Hab. 3

Opening:

This morning just as a heads up we are going to do something a little different. We are going to sing a song. I’m going to preach and then we are going to sing a few songs in response to GOd’s Word. I wanted to let you know that now so you weren't surprised later.

I’d like to start the service by reading from

Psalm 42 1 As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? 3 My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 4 These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. 5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. 7 Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. 8 By day the Lord commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. 9 I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” 10 As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, “Where is your God?” 11 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Why are you cast down oh my soul? Hope in God. That’s what we are going to attempt to do this morning. Give cast down souls a reason to hope in God. let’s stand and sing

Sermon

This morning we are going to be in Habakkuk 3. Since I am only preaching twice before Pastor Tim starts back up in 1 John I had to make a decision on what to preach next and although there is so much good found in Habakkuk 2 I couldn’t help myself from skipping to chapter 3 this morning.

In chapter 1 we found Habakkuk desperate. He’s confused. HE doesn’t understand why God allows such evil to take place in his beloved homeland. Why the guilty go unpunished why justice is perverted.

So he complains to God and God responds by saying He is raising up the Babylonians to come and destroy Israel and exile them across the nation of Babylon.

Understandably this confused Habakkuk. How could this be God’s answer? Why would he allow all of this evil to take place and sit idly by and watch.

But we learned that God was up to something. That even when we don’t know why or how God could bring good from evil he can and he will.

But Habakkuk lacked perspective and he challenged and questioned God. And WE wondered why God would allow this kind of questioning to take place. Why God would allow a man made of dust who is completely wicked question the power and goodness of God.

And I tried to make the argument that God understands how we pray when we are desperate. That God does not relate to us on the basis of the quality of our prayers. SO although i was not encouraging you to go home and question God I wanted you to know that you have the freedom to wrestle. You relationship with God does not hang in the balance.

That’s where we left Habakkuk. He questioned God and he said that he would station himself on the tower and wait for the response.

But listen as I read from Habakkuk 3 and see if you can notice a different attitude from Habakkuk.

I think you will find one.

So what we are going to do is briefly look at to what lead to Habakkuk’s different attitude from chapter 2 and then learn from Habakkuk’s changed response in chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 (ESV)

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet,

2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy.

3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power. 5 Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels. 6 He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. 8 Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers, or your indignation against the sea, when you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation? 9 You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw you and writhed; the raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear. 12 You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger. 13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. 14 You pierced with his own arrows the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. 15 You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters.

16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. 17 Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

Don’t you see the difference in Habakkuk? He goes from questioning God to saying I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

What happened? Why did Habakkuk’s attitude change? What did God say to him?

Have you noticed the different responses people can have towards suffering. I’ve meet people who have gone through incredible suffering and they have come out the other side joyful, humble, kind and gentle. I’ve also meet people who have gone through suffering and come out the other side depressed, self-righteouess, angry, and harsh.

Suffering will never leave you unchanged. After going through deep suffering you will come out the other side a different person.

But will you come out angry and bitter or joyful and kind?

The potato and egg could both be dropped into the same pot of boiling water and they will both change. The potato will come out soft and the egg hard.

When you get dropped into suffering you will change but what kind of person will you come out to be? Will you be soft and tender towards those around you or will you be hard and cynical?

Here we see that Habakkuk still in the middle of his suffering was being changed into a man of joyful sorrow. He was learning to trust God and find joy in him even in the middle of his sorrow.

So what happened? What did God say to him that caused this kind of response?

Well first we must remember why Habakkuk was so distraught in chapter 1. Remember he was angry because he saw justice being perverted in his home country of Israel. So he complains to God and God responds by saying that the evil babylonians are coming to destroy Israel. But the babylonians are more evil than Israel and Habakkuk doesn’t understand why someone evil should be allowed to swallow up someone more innocent.

Habakkuk wants justice and doesn’t see how God’s plan accomplishes that. But Habakkuk also is angry with God because God has promised to bring salvation to the world through Israel and that doesn’t seem to be able to happen with the current state of affairs in Israel.

And GOd’s plan to destroy Israel sure doesn’t seem like a good plan to bring salvation through Israel. So Habakkuk is angry and doesn’t understand because he lacks perspective.

So what does God say to Habakkuk in chapter two that illicits Habakkuk’s response in chapter 3.

Without going into great detail here’s what I think God is essentially saying. Justice will come to the Babylonians. The phrase Woe to him is used repeatedly in chapter 2 referring to them. God assures Habakkuk that the the Babylonians are going to get what’s coming to them.

Which can i just point out something real quick. This belief that God is just a loving God who never punishes anyone could only be celebrated in a place that has never experienced real suffering. If you ask the Christians in Afghanistan who have watched the Taliban kill their entire family and burn down their homes to the ground what they love about God. I can guarantee you the fact that God will bring justice is high on their list.

But anyways Habakkuk longed for justice and God promised it would come.

But God also promised in Hab. 2:14 “14 That the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” and in Hab. 2:20 “20 That the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.”

Not only would justice come but the whole world would be filled with the glory of God. Salvation was coming.

Habakkuk didn’t understand the why or the how of what God was doing. But he did understand the what. God would execute judgment and His glory would fill the earth.

How does this lead to Habakkuk’s response of joy in chapter 3?

Because suffering ultimately shows you what you value. Because when suffering strips you of the things you love it shows you what you value most. Habakkuk valued justice and God’s glory so when everything else was taken away from His he could still find joy.

Why does suffering turn some people into jaded angry individuals? Because it reveals what they love most and it’s not God.

Why does suffering turn people into soft and tender individuals? Because it reveals what they love most and... it’s God and when you value the right things suffering can actually enhance the joy.

Because suffering strips you of everything that can distract you from the joy of being known and loved by God.

Habakkuk was losing everything but he still had God so he still had joy. That doesn’t mean that the sorrow wasn’t very real. That doesn’t mean it was wrong to mourn the loss it just means that joy is still possible even in the darkest of nights when you value and love God above all else.

But it’s one thing to say you value God above all else it’s another to actually rejoice in him when everything falls apart

So let’s learn from Habakkuk’s example this morning.

Here’s what we see Habakkuk doing. He prays, he remembers, he waits, and he rejoices.

We don’t have time to go into all of the details of this chapter this morning. But as we start I think It is important to notice what Habakkuk is doing in this chapter.

Verse 1 says, A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet

He is praying. Throughout this whole book we find Habakkuk praying. This is the first step in rejoicing in tribulation. Come to God in prayer.

When things don’t go our way or the wheels of our life fall off it can be very easy to forget to pray.

But this wrestling with God and the eventual rejoicing in God all comes in the context of prayer.

And in our prayer we should ask God to open our eyes to reality. Not the reality that is readily seen before us but to the God behind the reality. The God that holds our reality in HIs hand.

Which is exactly what we see Habakkuk doing in verse 3-15.

In these verses we have what theologians call a theophany. A theophany is a description of the appearance of God in great power and glory and this passage gives us one of the most extensive and elaborate theophanies in all of the Old Testament.

Now this theophany is very interesting because it’s speaking of the exodus. Now this isn’t paticualry obvious to us modern readers but commentators agree Habakkuk is reminding himself of what God did for the Israelites in leading the people out of Egypt into the promised land.

But what did the exodus mean to the people of Israel. In a very real sense the exodus was the gospel or their best understanding of the gospel to the old testament hebrews.

Think about it. It was in the Exodus that God through no help from the people of Israel brought them out of political bondage and slavery of Egypt through the red sea into the promised land.

In the gospel we have God through no help of our own freeing us from the bondage and slavery of sin and leading us through death into the promised land of heaven.

It was through the sacrifice of the passover lamb that the Israelites escaped the wrath of the angel of death and their first born child was saved.

In the gospel it is the sacrifice of, God’s first born Son, Jesus that saves us from the wrath of God.

It was the exodus that showed that nothing was too difficult for God. That when all hope seemed lost God could bring light from the darkness. Freedom from slavery.

And Habakkuk is bringing this to mind.

Why does Habakkuk bring this to mind? Because he is reasuring himself that if God was faithful then he will be faithful now. That if God could lead his people out of Egypt then he could lead His people out of Babylon.

Which is exactly what happened in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. God remained faithful to his people through no merit of their own.

And it was this second exodus out of Babylon that set the stage for the ultimate exodus of God’s people out of death to life.

Did you know that Jesus had a conversation with Moses? It was in the New Testament in a moment called the transfiguration. But what do you think Jesus and Moses would talk about? Listen to what Luke 9 has to say about the conversation.

Luke 9:28–31 (ESV)

28 Now about eight days after these sayings he (Jesus) took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his (Jesus’) departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.

They are speaking of Jesus’ departure. But Bible translators have had a really difficult time translating that word departure because the literal translation would read like this.

“Moses and Elijah spoke about Jesus’ exodus which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”

Jesus meets Moses in this crazy transfiguration and they speak about the exodus that Jesus was about to accomplish. Moses risked his life to help lead the people out of Egypt into the promised land. But in Jesus we see the ultimate exodus. He wasn’t going to just risk his life he was going to sacrifice His life to lead His people out of death and into glory.

Habakkuk had the first Exodus to remember and it was that first Exodus that brought Him great hope and joy in the middle of His suffering.

We have something far greater. We have the ultimate exodus to remember and if we would just continually call that to mind it can give us great hope and joy in the middle of our suffering.

In the middle of your hurt remember Romans 8:32 (ESV)

32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

If God was willing to give you His Son for your good then there is nothing he won’t give you your good. If something is being withheld from you then it must mean that it’s not what you need because there is nothing that God will ever hold back from you that would be for your good. He’s given you His Son. He will give you whatever else you could possibly need.

In the middle of your hurt practice Lamentations 3:21–23 which says

21  But this I call to mind,

and therefore I have hope:

22  The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

23  they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

We are a forgetful people. So consumed with our present day troubles. We must make it a discipline to call to mind the steadfast love and faithfulness of our Lord. Because that is where our hope is from.

Habakkuk looked back at the past “gospel” of the exoudus and his hope for a future exodus from Babylon. The Christian looks back at the gospel of Christ and of the future hope of glory in heaven.

That’s what the Christian must look at and call to mind. Never at the present. The present is so confusing. It rarely makes any sense at all. But the past and the future are crystal clear. And that is where our hope lies. In what Christ has done and what he has promised to do.

So Habakkuk prayed and Habakkuk remembered.

Then in verse 16 we see that Habakkuk waited.

Habakkuk 3:16 16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.

Habakkuk says he will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the Babylonians.

Habakkuk waited for justice to come. He didn’t go out and try to exact judgment himself. He understood what God meant when he said, “vengance is mine I shall repay.” So we can learn from Habakkuk’s example.

It’s not our job to bring judgment on our enemies. We can wait for God to bring judgment. That’s His role not our role. So then the question comes up what is our role as we wait for judgment to come?

Jesus tells us what to do. He says in Matthew 5:44 44 Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

We can get so worked up in our modern political climate. In our culture wars. We forget what our role is. The other side can make us so mad that we think our job is to fight them and tear them down.

There is this Christ-less conservatism out there that thinks it our job to attack our enemies. They make fun of liberal tears and act like victory looks like annihilating our enemy. That’s so foolish.

Aren’t you glad that’s not how Jesus treated His enemies?

Romans 5:10 (ESV)

10 For if while we were still enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son

How did Jesus treat His enemies? He died for them? How should we treat our enemies? We should sacrifice our life for their good. Their judgment is coming lets love them until it happens and maybe just maybe if instead of fighting our enemies we love them. Maybe instead of an enemy we will gain a friend and a brother or sister in Christ.

I will wait quietly for their day of trouble and while we wait let’s do what Jesus said and love.

But how did Habakkuk wait for the Lord? Look at the first part of verse 16 I think this is so encouraging.

I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me.

The Bible is so real. It doesn’t sugar coat anything. Habakuk is in prayer and he is remembering all that God has done but in the mean time he is waiting for the Lord and how is he waiting?

His body is trembling. His lips are quivering. His knees are shaking.

You may be tempted to tell Habakkuk to man up or to have more faith. Trust in God and stop your shaking. But I want you to notice two things about this response.

This is the normal biblical response to being in the presence of God or being made aware of the power of God.

The prophet Isaiah is given a vision of God seated on his throne and listen to how he responds. Isaiah 6:5 (ESV)5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”

Woe is me. I am unclean Isaiah cries out.

Habakkuk has just finished writing this beauty theophany about God’s power and he realizes how unclean and sinful he is. He realized that those questions he asked to start this book were filled with self- righteousness. Why aren’t you doing anything? Why do you idly sit by while evil persists?

Ahh but Habakkuk realized that if it was not for God’s idleness that he too would be consumed. Habakkuk realized that he was evil. That Genesis 6:5 was true of him as well which says, “5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

See when you cry out and ask God to punish the wicked don’t forget about the wickedness in your own heart. When you wonder why God seems fit to sit by while evil persists don’t forget that if God was to eradicate evil you too would be destroyed.

It is the very patience of God that so infuriated Habakkuk that was the very reason he was still alive. Habakkuk started the book by asking God how long and now he is ending the book by saying I will wait patiently.

But that may not be the only reason for Habakkuk’s response. He may have gotten his questions answered but the Babylonians were still coming. Judgment was still on its way and Habakkuk was scared. Sure he was patiently waiting but that doesn’t mean He wasn’t afraid. Sure he trusted in God but that doesn’t mean He wasn’t scared.

That’s what I mean when I say that the Bible is so real with us. The bible is honest about what it means to be human. It’s hard to trust God. It’s scary to trust God. Sometimes a peace will come upon us that surpasses all understanding and sometimes we are left with shaky knees.

We’ve already talked about the exodus once this morning so let’s talk about it once more. Imagine with me a hypothetical conversation with two jews before the very first passover before the angel of death was going to pass through the land and kill the first born child of every home who did not have the blood of the passover lamb on it’s doorpost.

One Hebrew is terrified the other is very calm. The scared Hebrew tells his friend about his concerns. How he’s worried about what could happen. How he can’t sleep because his mind is racing. How is heart is pounding in his chest and his knees are shaking.

And the confident Hebrew looks at him and asks. Well did you kill a spotless lamb and did you spread the blood over the doorposts of your home?

And he responds well of course I did that of course I obeyed.

And the confident Hebrew responds well what is there to fear we’ve done what God has called us to do we can trust him.

And the scared Hebrew says, “Ok I guess you are right but I will just be so glad when all of this is over.”

Now let me ask you this question. Which Hebrew was saved from the angel of death on that fatefull night? The confident one or the one whose knees were shaking and lips quivering?

The answer of course is both. Because it is not the strength of your faith that saves you but the strength of your savior.

Yes we should pray for a stronger faith and we should remind ourselves of all that God has done. We should ask God for a peace and a confidence in him.

But there is so much in our lives that we feel shame for. Shaky knees shouldn’t be one of them.

God is patient. God is kind. God is gentle. He does not grow weary of reminding you of his goodness. He does not tire of reminding you of His power.

It’s ok to go to God with a catch in your throat. It’s ok to go to God with a pounding heart. But whatever you do go to God.

So the next time you feel your knees shaking bend with in prayer to God. He has time for your worries.

Habakkuk prayed, he remembered, he waited and then we see him rejoice.

Look at verses 17-19

17  Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

18  yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

19  God, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer’s;

he makes me tread on my high places.

Though the fig tree should not blossom though the fields yield no food. It’s important to understand that Habakkuk is not exaggerating and what he is describing is a country wide famine and starvation. People were going to die by the Babylonians or by starvation.

Thou the fig tree should not blossom yet I will rejoice in the Lord and I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk has changed. He has gone from questioning and challenging God to a quiet rejoicing in the Lord.

What happened? He took his eye of his circumstance and placed them on the goodness and sovereignty of God.

What are some of your thoughs? Though the cancer doesn’t go away still I will rejoice. Though the marriage never heal. Though the child never come back home. Though their behavior never change. Still I will praise you.

We had a scare this week and this passage became very real to me. Everything is going to be ok now just a cracked pelvis but in the moment it did not seem that way. My daughter was in an accident. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. Just a simple four wheeler accident.

But i guess someone had called 911 and all of a sudden a volunteer fireman showed up. Then a sheriff. Then some EMT’s. And more and more people kept showing up and I kept thinking this can’t be that serious. My little girl can’t be that hurt.

Then I saw the helicopter. And things became very real very quick. And as I saw the helicopter fly away with my baby and we raced to the hospital this thought came into my mind.

Though my daughter never walks again. Though she is never able to ride a bike again or run with her friends.

Would I still rejoice in the Lord? Would I still find joy in the God of my salvation?

I wish I could say yes. I wish I could say I never questioned or challenged God in the car ride. I wish i could say i never asked God why as I was in the waiting room. But that’s not reality. I wondered how and I wondered why God would allow this to happen.

So I questioned and challenged God in the moments of my desperation.

But God knows how we pray when we are desperate. He does not shame us for hurting. But patiently waits for us to trust.

See this end result that Habakkuk got to isn’t a command that God forces upon us. He’s not in heaven allowing us to hurt just to see if we will still obey. He doesn’t slap us and then tell us to smile.

Habakkuk is showing us what is possible to those who trust in God. He showing us what can happen to those remember all that God has done for them in the past and what he is going to do for them in the future.

And the result is Habakkuk had joy. He had strength. He said His feet where like deer’s he was able to prance. Not after all the pieces fell into place. Not after he got to the other side of his pain. Not after the sickness was healed or the fig tree’s began to blossom.

Right smack dap in the middle of all of his pain he found joy. And you can too. You can have joy.

But where did he find it? It wasn’t in his circumstances. He didn’t look down deep in himself. He looked to the God of his salvation and that’s where he found joy.

See last week I shared how Abby and I have been unable to have kids biologically. But how God used that difficulty for our good. I said when Suzy came to live with us the pieces began to fall into place. I was tugging at your heart strings. I wanted the truth of God’s goodness to reach your heart. But I hope you understand that the pieces aren’t promised to fall into place. Habakkuk never understood what would end up happening. He never saw the pieces fall into place. He died in darkness.

You may die in that dark night having never caught a glimpse of the dawn. Your healing may never come. That relationship may never be mended. You child may never come back home.

But we don’t hope in what can be seen but the unseen. We don’t hope in what may happen but what will happen. We don’t hope in this momentary life but in eternal life.

Because there will be a day when all is made new. When wrongs are made right. When relationships never break. Where sickness is no more. And where helicopters don’t have to fly your child to a hospital.

Ahh but life is hard and death is scary. But you do know that there can’t be a resurrection without a grave. That no one was ever brought back to life that didn’t first die. That for the christian, death is not the end but the beginning of life.

See we don’t put our hope in tommorow or the next day or next year or 30 years from now. Our hope is in a billion years from now when eternity is still just getting started and we are still just getting used to feeling pure unadulterated joy.

So when the trials come go to God in honest prayer, remember all that he has done for you in Jesus, wait for his answer, and look to eternity and then you can say with Habakkuk

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

Let’s pray.

A couple of years ago a christian author asked a question in response to the majority of songs played on Christian radio and sung in churches on Sunday. He asked, “But what can miserable Christians sing?”

It can be hard to come to church when life is hard and pretend to have it all together and it can be hard to sing happy songs. We aren’t going to do that this morning.

If that author would have asked Habakkuk that question He would have responded. “They can sing what I just wrote.” Notice the last line of this book. “To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments”

This chapter was meant to be a song. It was meant to be sung. So this morning we are going to sing songs that miserable, hurting, questioning christians can sing.

We will sing songs that remind us to wait, remember, and rejoice in God’s goodness and let’s sing them with honesty. Not pretending that everything is fine but admitting that life is hard but God is still good.

Let’s stand and sing