Taking Comfort in God's Love for the Endangered

INTRODUCTION

Greek mythology is just that--mythology.

It is not to be taken seriously in terms of true spirituality.

It is no more true than Paw Patrol or Gilligan’s Island.

But there are still some interesting and entertaining tales in those old Greek stories.

One of them is the story of Perseus and Medusa.

Medusa was the woman with the snakes on her head and if you looked at her, you would be turned to stone.

Perseus--the son of Zeus--is ordered to kill her.

So he takes this reflective shield he is given and backs up to her, looking at her through the shield...

He has to do this because he can’t look right at her or he will die...

...And then he takes her head while she is sleeping

What the story shows us is that where you look matters.

It especially matters during dangerous times.

CONTEXT

And we can say that is exactly the sort of times the people of Judah were living in during the days of Habbakuk.

The book predates Exile in Babylon, which took place in 586 BC.

It is likely that Habakkuk prophesied during the reign of King Jehoiakim.

In 609 BC, Egypt took control of Judah for a brief time.

When that happened, Pharaoh Necho took Judah’s king into captivity.

His name was Jehoahaz. He was Josiah’s son and he only rules for a few months.

Necho puts his brother, Eliakim on the throne, and changed his name to Jehoiakim.

He was a king that Egypt could control.

A puppet.

He was a weak man who built a massive palace around him while his nation crumbled morally and physically.

So yes--these were dangerous and dark times.

Judah is controlled by Egypt.

Judah is threatened by Babylon.

Judah is filled with increasing immorality.

And Judah has a pitiful, weak, self-indulgent leader.

These were the days in which Habakkuk spoke the Word of the Lord.

STRUCTURE

We are focusing on the final words of the book this morning, but I want to make sure we understand what leads up to the culmination of the prophecy.

In many ways, the main thrust of Habakkuk is a series of complaints and responses between the prophet and the Lord.

Habakkuk is unhappy with the immorality in Judah and he wants to know what God will do about it. He issues a complaint:

Habakkuk 1:2 ESV

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?

And God responds by saying that He is raising up the Chaldeans (Babylonians) as a tool of discipline that He will bring against Judah.

Habakkuk 1:5–6 ESV

“Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.

Then Habakkuk complains to God about His response.

What do you MEAN, God? You are going to raise up a pagan nation that is immoral to crush your people?

He begins his 2nd complaint:

Habakkuk 1:12 ESV

Are you not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One? We shall not die. O Lord, you have ordained them as a judgment, and you, O Rock, have established them for reproof.

And then he ends it by essentially saying, “I’m waiting on an answer.”

Habakkuk 2:1 ESV

I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.

And so God responds again and ensures that Babylon will have their day of justice as well. And to prove it, he pronounces five woes over Babylon and anyone who is unjust.

That gets you to chapter 3.

After Habakkuk hears that God will discipline Judah by raising up Babylon...

And he hears that God will then bring Babylon to justice through His judgment...

He prays and he praises.

In fact, that is what Habakkuk 3 is--it is a Psalm of prayer and praise.

We know it is a Psalm because it is notated like one.

It begins with a notation that this is a prayer and it is very reminiscent of the beginning of Psalm 7

But we also know it is a Psalm because at the end we see the words:

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments

And in the Psalm, the prophet is much like Job.

He complained to God and then he heard from God.

And then upon hearing from God, he humbles himself before his Creator and says

Habakkuk 3:16 ESV

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.

“I’m shaking, but I am also waiting on You, Lord.”

That is the prayer of a man who is trusting the Lord in a dangerous place.

And then he break into praise in verses 17-19 and this is our text for today.

TEXT--these are the very words of God

Habakkuk 3:17–19 ESV

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, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 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.

OUTLINE

We have two teaching points to draw from these words of praise this morning.

1. There is less complaining in the soul when we are not focused on circumstances. (v. 17-18)

2. There is more security for the soul when we are finding joy in the Lord. (v. 18-19)

LESS COMPLAINING (v. 17-18)

But we start this morning with that first teaching point:

1. There is less complaining in the soul when we are not focused on circumstances. (v. 17-18)

DANGEROUS TIMES (v. 17)

As we have established, the circumstances in Judah were difficult and dangerous.

As a result, God’s faithful remnant in Judah would have been endangered.

When we are in danger, we are in need of comfort.

And that is because danger takes away the things that tend to make us comfortable.

Having good health is a comfort to us.

When we enter into bad health and we are in danger, we lose that comfort and we are left looking for comfort.

This is what danger does.

It often leaves us grasping and in need.

That was certainly the case for the people of Judah. When we look at the defiant declarations that Habakkuk makes in v. 17, we get an idea of the turmoil that was being dealt with.

Though the fig tree should not blossom--ruin in the farms.

Nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail--ruin in the vineyards.

And the field yield no food--ruin in the food industry.

And there be no herd in the stalls--ruin in the animal raising industry

In other words, Judah was in the midst of a full economic meltdown.

This is the sort of thing that happens when you become a vassal-state to another nation

It would have been very easy for Habakkuk to complain in these circumstances.

If any one of us had been doing the writing, there is a good chance that the prophecy would have been longer because would have issued a lot more than two complaints.

We complain about a lot less than full economic ruin.

We complain about the people who are driving around us.

We complain about the weather.

We complain about the food we ordered.

We complain about the politicians on TV.

We complain about the TV which displays the politicians.

And we do all that complaining, when everything is going well.

Find us when some real disaster hits and you will often find more than just negative comments being tossed out to whoever is willing to listen.

When the hammer really drops, we are quite often prone to slip into some really dark sort of grumbling.

The sort where we are questioning God’s goodness and God’s purposes and maybe His existence all together.

But regardless as to whether our complaints are about seemingly meaningless things or the most important things, it is all grumbling at the end of the day.

And grumbling is not good for our hearts, nor is it honoring to God.

SCRIPTURES ABOUT COMPLAINING

Let’s think about what the Bible tells us about our complaining.

First of all, when we think of grumbling and complaining in dangerous circumstances, we might think of God’s people in their wilderness wanderings after the Exodus.

In Exodus 16, it is early on in their time in the wilderness and the people are complaining about God’s provision of food for them:

Exodus 16:4–8 ESV

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we, that you grumble against us?” And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”

The lesson to be learned in the Exodus account is that when you complain, even if it is against your leaders, your grumbling is ultimately against God.

About a year later, in Numbers 11, the people are grumbling again.

They crave meat instead of the manna that God provided.

And their grumbling against God angers the Lord.

Numbers 11:1 ESV

And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.

Clearly God hates to hear complaints from mouths that He made for praise.

The New Testament just continues in that vein:

Philippians 2:14–15 ESV

Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,

When we complain, we are committing sin that harms our witness.

When we do all things without complaining, we shine as lights in the world.

James 5:9 ESV

Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.

Again--notice the same principle from Exodus 16.

You may complain against your brother, but there is always God the Judge standing at the door and hearing our covetous, dissatisfied murmuring.

So then, what we get from the Scriptures is a clear picture of God’s feelings about complaining.

He counts it all to be against Him.

He commands us not to do it.

He will judge it and punish it.

He promises that if we do all things without complaining, we will shine as lights.

God hates complaining.

God will greatly use a life that is void of complaining.

All of this should motivate us as believers to WANT to NOT complain.

We should want to cut it out of our lives.

We should have the resolve of Thomas Brooks who said:

It is better to be mute than to murmur.

Thomas Brooks

And we should desire to be like Habakkuk who has traded in grumbling for praise.

TAKING JOY IN THE LORD (v. 18)

You see this praise in v. 18.

Despite the fact that all of the comfort his nation have been stripped away...

Despite the fact that he prophesies during dangerous times...

...The prophet declares— “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.”

REJOICE

In saying this, the prophet is promising to do the opposite of complaining.

He is no longer focused on the immorality that is around him.

He is no longer focused on the judgment that is impending.

He has heard of the Lord and that has changed his speech.

Habakkuk 3:2–4 ESV

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. God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.

He has heard the report of the Lord.

This is what has taken him from grumbling to grateful praise.

It is the report of the Lord’s work.

Vance Havner used to say:

One hour in heaven and we shall be ashamed we ever grumbled.

Vance Havner

It didn’t even take that for Habakkuk.

Just the report of the Lord shifted him from looking at Judah and Babylon and complaining, to hearing of the Lord and rejoicing.

To rejoice in the Lord is to exult in the Lord.

This is a deeply joyful celebration of the Lord in the soul.

This is a joy in the heart that is rooted in the confidence that God is good and His purposes will triumph.

So instead of complaining--which is an act that requires us to be forgetful about God’s goodness, Habakkuk will remember the goodness of God and he will have a celebration over it.

THE LORD

And the name that Habakkuk uses as he praises God is important as well.

He is determined to rejoice in the LORD.

The celebration of his inner-being is focused on Yahweh.

This is the covenant name for God that the Lord revealed to Moses in Exodus 3.

The use of the covenant name shows that the prophet is rejoicing in the God who keeps His promises.

There may not be fruit hanging from the vine.

There may not be animals in the fields.

There may not be food in the cabinet.

But there is still confidence in Habakkuk that Yahweh is a covenant-keeping God.

He will not forget His promises to His people.

SALVATION

And this is most obviously shown in the way that He saves His people, which is why Habakkuk’s joy is aimed at the “God of my salvation.”

Promise-keeping Yahweh is a Savior.

He would save His people from physical exile by raising up the Persians to ultimately bring proud Babylon to the ground and send Judah home.

But that was just the physical.

A few centuries later, He would inaugurate His Kingdom promises to His people by sending His Son to live a perfect life, die an atoning death and resurrect from the grave.

The God of salvation would send His Son Jesus, whose name literally means “God saves.”

And Christ’s obedience and sacrifice and resurrecting victory secures more than a rescue from physical exile.

In His Son, God has saved His people from spiritual death.

By repenting and believing, they have received His grace and they are now safe from every threat to their souls.

Romans 8:38–39 ESV

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

APPLICATION

Now--with that said--before we go to our second point--we have to deal with the plain facts of who we are:

We are not all that different from Israel in the wilderness or Habakkuk in Judah during the reign of Jehoiakim.

We complain. We grumble.

And the reason this is happening is because some of us came to church today and if you were to open up our minds and see what we are thinking about, here is what you would find:

Consumption with circumstances.

Your focus is on the lack of fig tree.

Your focus is on the lack of fruit on the vine.

Your focus is on the empty fields and pantries and stalls.

You are like a baseball player in a bad slump and all they can think about is the fact that they are not hitting the ball.

And in constantly dwelling on the fact that they are not hitting the ball, they are not focusing on the thing they are aiming to to--HIT THE BALL.

When our souls focus on circumstances and what is lacking, we are going to do the spiritual version of striking out.

That is because there is absolutely nothing in Scripture that says, “Dwelling on what is wrong will cause your soul to flourish.”

Instead, what we find is that overly focusing on circumstances actually speaks to a lack of faith.

Matthew 6:28–30 ESV

And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

All of the obsession about a lack of clothing reveals a lack of faith in God.

Therefore, we are not off base to say that complaining is so often a demonstration of weak faith.

It is the exposure of a heart that says, “God is not great enough for me to trust Him or find joy in Him in these circumstances.”

So what we need then is for our faith to increase.

And this comes through hearing and trusting in the Word of God.

And that is what Habakkuk is doing in his Psalm.

He has heard a report of the Lord and he is now trusting in Him and waiting on His actions with a heart of joyful praise.

What this means for those in the room who have a grumbling issue this morning is that you need more of the Word of the Lord.

You need more of His report.

You need to see His loveliness and praiseworthiness and goodness and faithfulness in His revealed Word so that you will stop looking at circumstances and start looking at Christ.

This is what the Word does for us.

It lifts the eyes of our heart up off of the things that stir up the grumbling in us and it puts them on Jesus, and He stirs up the heart of praise in us.

So this is our first teaching point this morning:

There is less complaining in the soul, when we are not focused on circumstances.

MORE SECURITY (v. 18-19)

With that established, let’s move to our second point.

2. There is more security for the soul when we are finding joy in the Lord. (v. 18-19)

The thing we want the most when we are in danger is to feel that danger go away and to be assured that we are safe and secure.

And that is exactly what God has done for the prophet in this passage. We can really see that as we focus on the last couple verses of the book.

STRENGTH IN DANGER

In verse 19, Habakkuk makes a statement and then illustrates it.

The statement is this:

God, the Lord, is my strength.

This time, as the prophet speaks of God, he doesn’t use God’s covenant name, but the term Adonai.

We know this because our English Bibles use a capital LORD to indicate God’s covenant name.

That is not what we have here.

Adonai is the title for God that is used by Habakkuk.

It means “Master.”

It highlights God’s sovereignty and authority over all of Creation.

This is the One who is Habakkuk’s strength.

The One who owns it all and has all power in His hand.

He illustrates how Adonai is his strength with a word picture in v. 19.

It is the picture of a deer scampering around in the high places.

This would have been very familiar to Habakkuk’s audience in ancient Judah.

Deer would effortlessly dash through the rock cliffs around Jerusalem to avoid predators.

They use the smallest of footholds and yet they are able to navigate them with agility and be safe.

They are in a dangerous place--the high places

And yet--they are safe

With God as his strength, this is an image of Habakkuk.

He is not in a place of safety.

He is in a nation that is teetering on the brink of collapse physically and morally.

And yet, because God is His strength, his soul is beyond the reach of all predators.

All the things that pose a threat are weaker than Adonai’s strength, therefore, Habakkuk is secure.

He is like the deer on the rocks.

THE JOY OF THE LORD IS OUR STRENGTH

But I don’t think that is all we can say about v. 19.

I think there is a connection to be made with v. 18 because the Bible makes a connection for us between finding joy in the Lord and finding strength in the Lord.

That connection comes in Nehemiah 8.

In Nehemiah, the Babylonian Exile has come and gone.

That which Habakkuk is told about has happened and the people have started to return home.

In Nehemiah 8, Ezra reads the Word of God to the returned remnant and spiritual revival breaks out.

And here is what Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra and the priests say to the people:

Nehemiah 8:9–10 ESV

And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The joy of the LORD is your strength

To understand what that means, considering the opposite will help us out.

Here is a true statement that is the opposite of Nehemiah 8:10:

The despair of our hearts makes us weak

So with that in mind, what Israel’s leaders were saying was this:

The joy of the Lord is a defense against despair and it will make you strong

Israel had done their weeping in Exile. They were in despair.

Now Nehemiah and Ezra and the priests are saying, “Don’t weep anymore. Weeping is done. We wept in Babylon. The joy of the Lord will drive out the despair and make you strong.”

So then, when we are resolved to be like Habbakuk in v. 18 and we are committed to rejoice in the Lord, then v. 19 will be true--God the Lord is our strength.

When we focus on the report of the Lord and take joy in Him, the fears that danger had ushered in are pushed back.

With each rush of spiritual jubilation in our hearts over what we hear of God in His Word, the grief of fear and the sin of grumbling are driven out.

Wherever the Christian heart is finding joy in who God is, the Christian heart will find despair to be dying up and evaporating.

APPLICATION

And this is all the more motivation for us to not become overly focused on our circumstances and to keep our eyes on God.

And when we do that, we will no longer tremble because of the threats bearing down on us.

Instead, we will tremble before the Lord and rejoice and find our strength in Him.

This is much easier said than done.

I wish that it was as easy as a three step process:

Hear a sermon

Think more about Jesus

Be joyful and find strength even though things are dangerous

But the reality is that somewhere between steps 2 and 3, Satan sticks his fat head in.

Just like he invited Adam and Eve to question the goodness of God in the Garden, he beckons us to question it now.

“Come Habakkuk--is God really good? I mean--raising up these evil Chaldeans? Doesn’t sound like much of a promise-keeper to me?”

For us it might sound more like:

“Your job got cut. You think you can trust a God who would let that happen?”

“Your family member got sick and died? Cursed God and die.”

“There’s immorality in society. Everything is out of control. You can’t trust God in this wasteland.”

That is the stuff he whispers to us.

Then, after he is done running his mouth, our flesh flares up:

“Complain! Be bitter! You deserve it. After all--we are talking about cancer here.”

“Turn your mouth on God! He has never done a thing for you.”

“Let’s go sin. If things are going to be dangerous, we might as well enjoy ourselves.”

And then, the world is there like a cheerleader:

“YES! Listen to Satan and your flesh. Be bitter and complain and sin.”

“Join in with us. We have all figured out God is not good and you have to make your own way in the world.”

“God does not even exist. Do whatever you feel. There is nothing but blind, pitiless indifference.”

And that is where the battle is fought.

That is where we must WAR for joy.

When Satan and the world and our own flesh are anchors tied to our heart, trying to bring it down into the depths of despair, the only blade that will cut the rope of the blade of JOY IN GOD.

That is what Habakkuk learned.

And that is what we must learn.

We must fight for joy and think on the report of the Lord:

Philippians 4:8 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

And that sort of thought life begins with fearing God and reverently focusing our gaze upon Him.

That is where security will be found.

CONCLUSION

There is less complaining in the soul when we are not focused on circumstances. (v. 17-18)

There is more security for the soul when we are finding joy in the Lord. (v. 18-19)

Some of you need to hear these truths today and take up arms.

Some of us have surely made the mistake of looking to the wrong place in times of danger and the Medusa of bitterness and grumbling turning our hearts to stone.

Today is a day to repent in the name of fighting for joy.

Today is a day to say, “I repent of starting at circumstance.”

“I repent of my ungrateful complaints.”

“I repent of my unbelief and mistrust.”

Today is a day to hear the report of the Lord and quietly wait for Him.

To recover finding joy in your salvation

To gaze upon the strong, promise-keeping God

And to have your heart fortified by the rejoicing that comes with knowing God is our Savior, no matter what is happening in our lives

God wants more for you than a life of sad grumbling.

He has saved you for joyful strength--even in the face of great danger.