Hope: How to Find Hope in Hard Times

Pat Steeves · Tidal Church Moncton · April 27, 2025 · The Promises of God series

Pat Steeves explores Habakkuk, a prophet who wrestled honestly with God in hard times. He shows that doubts and questions are welcome, and that hope grows when we choose to embrace God for who He is, not only for what He does.

More from Pat Steeves · The The Promises of God series

Topics: Hope, Faith, Suffering

Transcript

[0:00] How many of you watch Hallmark movies? Raise your hand. Okay, this is fascinating that I can't understand. My wife and my daughter will invite their, their friends over to watch these Hallmark movies. And if you've ever watched one, guess what? Them all, you've watched them all 'cause they're all the same. And so I wanted to kinda write just for some of you who have never watched the Hallmark movie, I want to kind of give you the storyline how they all go. Are you ready for this? I call it the Hallmark Hometown Hockey Hero. And it goes like this: an injured NHL hockey star. He retreats back to rural Nova Scotia where he can rehab his knee and get away from the spotlight.

[0:52] Over the holidays, he decides to volunteer some of his time at the local hockey rink. It's there that he meets this fiery, confident figure skater who is teaching some classes there as well and runs the canteen. Romance sparks. But wait, her 10-year-old son starts to get jealous at the bond between these two. And he begins to say some false accusations. Tensions rise. Oh, but they're able to work things out.

[1:42] And guess what? She ends up quitting her job at the canteen. He retires, they get married on Christmas Eve as the snow is falling. And the boy, oh, he goes on to skate his way into the NHL. And there you have it, the Hallmark Hometown Hockey Hero coming to theaters near you. Check your local listings. 2025, we are starting a new series entitled The Promises of God. We're gonna be talking on the promises of God for the next several weeks. Today I get to speak on the topic of hope. And often, I know for me, some of my messages tend to be like these Hallmark movies where they always have a happy ending, right?

[2:35] We kind of start with a storyline. I bring in like a tension, kind of like a felt need. We resolve it through Scripture, we pray, and then we're off to lunch. It's not theologically wrong. A lot of good comes from these kinds of messages. And often on the topic of hope, that's what we would see and experience, a hope message. Fired up. We got this. Don't give up. Dig in, let's go. And as I was preparing for this message, I felt like going in a different direction because the reality is we go through lots of different challenges and disappointments. And when we leave here today, we go back to those very same things.

[3:22] And so for me, every Sunday I go and visit my dad who's in a special care home every Sunday. And I've had the privilege of growing up beside my dad, and we had a family excavation business. I worked with him since I was five, six years old. I learned everything from him and how to run business and all these kinds of things. And 16 years ago, he was diagnosed with a disease called Parkinson's disease. If you've never heard of Parkinson's, your body shakes with tremors. You're in pain. You slowly lose mobility.

[4:08] You lose really even the ability to communicate and talk, and very high depression. And so I've walked through that with my dad, and I've seen the trajectory of what that is. And it's heartbreaking and it's sad to watch. And what it's caused is I've had to wrestle with God and be like, God, why? Why are You allowing this? God, I know that You can heal him. We went to all the doctors, we tried natural medicine, we tried everything you can out there. We've prayed, still nothing. And I know for you, I know many of your stories and I see the prayer requests come in and you have things that you're going through, hard, whether it's physical, relational, financial, difficult situations.

[5:05] And it causes us to question God and doubt God. And so I want us to look at this very thing today. And I believe that we will find hope in this. Even though your situation may not change, I pray that our perspective on God will change and help us to get through it. And so we're gonna look today at Habakkuk. Look at the person beside you and say, Habakkuk. It's a little bit of a hard one to say, Habakkuk. So here's the deal with Habakkuk. He's a prophet. He's a prophet, in the Old Testament, about 600 years before Jesus. Habakkuk was a different type of prophet. So there were major prophets and there were minor prophets.

[5:53] So some of the major ones were like Ezekiel and Daniel and those. And Habakkuk was a minor one. He was kind of in the minor leagues. Three chapters, okay? That was a baseball joke. Anyway, I've seen somebody get it. Three chapters in Habakkuk. He represents Judah. And what's important to know is they were very successful, very well off at one point in time, but they basically lost everything. They were impoverished, and life is very difficult for them. And so Habakkuk is a prophet. And I just wanna say this for some of you who may not know: what is a prophet? Well, this is typically what a prophet's role was. A prophet would go spend time with God.

[6:41] This was before Jesus. They would go spend time with God and they would get a word from God for the people. And usually that word could be, it could be encouragement, could be like, God's gonna deliver us, God's gonna free you. You know, continue doing what you're doing would be, you know, and sometimes the word would be like, you guys are awful. Like, look at what you're doing, right? It's kinda like a parent and a kid, you know? And a prophet would communicate what God was saying, but not Habakkuk. Habakkuk was different. I like people that are different, by the way. He heard and would listen to the people, their complaints, their struggles, their disappointment, God, where are You? All those kinds of things. And then Habakkuk would go to God and plead on their behalf.

[7:31] And so we're gonna pick this up in Habakkuk chapter 1, verse 2, and we're gonna start to see the conversation that Habakkuk is having with God. Today's message is gonna be real. It's gonna be raw because that's who Habakkuk was. And I believe that's sometimes what we need. So verse 2 says, and this is Habakkuk speaking to God, He says, "How long, Lord, must I call for help? But You do not listen." Some of you guys can relate to that. I know I can. "Or cry out, 'Violence!' but You do not save us.

[8:19] Why do You make me look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing?" Habakkuk is frustrated, he's confused, he's angry because he knows that God has the ability to change. God has the ability to do miracles. God has the ability to help them. And He doesn't. Can you relate to this in your situation and what you're going through? And you ask God these same questions 2,600 years since Habakkuk, we now stand here today still wrestling, still questioning God, where are You?

[9:09] God, why don't You make this go away? Why don't You change this? Because what Habakkuk sees, what he feels does not line up to what he believes. And for some of you, as Christians, as followers of Jesus, you can relate. Your situation doesn't line up with what you believe. Some of you are working at jobs where you see, that you know others that don't work as hard or aren't as qualified get promoted. And you are like, God, this is not fair. Some of you have maybe, again, illnesses or diagnosis and you're like, God, why is this happening to me?

[10:01] These are real questions, real doubts, real disappointments that we all face. And this is what Habakkuk is going through. He's got some problems with God. You don't seem to really care. Have you ever felt that way where you feel like you're crying, you're praying to God, you're doing all the right things and you're like, God, where are You? Like You don't seem like it's really, I'm not really on Your radar. You aren't doing much when I know that You could, You have the power to change it. But here I am. What are You doing? This does not seem fair. Question for you. Have you ever asked God the question and been like, God, if I was in Your position, I would do things differently.

[10:55] Have you ever thought that you're in church? Be careful. God might just like, oh, I see that person. Right? But seriously, have you ever been like, God, this does not make sense. Like, I don't know what You're doing up there, but I know I could do a better job. How many have ever been in, like, manager or, like, boss positions and you have people come to you. I dunno what you're doing, you know, but this is what Habakkuk was saying, where he is like, God, like I could do a better job. Is it okay to question God? Yes. It's okay to question God. He actually invites you to question Him. If you've spent much time reading through Scripture, if you read through Psalms, like Psalms has, like what is it, like, a hundred and how many chapters?

[11:47] Some Bible scholars, you know, this a lot of chapters, but did you know one third of those are people crying out to God because of problems? Because they have things going on in their life. You read? Has anyone ever read the book of Job, Lamentations? People throughout history have continued to have issues and problems and struggles and suffering. Get this. This is my favorite one. Just last Sunday we celebrated Easter, right? Before Easter was Good Friday, where Jesus, we remember that He went on a cross and died for our sins. Do you remember what some of His last words were as He hung on that cross?

[12:37] My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me? Those were some of His last words. Jesus lived a sinless life. He was perfect in every way. He gave, He was generous, He was kind. He did all the things. And even Jesus is like, God, why have You forsaken Me? And I don't know about you, but that reminds me. And as a reminder to me that, you know what, I'm going to go through some difficult times, through some sufferings. And if they can question God, I can question God.

[13:24] And I should expect that there's gonna be some disappointments and there's going to be some things that you don't understand. And that's okay. That's okay. Because we see this time and time and time again. Sometimes we think it's funny how we think, but it's like, you know, it's like, God, why is this happening to me? Like, I go to church like every Sunday. Do you not see me, like, singing the songs? Like, some of them don't even sing and I sing. I'm not even that good. Like, Pastor Jim talks about offering. I've got, I'm set up on, like, the e-transfer system. God. Like, I give my tithes.

[14:10] Did you see how many pancakes I flipped at Easter Blast? Like, God, I'm putting in the work, right? I'm putting in the work and then I'm leaving. And then I get in a car accident, like, God, I was going to church. That's a true story, by the way. Somebody was coming to church. Anyway, stuff happens. But the reality is trials, suffering, disappointments are going to happen. Here's the interesting thing is, for those of you that are followers of Jesus, that you've made a decision to be a follower of Jesus. Maybe it was in a service like this, maybe it was at a camp.

[14:58] Maybe you were watching something on a church online, but you made a decision to follow Jesus. Do you remember that? Like, I can remember when my life didn't have purpose and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna try this Jesus thing. And you go to church, right? You start going to church and it's like amazing. I love talking to people that it's like their first two or three or four weeks or two months coming to church. 'Cause they're like, oh my goodness. Like, when we sing together, like, it feels like heaven. Like that song that we sang today, I Trust in God. Were you guys singing that song? You know, maybe we could sing it together.

[15:44] I trust in God, my safe, help me in the balcony. The one who will never. It's like we sing that song together and we're like, oh my goodness. And the pastor gets up and preaches and it just, like, it's like he's speaking right to you. You're like, they did church for me and his jokes so funny, right? And then you, like, send off an email for a new job and in 24 hours you get an answer back.

[16:29] You got the job, you're not even qualified, you're like, thank You, God. Right? Your car doesn't work. You pray for it. And the oil leak stops. Like, it's miraculous. God is showing up everywhere. People are paying attention to you. You look in the mirror and you're like, dang, I even looked better. Like, why did I not know about this Jesus thing long ago? Right? Like, you are experiencing God. And you know what? I think it's important that we experience God in that way. And I know for me, I had those kinds of experiences and they're so helpful because when people are like, God doesn't exist, you believe in God.

[17:21] And then I start telling them about the promotion and the job and the oil leak and they're just like, oh my gosh. Right? It's because you can't tell me that He doesn't exist. 'Cause I'm like, I know God exists, right? But here's the deal. Our faith needs to go beyond more than what God does for us. And sometimes as Christians, our faith becomes what God can do for us, supplying our needs, meeting those things. But what happens when we continue showing up to church and they don't sing my favorite song anymore, and it doesn't really seem like, I don't know, doesn't feel the same way, and the pastor's like message doesn't seem like he's speaking to me anymore?

[18:16] He must be speaking to someone else. I don't feel, I don't feel anything anymore when I go to church. It's just, it's routine. It's kind of boring. And that job that I had, it's now sucking the life out of me, and my car. Somebody backed into it the other day and I don't have enough money to fix it. And so we start changing and the feelings change. We pray, we don't get any answers. We go to church and it's silent. Here's what we gotta know. We experience God on the mountaintops for what He does.

[19:05] But here's what's important to know. We get to know who He is in the valley. And sometimes we look at our situations, our disappointments, our setbacks, and we're like, God, where are You? But it's in the valley though. I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will fear no evil because You are with me. And you'll never come to realize that until you go into the valley. And I wanna speak to some of our students that are here that you are. You've been in that experience in God moment where you've seen God, you've heard God speak to you, you've seen some incredible things happen.

[19:54] But now it's routine. Now it's boring. And there's something about our faith journey that we have to walk through these and move from God's experiences. And it's more than what He can do for you. And it shifts to you beginning to know who He is. And that's where maturity happens in any relationship. And oftentimes when it comes to setbacks and things that we go through, we think there's only two options. First one is often we just, for some, we just deny it like it's not really happening. And we just kinda ignore it, bury our head in the sand and we're like, this can't, you know, we just don't know how to process it.

[20:45] So we do nothing and we just deny for some. And secondly, for others, you choose to walk away 'cause you're like, this is, this doesn't make sense, this isn't fair. And so you decide to walk away from God. And if you haven't experienced this, you will. And for some of you, you have walked away from God and you're back because you know, you've worked through your doubts, your disappointments. But for each and every one of you, you will go through these seasons in the valley. But I wanna encourage us through this message today to wrestle with God and work through them.

[21:38] As I think about my dad and the situation that he's in and this illness that he's in, 16 years ago, he was 53 years old. And at that time I was in ministry as a volunteer youth pastor, speaking to teenagers, telling them how good God was and sharing with them that you need to surrender your life to this God who's got a plan for your life. And you'll find the most exciting, fulfilling life through a relationship with Jesus.

[22:28] But what nobody knew is inside. I'm wrestling with what is happening. I know God can heal, I know that, but for some reason He doesn't. And in that moment, I could deny that it was happening. Everything in me wanted to just walk away and say, this isn't worth it. But we have a third option and we can choose to embrace God in our disappointments, in the discouragement, in the doubt.

[23:15] And we're gonna, and in this book, in Habakkuk, Habakkuk's name actually means to wrestle or to embrace. And we're gonna read a few more verses here. We're gonna see how Habakkuk went from anger, disappointment, confusion to him saying, God, I'm gonna embrace You. Embrace You. And that's a choice that we all have to make in our own journeys. Let's pick this story up. Habakkuk chooses to embrace, not for what God was going to do, but for who He is.

[24:05] Sometimes even when we choose to embrace, even when we choose to go to God, things sometimes even get worse. How many of you experienced that? Where like you've prayed, you've done the things and it gets worse? Let's read in Habakkuk chapter, no, verse five, chapter one. We're gonna see God's response to Habakkuk when he cries out to Him in the first few chapters. And then Habakkuk says this, Look at the God is responding to him. "Look at the nations, Habakkuk, and watch. And you are going to be utterly amazed, for I'm gonna do something in your days, Habakkuk, that you would not believe even if you were told."

[25:03] Habakkuk prays in the first few verses. And then God responds, "Habakkuk, I'm gonna do something amazing." Habakkuk is fired up. He's like, God heard me. Right? No, check out verse six. God says, this is what I'm gonna do, Habakkuk, I'm gonna raise up the Babylonians. For some of you that may not know the Babylonians, they're the bad guys. Okay? Judah is the good guys. The Babylonians, the enemies. God says, I'm gonna raise up the Babylonians. Your enemies, they're ruthless and impetuous people. They're gonna sweep across the whole earth, seize all the land and the dwellings that are not their own.

[25:56] They are feared and dreaded people and intent on violence. Habakkuk is about to lose his mind. He's like, seriously, God, You are gonna destroy us. You're gonna, actually, things are going to get worse. He can't comprehend that. How many of you have ever broken an arm or maybe a leg or something like that? How many have ever broken a bone? I'll say a few of you guys, okay? I grew up with two other brothers. We were wild. We had a lot of fun growing up. We had a lot of broken bones. Okay? I don't have time to share the story of it, how it happened, but my younger brother broke his arm, okay?

[26:46] And I remember going to the hospital outpatients with my mom and we're taking him in, they're examining him. And it was one of those like bones that, like the bone isn't really like, you know, it's broken, right? Like, it's not through the skin, but it's bumped out pretty good. And so they tell us it's broke. We knew that. And they're like, we're gonna take him in and fix this. And so they took him behind a set of doors. And I can still remember to this day the utter shearing noise of pain and hollering that came from my brother as they were trying to reset the bone.

[27:34] Has anybody ever experienced that? And in that moment, like we just, our heart, we're just like, "Don't cause any more pain to him." He's not understanding, He's confused. Why are these people hurting me? But what he didn't know is the pain that they were causing him is because they wanted to be able to fix it and make it right so that he would be able to use this arm for the rest of his life. And sometimes in life, sometimes like in this story, things happen that we don't understand what God is doing. And what God's doing through the Babylonians is, yeah, they're gonna inflict more pain and suffering because God knew it was going to bring Judah back to God, back to repentance, back to prioritizing God in His first place where He should be.

[28:29] And God had a plan for them through this pain. A committed believer can both wrestle with honest questions and embrace a genuine faith in God. A committed believer can do these same things, both wrestle with questions, but embrace God. And this is what Habakkuk was doing. He wasn't denying what was happening, but he was continuing to wrestle. And I want us to look here at verse 12, chapter 1, and I want us to see a shift in Habakkuk's tone where he no longer is just like hollering at God and with his disappointments.

[29:27] But I want you to hear the shift in tone where he begins to embrace God. Habakkuk 1:12, "Lord, are You not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, You will never die." In that tone, you can hear Habakkuk. He's embracing who God is. "You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment and ordained them to punish us." That's God. That's Habakkuk wrestling with God. He's like, "I don't understand, God, why You're allowing this to happen, but I'm gonna wrestle with You through this.

[30:14] I'm not gonna walk away, God. I'm wrestling through this. Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrongdoing." I'm choosing to embrace You. "God, why then do You tolerate all this treacherous?" Habakkuk is wrestling through this. "Why are You not? Why are You silent while the wicked swallow up those who are more righteous than themselves?" I'm wrestling with this. I want you to know that God understands our pain. He welcomes our questions, and He would rather you yell your doubts, your disappointments to Him than walk away.

[31:11] Don't deny your doubts, let your doubts drive you to God. You see, chapter 1 is, "Where are You, God? Where are You?" God. And when you face that in your life, in that situation, if you haven't, you will. I want you to know this and remember this: don't walk away. Don't walk away. "Where are You?" God, wrestle. In chapter 2, if you read chapter 2, it's all about waiting and it's all about Habakkuk saying, "You know what?

[31:56] God, I'm gonna wait. In Your time, God." In the waiting can be very difficult. For some of you, you've been waiting years for a relationship to be mended. You've been waiting for maybe a family member to come back to Jesus. You've been waiting. And I wanna encourage you today, don't quit. Don't quit. Number three is embrace. Embrace God. Even though we're gonna jump all the way to Habakkuk 3, the last few verses in Habakkuk, and I want you to see the shift in his tone in how he's talking to God.

[32:50] He says this in verse 16, "I will quietly wait for the time to come when God will punish those who attack us." Do you hear the shift where he's like saying, "You know what, God, I'm gonna patiently wait." "Even though the fig trees have no fruit and no grapes grow from the vines, even though the olives crops fail, even though maybe you're struggling financially, things are really tough, inflation is high, tariffs. All these kinds of things face us, disappointments, setbacks.

[33:40] This is what they're experiencing. Even though the crops fail and the fields produce no grain, even though you started a business and maybe it didn't succeed, or maybe it's really struggling and you wanna turn your back on God and be like, 'God, I poured my heart and soul into this, God. I'm tithing, God. I'm doing the right things.'" Habakkuk says, "Even though all these things, even though the sheep all die and the cattle stalls are empty," here's where the tone shifts, and I hope we get this. "I will still be joyful and glad because the Lord God is my Savior."

[34:36] The Lord God is my Savior. "The sovereign Lord is my strength." Do you see where he is saying, "Even if, even though"? What is that? Fill in the line in the blank for you. Finding hope in hard times is a choice to believe and embrace God. Even if, fill in the blank, will you choose to embrace God even though, through the doubts, through the disappointments, through the fears, will you choose to embrace?