Wrestle and Embrace: Trusting God in the Waiting

Aug 30, 2026

Devotional

Day 1: Wrestling with God in the Grocery Line of Life

When the self-checkout light turns red and life grinds to a halt, faith isn’t about pretending we’re fine. Like Habakkuk’s raw questions amid Babylonian violence, our moments of frustration at Walmart’s frozen screen or a child’s diagnosis become holy ground. God invites our honest anger, our confusion over delayed answers, and our “why” shouted at heaven. True faith isn’t tidy—it’s a wrestling match that clings to God even when His ways feel chaotic. [41:00]

“How long, Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! Violence is everywhere! Why must I watch all this misery?” (Habakkuk 1:2-3, NLT)

Reflection: Where has life’s “red light” frozen you mid-stride? How might your raw honesty with God today become the first step toward deeper trust?

Day 2: Climbing the Watchtower in Life’s Storms

Habakkuk didn’t rage from the valley—he climbed higher. Like scaling Aldi’s shelves to spot the apricot sale, we need new perspectives when stuck in waiting rooms of suffering. The watchtower isn’t physical elevation but intentional stillness: chair time with Scripture, eyes peeled for God’s movement in the mundane. Trust grows when we stop scanning items and start scanning the horizon for His quiet work. [52:32]

“I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guardpost. There I will wait to see what the Lord says.” (Habakkuk 2:1, NLT)

Reflection: What “valley view” consumes you right now? What one action could help you “climb” to see your struggle through God’s broader lens?

Day 3: Scrawling Hope on Tablets of Daily Chaos

God told Habakkuk to etch His promises on tablets—not in calligraphy, but in grocery-list scrawl. Journaling Mason’s adoption journey or a foster parent’s tear-stained prayers creates receipts of faithfulness. Like Aldi’s quarter system, these written reminders become tangible tokens for future crises: “God showed up then; He’ll do it again.” Our ink-stained obedience becomes others’ roadmap when their carts jam. [54:37]

“Write my answer plainly on tablets so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” (Habakkuk 2:2, NLT)

Reflection: What current struggle needs documenting? How might your recorded pain become someone else’s lifeline tomorrow?

Day 4: Embracing the Divine Pause in a Scroll-Happy World

Waiting isn’t passive—it’s resisting the Candy Crush distraction of quick fixes. Like Habakkuk’s trembling yet resolute “I will wait quietly,” we confront our addiction to speed. God works in the delays we hate: the adoption paperwork limbo, the chemo’s slow march. The divine pause isn’t punishment but incubation, where our frantic hands unclench to receive better gifts. [58:21]

“The vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, wait patiently. It will not be delayed.” (Habakkuk 2:3, NLT)

Reflection: Where are you tempted to “self-checkout” God’s timing? What might He be incubating in your forced stillness?

Day 5: Singing Shigayon in the Silence

When cattle barns stay empty and diagnoses linger, Habakkuk’s punk-rock praise defies circumstances. Like a frenzied Aldi shopper belting hymns in the frozen aisle, we worship not because life’s tidy but because God’s character outshouts our chaos. The “yet” becomes our anthem: no grapes, no olives, no answers—yet joy erupts from who God is, not what He does. [01:04:33]

“Even if the fig trees have no blossoms… yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” (Habakkuk 3:17-18, NLT)

Reflection: What “even if” scenario terrifies you? How could rehearsing God’s unchanging nature shift your song’s key today?

Sermon Summary

God’s love does not merely offer fire insurance for later. God loves people right where they are, and Jesus died to love the hell out of them, including the hell that sin, suffering, loss, and bad decisions bring into life right now. Christ calls people to surrender because he is the way, the truth, and the life, and his church grows best when people let others into their real lives through community.

The red light at self-checkout pictures the kind of abrupt stop that can hit without warning. Divorce, diagnosis, joblessness, and relational turmoil can derail every plan and raise the hard question: “God, where are you in this?” Habakkuk lived in that kind of moment, watching violent Babylon threaten God’s people while Israel continued acting foolishly. Habakkuk refuses to pretend that evil is not evil or that his questions are not real.

Habakkuk’s name carries the tension of wrestling and embracing. Habakkuk brings his complaint to God, asking how long violence will continue and why God seems silent when he could act. Faith does not require fake answers, denial, or walking away. Faith wrestles honestly while still embracing the truth that God is God, God is in charge, and God sees more than human eyes can see.

Habakkuk’s watchtower shows what trust looks like in the waiting. The watchtower changes perspective, creating space to listen and to see what God says. God often speaks through Scripture, prayer, and chair time rather than an audible voice. God’s silence never means God’s absence.

God tells Habakkuk to write the vision plainly. Written remembrance protects faith when present trouble makes past grace easy to forget. Journals, prayers, and remembered moments of God’s provision become evidence that God has come through before and remains faithful now. Habakkuk also receives the hardest instruction: wait patiently. Waiting feels unproductive, but an interruption may be a divinely appointed stopping point. While people are waiting, God is working.

Habakkuk’s worship rises before his circumstances change. The fig trees still have no blossoms, the vines still have no grapes, the fields remain empty, and fear still makes his body shake. Yet Habakkuk rejoices in the God of his salvation. The “yet” does not deny pain; it puts God’s stability above the chaos. God remains the solid ground when everything around him feels like it is falling apart.

Key Takeaways

1. Bring hard questions straight to God [47:30] Habakkuk shows that questions do not automatically mean faith has failed. God already knows the complaint sitting in the heart, so pretending changes nothing. Honest prayer refuses both fake spirituality and hopeless retreat. Wrestling becomes faithful when it still acknowledges that God is God. [47:30]
2. God’s silence is not God’s absence [57:31] Silence can feel like abandonment, especially when pain keeps going and answers do not come. God’s hidden work often requires a different kind of attention, one that watches as well as listens. The watchtower posture makes room for Scripture, prayer, and perspective. God may not explain everything immediately, but God does not leave his people alone. [57:31]
3. Write down God’s faithfulness [54:37] Memory gets weak when fear gets loud. Written reminders of God’s past provision help faith answer present panic with truth. A journal does not control God’s future actions, but it keeps the heart from rewriting God’s history. Remembered grace gives courage to trust again. [54:37]
4. Wait patiently because God is working [01:00:49] Waiting is not empty space where nothing matters. God can use the forced stop, the delay, and the unanswered prayer to do work that constant activity would miss. Distraction can keep a heart from receiving what God intends in the pause. Patience becomes trust when it rests in God’s timing rather than demanding immediate control. [60:49]
5. Worship God in the yet [01:05:15] Habakkuk’s “yet” is not denial of empty fields, fear, or loss. Worship declares that the God of salvation remains worthy before circumstances improve. Joy in God reaches deeper than a temporary change in conditions. God brings stability into the storm even when the storm has not yet passed.

## [65:15]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[34:11] - Perfectly Loved by God
[36:19] - Growing Through Life Groups
[36:55] - The Self-Checkout Red Light
[41:40] - Habakkuk’s Questions for God
[44:28] - Wrestling and Embracing
[51:35] - Trusting God in the Waiting
[52:32] - Listen From the Watchtower
[54:16] - Write Down the Vision
[58:02] - The Hard Work of Waiting
[60:49] - Worship in the Yet
[63:34] - Yet I Will Rejoice
[65:55] - Responding in Faith
[72:06] - Next Steps in Following Jesus

Bible Study Guide

Bible Reading

Habakkuk 3:17-18
“Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines

Sermon Clips

58s

#WrestleAndEmbrace

“the devil would love for you to believe that when you have questions about your faith or questions about the way God operates, that you only have two options. And that's either to deny those questions and pretend you don't have them or to deny your faith and walk away. Habakkuk's teaching us that there's a third option that's way more healthy because neither of those first two leave you with any relief or hope. But the third one is to both wrestle and embrace. Wrestling is not less spiritual. It means that you're willing to ask god the tough questions that, by the way, spoiler alert, he already knows are on your heart.”

49s

#WorshipInTheYet

“Nothing changed. He's pointing out. I'm shaking on the inside. I'm my lips are quivering. I'm looking around, and there's still no grapes. There's still no olives. The cattle are dying, and you may have you may be living in that same reality. You're looking around, and you don't see god at work. You're still struggling with the diagnosis. You're still struggling with the relational turmoil. You're waiting for God to lead. You're waiting for God to deliver. What do you do at that point? Worship in the yet.”

55s

#LetGodCompleteIt

“Would you give him a chance to carry it to completion? So many times we come in here, we hear a sermon and we're like, yeah, god, I need to take action there. And then we walk out the same way we came in. But today, I'm asking that you not reject reject the Holy Spirit, inviting you to something different, to a transformed life. I'm asking you to to open your life to the hope of the power of the Holy Spirit working in your life. Even when it feels like nothing's happening. I'm asking you to look from the watchtower point and look for where God is moving. I invite you to come forward so that we can walk with you as you wrestle and learn to embrace.”

39s

#StandAgainstFear

“Scripture says to draw a battle line. no further, Satan. Come no further fear. Come no further doubt. Come no further diagnosis. I'm gonna put my faith in Jesus. Everything may look like it's falling apart, yet I will joyfully praise the Lord, the God of my salvation. I'll find hope there when there's hope nowhere else. Lord, thank you for being our stability in the storm. We praise you and thank you.”

74s

#DivineStoppingPoint

“I don't like waiting. I mean, even if without my phone, I don't need my phone to create a distraction while I'm waiting. I don't need my phone to to actually stop. See, what I do is, wherever I'm at, I'm at the house. We're waiting for some somebody to finish, whatever. I find something to do. Right? Anyone else? I don't like stopping. I don't wanna sit still. Sometimes my wife, you know, what makes us the power couple is that sometimes she says, why don't you just sit down? She doesn't say this, but I'm probably making her nervous, and she just, could you please? And I'll sit. And I need to have her say that so I actually stop. Because sometimes what looks like an interruption to us is actually a divinely appointed stopping point. And if we just go back to doing something different at the stopping point, we're gonna miss what God intended for that moment.”

45s

#QuestioningIsFaith

“So here, Habakkuk says, hey. I've got some problems with you, God. I need these questions answered. How come you're not doing what I'm asking you to do? How come it seems like bad things are happening, and I know you could do something, but you chose not to? He says, you don't seem to care. You aren't doing much when you could, and what you are doing doesn't seem fair. These are common questions. So if you've ever asked them, you're not alone or less spiritual,”

42s

#TrustDespiteNotKnowing

“And so it's humbling. It's not wrong for us to ask questions, but the perspective has to be like Habakkuk. The questions land us land us at the place of, god, I don't know why you're doing this, but I know you're god. I know you're in charge. I know there's things I don't understand, but I'm gonna ask the questions anyway. And what's beautiful and challenging is that in this story of Habakkuk, that Habakkuk gets an answer from God, but it's not an answer he was looking for. It's not a good answer.”

43s

#LetGodBeGod

“Wouldn't it be nice if Habakkuk asked God to come through and despite Israel's foolish behavior, lightning cracks down from heaven, Fire engulfs the Babylonians, and the Israelites are free from oppression. I like to tell God how to get things done. That's not how God works. I must surrender. I'm allowed to ask questions, but then I have to be content that sometimes I don't understand the answer.”

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