331: Mark Lloyd - Exhortation: When God's Way Makes no Sense to Us (Hab. 3)

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. I’m Chris. I’m Jason. And I’m Brian, thank you for joining us this week. On this podcast, we select one talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. Each week. We post talk. That we previewed from suggestions sent in by listeners from around the world. Then we record a short intro beforehand as a personalized recommendation to you on why we are sharing the talk. And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Hello, this is brother Chris back with another talk for you to enjoy.

2. 0:55

   This week we’re listening to an exhortation that was given by brother Mark Lloyd back in June of 2022. The exhortation is based on a reading out of Habakkuk chapter 3 and is entitled When God’s Way Makes No Sense To Us. This exhortation had been in our suggestions for a little bit about a year or so and just kind of randomly I decided to listen to it and I found it to be really inspiring and encouraging. It obviously is impactful with everything that’s going on in the Los Angeles area with the fires that I’m sure many of you have seen in the news.

3. 1:37

   And I know the question had came up a few times at work and in other situations where people were asking where was God and all the craziness that was going on in the world around us and seeing how this sort of chaos happens. And I found Brother Mark’s exhortation to be a really good reminder of the fact that there are times where things happen in our lives that don’t make sense to us and may not make sense for weeks, months, years, or even won’t make sense until we can see the full picture in the Kingdom when Christ returns.

4. 2:16

   So I found this to be a really encouraging expectation, a good reminder of the hope that we have and the perspective that we need to always try to maintain in our lives, no matter through the good times or the bad times. And in his expectation, Brother Mark does a really great job of pulling out a lot of different examples, different perspectives of how to view God’s way being higher and different than our own way of thinking, which I found to be really interesting, just to enjoy listening to it.

5. 2:48

   And then also very encouraging for everything that is going on. I also just want to mention if anybody is worried, to my knowledge, all the Christadelphians in Southern California, nobody has had any structural damage. There have been many people that have been evacuated or lost power. But overall, God has been with the brothers and sisters here and have kept them safe.

6. 3:11

   And we appreciate all the prayers and thoughts that we’ve heard from people around the world. I hope you find this expectation by Brother Mark glory to be encouraging on your walk and a good reminder to elevate our thinking and our view from what is below our feet to what is going on around us as God is working in our lives and in the world around us while we await the return of His Son.

7. 3:35

   So with that, I will turn it over to our brother Mark Lloyd for his exhortation that was given in June of 2022 entitled When God’s Way Makes No Sense to Us. God does things in His own way. He is the only all knowing, all wise, all powerful God, the Creator of all that we can observe in nature around us and all that is beyond our current observation. Because of that, it’s His prerogative to do what He wants, when He wants, and how He wants, and because His ways are above ours and His thoughts are not our thoughts, sometimes God’s way just does not make sense to us at all. Man trips While walking close to the edge of a precipice, He tumbles over the edge.

8. 4:33

   As he fell, he managed to grab hold of a Bush growing out of the face Cliff near the top. After trying to pull himself up for several minutes, he desperately calls out. Is anybody there? In a few seconds, you heard a voice echoing all around us. Yes, I’m here, the man pleaded. Please save me. I can’t hold on much longer.

9. 4:59

   After what seemed to be a long, agonizing pause, the voice spoke again. I will save you, but first you must let go of that Bush. My hands will be under you. I will catch you. Trust me. A terrified man looked over his shoulder down the Cliff wall to see the valley far below, and called out on a plaintiff little voice. Is there anybody else out there?

10. 5:28

    We’re often in the position of that man, and we sometimes ask ourselves the exact same question. Is there anyone else out there? Because why would God let ask me to let go of that Bush? It makes no sense to us at all to let go. There must be another way to do this. I’m not letting go.

11. 5:54

    That branch is my salvation. That branch is the only thing between me and death. How wrong we are. That branch is our grip on this world. It’s an illusion of security and life. It’s not a reality. There is no other way.

12. 6:18

    God tells us to put His trust, our trust, in Him. There is nothing that God wants more of us than to exercise our faith and trust in Him. He will do nothing to undermine that faith and trust. He has said He will always help us. His way may not always make sense to us, but we have to remember that His way is best.

13. 6:46

    His way is right. There is no one else out there who can save us. We either cling to an illusion, an ultimate death, or we trust what God says and let go of the branch to experience His reality. Not the world now, but the world to come, eternal life.

14. 7:16

    So what is trust? We all know the quote in Hebrews 11 verses one to three. Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see. It was for this that Scripture attested the merit of the people of old. By trusting, we understand that the universe was created through a spoken word of God, so that what is seen did not come into being out of existing phenomena.

15. 7:49

    Trusting is being confident of what we hope for, convinced about things we do not see. It was a tightrope Walker who is getting ready to cross, to walk across Niagara, pushing a wheelbarrow. He asked those watching if they thought he could do it. Oh, yes, they said. You’ve done similar feats before. You’ll have no trouble. The wind is calm, all is ready.

16. 8:18

    Go ahead. We have faith in your ability to do it. Fine, he said. Which one of you will ride in the wheelbarrow? Our faith or trust is complete confidence in something even when there is no absolute proof of it’s reality. It’s holding fast even when the evidence and circumstances would have us bail out and quit. It’s firmly deciding to trust God even when He has not provided answers to our questions, even when His way seems to make no sense to us at all. There’s no better illustration of this trusting faithfulness than as seen in Hebrews 11 verse 35 to 40. Again, we know the quote very well. Described in it are men and women who persevered in their faith under the most extreme circumstances. They suffered every hardship for the sake of the truth. Some were tortured, imprisoned, flogged, stoned, sword and half, and put to death in other hideous ways. They were destitute, mistreated, persecuted. They wandered in the deserts and the mountains. They existed in caves and holes in the ground, and they died not receiving what had been promised to them. Even so, they held onto their faith and trusted God to the point of death, even though God had not explained to them what He was doing, even when God’s way did not make sense to them at all.

17. 10:06

    There are many instances that we can read about where God what God did, either directly or through an agency, makes no sense to those looking on. Jairus’s daughter is a case in point. Jairus speaks to Jesus and states that his daughter is at the point of death. The Gospel of Mark says he besought him greatly.

18. 10:33

    The word means to beg, to entreat, beseech, and he did that greatly. And the word has the meaning not of big, but of many. Jairus speaks, begs Jesus over and over and over again to come and heal his little girl. Now, why didn’t Jesus just speak and hear her?

19. 10:56

    He did that with the nobleman’s son and with a centurion servant. It would make perfect sense to do that in this case, as his progress forward was all but stopped by the great crowd around him.

20. 11:11

    He also had no intention of healing her in front of a large crowd because when he finally got to the house he told everyone to leave except for her parents and three of his disciples. So going to Jairus place instead of just speaking the word to heal the child makes no sense to us at all. And as we said before, Jesus was hindered by an extremely large crowd around to making forward movement almost impossible. On top of that, God then hinders Jesus further by not telling him that he was going to send a woman to touch his garment and be healed, and in so doing halting any further movement. You can imagine Jairus and patiently pushing the crowd apart to make Jesus progress faster, only to turn around and find Jesus has stopped and he’s asking the crowd who are pressing into him, who touched him, and then he stands there and waits for an answer.

21. 12:14

    All of this makes no sense to Jairus. And while that is happening, he gets the news that his daughter is dead. A wasted trip, he would say. If Jesus insists on still coming to his house, why bother to come? She’s dead. It’s pointless. Sometimes God’s way just doesn’t make sense to us. The Sierra Phoenician woman whose daughter was sick is another case.

22. 12:43

    She openly acknowledged who Jesus was, the son of David, a title that stated very clearly to those hearing it that he was the Messiah. She, like Jairus, also kept begging Jesus to heal her daughter. Hers was not unreasonable request. Jesus had gone to that region knowing that it was a Gentile town. He did preach and he did heal there. Yeah, his response is one that is unlike him and makes no sense.

23. 13:16

    He totally ignores her, and when he does speak, he dresses his response to her by again ignoring her and talking to his disciples. And when he finally does speak to her directly, he calls her a dog.

24. 13:36

    Sometimes God’s way just makes no sense to us. We’ll know the story of Lazarus. Mary, Martha and Lazarus were all special to Jesus. Now everyone is who follows Jesus is special to him. But in this case, he was very close to those 3. Jesus hears that Lazarus is sick and Mary and Martha are begging him to come.

25. 14:01

    What does he do? He stayed where he was for two days and did nothing. That’s what’s that does not make sense. Why would you do that to people who you loved? Why would you wait days before going to see them? Then he announces to his disciples that he’s going into Judea. Well, that made no sense. The disciples, you wait here till Lazarus is dead. Then you want to go back to the place where people want to kill you.

26. 14:33

    That’s madness. Sometimes God’s way makes no sense to us at all. Yet in all of these cases, we see a wonderful outcome. Two people are raised from the dead, and a very sick little girl is cured. God’s way, even when it makes no sense to us at all, is better than our way. Now why is that?

27. 15:05

    Have a look at Ephesians chapter 3, Ephesians chapter 3, and verse 20 to 21. Here Paul tells us why God’s way is better than our way. Now unto Him who is able to do more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the ecclesia and in Christ Jesus, throughout all generations, forever and ever.

28. 15:45

    Amen. That’s the whole point of God’s way of doing things. It may not make sense to us, but everything He does is for His glory, to display His Majesty, to show His greatness. It’s done for us to learn to put our hope and trust in Him. His interest is for our salvation by the gift of immortality.

29. 16:19

    This life is not the reality. It may have an illusion of stability, but it’s only that, an illusion. We are here to give God the glory, and to achieve that we have to accept His way, even when sometimes His ways don’t make sense to us at all. We read Habakkuk 3 this morning.

30. 16:52

    Let’s just turn back to Habakkuk. It’s an interesting little book. Habakkuk the The problems that Habakkuk faced are very relevant to us today. Habakkuk was a prophet who lived around six O 5 BC after the death of King Josiah and during the early reign of wicked king Jehoiakim. Judah at this time was heading back to their old ways of doing things, corruption, immorality and idolatry. Habakkuk sees this and he pleads for God to do something about it.

31. 17:34

    And in chapter 1 verses one to four, he says this at Yahweh. 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 paralysed and justice never goes forth.

32. 18:09

    For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. Judah needed to be turned around from their godless ways, punished if necessary. But God, please have a carken frustration. Please do something. We’ve all been there or known someone who has experienced a lot of pain and suffering. We will all come up at some stage in our lives against a problem where we can see no human solution to it.

33. 18:40

    After trying fruitlessly to sort it out, we lash out at God and frustration. Why don’t you do something about it? God? I can’t. I’ve tried so hard to sort it out, but I just can’t do it. Well, that was Habakkuk. I can’t do any more for this people. So please God, you do something. Now what did God, what did Habakkuk think God was going to do?

34. 19:07

    Well, probably raise up another good king to lead the people back to God. So you can imagine his shock when he hears God’s reply. In verses 5:00 to 11:00. God says, Look among the nations and see. Wander and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your days that you will not believe they’ve told.

35. 19:33

    But behold, I am raising up the Chordians, that bitter and hasty nation who marched through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They are dreadful and fearsome. Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce in the evening wolves. The horsemen press proudly on.

36. 19:58

    The 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 own might is their God. Now to Habakkuk, that made no sense at all. Why on earth would God do that?

37. 20:32

    So he replies to God in verses 12 to 17. He says, wait a minute, you God are an everlasting God and holy. You cannot look on evil, so how can you send that nation whom you have described as wicked, evil men who rely on their own might to achieve their goals? How can you send them to destroy Judah? We might be wicked, but by comparison, we’re far more righteous than them.

38. 21:02

    That makes no sense to me at all. Everyone knows what they are like. They will totally destroy all nations and your people as well. There is no sense in what you’re doing. God then chapter 2 verse 1 he states that he will wait for God’s answer because he cannot see how God can justify a response like that to his request for help.

39. 21:29

    God replies to him in the rest of chapter 2. He says, Habakkuk, it will happen. I will send the Babylonians against Judah, not because they’re any more righteous than you. In fact there are proud people and not righteous at all. And because of that I’m going to punish them as well for all their godless ways. I know what I’m doing, Habakkuk.

40. 21:59

    I won’t destroy all Judah. No, there is a group that will not be punished, the just Habakkuk. The just shall live by his faith. And Habakkuk, God says in verse 20, I’m the ruler of everything. So you keep silent about how I do things.

41. 22:26

    Sometimes God’s way doesn’t make sense to us, but no matter, because we are the just and we live by faith, not by sight. God might not act to prevent this person from having an horrific Rd. accident. He might not act to save another from disease that takes their life even though they have a young family. He may allow things to happen in our lives that just don’t make sense.

42. 23:01

    So what do we do about it? How do we understand what is being done? Was I gives us the answer. He says this about the very situation that we’re talking about. Isaiah 55 verse 6 to 9. Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call upon Him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man His thoughts.

43. 23:28

    Let him return to Yahweh, that He may have compassion on him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways. My ways, declares Yahweh. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And Habakkuk finally recognises this. Chapter 3.

44. 23:56

    He records his reply prayer to God. He praises God for His Majesty in verses 2 to three. He recognizes God and his judgement against those who refuse to obey him, verse 4 to 15, while saving his anointed people, those who heard his word and responded, verse 13. He accepts that God’s way is right, even though it scares him and he doesn’t understand it. Verse 16 And finally he states

45. 24:32

    that whatever happens, he will give glory to God because salvation comes through his ways, however senseless they may be to US. Verses 17 to 19 So how do we get our heads around God’s ways when they don’t make sense to us? We need to do what Habakkuk did. It’s not our position to question God in what he in what or how He does.

46. 25:02

    It may not seem right, fair, or just to our eyes, but that’s the point. We’re looking at God’s ways through our eyes. We need to look at God’s ways through God’s eyes. And even after that, if we don’t understand what He’s doing, we need to accept that He is in control and this life is just an illusion, not the reality.

47. 25:32

    We are looking for a better life to come, a real life immortal life. Turn up another quote we all know very well Romans chapter 8, Romans 8 and verse 28 to 30.

48. 25:54

    As I said, it’s a quote we all know very well, but we often find it hard to accept this in our lives. Romans 8 verse 28. Furthermore, we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called in accordance with His purpose, which those who mean you in advance, He also determined in advance would be conformed to the pattern of His Son, so that He might be the first born among many brothers.

49. 26:30

    And those whom He thus determined in advance He also called. And those whom He called He also caused to be considered righteous. And those whom He caused to be considered righteous, He also glorified. All things work for good to those who love God, even when that way is God’s way and does not make sense to us at all. God’s way is for our good.

50. 27:03

    We trust God, don’t we? So don’t try to make sense of it. Don’t try to analyse what God is doing. We might not know why, but He does. As hard as it seems, as difficult as it may be, trust God’s way because He gets it right 100% of the time. And on top of that, He has promised that He will never give us trials greater than we can bear. 1st Corinthians 10 verses verse 13 1st Corinthians 10 verse 13 says it’s a verse which again we know probably fairly well, but often is misunderstood.

51. 28:01

    There is no such temptation that taketh you, but as but such as is common to man. But God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you’re able, but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Now this verse is not talking about temptation, it is talking about trials.

52. 28:30

    Look at what it says towards the end of the verse. He will with the temptation or trial, also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it. God gives us an escape and that’s through the trial. He doesn’t give us a way of escape to avoid the trial. He allows us to escape by going through the trial. He will always provide our strength or others around us who have the strength to help us through our trials. If they’re too big for us, we need to ask this question. Have I left God out?

53. 29:27

    No trial is too big for Him and with His help, we can and will get through them. That’s the loving and powerful God that we worship. We also need to remember that we’re only part of the big picture when it comes to understanding what God is doing. We like ants on a painting.

54. 29:49

    We tend to focus on the here and the now. We crawl, crawl across the dark brown and think all life is dark brown. Then we hit green and think, oh, this is better. Now all is green. Then comes the dark blue and a splash of yellow, or a streak of red and then another patch of brown and on we go from one colour to another, forgetting that God is actually painting a masterpiece in our lives using all the colours of the palette.

55. 30:21

    One day we will discover that every colour had its place, every colour had a reason, nothing was wasted or out of place. Just as there is a time and a season for everything, there is also a colour at every stage of our life. When the painting is finished, we will discover that we were part of God’s masterpiece from the beginning, even though what was being done made no sense to us at all. We need to stand back and see the entire picture. And that’s God is not just saving you, He’s saving a multitude.

56. 31:06

    Countless millions and millions of people make up the masterpiece God is creating. We are but a speck in that masterpiece, and He holds the brush, not us.

57. 31:22

    We also need to keep in mind that God isn’t limited to what we think He ought to do. We continually make the mistake of thinking that our plans and God’s plans are the same plans. They aren’t wise person. Put it this way. Write your plans and pencil and give God the rubber.

58. 31:47

    If God always does what we want, how are we ever going to learn? How are our characters going to be built and strengthened in God’s way when we have everything and nothing bad happens to us? How are we ever going to learn to think like God thinks if all He does is our bidding?

59. 32:07

    God is nobody’s servant. He’s God. He does whatever he pleases, however senseless it is to us. Then some unbelieving Jews came from Antioch and Iconium. They went over the crowds, stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead, but as the disciples gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town.

60. 32:39

    The next day he left with Barnabas for Derby. After proclaiming the good news in that city and making many people into disciples, they returned to Lystra Iconium Antioch, strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith and reminding them that it is through many hardships that we must enter the Kingdom of God.

61. 33:04

    Sometimes God’s way makes no sense to us at all. How often have we asked God in prayer to do something for us and then proceeded to tell him what he should do? God’s bigger than us. He tells us what to do, not the other way around. Habakkuk didn’t understand that because he thought he knew what God should do.

62. 33:28

    He was wrong twice. First, when he thought God was ignoring Judah’s sin, and 2nd when he couldn’t believe that God would use the Babylonians to judge his own people. God is way, way bigger than our puny ideas. We don’t have the perfect plan, although we think we do. So why then are we surprised when God does the exact opposite to what we expect them to do? God does what He wants, how He wants and when He wants. We need to keep that in mind.

63. 34:01

    His way is always right, however wrong it looks to us. To help us understand that we need to have a close relationship with God, we need to keep in mind that even though He is millions of miles away from us and seems uninterested in our affairs, He is close enough to touch us personally.

64. 34:22

    Never assume that our Heavenly Father’s silence and apparent inactivity in our lives is evidence of His absence or disinterest. Salvation delayed is not salvation withdrawn. We need to have our minds focused, redirected, and renewed to that of Jesus Christ and His Father’s. We need to look at this world through their eyes. Think how they think.

65. 34:51

    Hebrews 13 and verse 5 to 8. Let’s have a look at that one. Hebrews 13, verse 5 to 8. Jesus assured us that He would always be with us, even to the end of the world. God works in our lives in His own way, even though it may not make sense to us at the time. Trust God.

66. 35:19

    He does watch over us, and He does hear our prayers even when we don’t see an apparent answer. And that’s delayed. Is not God’s work withdrawn? Hebrews 13, verse 5.

67. 35:37

    Keep your life free. No, that’s right, keep your life. I’m reading from a different translation just through me for a second. Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have. For he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man can do to me. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

68. 36:19

    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Without the mind of God and us, the sacrifice of Jesus just doesn’t make any sense at all. We’re coming here to remember it this morning. If you knew nothing about the way of God, about the wise and wherefores of this sacrifice that makes no sense left to us, we would do things very differently to what was done well.

69. 36:56

    Thank God it was not left up to us because the very thing that does not make sense to us has given opportunity for the world to have salvation. God’s way has freed us from the law of sin and death. What does not make sense to us makes perfect sense to God in First Corinthians one, verse 18 to 30. For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God.

70. 37:30

    For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe.

71. 38:03

    The Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and folly to Greeks. But to those who are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

72. 38:28

    For consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you are wise according to worldly standards. Now many are powerful, not many are noble of birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not to bring to nothing, things that are, so that no human might boast in the presence of God.

73. 39:00

    And because of Him, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Sometimes God’s wages does not make sense to us at all, never mind we walk by faith, not by sight. Put your confidence and trust in Him. And when you come to those times where you don’t understand what God is doing, let him carry you through them.

74. 39:40

    These things I’ve spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace in the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. So fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.

75. 40:05

    So let God get on with His work and stop hindering him with our puny wise and wherefores. He crucified His Son so that we can have eternal life. That is enormous. If we suffer just a little bit and don’t understand why it is happening, is that too much to ask for in light of the gift He has given to all of us? Thank you for listening to the Good Christadelphian Talks podcast.

76. 40:55

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77. 41:12

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78. 41:31

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