PURPOSE: To help listeners understand that believing God is not always easy.

Do you think it is a good practice when you're wrestling with doubts to take your doubts and questions to God in prayer?

Do you think that in doing that you will always get a satisfying answer?

I. Sometimes when we go to God with our doubts, things get worse before they get better.

The prophet Habakkuk went to God with questions about why a righteous God did not punish the evil that was going on in Judah.

He was wise enough to take his doubts to God (1:1-4). He expresses his deep feelings of frustration and doubt. The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry and You will not hear? Even cry out to You "Violence!" and You will not save. Why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds."

II. God's answer gave little to satisfy the prophet.

In fact, his doubts only got worse (1:5-11).

God responded that He was at work in punishing sin in Judah.

He was raising up the Babylonians, a fierce and brutal people, to punish Judah for its sin.

Not only did the forces of evil win in Judah, but they would win internationally.

God's answer, from Habakkuk's perspective, was worse than the original problem.

This is like being concerned about sin in the United States and wondering why God hasn't punished us, and then discovering that God was raising up Al Qaeda terrorists to punish America.

III. In the light of God's response to Habakkuk, do you think we ought to take our questions to God?

Habakkuk does not turn away from God but keeps pressing his questions (1:12-17).

Do you think that God took Habakkuk's doubts seriously? Do you think He takes our doubts seriously?

Simply because God's answers do not immediately satisfy us does not mean that His answers are not in line with His character.