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A Nation That Fears God (Series Part 1)
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As America approaches its 250th birthday, we're starting a new sermon series called A Nation That Fears God. While we can appreciate and love our country, it's important to understand that no nation holds a special status above another in God's eyes. God's desire is for every nation to know Him, honor Him, and ultimately bow before Jesus Christ.
Wherever you call home—whether you're here in Los Angeles, watching from another country, or anywhere else in the world—these principles apply to your nation too. One day, every nation will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Nations are not ultimately changed from government buildings or political movements. Nations are changed when God transforms the hearts of the people in that nation. The question we're exploring today is: How can we have a faith that transforms our hearts and therefore transforms our nation?
To answer this, we're turning to the book of Habakkuk—all three chapters—to discover what world-changing faith looks like.
Habakkuk lived during a dark time. The kingdom of Judah had experienced two very evil kings who brought corruption into their land and government. Watching this evil spread, Habakkuk cried out to God in frustration:
"How long, Lord, must I call for help and you do not listen? Or cry out to you 'Violence!' but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?" (Habakkuk 1:2-3)
Habakkuk's question is one many of us have asked: What do you do when you needed God to show up and He didn't? What do you do when you needed a miracle by noon on Tuesday, but now it's Wednesday and you still haven't heard anything?
God's response to Habakkuk is remarkable. He doesn't answer the specific question. Instead, God says:
"Look at the nations and watch—be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." (Habakkuk 1:5)
Essentially, God tells Habakkuk: Your human mind is too small to comprehend the plans of God. Even if I explained it to you, you wouldn't understand.
But here's the life-changing truth: The deepest answer God gives is not an explanation—it's His presence.
We often come to God with our prayer lists, expecting Him to fill in the blanks with answers. But God cares less about answering your questions than you might realize—not because He doesn't care about you, but because what He really wants to give you is Himself.
Consider this: We want answers about God's will. We want to know where our country is headed. But God is saying, "I'm not going to give you a detailed explanation. What I'm giving you is My presence. I am with you."
Jesus said in John 17:3: "This is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent."
If you truly know who Jesus is—if you understand that He lived a perfect life, died for your sins, rose from the grave three days later, and gave you His Holy Spirit living inside you—what is there left to worry about? What can go so wrong that it will knock you over?
Ray Reynolds, a man in our church community, was diagnosed with cancer. When asked if he would choose to go back to being healthy or stay where he is with cancer, he said: "I would stay right here with cancer, because I'm seeing God move in ways I never would have seen otherwise."
This is the kind of faith that changes nations. The world won't change when Christians win every argument. The world will change when people look at your life and see that you have joy in Jesus no matter what.
When the world sees that, they'll say, "Give me whatever that is." And the answer is Jesus.
Notice what Habakkuk does: He questions God. He's frustrated with God. But he doesn't post about it on social media or complain to his friends. He brings his questions directly to God in prayer.
One of the biggest reasons people walk away from Christianity is because of their questions. Rather than taking those questions to God, they try to figure things out themselves. But Habakkuk understands something crucial: The very reason you can call something evil is because God Himself has called it evil.
Without a holy God, who decides what is evil? A dominating culture? Nature? If we eliminate God, evil becomes merely someone's opinion. But with God, we have an objective standard of justice and righteousness.
Look at how Habakkuk questions God:
"Are you not from everlasting, O Lord, my God, my Holy One? You will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous?" (Habakkuk 1:12-13)
He's questioning God, but he never stops trusting God. In the same breath, he asks "Why?" and then calls God "my God," "my Holy One," "my rock." He is confused, but he refuses to let go.
Do you have that ability? Can you be frustrated with God yet still refuse to let go of Him because you know He has the words of life?
In chapter 2, Habakkuk responds to God's promise:
"I will stand at my watch and station myself on the rampart; I will look to see what he will say to me and what answer I should give to this complaint." (Habakkuk 2:1)
Notice: He doesn't sit down passively. He stands. He stations himself. He actively seeks God's answer.
Often, we think of waiting as sitting on the couch, doing nothing. But waiting on God is active service. Even the word "waiter" in a restaurant describes someone running around serving people!
If you're waiting on God for something—whether it's a spouse, healing, financial provision, or answered prayer—your waiting time is not your "party time." It's your preparation time.
Waiting reveals something crucial: Do you love God for who He is, or merely for what He gives?
We all know the friend who hangs out with us when we're buying dinner and paying the check, but disappears when we can no longer treat them. We don't like being used like that. Yet we often treat God the same way.
When God is blessing us, we're tight with Him. "That's my God. I love Him." But the moment the blessings stop, we ask, "God, what's wrong? Are you mad at me? Did I do something?"
But Habakkuk responds differently. God essentially says, "It's going to get worse before it gets better." And Habakkuk says, "Okay, God, I don't understand what You're doing, but I'm going to hang on every word You speak because You have the words of life."
His faith is genuine—not because of what God gives, but because of who God is.
As Peter writes: "Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials... the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." (1 Peter 1:6-7)
My wife Kayla and I got married six years ago. For the first couple of years, we rarely prayed together. Then, for the last two-plus years, we've been trying to have a baby. It hasn't happened. There have been doctor's appointments, surgeries, wrestling with God.
I've asked God, "I gave my whole life to You. Aren't You going to help me?" It's been two of the hardest years of our lives.
But here's what's remarkable: We've prayed together almost every single day for two years. Our prayers started as, "God, give us what we want," but slowly became, "God, give us what we want, but help us to want You more than anything else."
Our faith is being refined. We're learning to want God for who He is, not just for what He gives.
And my wife told me something amazing: "Even though these are the hardest years of our marriage, they've also been the strongest years. Our relationship is deeper than it's ever been."
God is doing something in the waiting. If you're frustrated with God, it's not the time to let go of Him. Hang on to Him. Get to know Him. He'll give you a genuine faith that results in you being able to praise and glorify God no matter what's happening in your life.
In chapter 3, Habakkuk learns that worship rejoices in God's character before His deliverance. God has told him to wait, so Habakkuk starts worshiping who God is.
Habakkuk describes a physically anxious response:
"I heard and my heart pounded; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled." (Habakkuk 3:16)
But then he makes a radical statement:
"Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. 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—yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior." (Habakkuk 3:17-18)
Habakkuk says, "I have nothing materially. I don't have food. I might starve. But I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior."
How can you rejoice when you have nothing? Because you're rejoicing in the character of God, not in your circumstances.
Habakkuk continues:
"The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights." (Habakkuk 3:19)
When you have no strength, God becomes your strength. You can show up to work even when you're tired. You can show up for your family even after failures. Because you're trusting that even though you're not strong enough, God is strong enough to help you be the person you need to be.
Our world wants to know how to have grit in trials, how to persevere. The answer is not self-help or self-discipline. The answer is learning to rejoice in the character of your God.
When Habakkuk worships God, God gives him perspective. "He enables me to tread on the heights." When you climb to a height, you can see further. You get perspective.
Worship is like a GPS. A GPS has eyes you don't have. It sees traffic, delays, and road closures. It can guide you down the best path.
When you worship God, He takes you to the heights and shows you that He's leading you down the best path. You can't see everything, but you can see enough to take the next step. As long as you're taking steps with Him, you're going to be okay.
Imagine traveling back 2,000 years to the foot of the cross. You see Jesus's mother crying, His disciples crying. You'd walk up and say, "Don't cry." They'd look at you in shock: "Don't cry? Our Savior is dying. God's plan is over."
But you'd say, "Stay with me. I know this is hard to understand, but I have a book that tells the rest of the story. Jesus is dying on the cross, but in three days, He's going to rise from the dead. This isn't the end—it's God's greatest victory."
Here's my question for you: Can you give yourself that same advice?
You're facing something you don't understand. Maybe it's your country. Maybe it's a child who's walked away. Maybe it's the loss of a job. You don't have another chapter of your story explaining how it will work out.
But you know this: The same God who was faithful at the cross is faithful in your life.
World-changing faith holds on to the one who holds tomorrow. If you want to change the world through your faith, never let go of God.
If you don't have peace and joy in your life, I encourage you: wrestle with God, learn what it means to walk with Him, and find that peace and joy today. There is no other way through this world besides Jesus. He is the only one who can give you the peace and joy you're searching for in all the craziness of life.
