at verse 12. He says:

Are you not from of old O Lord, my God, my holy One? You shall not die. O Lord, you have marked them for judgement and then you, O Rock, have established them for punishment. Your eyes are too pure to behold evil and you cannot look on wrong doing. Why do you look on the treacherous and are silent when the wicked swallow up more righteous than they?

In other words, Habakkuk is saying, “Umm, just hang on a minute here God. I just want to remind you of something. You’re God, remember. You’re the Holy One. You’re Holy, that’s spelt, ‘H.O.L.Y’.

That means you can’t go using the Chaldeans against us. You’ve marked them for judgement and punishment because they’re not your chosen people. Your eyes are far too pure to look upon their evil. You can’t let these evil people bring greater evil upon your own people. You can’t let these treacherous Chaldeans swallow us up. You just can’t stand by and let this happen.”

“No, no, no. This is not a very good plan God. It’s nice that you agree with me that what’s going on among our people is no good. But just, just hang on, let’s sit down, let’s talk about this. Let’s rethink this plan of yours.”

That’s what old Habakkuk is saying here. And he goes on to drive his point home with God. I’m reading now from Habakkuk chapter 1, beginning at verse 14. He says to God:

You have made people like fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. The enemy brings all of them up with a hook, he drags them out with his net, he gathers them in his seine, so he rejoices and exalts. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his seine. For by them his portion is lavish and his food is rich. Is he then to keep emptying his net and destroying nations without mercy?

Habakkuk’s saying, “God, this is going to be on your head. You have made us like fish, like crawling things that have no ruler. We’re supposed to be your people made in your image and then, then you come along and use the Chaldeans to scoop us up with a net and just destroy us. What kind of plan is this God? We’re your chosen people, remember us.”

Of course, this is exactly what ends up happening. Just a few years later the Chaldeans come and destroy Jerusalem and they take God’s people into captivity, into slavery for 70 years in Babylon. So let me ask you, what do you make of this?

This God who’s supposed to be the God of love and mercy, wreaking this awful awesome judgement on His own people who, yes have turned their backs on Him. Yes they’re doing violent, horrible, unjust things. Absolutely. But, but this holocaust from this loving God? What do you make of this sort of God? Because this is the very sort of God that the Bible is teaching us about. Not the nice little tame lamb. But a ferocious lion about to tear His people down and bring them low. What do you make of this God?

Well I have to tell you, right up front, I was kind of with Habakkuk here. I think Habakkuk has a point, don’t you?

Well tomorrow on the program we’re going to look at God’s response and one of the interesting things is how Habakkuk grows over this time of his conversation with God. But there’s a point here, right now, that can’t be dressed up. I can’t sweep this under the carpet for you, as much as you may want me to. That point is this. God is sovereign and mighty and powerful and what He decides, goes.

I can’t tell you why He does things the way He does. Why He doesn’t fly us from point A to point B in soft, air-conditioned, first class comfort each and every time. But He doesn’t. And we can either fight that or go with it.

Now I’m really looking forward to sharing Habakkuk’s journey with you over the next couple of weeks. A journey of growth in peace and understanding as he talks with God and God reveals who He is and what His plans are. And those plans, whether you and I like it or not, those plans more often than not look absolutely nothing like the plans that you and I have got.

Most of us don’t like change. Even good change – like moving to a new house – can be incredibly stressful. So, when God comes along and helps us to deal with issues and problems and fears – by changing us and out circumstances, ooh … that can be an uncomfortable thing!

Well, I don’t know if you’ve had the chance to join us on the program earlier this week but we’ve been looking at one of the most common problems of all in this series. Why God doesn’t always show up when we want Him to. And when He does, why He doesn’t do things the way we’d planned, the way we’d wanted.

I think we’ve all been in that place. So that’s why I’ve called this series, “How Long O Lord, How Long”. And we’ve been looking at this dilemma through the eyes of the Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk.

Here’s how it unfolds. There’s a terrible injustice going on amongst God’s own people. In fact, it’s hard to imagine a less desirable combination of circumstances than wrong doing, trouble, destruction, violence, strife, contention. And on top of that, injustice. And Habakkuk says:

O Lord how long shall I cry out for help and you will not listen? Or cry to you ‘violence’ and you will not save.

And God answers poor old Habakkuk but He promises a solution that Habakkuk just doesn’t want. Literally a holocaust. One which actually went on to happen in 586 BC. God answers Habakkuk by saying:

Look at the nations and see. Be astonished. Be astounded. For a work is being done in your days that you would not believe even if you were told. For I am rousing the Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.

Great. Brilliant. Thanks God. So now what?

“Well, I’ll tell you so, now what?” Habakkuk does what any self-respecting, Old Testament prophet would do. He does what you or I would do.

He says to God, “what, are you nuts? Are you for real? Do you know what you’re saying here God? Let me remind you of something, you’re God, we’re your chosen people and these unrighteous Chaldeans, will you can’t possibly use them against us. Because, well, because you’re a holy God and we’re your people and that’s it. You can’t do it.”

We have to rethink this. You can read about it in Habakkuk chapter 1, verses 12 to 17. The old Habakkuk really gets stuck in and why wouldn’t he? My hunch is that you or I would have a pretty similar reaction. All this violence already going on and God’s solution is to promise a holocaust. Oh thank you God!

But I said this last time we were together and I want to unpack this a whole bunch more with you today. That the two things that really strike you about this story is that God is a sovereign God. He decides. He does it His way and that’s it.

And secondly, that as Habakkuk chats with this awesome, mighty, loving God, it starts to change him. Change him in ways that perhaps he may not have expected.

Think about it. We all go through this. A tough spot. A tight spot. We ask God to fly us out of here in air-conditioned, first class comfort like, now. The quickest point from A to B. So often, in fact, most often He doesn’t do it that way. And so we start thrashing around and kicking and screaming and saying, “God, do you realise what you’re doing here. Maybe you need my counsel, my advice, my opinion, my help.”

But after Habakkuk’s had his dummy spit something extraordinary takes place. Have a listen to what Habakkuk has to say to himself and to God after the big dummy spit we looked at yesterday on the program. Here’s what Habakkuk says. It comes from Habakkuk chapter 2, beginning at verse 1. He says:

I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart. I will keep watch to see what He will say to me. What He will answer concerning my complaint.

See, so often after a dummy spit we go off in a huff. In pride. In arrogance. But that’s not what’s happening here. Something’s changing in Habakkuk’s heart. He’s poured out his burdens to God. He’s listened to God’s response, which he didn’t like. He just doesn’t seem so, so he tells God. Straight to His face. Tells Him in no uncertain terms what he thinks of God’s plan to send the Chaldeans to wipe out God’s very own people.

But then he makes an important decision. He decides to go to his watch post. To go up on the rampart. Up on top of the city walls. Up high above the day to day pressures and carry on. “Let me get up there. Let me watch and wait expectantly to see what God has to say to me about my complaint.”

You know what, it’s a good thing that he was honest and open with God. It’s a good thing that his heart is starting to turn and be open to receive what God has to say. And the moment that he gets into that place. At his watch post. On the rampart. Keeping up the watch. Waiting on God. Looking to see what God will say. This is what happens:

Then the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time, it speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it. It will surely come, it will not delay.

Look at the proud, their spirit is not right within them but the righteous will live by their faith. Moreover wealth is treacherous, the arrogant do not endure. They open their throats as wide as Sheol, like death they never have enough. They gather all the nations for themselves and collect all the peoples as their own.’

What’s God saying here to Habakkuk? “I’ve got a vision for you. I’ve got a plan. Write it down. Now it is going to happen. It may take a little while, that’s okay, it is going to happen. Trust me. Have a look around, look at the proud. Their spirits aren’t right within them. But the righteous, my people, they live by faith. And all those people who trust in wealth, well it’s treacherous. Arrogance won’t endure. Their time is coming. I have a plan.”

God’s saying to Habakkuk, ‘Trust me my child. I see the inequity. I see the injustice. I see the arrogance. I see the wealthy who don’t look after the poor. I see the unjust judges. I see it all. And I have a plan and that plan is coming. Wait for it. WAIT FOR IT! Trust me. Wait for it. I know what I’m doing.

We’re going to look at more of this coming judgement tomorrow on the program. But right now, do you see the change that’s happening in Habakkuk? His heart is open. He’s ready to receive God’s word. He’s ready to drink it in. He’s sitting up there in his watch tower on the rampart waiting for God to speak. And God does speak and God says to him, “Habakkuk, this is important. Write it down.”

Even if God’s answer wasn’t what he’d expected or planned or hoped for, God’s answer comes from the God of love and of justice. God’s answer is about the big picture. God’s answer is God’s answer and for Habakkuk, it’s time just to drink it in.

I don’t know where you are or what you’re going through right now but let me encourage you to take your complaint to God. Whatever injustice. Whatever unfairness. Whatever dilemma that God doesn’t seem to have dealt with or righted in your life. Take it to Him and wait for His response. Wait, expecting Him to answer because He will. Just at the right time, He will. And when He does it may not be quite the thing that you were hoping for or expecting. And like Habakkuk, you may have something to say to God about that.

Let me encourage you to truly, truly, honestly pour your heart out to the Lord your God. And when you’re done, when you’re spent, get into the watch tower, up on the rampart and wait for His response. Be ready to hear from Him in His word. During prayer as you see His hand in the things that are unfolding in your life.

When we wait on the Lord, He will answer. He will show up. He honours us when we honour Him by sharing with Him the deepest burdens of our hearts.

So often – things don’t make sense. In the middle of the battle we call life, the “fog of war” the fear, the uncertainty, the fatigue – can cloud our vision. And then, then one day, God comes along and breathes something new into being, He clears the air – and on a clear day, we can see forever.

Maybe I’m showing my age here but I’m old enough to remember back to the 1970’s hit song from Frank Sinatra, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. It was one of those iconic hits and it’s such a meaningful song on so many levels.

On a clear day rise and look around you and you’ll see who you are. 
On a clear day, how it will astound you that the glow of your being outshines every star.

Of course, life doesn’t always feel like that because it’s not always a clear day. So often life is foggy and stormy and we can’t see very far. The cares of this world. The cares of today. The worries about tomorrow mean that instead of being able to see forever, our eyes are downcast. We’ve stopped dreaming. We’ve stopped hoping. We’re just surviving.

Does that sound familiar? It should. Because that’s how most people are living their lives, sad to say. And I guess that’s what we’ve been looking at this week on the program. Looking at the world through the eyes of the Old Testament prophet, Habakkuk. This man who, all around him, saw injustice and violence and pain amongst God’s very own people.

And so he goes to God and in effect he says, “Lord, what do you think you’re up to? Why do you let these things happen? And Lord, how long, how long will you let these things go on?”

It’s not unreasonable from where he sat. And in response, God blows away the fog and the smog and God makes it a clear day.

I’m a natural optimist. Really I am. I’m one of those people who’s always dreaming about the future and hoping and believing. It’s just the way I’ve been wired. There are, of course, down sides to my personality type. We all have those. But this is one of my upsides. Believing God for His best in my life. Believing that God is going to do mighty things in me and through me.

But even with that sort of wiring on the inside, there are some days where the cares of today. The worries about tomorrow weigh me down. There are. We all have those days. Some more than others. Me, pretty rare. I’m not used to living like that. So when those days do come, they’re even harder to cope with.

It’s so easy for us to look around at all the injustices. You know, one of the things God had to deal with me on was how much money was being distributed across the Church. There’s a Church not far away from where I live. It has fewer than 10 members and yet it sits on a piece of land with a large car park that, very conservatively, is valued at 15 million dollars. Probably much more. I look at that and think, “what a waste”.

And yet here we are at the ministry of Christianityworks reaching millions of people each week. If only we could afford one or two extra staff to lighten the load on a very small, very over worked team. Now it’s not a pride thing. I just look at those two and weigh them up and it feels like such an injustice. “God, how can you let this go on?”

I see the same for many of the radio stations that broadcast our programs around the world. It’s so tough financially yet the Church around the world seems to waste so much money on assets it doesn’t fully utilise. And I, like Habakkuk, whose story we’ve been following this week on the program, went to God and said, “Lord, why do you let this happen? How long will you let it go on?”

See that’s our narrow, human perspective. The injustice of our circumstances can get us down. I’m just being really honest with you here. Sharing the realities from my own life. You have those realities too in your life. They’re just as real. They feel just as unjust. And that’s exactly how Habakkuk felt when he went to God and said:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for your help and you do not listen? Or I cry ‘violence’ to you and you will not save.

And so God comes along and clears the air. The problem is, we get a distorted view of things from down here amongst the fog and the smog. We lose sight of the big picture.

In the army, I served in the army for 10 years, we used this term ‘the fog of war’. Which meant, in war, in the battle, the fatigue, the fear, the pressure means you can’t see the big picture. You don’t have all the information. And so you can end up making mistakes that can cost you your life.

Yesterday on the program we saw how after pouring the burden of his heart out to God, Habakkuk finds himself in a position to actually listen to what God has to say. Habakkuk says in Habakkuk chapter 2, verse 1:

I will stand at my watch post and station myself on the rampart. I will keep watch to see what He will say to me and what He will answer concerning my complaint.

In other words, “I’m ready to hear what You have to say God.” Listen to what God says to him:

Then the Lord answered me and said, ‘Write the vision. Make it plain on tablets so that a runner may read it. For there is still a vision for the appointed time. It speaks of the end and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay.

Look at the proud, their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith. Moreover, wealth is treacherous. The arrogant do not endure. They open their throats as wide as Sheol. Like death, they never have enough. They gather all nations for themselves and collect all peoples as their own.’

See, God tells him to write this vision down. It’s the appointed time. It’s true. It might seem to tarry but it will come. What God’s saying here is, “listen up, this is really important.” And then God speaks the vision. He paints the picture. Clear as a bell He tells Habakkuk and you and me and anyone else who’s prepared to listen, the way things really are. It’s a vision that goes from here clear to eternity. Because on a clear day you can see forever.

God says:

Look at the proud, their spirit is not right in them but the righteous will live by faith.

The proud, the arrogant, the powerful, the beautiful people. They always seem to be winning. The big, the successful. They seem to have so much. But listen to what God says, “… their spirit is not right within them.”

The very essence of who they are is puffed up and distorted and crooked. That’s the reality. That’s what God sees. That’s the way it really is despite outward appearances. And at the opposite end of that spectrum, the complete opposite, God says, “… the righteous live by faith.”

Those who have a right standing before God because they’ve humbled themselves. Accepted their own inner poverty and put their faith in Jesus whom God sent. Those live by faith. A deep, steadfast belief in God who sees things so clearly.

God’s almost asking a rhetorical question. Which one would you rather be? Which life would you rather have? It’s a clear day. You can see forever. Which life would you rather have? The proud or the righteous? And then He goes on to say:

Moreover, wealth is treacherous. The arrogant do not endure. They open their throats as wide as Sheol. Like death, they never have enough. They gather all nations for themselves and collect all peoples as their own.

See, wealth is fleeting. It all looks great but when a financial crisis hits, all those who appeared so wealthy and successful, come crashing down. Their greed brings them undone. Stand back. Watch. That’s exactly what always happens.

See to Habakkuk, it all seems so unfair. Because the proud and the wealthy and the arrogant seem to be winning. That’s his complaint to God. But God calls it the way it really is. On the inside they’re already dead. Those who seem to be winning in their pride and their wealth and their arrogance today, in the long run they will lose.

And in the mean time, He’s saying to Habakkuk and to you and to me, “Let your faith in me be steadfast and rock solid”. In your thoughts. Your actions. And your dreams, be steadfast. Because that’s actually what’s going to give you real life. Today. Tomorrow. And for all eternity. Because on a clear day you can see forever.