How to Trust God in Hard Seasons (When you feel Uncovered) | Season 10 Ep 4

THANK YOU:

If you’ve been blessed by the show or would like to support this ministry, I’d truly appreciate your help. You can listen, share, subscribe, and support here:

https://buymeacoffee.com/bobigentrygoodwin

Thank you for your prayers and support. God bless you!

---------------------

SHOW NOTES:

Evil can look unstoppable when you’re doing everything “right” and still getting hit from every side. I’m Bobi Gentry Goodwin, and I’m walking us back into Habakkuk with one focused verse that hits like a blueprint for hard seasons: Habakkuk 2:1. When the world feels loud, unfair, and spiritually foggy, Habakkuk shows us a different response than panic, numbness, or revenge. 

We talk about why suffering feels so personal even though it touches everyone, and why bringing your complaints to God is not weakness, it’s wisdom. Then we zoom out to the prophetic context: Judah’s collapse in leadership, Babylon’s rise, and the painful question hiding underneath it all: will evil prevail over good? 

From there, we break down three anchors straight from the text: posture, position, and patience. The watchtower becomes a picture of spiritual vigilance and expectancy, choosing a higher view so your vision is not clouded by chaos. The guardpost becomes a call to discernment and defense, guarding your heart and your faith when distractions try to pull you off the cornerstone. And the waiting becomes the hard part we can’t skip: trusting God enough to let Him answer on His timing. 

If you need Christian encouragement, a Bible study on Habakkuk, or a practical way to wait on God without giving up, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s in a fight right now, and leave a review telling me what you’re learning as you climb back to your watchtower.

Transcript

Welcome To Grab The Faith

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey all, thank you for joining us here at Grab the Faith, where we try to grab the faith and run with it. Join us as we try to learn a little more, grow a little more, and live a lot more. I'm your host, Bobby Gentry Goodwin. Stay tuned for this week's episode. Good evening, good evening, good evening, and thank you for joining us here at Grab the Faith, where we grab the faith and run with it. Thank you for being with us today. I hope that you are enjoying this study and enjoying this podcast, and you are growing in God. That is really the goal. That we are all opening up the word of God and gleaning from the mighty word of God. That God should be elevated and so should his kingdom. You know, I am so glad to be back here with you guys, continuing this study of Habakkuk. I know that there was a couple of bonus episodes, but lots was going on since we met last time. There was Easter or Resurrection Sunday, so lots have been going on, but we're just gonna dive right back into this book of Habakkuk. Have you been enjoying this book as much as I have? I hope you have. I've learned so much, and it really has just encouraged my heart because we're not the only ones going through.

Suffering And Honoring God’s Word

SPEAKER_00 1:30

Suffering is equal to everybody, no matter what race, no matter what gender, no matter what part of the country, no matter what part of the world, suffering is an equal opportunity experience. And as we have been finding in this book, that this prophet Habakkuk is really in a place and a space in his life where there is pain all around him, there is evil all around him, there is disobedience all around him, and he is going to God asking for help. And you know, that is a mighty thing for us to do. You know, sometimes we just can't change the situation ourselves. Sometimes the situation is out of our hands, but it is never out of the hands of God to intervene on behalf of his people. Yes, his will plays out. Yes, no doubt about it. He has a will for our lives, and he has a will that's playing out even outside of our lives, but we can always ask for him, ask help from him. So, you know, as we dive back into the book, I just encourage you to continue to open up the book for yourself. This is the greatest book that you will ever read. It's a book that teaches you, it's a book that loves you, it's a book that affirms you, it's a book that admonishes you, all at the same time. So thank you for joining me as we crack open this good book, this holy Bible. You know, when I was growing up, that was the adjective. We didn't just say the Bible, we said the holy Bible. We didn't just say the book of the Bible, we said the good book. You know, that adjective really gave it weight, it gave it a respect, it gave it an honor. And I just want to get back to honoring the word of the Lord. Do you? Do you we're living in a time, saints, that the word of the Lord is not being honored. What he says is not being respected, it's not even being heard by some people. So that's why we're here. So tonight we're not gonna just be couching on the adjective, but we're going to be exploring a noun as we continue our study in Habakkuk and sit with this prophet and see what he has to teach us from this word. We

Habakkuk’s Questions And A Dark World

SPEAKER_00 4:03

left off in our last episode before those bonus episodes in Habakkuk one, Habakkuk chapter one, and we are picking up this week in Habakkuk chapter two, and this chapter is dynamic, but we're gonna take it piece by piece to chew and get the savory out of every single morsel. You know, chapter one opened with Habakkuk asking questions and God answering. And then we find there's some more questions that Habakkuk had. A second complaint to God that he went to in that same chapter, just letting God know how he feels. You know, first he was talking about how he feels about the people, and now he's telling the Lord how he feels about the nation, the nation, the dominant power that is rising up in his community. And he is upset about it because the people and the nation and their practices are just plain evil, they're just plain hard evil, they're just plain causing suffering and really just not even considering humanity, and that's where we find Habakkuk at the end of chapter one, asking questions again to God. God answered, but he's coming back again. Lord, these people that you have allowed to be raised up, they are evil people, they don't even consider humanity. You know, I'm paraphrasing, but they just get excited off of taking over people, taking over things, and doing it in a way that people are hurting. It is glorifying evil. And boy, oh boy, and in their glorification of evil and their evil ways, we can't have them just standing on top of these mountains, uh worshiping these false gods and saying and getting everything they want. It looks like they winning, okay? He likes wait a minute, and listen, I know that sometimes it can feel that way. Sometimes it can feel like evil is winning. You on your knees, you're praying, you're seeking God, you're running after him, and all these things keep coming against you. All of these things keep coming and hurting your heart. All these things that you're praying against, you're casting out the enemy and casting him down, and here comes something else and something else and something else. If that is you tonight, then stay tuned to this word because it is a good word for us to learn how we navigate those very difficult spaces. Let's

Reading Habakkuk 2:1

SPEAKER_00 6:49

start off in Habakkuk chapter 2, verses 1. If you have your Bibles, go on and grab them and join with me as we read from the good book again. Habakkuk chapter 2, verses 1 says this. I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. I'll read that again. I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how he will answer my complaint. We pick up in this chapter where Habakkuk is once again addressing the Lord, once again going before God with his concerns. And listen, saints, that's a good place to be. I don't even need to add more to that. That you bring your complaints, you bring your cares. The word says, cast your cares on to him because he cares for you. And so he Habakkuk, this prophet, this seventh-century prophet and minor prophet in the southern kingdom of Judah is going before God once again, telling him how he feels. Habakkuk is seeing. During his time of prophecy, there was evil king after evil king. Some say he even started to his prophecy journey in when Josiah was king, and Josiah was a good king. He brought back the reforms of the Lord. He brought back the uh the people and turned their face toward God again. But after him, evil king, evil king, evil king, king Jehoaz, King Jehoiakim, King Zedekiah. And Habakkuk was watching. He was watching all of this bad behavior from the kings and the people in Israel, but he was also watching these nations. He was seeing monarchies, monarchies come and go, but he was also watching dominant powers rising and falling, powers like Egypt, powers like Assyria, and then Babylon. And that's what he addresses in chapter one: Babylon. These people are here, and God let him know I'm raising them up to punish the people from the evil, from they have turned against my ways. So Habakkuk was seeing a lot. There was a lot in his lens, a lot in his view. The people falling away from God, the people that once adored God, the people that once worshiped God, the people who once practiced the ways of God have forgotten all about those things. They were under bad leadership, not only in as kings, but they adopted practices in their homes and in their communities that just wasn't edifying the word of the Lord. And not only was the people falling away, but the government was falling away. The nation, the power that was over them was falling away. Not that they ever was a part of God's kingdom, but the nation that was rising up was worse. It was notorious. Babylon was worse than Assyria. Babylon was worse than Egypt. Babylon was just the worst thing. The worst he had seen. And they were doing whatever they like to whomever they like. They wasn't staying in their lane, they were taking over everybody else's lane. And not only taking over their lane, honey, but running them over in the process. Babylon had came into power and was rising into this dominant power, and they were bent on violence to subdue, to subjugate, and to exert dominance. They were flexing their muscles to let you know exactly who they were and that agenda that they had. They didn't care about anybody else but themselves, they didn't care about any other leaders, they didn't care about any other nations. All they wanted to do was press for their agenda by any means necessary. They pushed all the boundaries and tore down the boundaries that other people had set up. Take note. And that their own strength was in their gods and not in the true God. God knew who they were, and God knew what they brought. He knew they followed no one, especially they didn't follow the one in living and true God. So Habakkuk had an understanding of who they were, and God had an understanding of who they were, but they were prevailing, and that and sit well with Habakkuk, this evil nation that was sent to correct them, this notoriously evil, they just went the extra mile of evil. And

The Rod Of Correction Analogy

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Habakkuk tells God, I know you raised them up, but they're evil. They're evil. And listen, this reminds me of those days when I used to get in trouble, and that rod of correction would come my way. That when I was little, I would do something that I knew was against my parents. I knew my parents wouldn't want me to do it. I was walking in my own way, walking in my own lane, walking in my own power. And I wasn't subjecting myself to what my parents said or what my God said. I was doing things in my own way. And ooh, sometimes what I was doing was not nice. And many times when I strayed away, my parents would have to bring a rod of correction that would come my way. Y'all know what I'm talking about. My parents would have to bring a rod of correction. And listen, my hiney is a testimony of that rod of correction, okay? I think I could still feel it in my body. How that rod of correction had to correct me. And when it did, I I got back to myself, okay? I said, wait a minute, this ain't nothing to play with. I have to be serious about how I'm acting, what I'm doing, how I'm showing up in the world. Because that rod of correction didn't feel nice. And many times it was downright painful. I remember a conversation with my parents asking, why do why do I why do I why do I have to get this done to me? Why do I have to get punished in this way? Why did I, why did I get uh spankers? Why did I I remember telling them this? And I remember the answer. Like a surgery, first you got to get cut open in order to get the disease out. There's a process sometimes when you don't self-correct that has to happen that it does the internal surgery, the spiritual surgery to get the disease out, it had to be removed. Listen, saints, sin is a disease, evil is a disease, unrighteousness is a disease. If you either for him or you against him, and which when you for him, that's a wonderful thing, but when you against him, you ain't for him. See, these people of God had a disease of a sinful nature, and this evil nation that was rising up, had bent on evil and doing evil practices, they also had a disease. But let me tell you, God don't play, just like my parents didn't play, and like some of you guys' parents don't play, God don't play, He pursues, but He don't play. There will be judgment, and He doesn't play about that, He's not wishy-washy, okay? He's not one way one minute and one way another. There is truth in God, and He stands by His truth, He swears by His own word. He don't play, so we need to stop playing games with Him. We need to stop playing games tonight, doing the same thing over and over and then asking for forgiveness, doing the same thing over and over and acting like He don't know. You're hurting yourselves. I'm hurting myself. We need to stop playing all these games. And listen, that ain't even my lesson tonight. See, we have find Habakkuk struggling with the idea that evil will prevail, that it will be excess not only successful, but hard to have the audacity to even gloat. He knew we serve a good God and more powerful than evil at any and all time, and that God could stop this right away. And he's wondering, are you gonna let them get away with this? Will evil prevail over good? Listen, that's my question for you tonight. Will evil prevail over good in your life? Or do you believe evil will prevail over good in the nation, in the world? What is your viewpoint? What is your viewpoint as you see evil going on or sin going on in your life or sin going on in the world? What do you think about that? Because I'm here to announce evil will never repel or prevail over good. There will always be judgment. We all will come before Christ. We all will have to answer for our behavior, whether it's on a small level or whether it's what's happening in the world, those world leaders, those dominant nations, they're gonna have to answer.

The Watchtower Posture Of Expectancy

SPEAKER_00 19:07

It starts with him declaring that he will climb up to his watchtower. As he's seeing all of this and unable to change it, and as he's petitioning the Lord for help, he says something that I found astounding. He says, You know what? I see all this going around me, and guess what? I'm gonna do I'm gonna climb up to my watchtower. This powerful prophet says he's gonna stand flat footed among his questions, among his confusion with a spirit of expectation. Habakkuk is a boss, y'all. I'm gonna stand here. I'm gonna climb up to the high point. I'm gonna climb up to this watchtower. I'm not gonna go down easily. Matter of fact, I'm not gonna go down at all. I'm gonna go up. He's showing some of his outstanding characteristics here in this small verse. It's just one verse that we're studying tonight. He declares something. I'm gonna take action. I'm not just gonna sit here in my pity party. I'm not just gonna sit here complaining or sit here ignoring. I'm gonna take action. I'm going to my watchtower. This is an important posture that Habakkuk takes on tonight. He's saying to us tonight, I'm expecting the Lord to show up and I'm going to go to a place where I can see everything and wait. I'm not going to let my vision get clouded. A watchtower is a high place historically that's used to guard vulnerable places. It's a place of spiritual vigilance, a place of closeness to God, a place of alertness. Habakkuk is teaching us here. He's going up to that watchtower to a place of alertness. And that's a posture that he takes on. I'm going to be alert, watching everything for a move of God. See, I see a move of evil, but I'm going on a high alert to watch for a move of God. I'm not just going to drown in this evil all around me. I'm going up to a higher place to watch for a move of God. Because I know I'm seeing this move of the enemy. I see, I know I'm seeing this move of evil, but that's not the end of the story. And I'm going to stay flat footed and alert to watch how God is going to move. Listen, this is an important posture when facing trouble, Saints. When trouble all of a Is all around us, we have to have a posture in our hearts that we have to go up and wait there with alertness for God's will and God's way to show up. Sit in a posture where we're close to God, sit in a posture where we can look for Him to show up, watching for His mighty move. This is a posture of faith. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. That's right out of Hebrews 1. This is a posture of expectancy. That's what we're talking about tonight. Expectancy. It's not climbing up to the watchtower to sleep. It's not climbing up to a watchtower to just rest. It's climbing up to a watchtower to be alert, to watch, to look, to get close to God, to see his hand coming forth. This is a posture of your heart. Secondly,

Standing Guard And Guarding Your Heart

SPEAKER_00 23:13

not only does he say he's going to assume a posture in this verse with all that he is facing, looking for God in the atmosphere, expecting him to show up as evil is in at hand, but he knows that the good God will prevail. He assumes a position. He assumes a posture and he assumes a position. Right in this very verse, chapter one, excuse me, chapter two, verses one. Habaktus tells us not only will he climb up to his watchtower, but he's gonna stand at his guardpost. I'm getting excited, y'all. Woo! Listen to this word of God. He's gonna stand at a position of alert at his watchtower, but he's gonna take on not only that posture, but he's gonna take up a position of standing at the guard post. Habakkuk is saying to us, he's not gonna have just be alert and have vision, but he's gonna assume the position. What's your position? What's your position when you're waiting for God to move? What's your position when you're in a time of trouble? What is your position? How do you stand on guard? A guard post allows someone to be prepared. Like the decorated soldiers, those red coats in Britain, they stand on guard and they don't move. They stand in a position of power. They don't move, they don't get distracted. You know, there's these wonderful videos of people dancing in front of them and trying to have them to break ranks, they don't get distracted, they're prepared to take on anything or anyone for their cause. They are all in protecting, discerning, and defending. That's a position, saints. That's a position when you stand on your guard post. Not only do you want to posture your heart, but you want to stand in position, a position of discernment, a position of defending, a position where you will not get distracted. Listen, when we are in trouble times and wrong is going all around us, evil, it looks like it's prevailing all around us, we feel like we lose in the battle. We gotta be on guard, discerning God's will and his hand in our lives, protecting our spiritual posture. Can't you just see them red coats standing there? Absolute protecting, defending. We gotta be in that same place, saints, defending our faith. Because where are we standing if we're not standing on faith? Where are we standing if we're not standing on the rock? Where is your guard post? How do you stand in God on on uh a space of protection and defending and discerning? Where do you stand? As it says in Ephesians chapter 2, we got to stand on the cornerstone. Christ is our cornerstone, and as we stand on that guardpost, we can't forget that we're we're guarding something valuable. Because listen, as a parent, even when I see my child going wayward and this like that, and my rod of correction is in place, and I'm still wondering are they gonna do right? Are they gonna stand up? I have to remind myself that I'm guarding the faith. I have to remind myself that I'm standing guard, I'm protecting the faith, I'm protecting the ways of God, I'm protecting his word in my family, I'm protecting his word, I'm declaring it over my children. Proverbs 4 and 23 says this above all else, guard your heart. We gotta stand on guard for everything you do flows from it. Don't you lose hope, don't you lose faith? Stand on guard. And lastly, saints, as we come to an end in this lesson, what we learn from all this is in just chapter two, verses one. Okay,

Patience While God Answers

SPEAKER_00 27:36

this is the morsels that I pulled from it. You read it yourself and see what you pull from it. Listen, as lastly, as we learn from Habakkuk, we gotta learn in that same verse there's a posture, there's a position, and there's a patience. Oh my God. Now I know that's a bad word, y'all, but check out the text. Habakkuk said he's gonna wait on God to answer. What does wait mean? What does wait require? Waiting requires patience. Habakkuk said he will wait and see how the Lord answers. He doesn't say he will try to come up with his own answers. He doesn't say he's gonna solve it himself. He doesn't say he's gonna take it down the monarchy, he's gonna take down the powers that be. He don't say nothing like that. He says he's gonna wait on the Lord, and that's a whole word for us tonight. I don't know if it's a word for you, but it shows a word for me. That not only do I have to have a posture of where I'm watching, an active posture, but I have to have a position, but I have to wait in patience. When I'm going through troubles, I gotta wait on God. Oh, wait on the Lord. We must wait on the Lord no matter what we're facing, and wait with expectancy. We have to stop trying to outpace God. Let Jesus take the wheel. Because his plan is better than any plan that you can ever come up with. Even if it's a rod of correction, it means it's moving you right back in alignment with him. You got to relinquish control and let him drive. Because if we are waiting with expectancy, we're waiting with faith. And with faith, without faith, it's impossible to please God. Did you hear me tonight? Without faith, it's impossible to please God. Habakkuk comes to God with his questions, but he's wise enough to wait for his answers. And if you don't get anything from this lesson tonight, get that. That no matter what you're going through, whether it's the correcting rod of Christ, whether it's the dominant powers and they're evil, and it looks like they're prevailing against humanity, whether it's the struggle that you have trying to contend for the faith, even in your own home. Listen closely, saints. It's important for us to know that we have to have faith in the God that we serve. We have to relinquish control and let God do what he's going to do. Because if it's in his hands, it's the best hands it could ever be. So never forget to cast your cares on him. That's exactly what her back is doing. Never forget to cast your cares.