Do you find any godly man or woman praying in scripture and they don’t expect an answer? What does that mean if you’re praying but you don’t expect an answer? It means you just simply going through the motions. I mean, why would you even want to pray that way? Brethren, what you want to do is you want to bring your problems and lay them before God. That’s what God says. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your cares upon Him for he cares for you. Your anxieties. You cast them on him. Take your problems to him. And then you wait for an answer. But guess what? While you’re waiting for an answer, don’t go on being anxious. Don’t go on fretting. What does it say if you don’t expect an answer? It means you’re just playing with prayer. Well, what does it mean if you rise up from prayer and you go on being anxious? What does that mean? It means you don’t trust God. That means you really haven’t taken your cares and laid them on him. You see, what you ought to be able to do is take your need in faith to God, take your anxiety, take your care. Lay it there. That’s what Habakkuk did. He laid it there and then he waited. He waited and he watched. And he expected…I’m going to wait here until the answer comes. And he’s not fretting anymore. That’s where we need to be. Lay it all on him and then expect an answer. Expect an answer. Go to your watchtower and keep your eyes glued upon God and see how he’ll answer. You know what God said? Call to me and I will answer you. Did He not say that in Scripture? Then why would you not expect an answer? Listen, the saints say, answer me. Oh, Lord, for your steadfast love is good. Psalm 69:16. Hide not your face from your servant for I am in distress. Make haste to answer me. Psalm 86. Incline your ear, Lord, and answer me for I am poor and needy. Psalm 102 Do not hide your face for me in the day of my distress. Incline your ear to me answer me speedily in the day when I call. Psalm 119:145, with my whole heart I cry. Answer me. Oh, Lord. Psalm 143. Hear my prayer. Oh, Lord, give me give here to my pleas for mercy and in your faithfulness answer me. Psalm 143:7: Answer me quickly oh, Lord, my spirit fails hide not your face from me.
What reveals a man or a woman of faith more than this, than the fact that you expect God to answer? We can measure our faith right at this point. Look at a woman…. look at a man after they pray. What’s their attitude? That’ll tell you everything about what they really believe. Do they believe that they have a God who hears prayer? Do they expect an answer from that God? What’s the expectation? The men and women of faith in Scripture what are they like? They not only prayed, they expected their God to answer them. And Habakkuk expects an answer and it comes. Look at Habakkuk 2:2 and following: The Lord answered me. That’s what you see, right? The vision.
View the full sermon, “Habakkuk Part 1 – The Lord is in His Holy Temple“.
