Craig Groeschel - Trusting God When Nothing Makes Sense
So it was sometime in 2017 or so that I was in my normal place sitting by my best friend. And actually, I wasn’t sitting, I was standing, because it was in worship and I had a really normal week. I had been in God’s Word, full of faith, praying, and worshiping about to go and share God’s Word. And it was the weirdest thing. And I promise you, it’s the weirdest thing. It’s hadn’t happened before and it hadn’t happened since. But when I was about to preach, I just had this random thought, like doubt flooded my mind, and I just thought like, «What if all this stuff isn’t real and crazy»? No reason, just like this paralyzing fear.
Like, what if all this stuff that I’ve built my whole life on is a lie? You know, I have compassion for people with anxiety. I don’t have anxiety. I felt anxious and I just thought, «I can’t preach». I looked at the exit and I thought, «I just need to escape». I don’t know where. I was just flooded with doubts. So maybe some of you can relate. Perhaps for you, it wasn’t just a moment of doubt, but unfortunately, for some people, it might be like a season of doubt. And for some of you, it might not have been like in a church like it was for me, but maybe you were in a hospital room and got a diagnosis that you didn’t want to hear. Or maybe you were at a funeral and you were fighting back the tears, and you were wondering, «God, why didn’t You do what I begs You in prayer to do»?
You’re flooded with doubts. Maybe it was you were alone in your bedroom at 2:00 AM in the morning crying out to God, wondering if He’s even there. And you ask questions like, if God is good and I really believe He is, but if He is, why do I hurt so much? Or you wonder if God is so powerful and loves me, why doesn’t He fix what’s broken in my life? And your mind races, if God can do anything, why doesn’t He do what His word says He can do? Why do I feel like He’s not there when I need Him most? If you’ve never had questions like that, you might just take a moment to praise God right where you are. Because for most of us, it’s not a matter of if we have a faith question or two, but it’s more like when we do, and it kind of raises the question like, what do you do when one moment you’re full of faith and then maybe something else happens, and all of a sudden, you have faith questions? What do you do whenever your doubts become louder than your faith?
And so we’re talking about a new book that we just released. It’s called «The Benefit of Doubt». And we’re talking about how asking real questions can actually help you grow in your faith. And what I wanna do is just like very sincerely and very pastorally, even though this may be something different than you’ve ever heard from a pastor before, is I wanna give you permission to doubt, but not just to doubt for the sake of doubt, but to ask sincere spiritual questions in a way that can actually draw you closer to God.
And I wanna show you how to do it from God’s Word. How to like specifically wrestle with some of the real life pain issues that most of us go through without losing your faith in God. Because as we said in previous weeks, kind of a key idea behind the message of the book is that doubt isn’t the enemy of faith, but doubt is often a pathway to a deeper and more meaningful faith. If you do find yourself doubting, that doesn’t make you a bad Christian, it makes you a human being. And it doesn’t mean that you’re actually running from God. It may mean that you’re really sincerely seeking God. Doubt is often a pathway to a deeper and more meaningful faith. So let’s pray:
Father, I thank You for every person that You’ve brought to hear this message. I pray, God, that Your Holy Spirit would do a work in us. And God, especially for those who may be hurting, who may be struggling in their faith, who may not even know what they believe about You, would Your Holy Spirit God draw us close to You and teach us to trust You, God, even when we have questions, God, to trust You, especially when we have questions, because You are always good and You are always with us. Draw us close. We pray in the name of Jesus and all God’s people said… amen.
You ready for the word today? If you’re ready, say, «I’m ready». Online, type in the comment section, I’m ready for the word. I’m ready for the word. What we’re gonna do today is I’m gonna show you just a ridiculously powerful example from an Old Testament prophet named, Habakkuk. When you say Habakkuk, you almost have to act like you’re clearing your throat, like Habakkuk, that’s what you kind of have to do. And so go ahead and try that Habakkuk! Now, wipe this bit off the back of your head. You wanna do right now. Habakkuk, he is the prophet that didn’t understand what was going on and still tried to trust God even though he didn’t understand. And if you don’t know anything about Habakkuk, he’s one of the 12 minor prophets. And if you’re new to like Old Testament prophets like minor, like was he less important?
You know, was he not good enough to play in the majors? You know, actually, no, minor prophets simply means the book is shorter and that’s all it means. And so Habakkuk has three chapters. It’s very short, but they’re very power packed chapters that teach us how to trust God even when we have very real questions. So I’ll give you a little context about Habakkuk. He was a prophet in the late seventh century BC, so seven centuries before Jesus was born. And this was a time of complete chaos. There was massive moral, and political instability, and corruption all over Judah. And the people were like totally, completely out rejecting Yahweh, the one true God. And do any of you think that our world is complicated now?
Raise your hand if you think it’s complicated now. Type the comment section, the world is complicated now. If you think it’s bad now, it was bad then too. Most of the priests and most of the prophets. And the judges, they were like corrupt. They would take monetary bribes, and then issue a judgment that would be against what was right and what was true. And the temples, the place where you’re supposed to go and worship, the temples, they had temple prostitution, and it’s hard to imagine what they would have orgies, and they had idol worship. Instead of worship God, they’d worship these idols. And it’s even hard to say out loud, but they would have child sacrifices.
And so parents would literally sacrifice children to the false God Moloch, hoping that this false God would somehow give them favor. And all these people in this horrible tense time, they were terrified at a potential attack from their enemies, the Babylonians. And so here they’re living in this political instability. There’s corruption everywhere. They’re worried about their enemies. Almost everybody is suffering. And a back at the prophet says, «God, do You even care»? That’s essentially what he says. I’m chosen to be your prophet to represent You, and God, it doesn’t seem like You even care. You look at him and you think, did he just like take it in stride and like, go, God, you do you no problem here. No, he didn’t like it at all. And you actually see him take his hurts and his questions to God. And he complained to God and ask God in Habakkuk 1:2, he said this, he said, «How long Lord must I call for help, but you do not listen»?
God, I’m praying, I’m begging You, but it doesn’t even seem like You’re paying attention. He says, or, «How long do I cry out to you, 'Violence! ' You know, they’re attacking, but You do not save? Why do You make me look at injustice? God, why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there’s strife and conflict abounds». He’s going, «God, I’m trying to trust You, but what I see is hard to reconcile with who I thought You were». And what I like about Habakkuk is the dude is just honest. I mean, he’s not being dramatic. He’s just pouring out his hurts to God. I mean, his world has fallen apart and he is saying, «God, You don’t seem to care, and that’s not who I thought You were».
And so I can’t really understand it, and we can learn so much from watching this prophet interact with God and talk to God. And he essentially teaches us the principle that real faith isn’t denying doubt. It starts with being honest about doubt. Like real faith isn’t having all the answers, it’s asking the questions, but never, ever letting go of God. And it blesses me, because it shows me like right here in God’s Word, that faith and frustration can coexist at the same time. In other words, like you can not understand God or even doubt God and still believe in God. And I know what I’m saying is gonna make some people mad, because there’s some Christians that think like when you ask questions, that’s just demonstrating a lack of faith in God.
And I would suggest that in many cases, it’s not a lack of faith in God, but it’s a desire to understand God. It’s a desire to truly have a deeper faith in God. And it’s not dishonoring God, it is an unusual way of seeking and pursuing Him. And so what happens to most people, maybe not you, but probably somebody you love. At some point, they’re touched by the spirit of God and their eyes are open and their sins are forgiven, and they’re born anew. The old is gone and Jesus makes them new. And maybe they get involved in church and they get baptized and bring their friends, and they join a life group and they start serving somewhere, and they’re reading the word, and they lift their hands and worship. Everything’s great, and that’s good.
And the Holy Spirit’s leading 'em to do things, and they’re being pro by the spirit, and they give someone and they’re witness to someone, and everything’s going great. And then one day, something happens. Something that doesn’t seem right. The pastor that led you to Christ changed your life, was unfaithful to his wife. And you go, «Was it of this true»? Your friend that’s struggling with infertility, your life group prays for them, and prays for them, and prays for them, and prays for them, and one day, praise God, they conceive. And the baby doesn’t make it, and you don’t understand why, or you plead it with God to save your marriage, restore my marriage, touch my spouse, and your spouse still walked away, or you beg God to send you a spouse.
And so what do you do? You serve God faithfully. You seek God with all of your heart. You live in purity. And you’re still alone. You prayed, and you fasted, and you stood on God’s Word, and you believed that He was gonna heal the person that you love. And they died anyway. And so what do you do with that? Like you believe in God, you love God, you trust God, you felt God, you know He is there, and then He doesn’t do what you thought He should do. You guys are really quiet, is this too real? I mean, like, are you uncomfortable? I mean, am I the only one? I mean, sometimes, you just gotta just like talk about it, right? What do you do when you face questions that you can’t answer?
What happens is it feels like you only have two options. You tend to think yourself, «I can either do what this or this,» you think, «Okay, option number one is you deny your faith, okay, God didn’t do it, so God must not be real». You deny your faith. Or the second option is you think you deny your questions, you deny your faith must not be real, or you deny your questions. You deny your faith, like, okay, I put my trust in God. and I prayed and I went to church, and then they let me down. Or, you know, I read the Bible, and God didn’t do what I thought He would do. And so it must not be real.
So I walk away, I’m mad at God, I’m hurt by God. I don’t like the Christians. That church isn’t, they’re not… You deny your faith or it feels like your other options deny your questions. Like just gotta push 'em down. Just pretend like they’re not really there. And so you still kind of lift your hands and you still kind of, God’s good I think. And you try your best to smile and act like everything’s okay, but in the back of your mind, you’re still going, «I don’t understand God». You do your best to keep believing, but the doubts are still there. And both of those options, they feel… Right, I mean like, I do this, or I do that. The problem is, neither one leads you to where you want to be and they don’t lead you to where God wants you to be either.
And so thankfully, when you look at Habakkuk, he actually shows us a third option. And I’ll show you what it is. First, you deny your faith, or you deny your questions, or you doubt and you keep seeking. You ask questions and you still keep pursuing the heart and the presence of a very real and good God. And Habakkuk actually shows us how to experience very real doubts, and fears, and frustration, and continue to push into God and try to believe in Him and to try to have faith in Him. And you can see him doing this very thing in the meaning of his name. Say it again, Habakkuk. I’m gonna have you type it online, but I’m gonna tell you how to spell it. Type it online, Habakkuk, H-A-B-A-K-K-U-K.
Habakkuk, this name, it’s interesting, I’ll show it to you in the Hebrew and in cemetery, excuse me, in seminary, years ago, a little pastor joke. I took Hebrew, and you have to read it backwards. So you in, you know, English, you read this way Hebrew, you read it this way. And what’s Hebrew’s so rich that a Hebrew word is, sometimes, more like an idea than just a word. It’s almost like a, almost like a sentence or meaning. This is probably not totally theologically accurate, but it’s almost like a short story. Sometimes, there’s more to it. And so the name Habakkuk literally means this, it means to wrestle and to embrace. That’s what the name means. It means to like if I wrestle, I do this and I embrace. I do this.
It’s like the same motion with different emotion behind the motion is to wrestle and to embrace at the very same time. And what I love is, this is what Habakkuk does. He’s wrestling with God going, «But you’re supposed to be just, and this doesn’t feel just, but I’m holding onto You, believing in Your good, and I don’t understand and I still try to love You, and this frustrates me and I’m seeking You, and God, why don’t You when I know You can, and I still declare that You are good». And… the Bible doesn’t pull any punches. It’s like, I mean the guy, he doesn’t like it. He doesn’t get it. And he tells God, «I don’t think it’s fair». So do you remember who the people were afraid of? Not the Blabylonians, but the Babylonians. They’re afraid of Babylonians.
And so he tells God, «Where are You? You’re not doing anything,» and let me show you what God says back to him. It’s shocking. This is what God says back to him. God says this, «I’m raising up the Babylonians». You know, the people you’re afraid of that are really dangerous. «I’m raising them up, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own. They’re a feared and dreaded people… They all come intent on violence…» What’s God’s saying, essentially, you have been so unrighteous, so sinful, so far from Me that I’m raising up your enemies to come and do justice upon you, because you’ve strayed so far from Me. And Habakkuk is like going, «That’s not fair. I mean, but we’re supposed to be the good guys even though we’re not. And I don’t like this».
And his response is both personal and it’s emotional. But it’s from his own heart, and it’s full of his grief, and angst and questions, and faith and doubt, and fear and love and trust. And he gives us permission to doubt and trust. And even in his name and what he does shows us how to wrestle with God and embrace God at the same time. Watch what he does, and you see both wrestling and embracing in the very same text. He says this, «Lord, are you not from everlasting»? God, like You’re good, You’re here before time. The Lord who wasn’t is and is to come.
«Oh My God, my holy one, you will never die». He’s embracing God. «You, Lord, have appointed the Babylonians to execute judgment;» Oh, I don’t like that, no. You, my rock, I love you, I trust You, God, You’re my rock. You have ordained them to punish, I don’t like this, God. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. God, You’re holy, right? You’re good God, You can’t tolerate wrongdoing. God, I trust Your righteousness and judgment. Why then I’m wrestling again? Why do You tolerate the treacherous? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? You see it? I mean, it’s all right there. This is real life. This is me on the front row. I trust You and I don’t feel You. I trust You. You’re righteous, You’re perfect, and You’re confusing. This doesn’t seem fair. I love You. And I don’t know why You won’t do something about this, God. 'Cause I know You’re powerful enough to do it.
Have you ever been there? I wonder if some of you might be there now. What I want you to know, pastorally, I’ll tell you this. Pastorally is, Habakkuk shows us that you can take your hurts to God. I mean, He’s big enough to handle it. If you’re hurting, if you’ve got questions, if you don’t understand, I mean, you can… look at David in the Psalms, where are you? Why are you doing this? And I am pretty convinced that God would rather have you yell at Him than to walk away from Him. Because I know Amy would rather have me yell back than to walk away, 'cause when I walk away, things don’t go well. And if you think that she might not raise her voice, don’t let that pretty face fool you. She likes to work things out. And I like to hide. Last time, we got in a fight, she came crawling to me on her hands and knees.
And she said, get out from under that bed, you coward, and fight like a man. Keep going, yeah. Sorry. Maybe I shouldn’t have said that. I want to just show you a big picture of what’s going on in Habakkuk, three chapters, right? Chapter three, he’s wondering, he’s wondering, chapter, I’m sorry, chapter one, he’s wondering. There is no answer. There is no miracle. He’s praying, and there is no resolution. Some of you right now, you are in chapter one, what do you do when you’re in chapter one? You don’t walk away from God in chapter one. You continue to take your questions to Him. In chapter one, he’s wondering. In chapter two, he’s waiting. And if you read the text, you’re gonna see him waiting. And he’s wondering, there’s no fun.
Waiting is kind of worse, right? I don’t know about you, but like, I mean, if a show buffers, I’m out, right? And, you know, some of you’re waiting on real things like you’re waiting on God to provide a job with benefits, because you have someone sick in your home. You know, or you’re praying for God to bring a child back to faith, because they’ve wandered away. You’re waiting God to heal someone. You’re praying for 'em that, in our home, we’re praying for God to heal our daughters. And we know He can and He hasn’t. And we’re waiting. Waiting on God. If you’re in chapter two, I want you to remember that while you’re waiting, God is still working. Just because you don’t see it doesn’t mean He’s not still with you.
So chapter one, you’re wondering, we see Habakkuk, he’s wondering. Chapter two, he’s waiting. And chapter three, we see him trusting. Very, very powerful. Chapter three, we see him trusting. And there is a powerful shift in the tone in chapter three and it’s almost like there’s a, like a spiritual reset. The very first verse in chapter three, this is what the text says, «A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth». For the record, that is a good word, shigionoth, not a bad word, it really is. I just want you to know, «A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth,» it says. And this term is actually a musical term, and it describes how a song should be sung. For example, you might say, like, sing the song like a love song or jazz this one up. You know, or, you know, sing it fast or sing it slow. And a definition of the word «shigionoth» is actually this.
It’s a wild, passionate song with a rapid tempo; a cry of adoration, unwavering trust, and bold confidence expressed through heartfelt worship in uncertainty. It’s this like rapid cry from the heart. It’s like… That’s bold, and it’s like I’m believing, and I’m believing, and I’m believing, and I’m believing one source calls should not praise, praise punctuated with exclamation marks. I like that. It’s praise punctuated with exclamation marks. And it’s, I always like, when someone texts Amy, she’ll report to me how many exclamation marks, like they said this with three exclamation marks. Now, for the record, she says only one is technically correct. So I text her usually with one, unless I’m really excited. And then I say, I love you with seven, 'cause seven is the number of perfection, just so I know she’ll know I chose seven.
And so it is praise punctuated with exclamation marks. Shigionoth, it’s not praise for what’s happening, but this is praise for who God is. It is pray is trusting God even when you don’t understand. And look at verse 16 of chapter 3. Habakkuk says, «I heard and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones, my legs trembled». I’m resting, I don’t like this, yet, watch him. I’m gonna still trust you. I wait patiently even though I know the day of calamity is gonna come and the nation’s invading us. He’s like, «I don’t like this». And then watch what he says. «Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine». In other words, there’s no provision. The things that we would expect you to provide.
«Though the olive crop fails and the field produce no fruit, though there no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls,» though everything that I wanted and I hope for is not there, he says, «Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God, my Savior». This is shigionoth, this is not a halfhearted song to God. This is a cry from the depths of my soul. This is a faith that worships even when everything feels wrong. This is a faith that believes even when the eyes don’t see. This is chapter three, shigionoth, it’s praise with exclamation marks. And just to be really, really clear so you understand, this isn’t making the best of a bad situation.
Well, nothing going, but at least we have, at least, no, no, no, this is wrestling and embracing. This is acknowledging like this is not good. I don’t like it. There are no grapes on the vine. There are no sheep in the pen. And I declare the Lord is still on the throne. This is praise not for what you see, but this is just trust in who God says He is. So on that day, in 2017, it hadn’t happened before. And thank God it hasn’t happened since. But on that day, I was about to preach, I’m holding God’s Word. And all of a sudden, I just like, «Oh, what if it’s not real»? What if it’s not real? And yeah, I’ve got two, three minutes before standing up in front of the church that I love, in front of people that have real faith. And I’m supposed to be the guy bringing the word, and I have doubts.
So I put my head down and I went to God and said, «God, help. God, I know You’re there, I’m pretty sure You’re there. I knew You were there. I still think You are there, but I’m not sure if You’re there. God, I know You saved me. I know Jesus changed me, but I don’t feel You. And I’m afraid». And I just, I mean, I just told Him everything. Like, I can’t do this, I need you. I don’t know if you’re gonna come through, I need you. I need you, and I just walked up on the place. I gripped the Bible and with the faith I had, I preached about Jesus, and as I preached about Jesus, the doubts just faded and the faith just drew back. And it wasn’t even about feeling it, it was just about believing it in a deeper place, because I know what He did in me, and I know who He is.
And I know that I’m not perfect. And I know that my heart without Him is deceitful. And I know that my emotions lie. And I know that His word is true. And I know that His ways are higher than my ways, and that my mind is incomplete with. And I only see him part, but He sees in full. And so sometimes, I just say, «I don’t understand». And I continue to hang on. And I preached about Jesus and I invited people to follow Jesus. And lives were changed. And I pushed through the doubt. Didn’t destroy my faith, it just kind of, even maybe a little bit strengthened it, because in a moment, worked through it.
And I’m not gonna say for whatever you’re facing, it’s gonna be that easier, that quick, it may be. Hopefully, it is, and it might not be. There might be more questions, more wrestling, more praying, more discussing, more talking to people, more seeking God. And do it. Do it. Wrestle and embrace. Because life is hard. It’s gonna be hard. And you may face some doubts, but doubt isn’t the enemy of your faith. And many times, it’s an invitation to a deeper and more meaningful faith. And so you can’t ask questions and you can still have faith, because sometimes, real faith isn’t found in having all the answers. But it’s found in not letting go of God.
God, You’re always good, You’re always present. And even when we don’t understand, God, we hang on to You. So Heavenly Father, do a work in our hearts today as only You can do.
As you’re praying today at our church, those of you online, if you find yourself with questions, hurts, things you don’t understand, and you’re still holding on to God, would you lift up your hand right now, just all over the place, just lift up your hand. There’s more of you than that. You’re going through something and you’re hanging on to God. Lift up your hand just in an act of faith. Those of you that someone you love is going through something, and they may be having faith questions right now, and you wanna pray for them, would you just lift up your hand as an act of saying, «I wanna pray for somebody I love». There’s so many of you.
So God, we just do that right now. We thank You that You are here right now in this moment. God, someone who’s watching on a phone, a computer, You are with them right now. And God, we just acknowledge there are so many things that we don’t understand. And sometimes, we not only do we not understand, but we don’t like it. And we’ll just tell You, «God, we don’t like it». We don’t understand, and we embrace You. We keep seeking You. We hold on to You. We’re believing that You’re good. We may not feel like we believing, we’re choosing to hang onto You, God. Would You help us? God, would You help us? Would You build our faith to trust You even more? God, for those that are struggling, maybe walking away loved ones, God give us grace to love them and the truth to help lead them back to You. We thank You, God, that You’re a good God, a compassionate God, a God that can handle our questions, and a God who continues to love us. And as we draw near to You, You draw near to us. Work in our hearts, we pray.
As you keep praying today, I look at Jesus before He went to the cross. If you know His story, He knelt down in the garden before He was gonna give His life. And He kind of had a wrestle, embrace thing. He’s like, «God, hey, God, is there any other way»? He said like, if this cup of suffering could be removed from me, in other words, like, I really don’t want to suffer really bad. And then He is like, «Hey, yet nevertheless, not my will, but Your will be done. Like I don’t want it, but I trust You. I don’t wanna hurt, but God, I trust You».
And so Jesus became obedient even to death on a cross. Why did He have to die? He was the Son of God. He was God in human form. He was without sin. And He died in our place. He died in my place. Jesus, the Son of God, died to pay for my sins, to pay for your sins. And the good news is God is so good. God raised Him from the dead. You can imagine the disciples who thought Jesus was gonna be like the king, and then He is dead and they don’t understand, and they’re trying to hang on. And three days later, three days later, God proved Himself faithful, God is always faithfully, is always good. To those of you today that don’t know where you stand with God, maybe you wonder, you know, have I been too bad? Am I good enough? And the answer is, none of us are good enough. All of us are broken in our sins without Jesus. But the good news is when we put our faith in the perfect work of Jesus, God forgives all of our sins and makes us brand new.
Today, if you don’t know where you stand with God, I’m gonna just invite you to step toward Him. Step away from your sins, step toward Jesus. Call on his name. When He hears your prayer, He will forgive all of your sins. You become brand new. The old is gone, the new is common. All of our churches, those online, you say, «Yes, that’s me». I need His forgiveness. I want to know Him. I’m stepping away from my sinfulness, and I’m surrendering my life to Him. Jesus, I give You my life. That’s your prayer today. Would you lift your hands high right now all over the place, lift up your hands and say, «Yes, I’m giving my life to Jesus». Praise God for people today and all of our churches saying, «Yes, Jesus, we surrender to You». Online, if you can type in the comment sections on, «I am surrendering my life to Jesus». Just type up in the comment section, together, wherever you are, just pray this, nobody prays alone. Pray:
Heavenly Father, forgive all of my sins. Jesus, save me. Be the Lord of my life. Fill me with Your Spirit, so I can serve You and be faithful to You all the days of my life. My life is not my own. I give it all to You. Thank You for new life. I give You mine. In Jesus name, I pray.