Embracing God When You're in The Valley - Hope In The Dark: Week 3 with Pastor Craig Groeschel

Praise Before the Provision

Scripture References

Primary text

• Habakkuk 1
• Habakkuk 2
• Habakkuk 3

Other references

• Habakkuk 3:1
• Psalm 7
• Ephesians 2

Overview

Habakkuk’s story moves from raw questions (chapter 1) to silent waiting (chapter 2) and explodes into loud, full-body worship in chapter 3. Pastor Craig walks us through that final chapter, introducing the musical term “shigionoth”—praise with exclamation points—and calls us to worship God for who He is even before we see the answers we want. The message teaches us to remember God’s past faithfulness, wrestle honestly with present pain, and embrace Him in the valley with a faith that both grapples and clings.

Main Points

1. The Three-Chapter Journey

• Chapter 1: Wondering – “God, why aren’t You fair?”
• Chapter 2: Waiting – “Though it linger, wait for it.” You can’t force God’s timing; when it’s His time you can’t stop it.
• Chapter 3: Worship – a change in tone from angst to adoration, introduced by the word “shigionoth.”

2. What “Shigionoth” Means

• Plural of a rare musical term (only in Psalm 7 and Habakkuk 3:1).
• Instructions to sing “with strong emotion, impassioned exuberance, rapid rhythm changes, vigorous enthusiasm.”
• “It’s praise punctuated with exclamation marks,” the opposite of a “whiny, crying-in-your-beer ballad.”
• Habakkuk offers this praise before God has done what he’s pleading for.

3. Praise Before the Provision

• Illustration: The congregation practiced adding multiple exclamation points in messages to Amy as a picture of exuberant praise.

• True worship is rooted in God’s character, not in His latest gift.
• “Sometimes the most passionate, authentic praise is the praise before the provision.”

4. Remember God’s Past Faithfulness

• Habakkuk recalls Teman and Paran—places where God sheltered Israel after the Exodus.
• He rehearses God’s power: splitting the Red Sea, feeding with manna, shutting lions’ mouths, standing with the three Hebrews.

• Story: Pastor Craig received a free Gideon Bible on the very day he realized he didn’t own one; reading Ephesians 2 changed his life.
• Story: Meeting Amy (“the best dessert takes longer to cook”), unexpected refund check for wedding food, and daughter Katie’s overnight healing from poison ivy.

• Practical takeaway: in the valley, list and rehearse God’s past interventions.

5. Wrestle and Embrace

• The name “Habakkuk” means “to wrestle and embrace.”
• True faith holds tension: honest questions and stubborn trust coexist.

• Story: Holding four-year-old Joy on an operating table while she cried “Daddy, no!”—she wrestled yet clung to him.

6. A Valley Declaration

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines… yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

• Not denial; Habakkuk stares at pending loss and chooses praise.
• Enduring is passive; embracing is active faith.
• Habakkuk never gets the outcome he hoped for, but he gains deeper intimacy:
  “He makes my feet like the feet of a deer… He enables me to tread on the heights.”

7. Responding with Shigionoth Today

• Lift hands while waiting.
• Praise with exclamation points—before the answer, in the middle of pain.
• Song “Do It Again” and the original Life.Church song “You Are” were offered as corporate expressions of this faith.

Key Truths

• Authentic worship is praising God for who He is, not merely for what He does.
• Remembering God’s past works fuels present trust.
• Faith can both wrestle with God’s ways and embrace His goodness at the same time.
• Valleys develop the perseverance that mountaintops cannot.
• You cannot have chapter 3 intimacy without chapter 1 questioning and chapter 2 waiting.

Response

• Recall and write down past moments of God’s faithfulness this week.
• Choose one area where you are waiting and verbally praise God before you see any change.
• When doubts arise, voice them honestly to God while refusing to let go of Him.
• Worship with physical expression—lift hands, sing loudly—as a declaration of trust.
• Share your valley testimony to encourage someone else who is waiting.

Closing

Habakkuk shows that even when circumstances don’t improve, God is still on His throne and worthy of exuberant praise. The valley may continue, but worship shifts our perspective and plants our feet on higher ground. Pastor Craig ended by inviting listeners to lift their hands “while we’re waiting” and shout praise with exclamation marks, declaring faith that God will “do it again.”

“We’re not praising God just for the what—we’re praising Him for the who.”

Prayer

“Heavenly Father, forgive me of my sins, change me, make me new.
Jesus, be my Savior, the Lord of my life.
Fill me with Your Spirit so I could serve You, so I could follow You, so I could make You known.
My life is not my own—I give it to You.
Thank You for new life; now You have mine.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”