February 20, 2024 • 10 mins
Why does God allow corruption, wickedness, and evil to happen in this world if He is in control? The prophet Habakkuk wondered the same thing. Today we'll address those questions in light of what God had to say to Habakkuk.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:23):
I don't know about you, butthere have been times in my life where
I have wondered where God is at. I have asked myself to question,
God, why do you allow thesethings to happen in this world? If
you were God, and if youwere in control, why do you allow
these things to happen? Have youever asked yourself that question? Have you
ever asked God that question? Ifyou have, You're not the only one.
(00:45):
There's a book in the Bible knownas a Bacchic, and this is
a prophet. And most prophetic booksyou will see that the prophet is in
charge of delivering the words of Godto the people. But rather in this
book it's kind of different. There'sfour chapters. If you haven't read,
and I encourage you to do so. But within these four chapters, the
(01:08):
prophet Habacic gives two complaints to Godand God gives two responses. But within
this book, Habacic wants to knowwhere are you God? You see what's
going on with your people, andI want to know where you're at.
He says to them stuff like howlong will I cry out? Why won't
(01:32):
you listen? You see that yourlaw, the Torah is being neglected by
your own people. You see thatthere's so much violence, you see that
there is corrupt leadership. Why aren'tyou reaching out? And God, of
course, he responds, and hesays something that catches a Backic off guard.
(01:53):
Really, what he says is,I'm raising up the Babylonians to punish
my people. And Abachic in response, really can't believe what he hears.
See the Babylonians, You're going toraise these people up. These people are
worse than what your people are doingright now. They treat people like human
(02:15):
animals. They devour nations. Andhe goes into a pretty explicit description of
the Babylonians. But what he doesis he says he will stand and watch
God. He will see what Godis going to do. And God says
(02:36):
that he will bring Babylon down.After all this, he understands that Babylon
is a corrupt nation. He understandsthat there is a lot of wickedness going
on within that nation, but He'sgoing to use that nation for his purpose.
What that teaches us is that Godmay use corrupted nations corrupted kingdoms at
(03:00):
the same time not approving of themwell at the same time not endorsing them
because at the end of the day, all nations are accountable to God.
God, in his sovereignty, willuse evil, wicked actions of men to
accomplish his purposes. That is whathe will do. Let me say that
(03:22):
again, God will use the evilof this world to accomplish his purposes and
what he wants us to know.Even though this was a book written at
a specific time to a specific group, this applies to us today as well.
What we can learn from this bookif you go to Habacchic, specifically
(03:47):
chapter two, verse four, Godsays, the righteous one will live by
faith. The righteous one will liveby faith. What God wants us to
do in the midst of persecution,in the middle of seeing everything go wrong,
(04:11):
is to trust in Him. Andwhen pride gets in the way and
we think that we have to knoweverything about God, we have to understand
everything about God, that becomes theproblem. Let me tell you something,
and I'm telling myself this as i'mtelling you this. If we could understand
God, if we could put himin a box and understand him, what
(04:33):
kind of God would that be?God is so much bigger, so much
wiser, so much better than anyof us. Clearly we know that,
and it's a blessing that we don'tunderstand God in all of his fullness.
I don't know about you, Butthe question of how can God be eternal?
(04:56):
He had no beginning, he hasno end. That's a question that
I don't have an answer to,nor anyone does. And because we don't
understand God, our brains cannot understandthat, because we are limited. But
what God wants Halbaccic to know isthat my righteous one will live by faith.
(05:20):
There's a verse in this book.It's specifically in chapter let me see
chapter four. Let me see youreal quick. Actually there are only three
chapters. Excuse me, there arenot four chapters. Glad I said that
because I might get a message.What Bible are you reading? Gary?
What book do you have an extrachapter from Habaccic that none of us have?
(05:42):
Halbacic Chapter three, verse seventeen.And this is real. Let's take
this personal, I mean, let'stake all of it personal. But verse
seventeen says, though the fig treedoes not bud, and there is no
fruit on the vines, though theolive crop fails in the fields produced,
there's no food, though there areno sheep in the pen and no cattle
(06:04):
in the stalls. Yet I willtriumph in Yahweh. I will rejoice in
the God of my salvation. Yahweh, My Lord is my strength. He
makes my feet like those of adeer and enables me to walk on mountain
heights. Is that the kind ofattitude that you have in the midst of
(06:29):
persecution. Let's say that there's afamine. Let's say that everything in the
world is going wrong and we're caughtin the middle of it. The question
that you have to ask yourself,and the question that I have to ask
myself, is how are we goingto behave if that happens. Will we
walk by faith even when we seethat everything is going wrong and we don't
(06:51):
understand why things are happening. Arewe going to live by faith? Are
we going to trust God? Orare we going to blame God? Hback.
It calls God's attention down to himand what is happening with his people.
God says, I am well awareof what is happening, and trust
(07:14):
me, people will be paid fortheir evil crimes. In other words,
I will hold a Babylon accountable forwhat they are doing to the people.
But I'm going to use them formy purpose. You don't understand what's going
on, but let me tell you, I'm using them for my purpose.
(07:39):
So when we see chaos going onin the world, when we see corruption
advancing in this world, and weknow that in the last days, which
is what we're in right now,things are going to get worse. Our
job, my job, Your jobis to live by faith. What does
(08:01):
that mean? Live by faith?Well, we trust God. We trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Andbecause we trust God, we need to
make that choice to follow him.We live by faith, we trust him.
We go about our lives trusting inthe Lord. We take all our
(08:22):
anxieties to him, as the VOSSL. Peter tells us, we cast them
at his feet and we trust himwith all of those. That's easy to
say, isn't it. That's easyto read in the Bible. But it's
another thing to put in to practice. Howback it pleads with God and God
answers him. If you find yourselfin a position of pleading with God,
(08:46):
God wants you to know that He'swith you, and he's for you,
and that he loves you, andthat all things work together for the good
of those who love God and whoare called according to His purposes. And
I want to emphasize that all thingswork together for the good of of those
who love God, those who loveGod and are called according to His purposes.
If you don't love God and you'renot seeking to follow Him in your
(09:09):
life, that doesn't mean you haveto be perfect. All of us are
imperfect, all of us have issues. But if you're not seeking to love
God and put him first, don'texpect don't expect to see many blessings in
your life. Yes, you mayhave trusted upon Jesus Christ, and because
of that you are a child ofGod. But if you are living a
(09:31):
life for yourself, if you areliving as a carnal Christian and are not
seeking God, turn around, man, get your eyes focused back on Jesus.
Learn from Habackic. If you havequestions, if you have problems,
if you have doubts, bring themto God. That's what God wants you
(09:54):
to do. But he wants youto leave those doubts in questions at his
feet and trust him. Yes,if you have a question, seek that
question, seek the answer to thatquestion out. But nonetheless, in the
midst of all of that trust Godbecause his righteous one will live by faith.
I hope that this has been ablessing to you, and again,
(10:16):
if you have the time, readit back. If you don't have the
time, make the time. Untilnext time, God bless
I don't know about you, butthere have been times in my life where
I have wondered where God is at. I have asked myself to question,
God, why do you allow thesethings to happen in this world? If
you were God, and if youwere in control, why do you allow
these things to happen? Have youever asked yourself that question? Have you
ever asked God that question? Ifyou have, You're not the only one.
(00:45):
There's a book in the Bible knownas a Bacchic, and this is
a prophet. And most prophetic booksyou will see that the prophet is in
charge of delivering the words of Godto the people. But rather in this
book it's kind of different. There'sfour chapters. If you haven't read,
and I encourage you to do so. But within these four chapters, the
(01:08):
prophet Habacic gives two complaints to Godand God gives two responses. But within
this book, Habacic wants to knowwhere are you God? You see what's
going on with your people, andI want to know where you're at.
He says to them stuff like howlong will I cry out? Why won't
(01:32):
you listen? You see that yourlaw, the Torah is being neglected by
your own people. You see thatthere's so much violence, you see that
there is corrupt leadership. Why aren'tyou reaching out? And God, of
course, he responds, and hesays something that catches a Backic off guard.
(01:53):
Really, what he says is,I'm raising up the Babylonians to punish
my people. And Abachic in response, really can't believe what he hears.
See the Babylonians, You're going toraise these people up. These people are
worse than what your people are doingright now. They treat people like human
(02:15):
animals. They devour nations. Andhe goes into a pretty explicit description of
the Babylonians. But what he doesis he says he will stand and watch
God. He will see what Godis going to do. And God says
(02:36):
that he will bring Babylon down.After all this, he understands that Babylon
is a corrupt nation. He understandsthat there is a lot of wickedness going
on within that nation, but He'sgoing to use that nation for his purpose.
What that teaches us is that Godmay use corrupted nations corrupted kingdoms at
(03:00):
the same time not approving of themwell at the same time not endorsing them
because at the end of the day, all nations are accountable to God.
God, in his sovereignty, willuse evil, wicked actions of men to
accomplish his purposes. That is whathe will do. Let me say that
(03:22):
again, God will use the evilof this world to accomplish his purposes and
what he wants us to know.Even though this was a book written at
a specific time to a specific group, this applies to us today as well.
What we can learn from this bookif you go to Habacchic, specifically
(03:47):
chapter two, verse four, Godsays, the righteous one will live by
faith. The righteous one will liveby faith. What God wants us to
do in the midst of persecution,in the middle of seeing everything go wrong,
(04:11):
is to trust in Him. Andwhen pride gets in the way and
we think that we have to knoweverything about God, we have to understand
everything about God, that becomes theproblem. Let me tell you something,
and I'm telling myself this as i'mtelling you this. If we could understand
God, if we could put himin a box and understand him, what
(04:33):
kind of God would that be?God is so much bigger, so much
wiser, so much better than anyof us. Clearly we know that,
and it's a blessing that we don'tunderstand God in all of his fullness.
I don't know about you, Butthe question of how can God be eternal?
(04:56):
He had no beginning, he hasno end. That's a question that
I don't have an answer to,nor anyone does. And because we don't
understand God, our brains cannot understandthat, because we are limited. But
what God wants Halbaccic to know isthat my righteous one will live by faith.
(05:20):
There's a verse in this book.It's specifically in chapter let me see
chapter four. Let me see youreal quick. Actually there are only three
chapters. Excuse me, there arenot four chapters. Glad I said that
because I might get a message.What Bible are you reading? Gary?
What book do you have an extrachapter from Habaccic that none of us have?
(05:42):
Halbacic Chapter three, verse seventeen.And this is real. Let's take
this personal, I mean, let'stake all of it personal. But verse
seventeen says, though the fig treedoes not bud, and there is no
fruit on the vines, though theolive crop fails in the fields produced,
there's no food, though there areno sheep in the pen and no cattle
(06:04):
in the stalls. Yet I willtriumph in Yahweh. I will rejoice in
the God of my salvation. Yahweh, My Lord is my strength. He
makes my feet like those of adeer and enables me to walk on mountain
heights. Is that the kind ofattitude that you have in the midst of
(06:29):
persecution. Let's say that there's afamine. Let's say that everything in the
world is going wrong and we're caughtin the middle of it. The question
that you have to ask yourself,and the question that I have to ask
myself, is how are we goingto behave if that happens. Will we
walk by faith even when we seethat everything is going wrong and we don't
(06:51):
understand why things are happening. Arewe going to live by faith? Are
we going to trust God? Orare we going to blame God? Hback.
It calls God's attention down to himand what is happening with his people.
God says, I am well awareof what is happening, and trust
(07:14):
me, people will be paid fortheir evil crimes. In other words,
I will hold a Babylon accountable forwhat they are doing to the people.
But I'm going to use them formy purpose. You don't understand what's going
on, but let me tell you, I'm using them for my purpose.
(07:39):
So when we see chaos going onin the world, when we see corruption
advancing in this world, and weknow that in the last days, which
is what we're in right now,things are going to get worse. Our
job, my job, Your jobis to live by faith. What does
(08:01):
that mean? Live by faith?Well, we trust God. We trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Andbecause we trust God, we need to
make that choice to follow him.We live by faith, we trust him.
We go about our lives trusting inthe Lord. We take all our
(08:22):
anxieties to him, as the VOSSL. Peter tells us, we cast them
at his feet and we trust himwith all of those. That's easy to
say, isn't it. That's easyto read in the Bible. But it's
another thing to put in to practice. Howback it pleads with God and God
answers him. If you find yourselfin a position of pleading with God,
(08:46):
God wants you to know that He'swith you, and he's for you,
and that he loves you, andthat all things work together for the good
of those who love God and whoare called according to His purposes. And
I want to emphasize that all thingswork together for the good of of those
who love God, those who loveGod and are called according to His purposes.
If you don't love God and you'renot seeking to follow Him in your
(09:09):
life, that doesn't mean you haveto be perfect. All of us are
imperfect, all of us have issues. But if you're not seeking to love
God and put him first, don'texpect don't expect to see many blessings in
your life. Yes, you mayhave trusted upon Jesus Christ, and because
of that you are a child ofGod. But if you are living a
(09:31):
life for yourself, if you areliving as a carnal Christian and are not
seeking God, turn around, man, get your eyes focused back on Jesus.
Learn from Habackic. If you havequestions, if you have problems,
if you have doubts, bring themto God. That's what God wants you
(09:54):
to do. But he wants youto leave those doubts in questions at his
feet and trust him. Yes,if you have a question, seek that
question, seek the answer to thatquestion out. But nonetheless, in the
midst of all of that trust Godbecause his righteous one will live by faith.
I hope that this has been ablessing to you, and again,
(10:16):
if you have the time, readit back. If you don't have the
time, make the time. Untilnext time, God bless
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.