A Prayer To Remember

Welcome

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Galatians 1:3–5, ESV)

Announcements

†CALL TO WORSHIP based on Romans 12:1

Pastor Austin Prince

Minister: Sons and daughters of the living God, why are you together on this Lord’s Day?

Congregation: By the mercies of God, we present our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. This is our spiritual worship.

†PRAYER OF ADORATION AND INVOCATION

O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You are the Lord; Creator, Sustainer, and the Ruler of all things. You are our Lord, the God who gave His own Son for our salvation; who has called us out f darkness and into your marvelous light. Come, O God, inhabit the praises of your people. Send the Spirit that we may worship you in spirit and in truth. Receive our worship, as you receive our prayer.

†OPENING PSALM OF PRAISE #93

“The Lord Reigns Over All”

†CONFESSION OF SIN & ASSURANCE OF PARDON

based on Psalm 5

Our confession of sin comes from Psalm 5 — you can follow along in your bulletin.

Minister: Hear our words and our groanings, O Lord. Give attention to our cry for mercy. You are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.

Congregation: The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers. You destroy those who speak lies; you abhor the bloodthirsty and deceitful. But, O Lord, we are evildoers. We are boastful, deceitful, and bloodthirsty.

Minister: By your mercy alone, by the abundance of your steadfast love, may we enter your house.

Congregation: Because of your son, O Lord, we find refuge in you. You have taken away our sin and let us sing for joy. For the sake of our savior, you have covered us with your favor as a shield. We rejoice in our forgiveness! Amen.

CONTINUAL READING OF SCRIPTURE James 3:1218

Paul Mulner, Elder

THE OFFERING OF TITHES AND OUR GIFTS

CONGREGATIONAL PRAYERS

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.

†HYMN OF PREPARATION #271

“Blessed Jesus, at Your Word”

SERMON Habakkuk 3:1-2

PRAYER OF ILLUMINATION

Lord, thou hast given us thy Word for a light to shine upon our path; grant us so to meditate on that word, and to follow its teaching. That we may find in it the light that shines more and more until the perfect day through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

TEXT HABAKKUK 3:1-2

Habakkuk 3:1–2 ESV

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth. 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.

AFTER SCRIPTURE

The grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of the Lord endures forever. Amen.

Intro

There is a word here that translators can’t quite figure out. The word is Shigionoth. It’s not known what it means specifically, but it is picked up one other time in the Psalms and likely refers to a type of music.

Now, our text tells us that what we are about to study in chapter three is a prayer of Habakkuk, but this extra information tells us that it is a prayer to be preserved and remembered in song.

As we were just doing ourselves moments ago, sometimes a song is what is needed to get the riches theology to take root in our hearts.

Throughout the Bible, it’s wonderful to see that the people of faith are a singing people. God even commands it at times.

He commanded Moses to craft a song as He led them through the sea and provided for them. A song that was to be taught to future generations, that they may know the faithfulness of the Lord and not forget (Deut 31:19).

When we see before us a revelation of the mysteries of scripture and the glory of God, it needs to be captured and preserved and felt. Our emotions need to communicate and mature as well as our minds, and a song so often is able to carry that amount of weight.

In our old neighborhood there as an older lady that lived a few doors down from us. We couldn’t hardly walk past her house without her flagging us down and giving us some pound cake — something that she made almost every day. She would talk to us for hours and barely let us leave. But when we found out that she was at the hospital in her final moments, Chelsea and I and some other friends went to the hospital to visit her. She was surrounded by her family and wasn’t very responsive, everyone was saying their goodbyes to her and then the room fell silent. No one really knew what to say anymore. And then Chelsea just began to sing: “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not; as Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.”

I could have just said in that moment of silence, “God is faithful”. It would have been right and true to say, but that might have come off trite at that moment. Song makes the truth not only known but felt, and not only known but remembered.

In that moment, that song called us all back to remember the Lord, His faithfulness over our neighbor’s life, her faith, and God’s continued faithfulness.

Habakkuk is crafting that sort of monument here in this prayer turned song. It’s a truth that should be deposited into the mind and the heart and the songbook of those who wonder what God is up to in the silence, or why God would let instruments of judgement like the Babylonians get away with their oppression, or generally the confusion of leaning on our own understanding in an effort to figure God out.

We’ll spend our time this morning looking at just the preamble to this prayer from vv.1-2, looking at the rest of it over the next few weeks.

Look with me at v.1:

Prayer

Habakkuk 3:1 (ESV) — 1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.

The first thing we are to see is that it is a prayer.

By the time we come to chapter three, Habakkuk has asked his questions of the Lord and the Lord has answered. He questioned why God was allowing his own people to be so wicked, and when God promised Judgement in the form of the Babylonians, Habakkuk questioned why God would let such a bad thing come to good people. God answered that He is holy and will judge both the house of Judah and the Babylonians. God can wield the Babylonians like a rod for rebuking the house of Judah and then break that rod over His knees. Through it all, through, as God sovereignly works His perfect will in the world, the righteous are those who live by faith, not ease of circumstances. The righteous can live in Egypt or Babylon, or under Rome, or in America. The righteous live not by sight, but by faith. God isn’t enthroned or dethroned based upon who wins elections or the fairness of the weather or the success of your crops. God is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence (Hab. 2:20).

At this point, Habakkuk has no questions anymore. And even though Habakkuk’s circumstances haven’t changed, his perspective has. He has matured from confusion and bewilderment at God’s ways and timing now to a resolve for prayer. And this type of growth shouldn’t make us ashamed. It’s ok to ask questions and be confused as Habakkuk was. God’s ways are not our ways. Life is heavy and difficult and bewildering, filled with glory and sadness, blessings and great burdens. But the wise know when to stop speaking and know when to listen to the Lord, and they wrestle with Him in prayer.

For a while Habakkuk was looking out at the horizon, standing from his watchtower to scan for answers. But he ends up on his knees in prayer, but that’s where he can truly see. It’s where he gets the right perspective.

Sometimes we think of prayer as the last resort. The church calls a prayer meeting and someone says, “ahh, it’s come to this, has it?”

But prayer here is a crescendo of Habakkuk’s maturity. He is exercising that faith of the righteous that he is to live by as he turns to God for praise and comfort and security. In the confusion he has somewhere to go. You have somewhere to go.

[Slow] If you remember, the very first cause for which Habakkuk pleaded to the Lord was because of the great wickedness of his people in the kingdom of Judah. And there will not be any revival for those people or any blessing to their nation without dependence upon the Lord. The people needed prayer.

As God says in 2 Chron. 7:14, “if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”

It is the same for us. We have wickedness in the land and we have pride in our lives. We have questions in the difficulties, but we are called by God’s name. Let us humble ourselves and pray and seek God’s face and turn from our sins. The righteous, those who live by faith, are people of prayer.

One of the best ministries here at COG is our Tuesday prayer meeting. We spend a lot of time in prayer here, but we here we stop for quite some time and sit still. We petition the Lord, praise His name, call for His hand and comfort, and recall His mercy.

Let’s look at the very beginning of this prayer from v.2:

Habakkuk 3:2 — 2 O Lord, I have heard the report of you, and your work, O Lord, do I fear.

What is it that Habakkuk has heard?

For one he has recently heard how the Lord will use the Babylonians to judge the kingdom of Judah. But Habakkuk as a prophet also knows of the works and reports of the Lord. He knows what God’s judgement looks like upon the wicked. He has heard about God’s judgement through flood. He has heard of God’s plagues upon Egypt. He has heard of God’s flattening of Babel and the incineration of Sodom and Gomorrah. He knows that God will not be mocked. He knows that God is holy, holy, holy. But he has also heard of a passover lamb. And so Habakkuk fears the Lord.

Now, this isn’t fear as if God is unhinged and dangerous. This isn’t the type of fear one might feel in an abusive relationship filled with violence and a lack of self-control or anger. This is a fear of God’s holiness. God is wise and we are unable to carry the weight of what He knows. God is perfect and good, the Bible describes Him as pure light. We are like those whom the light bothers. It exposes us. It is abrasive to us.

I marvel at how John 3 puts it. We all know John 3:16, I hope, but do you know the verses right after?

““For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him… And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.” (John 3:16–20, ESV)

God is Holy. Pure light that exposes us, and we hate it. But it’s what we need. It’s what is accurate that dispels the trance of our pride, which tricks us into thinking that we aren’t that bad and it tricks us into thinking that God’s hatred of our sin is a hatred of us. God’s holiness, especially expressed through His law, is like a mirror that show us who we really are. We’ve all done this, where we have seen ourselves in the mirror and thought: yikes, that’s what my hair really looks like today?

Sin blinds us from perspective in many areas. The Bible describes over and over that our hearts are hard and can’t feel right, that our eyes are blind and we can’t see right. We have a world full of yes from God and ten words of no, but that colors our whole perspective of God and who He is. We think Him oppressive and judgmental. Of course this blindness affects all of our live. We have marriages and homes that are full of grace upon grace upon grace, but all we see are the socks on the floor, perceived insults, or the flaws of others and it chokes us. God is merciful to give us sight, but it’s so often hard to see because it is an indictment upon us

You always see people check themselves out in the mirror and then immediately try to fix what they see is wrong. But God’s holiness shows us our soul. And you can’t just tidy that up with a brush of the hand. And that brings a certain level of fear.

But this type of fear is good because it leads us away from pride and to repentance. Fear is necessary when God puts our sin in perspective. It’s not the world out there that is merely the problem, the Babylonians who build their empire of pride. But it is that we, too, are part of the problem, building our own kingdom of pride. We see that sin is not a small thing to be ignored, or simply accepted, or sympathized with. Our sin isn’t just us being knuckleheads and getting things wrong; it is vile and sinister. It is rebellion against God and His character. It is self over others. It is a choice that we make over and over, to pick up the hammer and drive a nail through God’s hands to keep him silent rather than obey Him. But God shows us who we are. And there is fear in seeing ourselves this way.

God is in His holy temple; let all the earth keep silence.

The prayer continues. Look at the next part of v.2:

(3:2b) — In the midst of the years revive it; in the midst of the years make it known;

Habakkuk’s questions to the Lord through chapters 1-2 were about His silence and His mysterious ways. But after hearing form the Lord, and knowing that the righteous can live faithfully through any situation, He knows that all of the Lord’s ways are meant for good. He knows that God can use anything for His glory. He uses Egyptian slavery and the wilderness, and apparently, now the Babylonians. And so he says two things: First, revive your work of Lord. Keep going, God. I trust you. You can use these things. You have used these things. In fact, this is how your glory transcends the empires of this world and fills the earth as the waters cover the sea. You make use of a Roman cross. Your kingdom come, Lord. Your will be done. Not mine. Revive it. Keep going.

And the second thing is, “In the midst of the years make it known”.

It’s a prayer which says, help me to understand. It’s honest enough to say, I still don’t know and don’t see with great clarity — would you “make it known” to me? As you revive your work and get your glory, would you comfort me and remind me of your goodness. Let me not forget. Where my heart is hard and my pride is high, when my eyes cannot or will not acknowledge your holiness, help me to see.

And notice the last phrase from v.2:

(3:2c) — in wrath remember mercy.

One thing that Habakkuk does see clearly now is that God’s wrath is just. God has shown us the mirror of His holiness, and we see ourselves rightly. Sin has become precious to us. We have broken the covenant with you. But in your wrath, Habakkuk prays, would you remember mercy?

Now, the wrath is just. There is no reason for God to forgive and to have mercy. What are God’s obligations? Well, He is holy. And being holy, that means that He will judge rightly. He will not let sin and hate and abuse and corruption go without executing righteous judgment. But since we all stand before His holiness and see ourselves as sinners, the wrath should deservedly come to us, too. His obligation is that he must deal with us.

He isn’t obligated to give mercy, or remember mercy. But He does. He loves us out of pure grace and adopts us freely of His own choosing.

God does indeed visit with wrath, but not only does He remember mercy, like something that is in the back of His mind that he could have forgotten about. Mercy is at the forefront of His mind and always has been. He visits the wrath upon His own son — it is mercy at the pinnacle of all cosmic beauty and glory.

“even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.” (Ephesians 1:3–10, ESV)

This is why God’s glory goes forth as the waters cover the sea. This is the mystery that deserves to be recalled in prayer and remembered in song. In God’s wrath, He has remembered mercy. God is not fickle and irritated and unhinged. He is holy, and he will wash that stain of sin off in a fountain filled with blood — a fountain of His mercy. Be reconciled to God. Lay down the questions. Lay down the fight. Lay down the pretense that you can stand in that mirror without need of correction and repentance. See your sin, but see your savior; come to Him for mercy.

Conclusion

“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17, ESV)

THE MINISTRY OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

Leader: Lift up your hearts!

Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord.

Leader: Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

Congregation: It is right for us to give thanks and praise!

CONFESSION OF FAITH

The Apostles’ Creed p. 851

INVITATION TO THE LORD’S TABLE

Minister: Here is the table of the Lord, we are gathered to his supper for a foretaste of things eternal. All who have faith in the risen lord and are united with his church in baptism are invited to come. Come, you who are fearful, to find peace in him. Come, you who are weak, to be made strong in faith. Come, you who are broken, and be made whole. It is not I who invite you, but the Lord. You who trust in him, come.

Congregation: What shall we render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward us? We will take the cup of salvation and call upon the name of the Lord. Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us, therefore let us keep the feast. O taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed are they who trust in him.

PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING

DISTRIBUTION OF THE ELEMENTS

SHARING OF THE LORD’S SUPPER

THE WORDS OF INSTITUTION 1 Corinthians 11:23-26

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

“Eat, Drink, Remember, & Believe”

†OUR RESPONSE #234

Tune: The God of Abraham Praise

The whole triumphant host gives thanks to God on high;

“Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!” they ever cry.

Hail, Abraham’s God and mine! I join the heav’nly lays;

all might and majesty are thine, and endless praise.

†BENEDICTION: GOD’S BLESSING FOR HIS PEOPLE

The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord makes His face to shine upon you and is gracious to you. The Lord lifts up His countenance upon you and gives you peace. Amen.