to turn to that little prophet in the book of the 12 called Habakkuk. So I'll give you five minutes to find it. You could use your table of contents if you like. And as you're turning there, I want to just remind you that last week, We began to look at this category within the Psalter called complaints or laments. And there's just a nuance of difference between them, but they're essentially the same thing. A lament would be something of a dirge, okay? We don't really use those anymore. Funeral dirge. but it is a song or a prayer or even a psalm or even a poem of sadness, of lament. Whereas a complaint is not so much along the lines or the genre of a dirge, but it's just basically a complaint. And last week I sought to unpack from Psalm 142 the various elements in a complaint. And I'll just recall to your remembrance that there were at least six of those. The address to God, which is a turning to God or an introductory cry of help. And then secondly, the lament proper, lamenting what is going on. And then thirdly, a confession of trust. Fourthly, a petition. And then fifthly, a vow of praise, and then finally, an assurance of being heard. Now, after I gave that talk last week, I received some questions afterwards and some comments seeking clarification, because, I mean, after all, I don't know about you, but this is somewhat of a new category for some of us. I think that we have often been told, and it's true, but it's not the whole biblical truth, that we're just not supposed to complain. We're not supposed to complain to others. We're not supposed to complain to God. You know, just be content in what God gives, and that's certainly true. But the flip side of that, or the other way to kind of balance that out, is that the Old Testament specifically, and in some instances tucked away here in the New Testament, also has laments, prayers of laments, prayers of complaint. And so some questions were asked, some said that they thought it was never appropriate to complain to God, but that it was only appropriate to make our requests known. And this is where I'm trying, I'm trying with the help of scriptures to expand our prayer palette, okay? So when you think of your prayer experience, your prayer life as a painter's palette, okay? And on that painter's palette, P-A-L-E-T-T-E, just for those who are thinking of palettes in the warehouse or palette something else, it's the painter's palette. As you think of that palette of prayer, maybe you think, well, I've got a category for petitions. Everybody has a category for petitions in prayer. I've got a category for thanksgiving, but do I have a category for lament? Do I have a category for prayer? And I want us to see, with the help of the Scriptures, the full range of emotions on this prayer palette, so that we can make room for this human experience of sadness, this human experience of, I might even say, angst. You see, God gives room for every emotion. So, for example, while we're aware of the dangers of anger, we are aware that we're not to go overboard with our anger, you might need to be reminded that both James and Paul say what? They actually give an imperative to be what? Angry! But then what's the rest? And sin not. So the issue is not anger itself, the issue is what you do with anger, right? I mean, Jesus was angry when Lazarus was lying in the tomb. He was angry at death, which came from what? Sin. He was angry with it. He was worked up in his inner being. but it's that we are to be angry and sin not. So also with our emotions when we pray to God. God doesn't want us to stuff away our disillusionment. He doesn't want us to stuff away our anger. He doesn't want us to stuff away our disappointment or even, listen, our doubts. Rather, He wants us to bring in those wide-ranging emotions into the theater of prayer. He wants us to bring it into the theater of prayer in order that two things, he could hear us, as a good father does, and then here's the other thing, that through prayer, or at least shortly thereafter, he could transform us through the experience of prayer. So when we talk about complaining, we want to be very specific. And to do that, what I want to do tonight, very simply, is I very briefly want to lay out a contrast of what we might call an appropriate complaining and an inappropriate complaining. So I want to take two figures in the Bible. The first one's going to be very quick because there's just no need to spend a lot of time on it. We're going to look at Job and then we'll contrast that with Habakkuk. So before we look at these two examples, and again, what are we doing? What's the big picture? We're looking at what is an appropriate way to complain to God and what is an inappropriate way to complain to God. Now how do you get at that? What's the metric by which you judge? What is appropriate complaining and what is inappropriate complaining? So for example, can I just say, well Moses complained, Job complained, you know, this guy, that guy, and the other guy in the Bible complained, and therefore as a Christian, since that's in the Bible, I can complain. No, what we want to do is we want to look more closely, listen, at the contours and shape of their complaints, and then more importantly, and there's the big one, examine how God responded to their complaints. God's response to complaints of psalmists and prophets in the Bible tells us how to evaluate a complaint that comes before him. So let's start first off with the example of Job. You guys know the story. Many of you have read this book many times. Job struggled with his afflictions. He found it impossible with the boils on his body and scraping them off and just your imagine can run wild with that. He found it impossible not to grumble that God would let one as righteous as he was suffer so greatly. Eventually, however, God came and He answered Job's complaint with stern words. He says in Job 38, 2-3, Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man. I will question you and you shall answer me." What did Job say? How did Job respond to that? Did he continue to complain? No, instead he declared in verse 42, 3b and 6, I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know. Therefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes." Job was severely rebuked for the attitude that he expressed to God. Now let me just make a few overarching comments about Job before we step into Habakkuk very quickly. Job assumed that he was more righteous than he actually was. Now, it kills me to just give that bullet point because there's so much more nuance and clarification that needs to be given to that, but I will say this. He may have been correct to push back on many of the things that his friends were saying because they, unlike God, probably went too far in their accusations of him. In fact, if you read some of the things that they say, you know what they're really doing? You know what's at the root of their problem? They're assuming to have knowledge of God that they don't have. They just were working with categories of Hebrew wisdom in that day, like think of Hebrew wisdom 1.0, okay? Just the short pithy sayings with no qualification, no nuance, no nothing. The righteous have good things happen to them and the wicked have bad things happen to them. That's true. But no nuance whatsoever, and they were assuming, well, wicked things happen, bad things happen to Job, so he must be a wicked man. Just assuming that they have the knowledge of God and accusing Job of these things. So he was probably right to push back on some of their accusations that they were making. But here's the second thing to note about Job. Righteousness is something of a relative term, right? I mean, if we're comparing ourselves to Hitler, everybody comes out looking great, right? I mean, compared to Hitler, we're all quote-unquote righteous. But when it comes to the tribunal of God, that standard of righteousness is very concrete and very fixed. It's not nilly-willy. It's absolute. There's no relativity in it, and Job was speaking Too highly of himself when he defended himself against the charges of his friends. Now there's just one application I want to draw out here. It's kind of a tangential sideline application. And please listen to me. And I'm working through this in my own life as well. I just confess this to you. We all receive criticism. Every single one of us. I was just, we had a membership interview just before this meeting tonight and we were talking about relationships and I said to Mary, we interviewed her for membership, and I said, the single greatest sanctifying relationship in your life if you're married is your marriage, right? That is the single greatest relationship for most people that the Lord uses to sanctify us. And it's in the context of marriage that we receive criticism, but it's not just there. It's at our work, it's with our friends. But what does the wise man or the wise woman do in the face of criticism? Here's where I think we need to listen. As much as is possible, the wise man or the wise woman tries to understand the criticism from the perspective of the one criticizing them. They try to get into their shoes. My mentor, Jim Neuheiser, who many of you know, one of the many things I learned from him is when he was counseling people and a husband would complain about his wife, or vice versa, he would ask the wife to repeat back the criticism of the husband, because he wanted to make sure A, that she heard what he was saying, and B, that in her articulation of his complaint, she got it right. Because we can filter those things out, right? So it's a helpful exercise to verbally talk out what is it, what complaint the person has against us, so that we could try to get in their shoes as much as possible. So try to get into their shoes. The wise man and the wise woman do not assume that the person knew all of the qualifications that you may have been assuming when you said or did whatever you said or did. That's the problem with communication, right? Communication breaks down. Oh, that I could just plug in to your head the things that I'm saying so you know exactly how I'm trying to articulate them, but the problem is we're poor articulators at times. and we don't properly articulate the things that we're trying to say as much as we're trying with all of our might to do it and things get miscommunicated. A wise person is willing to admit where they were either wrong, that's one side, or here's the other thing, or at least where they were uncareful in how they said something. That's what a wise person does. I've been in counseling sessions between spouses where they are both exceedingly angry at one another. And you know what I've seen in probably 98% of the cases? There's 2% that are just on another level. But in 98% of the cases, here's what I've seen. Husband comes in, wife comes in, they're seething mad at each other. They probably even had a fight on the way over. And they've got, he's got this against her, she's got this against him, and they're mad, and they're flinging accusations everywhere. And I'm just like, you know, I'm like with a machete, just trying to cut through all the brush and just trying to get at the issue. But the moment either the husband or the wife gets humble and says, you know what, I realize how much of a beast that I've been. And I realize how much this hurt you. When I said this thing, when I did that thing, I totally understand, despite all my qualifications, I totally understand how that would hurt you, and I am so sorry. You mean the world to me. The way that I was talking is not how I really think about you and feel about you in my heart. Will you please forgive me?" You know what happens? Just like ice melting, the other spouse will follow suit and do the exact same thing. This is what humility does in the face of criticism. What I've noticed is that when humility comes in the context of criticism, people start to back off. You know, they put their guns away, put their knives away, and people start to move toward reconciliation. So that's just a side point. So that was Job. So Job complains, and God comes to him and says, oh, okay, you want to speak? Well, I'll tell you what, your time for speaking is done. Let me speak to you. And for two chapters, he rebukes Job, and Job says, I put my hand on my mouth. Now, number two, I want you to come to Habakkuk. Habakkuk, we see something a little bit different. And let me just give you, I'm gonna give you flyby of the context of Habakkuk. Seventh century prophets, southern kingdom of Judah, what's going on? A few kings back there was a king named Manasseh. Anybody know, was he a good king or a bad king? Wicked, horrible, yeah, Mr. Crawford's going like this, that's right. Horrible, I mean, my Old Testament prof when he was going through Old Testament survey and he got to Manasseh, he was almost choking talking about how horrible Manasseh was. He was just bad and evil. I will say he did repent toward the end, but as my Old Testament prof said, it was too little too late. So Manasseh did all these wicked things, set up all these asherah, set up other illegitimate places of worship, cold prostitutes, a whole kit and caboodle. And then Josiah comes in a little bit later, and Josiah reforms everything. Remember, they found the book of the law, okay? And Josiah institutes all these reforms. Now Habakkuk is coming about two kings later, after Josiah, and here's what Habakkuk's thinking. Habakkuk is thinking in terms of Deuteronomy 27 and 28, which is that section in Deuteronomy where God has half of Israel stand on Mount Gerizim and the other half stand on Mount Ebal. And he tells the half of Israel on Mount Gerizim to recite the blessings that will come to the people of Israel if, as a whole, from the top down, they are obedient. We're not talking about obedience in New Testament terms like perfect, perpetual, and personal obedience. We're talking grading on a curve, okay? If they are obedient, they will get blessings, and their fig trees will blossom, and they'll have multiple kids, and there'll be no enemies, and every man will be sitting under his vine tree, and everything will be going wonderfully. Your best life now, 7th century Israel style, okay? And then in Mount Ebal, he has the other half of Israel recite all the curses. And if you ever wanna get discouraged, go to Deuteronomy chapter 27 and 28 and read the curses on Mount Ebal. They're really, I mean, they're unspeakable. Talking about the raping and the pillaging and the death of infants, I mean, it's just horrible. So what's going on is Habakkuk in the seventh century, after Josiah, two kings later, after all the good that Josiah did, what is Habakkuk expecting? He's expecting blessing. And what does God send? He sends an oracle saying, I'm raising up the Babylonians to come and take you captive. So Habakkuk is in the state of consternation. He's in the state of disillusionment. He doesn't understand how it is or why it is that God is giving curses for obedience. He doesn't understand, listen, what this means about the character of God. I mean, think about that theologically. Habakkuk is trying to work through theologically, not something that some false prophet said about God, but what God himself said about himself and said about what he would do for his people. And then looking at the reality that was unfolding before him on the theater of Israel and seeing that Babylon was coming against them. He curses for the obedience of Josiah. He doesn't get it. And so he launches into a complaint. And I'm just going to read Habakkuk 1 v. 1-17 and then make a few brief comments. Listen carefully. This is his complaint. I'm actually going to start at v. 2. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and You will not hear? Or cry to you, violence, and you will not save. Why do you make me see iniquity? And why do you idly look at wrong? Destruction and violence are before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. And now in 5-11 Habakkuk is going to cite the very prophecy that Yahweh had given previously that has instigated this complaint. In other words, it came before this complaint. This is Yahweh speaking to Israel. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle, swift to devour. They all come for violence, all their faces forward. They gather captives like sand. At kings they scoff, and at rulers they laugh. They laugh at every fortress, for they pile up earth and take it. Then they sweep by like the wind and go on, guilty men whose might is their God. Now Habakkuk returns in verses 12 through 17 to continue his complaint. And I want you to note these questions that he is asking God. I want you to note the rawness of these questions. Are you not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We shall not die, O Lord. You have ordained them as judgment, and you, O rock, have established them for reproof. Verse 13, you who are of pure eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. He brings all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet so he rejoices and is glad. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet for by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. Is he then to continue on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? That sends the complaint of Habakkuk. Now, let me give you Four broad contours of his complaint that I want you to consider before we go into the school of prayer tonight. Number one, Habakkuk is trying to make sense of it all. Habakkuk is trying to make sense of it all. Have you ever been there? Have you ever tried to make sense of what is going on before you and the promises that God has given you? You see your family falling apart, either your nuclear family or extended family. You see a job getting lost. You see your health failing. And you're trying to wonder what in the world God is doing right now. He's trying to make sense of it all. He is thinking, listen, he's thinking and praying out loud. I think that so often we do think about our complaints to the Lord, but we tend to, listen, we tend to hold off taking those complaints and packaging them up in prayer. I think instead we just internalize them. We're thinking about them. We're not even talking about them. Even to a spouse, we're just thinking about them. And I think that this is what Paul was getting at, the opposite, when he said that we need to pray without ceasing. All of our thoughts need to be turned into prayers to God. And when we turn those anxious thoughts into prayers, one of the things that it helps us to do is collect our thoughts. So let me give you an example, okay? Have you ever been mad at someone or something or circumstances and you're working through it in your head, and if you're like me, you're just constantly thinking about it, you're playing chess in your head, right? If he or she says this, then I do that, and if I do that, they do, and I'm trying to get to some resolution, and you just lose yourself in your head, you don't talk about it, and then at some point, you go to a trusted mentor or a friend or a counselor or whatever, and you start to verbally lay out your thoughts, and as they're rolling off your tongue, you say to yourself, oh, that's crazy. Have you ever done that? What does that point up for us? It points up for us that we can get lost in our thoughts and in our reasoning, and really not have any rational justification for what we're thinking and expecting. And it's to the degree that we actually talk it out, and it does two things. First off, we hear ourself, and we're like, okay, yeah, that squares, or it doesn't square. But this is actually what prayer is. Prayer is helping you, among other things, to collect your thoughts as you verbalize them to God. So maybe even in the midst of your prayer, you realize, you know what God, I just spent about five minutes praying that, and I realized as those words came out of my mouth, that doesn't make any sense. Forgive me. That's one of the things that prayers can do, prayer can do. So the first thing we note is that Habakkuk is trying to make sense of it all out loud. He's praying out loud, and then of course it was inscripturated. But then secondly, I want you to notice this. He questions God's actions. He questions God's actions. What actions in particular? As I mentioned, he was expecting the blessings of the Deuteronomic blessings on Mount Gerizim, but what they were getting was curses, and so he's questioning God's actions for not fulfilling what Habakkuk perceived to be God's pattern of reciprocating obedience with blessing. He's like, what gives? There's a mismatch here. He says in verse four, your law, okay, he's thinking of Torah, he's thinking of the Deuteronomic blessings and curses, blessings based on obedience, curses based on disobedience, coming from the law and Mishpat, justice. But in verse four, he says, your law is paralyzed. You see what he's getting at there? He's saying, you say, if we as a nation are obedient, you will bless us with this, but it's not happening, so what it shows me is that your law that promises this is paralyzed, it's numb, it's without effect. That's bold. That's exceedingly bold. So he questions God's actions, but I want you to note, just tuck this away, he questions, he doesn't accuse. And I think that's a huge difference. It's one thing to accuse God of something of which he is innocent. It's another thing to ask questions. By the way, can I just say how practical this is in your everyday relationships? Instead of coming to people with accusations, coming to them with questions. Okay? Columbo did it. Socrates did it. Okay? And they got somewhere, didn't they? Well, Socrates died, but don't think about that for a second. Okay? So, he questions God's actions, but he doesn't accuse God of wrongdoing. Thirdly, and this is huge, he questions God's character. He questions God's character, but still doesn't accuse God of any wrongdoing. Look at verses 12 and 13. Are you not from everlasting? What doctrine is he getting at? God's eternality. Oh Lord, my God, my Holy One, we shall not die. Oh Lord, you have ordained them as judgment." So he's getting at his sovereignty. You put them there. You put them there. Satan didn't do it. They didn't raise themselves up. God, I'm a Calvinist. He realizes that God is sovereign. You have ordained them as judgment and you, oh rock, have established them for reproof. But verse 13. At the same time, you who are of pure eyes to see evil and cannot look at wrong, here's the second time he uses this adverb, why do you idly look at traitors? You see that? Idly. God, why are you standing by? If this is your character, if you are holy, if you are immutable, if you are eternal, if you cannot look upon wrongdoing with approbation, then why is it that you are standing by idly? You know what he's doing here? This is huge. He's reminding God of his own character. You say, that's ridiculous, Josh. I went to a hyper-Calvinist church one time, and whenever the younger, immature saints would pray out this way, Lord, you know that Johnny's in the hospital, and he's got prostate cancer, and the nurses and doctors have tried all these things, and would you heal him? The older lady would be, Don't tell God something that he already knows. You don't need to tell God something that he already knows. Here's Habakkuk telling God something that he already is. God is holy, but you know what Habakkuk's doing? He's leveraging God's character to say what gives. If you are holy, God, you are holy, you are pure, you are sovereign, you are all these things. So why this? Why this in front of me? God wants us to remind Him about His own character, not that He has forgotten. But he wants us to remind him of his holy character and question him as to how that holy character can be consistent in this case with God sending the Babylonians. He wants us, he wants to hear from us that we really believe the things that we say that we believe. You know, God would rather have a sniveling, crying saint come to Him and questioning His decision on something than an apathetic, lukewarm, quote-unquote, so-called Christian not even caring or bothering to lift up to prayer. God wants us to come before Him and tell Him who He is. Verse 13, why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? I love how the psalmist say this in other places. God, why are you standing there? Why don't you take your hand out of the fold of your robe? It's anthropomorphism. Fourthly, he asks Yahweh how long in verse 1 and verse 17. And it's appropriate to ask how long. Now, I want to move from the contours of his complaint now to Yahweh's response. And I want you to just look briefly at 2. I'm not going to read the whole thing. But now that Habakkuk has complained, here's that famous text, chapter 2 verses 1 through 4, which by the way, chapter 2 verse 4, the righteous shall live by faith, is one of the most oft-used texts by Paul in the New Testament for developing the doctrine of justification. Habakkuk says, I will, verse one, I will take my stand at my watch post and station myself on the tower and look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. Now I want you to notice what he's doing, okay? He has complained to God, and now what is he gonna do? He now wants God to speak to him. He now wants God, as he goes up on his watchtower, to respond to him. So he's looking out to see what God's going to say, but then this is interesting, and so many commentators miss this. He's looking out to see what God's going to say and what I will answer, this is Habakkuk, what I will answer concerning my, now in the ESV it says complaint, the word toqahot in Hebrew means correction. That's literally what it means. What does that tell you about what Habakkuk expects? Habakkuk expects to be corrected through the response of the Lord. Habakkuk expects to be transformed through the response of the Lord. And all of that transformation and all of that change begins with his complaint. begins with his complaint when he is trying to articulate and verbalize out his understanding and perception of what God is doing. And then he's saying, God, I've lifted up to you my cries. I've lifted up to you my complaints. I don't understand how this is consistent with your character. I don't understand how this is consistent with how you operate in your sovereignty. So help me understand, Lord, correct me. Habakkuk expects to be corrected. Now, Yahweh responds in verse 2, and the Lord answered me. Write the vision, make it plain on tablets so that he who runs may read it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end. It will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. It will surely come. It will not delay. Verse four, behold, his soul, speaking of Babylon, and really anyone who stands in the tyrannical position of Babylon, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Can I just show you something here? The Lord tells them to write the vision and make it plain on tablets. Now you know where else in the Old Testament you hear about this word tablet? It's the tablets upon which the Lord wrote the Old Covenant. It's the tablets upon which he gave the people of Israel his charter, his administration for the Old Covenant. And here Yahweh uses that same word because He's doing something new. He's doing something new. I'm going to write this vision. I'm going to put it on tablets. And what is this new thing? Though the vision tarries, wait for it. It will delay, but don't lose heart. It'll surely come, and what is it? The righteous shall live by his faith." This has all the marks of new covenant all over it. This has all the marks of the new thing that God does through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Now, that's another sermon, but here's what I want you to note. What is absent in Yahweh's response? Can anybody tell me? Go ahead and answer. What's not there that was there with Job? A rebuke. There's no rebuke. So what does that tell you about how Yahweh thinks about Habakkuk's complaint? It was legitimate. It was a legitimate complaint. Unlike Job, who was rebuked, Habakkuk's complaint was legitimate. So he goes on in the oracles of chapter two, and saying how he, God, is going to judge Babylon. But now in chapter 3, Habakkuk strikes out in a petition to the Lord to renew his mighty works of old. And then in verses 3-15, he recites a hymn of how Yahweh has acted in the past. And now, here is Habakkuk's response. Verse 16 and following. It's a response of trembling, faith, and hope. After he hears about how the Lord is going to bring judgment against Babylon, but before that he's going to bring judgment upon Judah through Babylon, he says in verse 16, I hear and my body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, my legs tremble beneath me, yet, yet, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail, and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's he makes me tread on my high places To the choir master with stringed instruments. Do you see the response of Habakkuk? He complained and then he looked to the Lord to answer him the Lord answered with no hint of rebuke but hope and Habakkuk responds Trembling because he knows the Lord is going to bring judgment, but at the same time hoping because he knows God has heard hurt him. Now, what does all of this have to do with our prayer? Very simply, We may take respectful complaints and laments to the Lord, which ask questions of the Lord, which question the character of the Lord without accusing Him, without laying accusations at His feet, and we may boldly ask the Lord to connect the dots for us and then wait for Him to speak to us. Now, we're not gonna go on a watchtower and expect the Lord to come to us with a word and tell us to write something on tablets, okay? But He does speak to us through this Word, and He does speak to us through His Spirit, which works with this Word. And so if you want to call it the afterglow of prayer, I don't care what you call it, after that experience of prayer, and sometimes in the midst of it, the Lord is going to transform you just like He transformed Habakkuk on that watchtower. So let us take our complaints to God and expect to be heard. Let us expect to be changed. Let us expect to tremble in His presence, and let us expect to soar in hope as He answers it according to His time and His way. So that's what we're going to do tonight. I want to give another season tonight, very briefly, for lifting up our complaints to the Lord. And I just want to encourage you to lead out with that. If you have another request, if you have a thanksgiving, if you have some other request that you want to pray, you're more than welcome to do that. But I highly encourage us to lift up our complaints to the Lord and remember, along with that complaint, we give petitions. Along with that complaint, we give a vow of praise. Along with that complaint, we give an assurance of being heard. So I'm gonna begin us tonight and then it'll be open. You could jump in when you like and after a season of prayer, I'll close this out. So let's go before the Lord in prayer.