Kids ask God some pretty good questions: “Dear God, My Grandpa says you were around when he was a little boy. How far back do you go? Love, Dennis.” “Dear God, Do you draw the lines around the countries? If you don't, who does? Nan” “Dear God, in school we read that Thomas Edison made light, but in Sunday school they said you did it first. Did he steal your idea? Sincerely, Donna.”“Dear God, Did you mean for giraffes to look like that, or was it an accident? Norma.”“Dear God, What does it mean you are a jealous God? I thought you had everything you wanted. Jane.” “God, I read the Bible. What does ‘begat’ mean? Nobody will tell me. Love, Emma.” “Dear God, How did you know you were God? Who told you? Lisa.”“Dear God, Is it true my father won't get in heaven if he uses his golf words in the house? Anita.” We’re born with a thirst to know, and we quench that thirst by asking questions.When we are young, the questions are questions of curiosity.When we get older, our questions seem to go deeper.

Read the Bible. You will find a lot of people asking big questions.A childless couple facing an unfulfilled promise ask: “Will a son be born to a man 100 years old?Will Sarah bear a child at the age of 90?”You can hear the desperation as Abraham expects the answer to be “no.” When everything has fallen apart: his health, his family, his wealth; when there was nothing left, Job can’t help but ask: “Your hands shaped me and made me.Will You now turn and destroy me?Remember that You molded me like clay.Will You now turn me to dust again?”After being ridiculed by a priest, denounced by his family, rejected by his friends, and having respected prophets contradict and laugh at him, Jeremiah asks a tough question: “Why was I ever born?”In a storm that threatened their lives, the disciples in a small boat find Jesus asleep and wake Him with their question: “Teacher, don’t You care if we drown?”

If you listen carefully to those questions, you might notice something familiar. These are questions that are on our lips when difficult people try to steal our joy, when we are facing immanent danger, or when we face unjust punishment.When times get tough, people start directing their questions to God.Even the prophet Habakkuk!Habakkuk had a few questions for God, and he wasn’t shy about asking!His book opens with a question of frustration: “How long, O Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen?Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?Why do you make me look at injustice?Why do you tolerate wrong?”The situation during Habakkuk’s life was difficult.As he looks around at the way the world is, filled with injustice and pain, he asks God why He doesn’t do something.

Have you ever felt that way?In the wake of a personal tragedy, or when you were waiting for some good thing to happen and the only things that keep happening were bad, have you ever just wanted to try to wake God up?“Come on, God, don’t you see I’m dying here?Why don’t you do something?”

Tim Hansel was about as active a person as anyone could be.He lived in California and his passion was mountain climbing.He loved it so much that he made his living leading mountain-climbing expeditions.But one day in 1973 around dusk, when the snow-covered mountain turned to ice, Tim fell and suffered an injury that would cripple him for the rest of his life.It wasn’t that he would be bound by a wheel chair, he could still move around.But his spine was unalterably damaged so that every movement gave him excruciating pain.Tim spent several years questioning God.“Why did this have to happen to me?Why don’t you take away the pain?”The longer Tim lived with the pain, the more intense the questions got.But then, after a couple of years, Tim’s questions began to be answered. As you read through his journal, you can get glimpses into the answers that God was giving him.

Winter, 75. “Perhaps this is the ultimate realization – when we recognize that all questions have the same answer that comes from you, O Lord, from you.”Spring, 76. “At times I whisper in the night: ‘God, I’ve learned enough now!I’m ready for the next test.”Summer, 76. “Learning patience…takes a lot of patience.” “What a test of character adversity is.It can either destroy or build up, depending on our chosen response.Pain can either make us better or bitter.”Spring, 78.“If your security is based on something that can be taken away from you – you will constantly be on a false edge of security.”

As you read through Hansel’s struggles, you find that his words are parallel to those of Habakkuk. Habakkuk questioned why God let pain and evil continue on earth.When God answers and explains that He is going to punish the wickedness of Israel by allowing the Babylonians to destroy the southern Kingdom, Habakkuk is not any more satisfied!Now he struggled with why God would use the ungodly, awful Babylonians to judge his people who were at least more godly than the Babylonians!Habakkuk didn’t receive all of the answers he was searching for.But through the process of his questions, he did come to a conclusion that empowered him to move on.In 3:19 he wrote, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength!He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.” What changed between the questions early on and the later affirmation of confidence in God was a revelation God gave him in chapter 2.It comes in v. 4:“The righteous will live by his faith.”

You see, Habakkuk was right - there was something wrong with the way the Babylonians were living.The Lord pointed out the arrogant unbelief of the Babylonians when He said: “See, he is puffed up; his desires are not upright.” The unbelieving Babylonians trusted only in themselves and in their strength!We have seen that attitude again and again.Finally, it is the attitude of every sinner born into the world.For you and me, life centers on and revolves around ourselves, doesn’t it?Ignoring our Creator and rebelling against God’s will is our sovereign right – or so we claim.We stand accountable to no one – but ourselves.We attribute our success to ourselves!This is arrogance!You and I cannot be right with our Creator through our own efforts! We cannot work our way into God’s good favour.

We must instead “Live by Faith!”Without faith, we are in trouble.We die.Because we can’t do what is necessary to have life with God apart from faith.Trusting in myself isn’t going to work!Trusting in God, living by faith, is the only way!The Apostle Paul quotes this verse in his letter to the Galatians, “Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”True righteousness before God comes when a person clings to the righteousness that Jesus Christ has earned for us.This is a gift I receive by trusting only in Christ’s death as my way to right standing before God.Friends, don’t trust in yourselves or anything else to live!Have faith in Jesus!He has given you life!Eternally!Live by faith!

But living by faith also changes the way we live.Imagine a man taking a bottle of medicine from his medicine cabinet. Looking at the instructions on it, he says, ‘I’m sure they’re correct. I have confidence in the source of the medicine. I know who wrote these directions. I believe everything about it. I know this will relieve my headache, if I just take it.’ But he puts it back on the shelf. He doesn’t lose his headache. It continues on. Yet he can say “I believe that medicine. I believe all about that medicine.” But still he won’t take it. That’s not living by faith.

Living by faith also means that we change the way we live.Now that we have life with God through faith in Jesus, we live differently!When the writer to the Hebrews quotes this verse; “My righteous one will live by faith,”he is saying that the child of God, the one who is righteous through Christ, will live his life by faith – that is, trusting that the Lord will never leave or forsake him.Believers can be sure that the Lord will be faithful to his promises to love and care for them!No matter what hardship might confront them, they can be assured the Lord will be with them, supplying their needs and protecting them.Living by faith means that people who truly follow God trust Him enough to be obedient, even when life doesn’t make sense!

When you feel like you have been betrayed, remember: “The righteous live by faith.”That means that you trust God enough to be able to forgive like He wants you to.When you watch as somebody gets ahead by doing wrong, remember: “The righteous live by faith.”That means that you don’t do the same thing they are doing in order to catch up, but you continue to do what is right, knowing by faith that God will reward your obedience.When you are being controlled by a habit that is overpowering you, remember: “The righteous live by faith.”That means that you trust God enough that you know He will give you the strength to exhibit some self-control. When you are facing a hardship causing much pain in your life, remember: “The righteous live by faith.”That means that you trust God enough to know He is going to make everything work out for the best for you because He loves you, even if it is a painful process.

David, a 2-year old with leukemia, went to see Dr. John Truman, who specializes in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases. Dr. Truman’s prognosis was devastating: “He has a 50-50 chance.” The countless clinic visits, the blood tests, the intravenous drugs, the fear and pain—were quite an ordeal. David never cried in the waiting room, and although his friends in the clinic had to hurt him and stick needles in him, he hustled in ahead of his mother with a smile, sure of the welcome he always got. When he was three, David had to have a spinal tap—a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him that, because he was sick, Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better. “If it hurts, remember it’s because he loves you,” his mother said. The procedure was horrendous. It took three nurses to hold David still, while he yelled and sobbed and struggled. When it was almost over, the tiny boy, soaked in sweat and tears, looked up at the doctor and gasped, “Thank you, Dr. Tooman, for my hurting.”

I have come to realize that God is not one who snaps his fingers to immediately fix difficult situations.We see that in Habakkuk.There is something valuable in the painful process of overcoming life’s difficulties that would be lost if God magically took care of every painful experience.In Romans 8, there is a verse that many have clung to in difficult times.“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”But we should never end there.The next verse is very important.“For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son.”That is saying that God uses the things that happen in this life to remake us into the image of Jesus.And how do we think we could ever be like Jesus if we didn’t suffer and have to endure pain?Jesus’ life was marked by pain and rejection!Ultimately, in his suffering and death on the cross!

Did you ever notice that as the perfect life of the Son of God was coming to an end, even He had a question on his lips?While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He turned his eyes heavenward and posed a haunting question: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”The implications of that question are tremendous!God had forsaken Him for our sins!But that question of Jesus’ wasn’t a question that lacked faith.We know that because the last words He offered up were these: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”Jesus, as our perfect substitute, lived by faith!He had perfect faith in his Father’s love for Him.And because He completed that task, you and I can now live – we can live by faith!

There will be times when we question why God allows certain things to happen. During those times, instead of retreating from God and thinking you know his answer, join with Habakkuk, Jeremiah, Abraham, the disciples, and even Jesus.Struggle through painful times with the kind of faith that thanks God for “your hurting” and keeps asking Him your questions!But in the end, join with Habakkuk in the words he closes his prophecy with: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” (Hab. 3:17-19)Friends, God has given you forgiveness and life through Jesus!Live by faith!You are alive!So live by that faith!Amen.

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