Even Though…

Hope in the Dark
Even Though…

I. Introduction

A. The dip is a sustained downward trajectory when what you believe about God is no longer what you’re experiencing with God.

B. The dip is never neutral. It’s forming you one of two ways: toward deeper or deeper .

C. Emotions are , not . They signal what we feel, but they don’t get to steer our faith.

D. Habakkuk 2:4b (ESV) …but the righteous shall live by his faith.

II. The Righteous Will Live by Faith

A. is a moment, faith is a .

B. “The righteous shall live by faith” doesn’t the dip, it it within God’s larger story.

C. My obedience + God’s promise = the life I expect.

III. God Is Not Blind

A. Habakkuk 2:2-4 (NIV) ²Then the LORD replied: “Write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that a herald may run with it. ³For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. ⁴See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness.”

IV. The Coming Promise

A. Habakkuk 2:14 (NIV) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.

B. The promise of God is not just the defeat of evil. It is the restoration of His presence. Our hope is not simply that one day the bad guys lose. Our hope is that one day God fills the earth with His glory!

C. Revelation 21:3 (NIV) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”

D. The promise of God is not , it’s !

E. The promise is not simply that God will remove Babylon. It’s that God will fill what Babylon tried to empty.

V. Defiant Worship

A. Habakkuk 3:1-2a (NIV) ¹A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. ²LORD, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, LORD. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known.

B. Habakkuk 3:2 (NIV) Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.

C. Habakkuk 3:17 (NIV) 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.

D. Habakkuk 3:18 (NIV) …yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Savior.

E. “Even though” faith doesn’t develop on the mountain. It develops in the dip.

VI. Conclusion