You Are Good, Joy, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Tunay Kang Matapat, Been So Good, The Steadfast Love

When life doesn’t go the way you expected, where do you usually turn first—yourself, other people, or God? Why?

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

We opened this year’s Youth Month last Sunday. Did you know that 62% of our church are below 40? For young people to learn, they need modeling. We can see that a lot of young people are very weak emotionally and do not have resilience. We teach children how to succeed, but we do not always teach them how to fail. We have to teach them how to recover from failure. In life, there will be lots of disappointment. When our expectations do not match our current realities, it can lead to disillusionment.

Satan has a strategy where he lets us become so discouraged that it leads to isolation. Once we are alone, depression sets in, and Satan devours us. Instead of running away, we need to learn to run to God! The reminder for us is this: WHEN DISILLUSIONED, FOCUS ON GOD!
Habakkuk is one of the Minor Prophets, a book that only has three chapters. It will teach us three things about what to do when we are disillusioned:

1. TURN TO GOD

Hab. 1:1 opens with an oracle, or burden, which Habakkuk the prophet saw. Habakkuk had a problem. His prayers were not being answered (v. 2), and a lot of wickedness and iniquity were happening around him (v. 3). Disappointment can come from different things. Some are loads we carry ourselves, while others are things done by people around us. Men of God can also become disappointed with Him, like Jeremiah and Moses. What did they do? They turned to God.

Instead of running away, Habakkuk expressed his disappointments honestly to God. His observation (v. 4) highlights how the wicked were surrounding the righteous and how justice was being perverted. Some people, when discouraged, turn away from church and from God. That is what the enemy wants, and it will lead to our destruction. We must be like Habakkuk, who, despite the heaviness in his heart, turned to God in prayer.

If you focus on people, you will surely be disappointed. You need to learn to focus on Jesus! In Habakkuk’s honesty, the LORD responded (Hab. 1:5). Amid the crisis, God was saying to Habakkuk that He was at work. Most of us do not see the hand of God when we go through problems and when bad things happen to us. We must always focus on God and trust that He is doing something and will accomplish it no matter the circumstances.

If you are disillusioned, choose to focus on God, not your problems. For the things you do not understand, put them in your “suspense file.” Someday, God will allow you to understand.

What is God going to do? In Hab. 1:6, God said He was raising up the Chaldeans, or Babylonians, to destroy Judah. They would bring judgment to the people of God. To Habakkuk’s mind, how could this be done? He knows God (Hab. 1:13). He knows that God is pure and cannot stand wickedness. But Habakkuk’s problem was that these wicked people seemed to have it their way, and God was allowing it to happen. Rom. 5:3-4 reminds us that we learn to “exult” in tribulations or hardships. This develops perseverance and empowers us to withstand pressure. When you are down, always focus on the Lord. Do not focus on your own judgment, cancel others, and quit. Let perseverance develop in you a proven character.

That is what God is after: a great inward development. When you are mistreated, when you are taken advantage of, it is painful. But if you turn to God, you can be strengthened in character!

2. WAIT ON GOD

Waiting on God is really hard. We want everything fast. Habakkuk 2:1-3 continues the conversation between the prophet and God. God is going to tell him things, dark and grim things, about what will happen to Judah, but he must wait for the beautiful work of God to be revealed. In 587 BC, Jerusalem would be destroyed, and the Jews would be exiled to another country. It took 2,000 years. That was a lot of time, and yet God fulfilled His promise!

Elizabeth Elliot said, “Waiting on God requires the willingness to bear uncertainty, to carry within oneself the unanswered question…” Psalm 27:13-14 shows us that we are to WAIT for the Lord, but we cannot wait if we do not know the goodness of the Lord. How do we wait? Ps. 130:5 tells us that we cannot wait and have hope if we do not trust in God’s Word, His promises, His power, and His goodness!

That is what it means to focus on God. In the waiting, focus on God, not on the problems and the people around you. Hab. 2:4 shows us that “the righteous will live by faith.” Waiting cannot be done without living by faith. This phrase is contrasted with proud people who cannot wait and who take shortcuts because they think they are better than God!

This verse is also quoted in the New Testament (Rom. 1:17, Gal. 3:11, Heb. 10:38). Faith is not trusting God because we understand His ways. Faith is trusting God even when we do not understand His ways because we trust His character. God continues to tell Habakkuk to trust His character. That is why God spoke woes against the greedy, violent, deceitful, and idolatrous, all descriptions of Babylon. Eventually, after many years, Babylon was destroyed. Rom. 12:19 reminds us that vengeance belongs to the Lord. Hab. 2:20 reminds us that God is still in control and that we can be silent before Him.

3. WORSHIP GOD

Worship does not necessarily change our circumstances, but it changes our perspective by focusing on the greatness and faithfulness of God. Hab. 3:1-2 begins the final section of the book of Habakkuk, and it is a prayer, the response of the prophet to what God has said. With his focus on God, Habakkuk makes the choice to worship God. Everything is about God. He asks God that, in His wrath, He may remember mercy.
Later on, in Hab. 3:17-19, we see Habakkuk’s resolve that even though no improvement is seen and things continue to disintegrate, in v. 18, Habakkuk says, “YET I will EXULT in the LORD.”

Amid your disillusionment, you can still focus on God and worship Him. He is still “my salvation” and “my strength.” We are weak, but when we focus on God, we can walk through impossible moments in life. We become strong when we admit that we are weak.

Worship does not wait for circumstances to become good. Worship declares that God is good even when circumstances are not!

Rom. 8:31-32 reminds us that because He is for us, no one can be against us. The context of these verses speaks of various difficulties. He did not spare His own Son for our sake, and so this great love and faithfulness demonstrate God’s grace and mercy.
These are reasons for true worship to happen in our hearts. We cling to them in times of disillusionment, and as we focus on God, we can be certain that something good shall come out of it!

Pray for someone you know who is going through disappointment or a difficult situation. Ask God to help them turn to Him and trust Him.

Care by reaching out to that person this week. Listen to them, encourage them, and remind them that they can bring their concerns to God.

Share with them how God has helped you trust Him during a difficult or disappointing season. If the opportunity comes, point them to Jesus and share the gospel with them.

• Worship God for who He is, what He has done, and what He will do in our lives.

• Upright and moral governance of public servants; repentance and salvation for government leaders and citizens for a Christ-centered Philippines.

• For legislators to promote and support bills and laws aligned with God’s Word.

• War in Ukraine to end, loss of lives prevented.

• For the rest of the Israeli hostages to be restored to their families safely. For Israel’s war with terrorists to end according to God’s purpose and for His glory.

• For the civil war in Syria to end peacefully, protection for Christians and other minorities, and freedom from oppression for Syrians. Pray for the gospel to spread rapidly throughout the country.

• Pray for Sudan and persecuted Christians there; earnestly seek God’s intervention to stop the bloodshed. Pray for freedom from oppression, that God’s word and His people bring them comfort and hope.

• Earthquake victims in Burma, Thailand, other countries.

• Please continue to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ affected by the disaster in Nepal, especially those who remain missing. Pray that they will be found safely, and that God will strengthen and comfort their families. May the Lord provide for their needs and give them hope and courage as they face the days ahead.

• That CCF Members would honor and love God and make disciples.

• For elders, pastors, dleaders, and families to become holy, humble, harmonious, happy, and heart-working.

• Ministries and churches expand worldwide.

• Worship and Training Center

• Prayer Mountain

• Deeper intimate relationship with God.

• Righteous living.

• Salvation of family and friends.

“Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.