I said, no, you didn’t. He said, yes, I did. I finally said, ok, if you graduated from East Lyme then you know the alma mater because we all had to learn the alma mater. So I started saying it and he joined in. To thee our alma mater, we make this solemn vow, to know to love to serve thee the best that we know how…
I was absolutely shocked that we went to the same high school and now we were serving churches next to each other in Lewisburg PA. As amazing as that was, what really amazed me was that we both knew the alma mater! Isn’t it amazing how our brains work? I can still tell you the phone number of my grandmother’s house where we lived for several years, 739-5214, and the house we moved to when I was in 4th grade, 739-9137. Why do I still know those numbers but I can’t remember any pin numbers or password I have today?! Why can I recite dialogue from tv shows and movies but can’t recite scripture with more frequency? Why can I remember eating fish sticks at the family lobster bakes but can’t remember what I had for dinner last week?
As challenging as it can be for us to remember, our memory can actually help us through difficult times, and lead us to a deeper faith. We have spent the past few weeks learning how to find hope and strength in times of struggle by reading the message of Habakkuk. Habakkuk was a prophet who lived 600 years before Jesus and he wrote during a difficult time in the life of Israel. The nation was experiencing corruption and injustice internally and opposition and persecution externally, and Habakkuk asked God, How long?' He shared with God the questions and frustrations that the people had, and we learn from him that it is always ok to question God.
If that is the only message you take away from this series, I hope you will take that one. It is always ok to question God. In fact, God would rather have us yell at him in frustration than walk away from him in silence. In times of doubt and despair, we need to not turn away but truly be Habakkuk and embrace God even as we wrestle with Him. And that is what Habakkuk means, to embrace and to wrestle.
If we are going to ask questions, however, we have to be willing to wait and listen for God to reply. Waiting is hard, but it is essential if we are going to hear God’s word, and if we are going to hear God, we first need to create the space and silence needed to listen. Today, as we finish up Habakkuk, I have some bad news, we aren’t going to find all our problems solved and questions answered by the end of worship. Habakkuk would not make a good tv show because the problems don’t get resolved in 30 minutes. What it does do, however, is show us how to endure and develop a stronger faith - and ultimately that is what is important. Habakkuk really teaches us how to endure difficult times with faith. It gives us hope in the dark.
While we want answers to our questions, God wants us to have a more mature faith. While we want clarity, God wants us to develop courage and character, and where this deeper faith comes from is a heart and mind that can remember God. That is how Habakkuk ends his message, with a prayer that remembers all God has done. Habakkuk 3:3-7.
In his prayer, Habakkuk mentions both Temen and Mt. Paran, and these were some of the lands that the people of Israel travelled to when they left Egypt. They were east of the Red Sea and by naming them, Habakkuk helped the people remember that when there was no way forward, when the enemy was literally closing in on them and all hope seems lost, God made a way. God parted the Red Sea and allowed the people to cross over on dry ground and into a new land. God made a way where there was no way.
When Habakkuk then talked about the glory of God covering the heavens, and God’s splendor being like rays coming forth from God’s hand, he was reminding the people how God appeared in His glory on Mt Sinai, which many believe was in the area of Mt. Paran. It also reminded the people that God led them through the wilderness with a pillar of fire. And then when Habakkuk talked about God using plagues and pestilence, it was a reminder of how the plagues God sent on Egypt helped move Pharaoh to set God’s people free. As Habakkuk waits for God’s answers, he strengthens himself and his faith by remembering who God is and what God has done.
As we go through difficult times and wrestle with questions, doubts, and fears, we need to remember who God is and what God has done. Last week we talked about journaling and one of the most powerful things about keeping a journal is the ability to go back and see what God has done. I was part of a prayer team that for several months decided to keep a prayer journal and one week we went back and looked at our prayers. We found that many of our prayers had been answered. That gave us the strength and courage to keep praying and to keep trusting God because we could see God’s faithfulness and power. We celebrated what God had done and like Habakkuk we said, do it again, God. Habakkuk 3:2. Renew them in our day, in our time make them known.
Can you look back on a time in your life where God made a way where there seemed to be no way? Can you remember a time when God answered a prayer in a way that you knew simply had to be the hand of God? Those are the things we need to remember and those are the stories we need to tell ourselves and others over and over again. Why is it that I still know my high school alma mater? Because my freshman year I had to memorize it and so I said it over and over again.
Growing stronger in our faith comes when we remember who God is, how God has moved in our lives, and how God has answered our prayers.
When I was in seminary and didn’t see a clear way forward, God made a way through the people of Mt. Herman UMC who showed me that I really did want to be a pastor. In Altoona, when our afterschool program was wearing us all out physically, emotionally, and spiritually, we would gather each week after the kids went home and be ready to quit - but every week there was at least one of us who was strong and said – we need to keep going. 25 years later that program is still going.
Our mission team can tell stories of being in the right place at the right time to help someone with needs they didn’t even know existed. A few years ago we took a quilt down for the man whose home we would be working on. It was a patriotic quilt, but we didn’t know he was a veteran. We also didn’t know that the gift would move him so deeply that he gave us a sewing machine he had. And what he didn’t know is that we needed sewing machines to send to Belize. God made a way when we didn’t even know a way was needed, and it was a way of healing and hope for everyone.
Four months ago everything shut down due to covid -19, but we had made the right improvements, had the right people on board, and enough resources to start livestreaming worship without missing a week. God made a way where there was no way and we need to tell these stories over and over again to give us the confidence, the conviction, and the courage to wait with faith and trust that God will do it again.
I want to invite you this week to take some time and remember some ways God has revealed Himself to you, or answered your prayers, or made a way in your life where you did not see a way. It might be in finances, with jobs, in relationships, or just a gentle moving of the spirit that helped you see God in the beauty of creation. Don’t just remember, write it down so that you can go back to it in the future and use that story to strengthen your faith and trust in God, or maybe strengthen the faith of others. In our own congregation, Gail Spotts wrote down all the ways God gave her strength during several difficult times in her life and she turned those writings into a book that has given hope and peace to others. Our stories of faith can strengthen us and others if we are willing to share them.
As our faith and trust grow stronger, we move to a place of acceptance and peace so that no matter what happens around us, we know God is with us and working all things out according to His purpose. Does this mean our prayers will be answered in our way and in our time? Does it mean everything will work out ok? No, not at all, but it does mean that we can make it through those times with faith and conviction. This is how Habakkuk’s message ends, with faith and conviction, with assurance and peace. Habakkuk 3:17-19a
Even if everything falls apart, God is still God. God still loves me, God is still for me, and God is always with me. Even if things don’t go the way I want them to go, God still has a plan and purpose for me. Even though my questions, doubts, fears and struggles don’t go away, I can still be strong in faith and keep trusting God. In fact, many times the only way to be strong in our faith and learn how to trust God is to work our way through the dark valleys. Sometimes the only way to grow in our faith is by remembering who God is and how God has moved in the past as we struggle in the present.
We cannot give up on our faith when things don’t go our way or when we have questions that seem to go unanswered. We can’t give up on God when it seems like God is not doing more to help us. In those low moments, we can’t walk away from God, we have to learn how to cry out to God and then listen for God to speak.
As we wait, what can help us the most is to remember who God is and what God has done in history - and in our history. When we remember God’s goodness and faithfulness it is absolutely OK to say to God, Do It Again. Move again God. Help us again God.
Today let’s remember what God has done. Let’s remember how God has saved us and help us and cared for us in the past and then let’s say with faith and trust, Do it again, God. Do it again.
Next Steps
Habakkuk 3 - Remember
What is your favorite hymn or worship song? How does that song remind you of God’s character or movement in your life? What memories does that song bring to you?
Read Habakkuk 3:1-3
● Describe a time when you saw the goodness of God, or experienced God’s faithfulness in your life? When did you see God’s faithfulness come through in the life of someone you know?
● How can that memory help you embrace God today?
Read Habakkuk 3:4-7
● Habakkuk is describing some of the ways he knew God had moved in the history of God’s people. What are some of the Bible stories that remind you of God’s power, presence, and love for His people?
● How can these stories help you embrace God today?
God doesn’t answer all our prayers the way we want Him to, or according to our time table. Use Habakkuk 3:17-19 as a statement of conviction or part of a prayer this week.
It is always ok to question God, but we can’t walk away once we are done talking. We have to create space and silence for God to speak. As we wait we need to remember how God has moved in the past and in our past. This is the road to a deeper faith and trust.
Finish reading the psalms of lament this week:
Psalms 120, 123, 126, 129, 139, 141, 142.
