How to live by faith when things go from bad to worse

Several weeks ago it was Friday the 13th, and it was a full moon, and most of us were finding out that the schools were being shut down because of the virus so our kids were stuck at home, and we were being quarantined as well, and all sporting events and other extra-curricular activities were canceled, and the world was out of things like toilet paper and hand sanitizer- and I saw a meme on Facebook that said, “For whoever started the game of Jumanji at the beginning of 2020 please finish it quickly.”

You want to talk about a landslide of catastrophes! Things just kept getting worse and worse. And we are not even sure if it’s done yet. Things in our life may keep getting worse and worse. For some of you who are not considered “essential” you don’t have jobs right now and you are wondering, “what am I going to do.” Some of you are battling sickness and you are wondering, “what am I going to do.” Some of you have long since run out of ideas to keep your kids entertained while in quarantine and you are wondering, “what am I going to do.”

We understand that we have to keep trusting God, that we have to keep living by faith, but how in the world do you keep doing that when things in your life, instead of getting better, are going from bad to worse?

We have a wonderful answer to that question from .

If you watched our livestream last week you will remember that we studied through Habakkuk chapter 2. Remember that Habakkuk began in chapter 1 by calling out to God and asking Him to do something about the rampant wickedness in the land of Judah. And I’m sure Habakkuk had something in mind like- Lord grip the hearts of your people and send a revival and turn them back to you. But instead God told Habakkuk that He was going to send the Chaldeans to judge Judah instead. And Habakkuk didn’t know how to respond to this- to his thinking God wasn’t making any sense. And Habakkuk called God to task, he cried out to God and said, “God how can you use a people who are more wicked to judge a people that are less wicked?” Chapter 2 was God’s answer to Habakkuk and you can boil God’s answer down to one sentence, “The just shall live by faith.” And we saw three truths that we when we believe and live out, help us to live by faith.

This week we want to look at . Chapter 3 is Habakkuk’s answer to God. God calls Habakkuk to live by faith and trust Him. And that is easy to say, but hard to do sometimes. Especially, if you know that you still have to go through the bad painful experiences of life. If you are at the beginning of the hard times and you know you still have to go through heartache, or maybe you are somewhere in the middle of the trial and you still have more to come, and what if, instead of circumstances getting better, then go from bad to worse. Now, how do you live by faith.

I am going to give you the short version of the answer and then we will dig into that answer together.

Question: How do you live by faith when things go from bad to worse?

Short answer: You must stand in awe of the Lord.

Habakkuk is answering God, and he is saying, “God I will live by faith by standing in awe of you.”

Folks, if we are going to really live by faith, even when things get worse, we must stand in awe of the Lord!

Now, how do we do that?

I think Habakkuk gives us two very important ways that will help us stand in awe of the Lord.

If we are going to stand in awe of the Lord, then:

I. We must remember the works of the Lord from the past (vv. 1-2)

Habakkuk 3:1–2 KJV 1900

1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigionoth. 2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make known; In wrath remember mercy.

In verse one we find out that this entire chapter is a prayer of the prophet- a prayer of Habakkuk upon Shigionoth. The word Shigionoth is an unknown musical term, but it clues us in that this chapter is a psalm. In the Hebrew it would have been sung to a melody, it is written in poetry, and it is a beautiful prayer of the prophet.

Then in v. 2 Habakkuk says to the Lord, “I have heard thy speech.” The word speech has the idea of a report or an account of some news. “Lord, I have heard your report, I have heard the news about you, or I have heard about your fame” is the idea of what the prophet is trying to say. And as I reflect on your fame Lord, I am afraid- or the idea is I fear you.

Now this is not the fear as in I am deathly afraid of something, this is the fear of the Lord- or reverential awe for God.

So Habakkuk begins and he is calling to his mind everything that He has heard about the Lord- that is God’s fame, and when Habakkuk does that, when he remembers the wondrous works of God in the past and he dwells on those things- he cries out to God and he says, “Lord, I stand in awe of you!”

Now remember what God just told Habakkuk. Judah is going to be overthrown by the Chaldeans and they will take them into captivity. Had God’s people ever been taken into captivity by a world super power in the past? Yes- by Egypt. And what works did God accomplish for His people back in the day when Egypt held them in captivity? He sent the 10 plagues, and He caused his people to leave Egypt, and He led them by a pillar of cloud and fire, and He parted the sea, and brought ruin to the mightiness army in the world. Are those works worthy of Habakkuk’s awe? And even though those events happened years before Habakkuk’s time- the prophet prays to God and says, I have heard of your fame, and I stand in awe of your deeds!

What deeds has the Lord done in your life that when you remember them they cause you to stand in awe of Him? I was a freshmen in college when the Lord convicted my heart of my sin and brought me to an understanding that I needed to repent of my sin and forsake it and trust in Jesus Christ to save me from my sin. And on that day God marvelously saved me and He fully forgave me for all of my sin, and He adopted me into His family and I became a child of God. And I look back at that day all those years ago and I think, “Wow, God saved a sinner like me!” God you are awesome!

What about this church? Has God done any deeds in the history of this church where we can look back and say, “Wow, do you remember when God did that?” It was just this past Valentine’s day that we found out about the Lasko grant and we realized that God was going to fully pay for the entire church building. We get to build our new building completely debt free and then some. Why? Because of the wondrous works of our God! God did that! I didn’t do that, you didn’t do that. God did that. We didn’t know that when we started did we? We took a step of faith didn’t we? And did God prove Himself faithful? You better believe He did!

This is what Habakkuk is doing- he knows he has to live by faith, but he also know that things are going to get a whole lot worse before they get better, so in order to live by faith he stands in awe of the deeds of the Lord and in order to stand in awe of those deeds he reminds himself of everything that he has heard about God- he rehearses the news or the report about God- he calls to mind the fame of God- and when he does that his heart rejoices and he is overwhelmed by God’s might and his power and his goodness. It’s like, “remember when God did this? We really serve an awesome God don’t we.”

Friends, that is exactly what we need. Remember the fame of the Lord and stand in awe of his deeds of his works- it will help you live by faith when things go from bad to worse.

Now go back to verse two because I want you to see Habakkuk’s response when he remembers the works of the Lord in the past- this is really important.

Habakkuk 3:2 KJV 1900

2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make known; In wrath remember mercy.

Habakkuk stands in awe of the Lord because he remembered the works of the Lord in the past- and because he now properly fears God- he has a reverential awe for God and I want you to notice his response-

O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known. What is the prophet talking about here?

Habakkuk realizes that he is in the midst of the years- that is he is in the middle of God’s plan. Remember we said last week that God has a plan and nothing can hinder God from accomplishing His plan? Here Habakkuk acknowledges that he is in the midst of God’s plan. God’s plan has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

His plan began with creation in the Garden of Eden, and then sin entered the world and caused separation between God and His creation, and the rest of the plan involves God working to fully remove all of the consequences of sin forever from His creation. And what was event in the plan of God that was key to removing sin? Sending His one and only Son Jesus Christ, to be born of a virgin, to live a sinless life, to suffer and die on a cross, to be buried, and on the third day to rise again from the dead. In Jesus Christ, God has provided a way for my sin to be forgiven, and God has provided a way for your sin to be forgiven. And all you need to do is repent or turn away from your sin and put your faith in Jesus alone to save you! And through faith in Jesus’ death God will cause you to become holy and blameless!

Colossians 1:21–22 ESV

21 And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,

Providing a way for you to be saved from you sin was a big part of the plan of God! So now were are we in the plan of God? Just like Habakkuk we are in the midst of the years- or we are still in the middle of the plan. We are closer to the end of the plan than Habakkuk was, but we are still in the midst of the plan.

Are we nearing the end of the plan? Maybe! It could be that the events we are going through right now could keep getting worse and worse ultimately leading toward the end time Tribulation period. And if that is the case I believe that Jesus will rapture His church before that judgement. But it may be that God will work mightily in our day just like He has done so many times in the past! That is the second key response by Habakkuk.

Habakkuk 3:2 KJV 1900

2 O Lord, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make known; In wrath remember mercy.

So Habakkuk realizes that He is in the middle of God’s plan and one day God will do all He has promised to do. But God is also able to, right now, revive His work- that is repeat His work in our day. God make your mighty deeds know in our day right now- in wrath remember mercy. What is the prophet saying?

It would be like me praying- “God, I remember just a few weeks ago when you displayed your mighty deeds in this church by fulling paying for our new church building. Thank you God for doing that- that was of your mercy! Because you have done it in the past, God would you please do that again? I know this world deserves your wrath, but God would would you for a little while longer remember mercy. Cause this pandemic to end, and cause a multitude of people in our community to turn to you, and cause the people of this church to grow in our faith through this. In wrath Lord remember mercy. Make your mighty deeds know again, right now, in the midst of years.”

If we are going to live by faith we must stand in awe of the Lord- so we must remember the works of the Lord in the past- and when we do that it should produce two responses:

Our faith will be increased as we acknowledge we are in the middle of God’s plan

Our faith will be increased and it will cause us to pray for God to remember mercy

If we are going to stand in awe of the Lord, then:

II. We must remember the works God has promised to accomplish in the future (vv. 3-19)

What has God promised to do in the future? What is the end of God’s plan?

Revelation 22:5 ESV

5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Rev 22

That is a very short summary of the end of God’s plan- sin fully destroyed, and God’s people reigning with Him forever and ever in His kingdom. How do we know that God can do what He has promised to do? How did Habakkuk know that God was not going to abandon his people, that even though the Chaldeans were going to conquer them, one day God would still fulfill all of His covenants with Israel?

In order to increase Habakkuk’s faith God gives to Habakkuk a vision- a Theophany- Habakkuk sees God in what I believe is a vision of what God will do one day for His people in the future. And God does this to help Habakkuk live by faith- God reveals Himself to Habakkuk in this vision in order to cause Habakkuk, and in order to cause you and I, to stand in awe of the Lord.

In vv. 3-7 God reveals the might of the glory of his power

Habakkuk 3:3–7 KJV 1900

3 God came from Teman, And the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of his praise. 4 And his brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of his hand: And there was the hiding of his power. 5 Before him went the pestilence, And burning coals went forth at his feet. 6 He stood, and measured the earth: He beheld, and drove asunder the nations; And the everlasting mountains were scattered, The perpetual hills did bow: His ways are everlasting. 7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: And the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

In Habakkuk’s vision God comes from the south- from Teman and mount Paran- these are in the south of the land of Judah- He comes from the south and He begins to move toward Habakkuk. And this is what Habakkuk saw- He saw the Holy One and his glory was so great that it covered the heavens, and the entire earth was full of his praise.

And what was the glory of the Holy One like? V. 4- His brightness was like the light- and he had “horns” coming out of his hand and there was the hiding of his power. Now when the KJV talks about horns the idea is rays of light.

Picture in your mind someone holding in their hand a brilliant ball of light. And they take their hand and they close their hand over the ball of light and the only light that escapes are the rays of light that peak through the tiny gaps in their fingers. They are hiding most of the light and only small rays of light are getting out.

The idea is God is holding the glory of his power in His hand and His power is so great that He has to close his hand over it, He has to hide most of His power. If He used all of His power everything and everyone would be consumed. So, instead God uses the smallest ray of the power of His glory— one tiny beam of light is all it takes- and look what happens.

V. 5- Before him went pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet- Just the tiniest amount of the awesome glory of God is enough to make pestilence, sickness, and disease do His bidding. And burning coals- that is calamitous events- are forced to serve God’s will. Disease and calamity cannot thwart God- instead by His power He makes them serve his purpose.

V. 6- He stood and measured the earth, He beheld, and drone asunder the nations- He is so great in power he can measure the entire earth with but a glance, and with only a look God shakes nations.

And the everlasting mountains were scattered, the perpetual / eternal hills sank low. What is more immovable than the mountains? Have you ever run through a field filled with the white dandelions? And as you are running you kick the white fluff with your feet and poof- its like a tiny cloud that scatters every where. God scatters mountains the way we scatter dandelion fluff. His ways are everlasting!

V. 7- I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction: And the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Every nation on earth will tremble one day when God brings about the finality of His plan.

And what is the point of all of this? The point is- do you really know God? Do you really know what God is like? What do I mean. Most people on this earth if you ask them to picture God in their minds how do they picture Him? Well, he is like a really dry dusty old man, and he has a really long white beard, and he sits up in heaven on a big rocking chair. Folks, that is not at all what God is like! If that is how you picture God- there is no way you will be stand in awe of Him and therefore it makes living by faith virtually impossible.

Friends, I invite you to renew your thinking about what God is like from this vision of Habakkuk. God is not some old man sitting in a rocking chair. God is mighty, God is glorious, God is powerful! Just the thinnest ray of the power of the glory of God is enough to cause pestilence and calamity to do His bidding, it is enough to scatter the everlasting mountains, and it is enough to cause the most powerful of nations to tremble. That is the God I serve! How about you? And one day God is going to bring to bear the awesome might of the glory of His power- and when we remember the works that God has promised to do in the future it should cause us to stand in awe of Him.

But God doesn’t stop there- because power alone is not very comforting. And atom bomb by itself is no great comfort. How are you going to use that power? That is the question? That is what vv. 8-15 are all about.

Habakkuk 3:8–15 KJV 1900

8 Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, That thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation? 9 Thy bow was made quite naked, According to the oaths of the tribes, even thy word. Selah. Thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. 10 The mountains saw thee, and they trembled: The overflowing of the water passed by: The deep uttered his voice, And lifted up his hands on high. 11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation: At the light of thine arrows they went, And at the shining of thy glittering spear. 12 Thou didst march through the land in indignation, Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. 13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, Even for salvation with thine anointed; Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, By discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah. 14 Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages: They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me: Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. 15 Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, Through the heap of great waters.

Habakkuk 3:8–12 KJV 1900

In these verse God is on the move- he is coming from the south and he is approaching Habakkuk and as he moves through the land He brings His power to bear.

So as God approaches He splits the earth and the rivers wide open. He sets in motion earthquakes and the very mountains writhe and tremble. He causes tsunami like waves in the oceans, the sun and moon stand still, thunder and lighting accompany his path. God strides through the earth in wrath and in anger he threshes the nations.

For what purpose? What is God going to do with all of this power?

Habakkuk 3:13 KJV 1900

13 Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, Even for salvation with thine anointed; Thou woundedst the head out of the house of the wicked, By discovering the foundation unto the neck. Selah.

And here is the point- God one day will use his glorious power for the salvation of His people, even for the salvation of His anointed. One day God is going to deliver His people for every trouble. All sickness, and sorrow, all pain, and even death itself will be forever vanquished. So stand in awe of the Lord for he is working his awesome power in order to deliver you!

In closing I want you to see Habakkuk’s response. He has given us two ways to stand in awe of the Lord:

Remember the works of God in the past

And Remember the works that God has promised to do in the furture

And look how the prophet responds once He has done that- once he stands in awe of the Lord!

Habakkuk 3:16 ESV

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.

Hab 3.16-

Right here Habakkuk is at a point of decision. He has to decide what he is going to do with the information God has just given him. Because Habakkuk still has to go through the trial- he still has to live through the times when things go from bad to worse. And that realization seems to hit him here in v. 16

God I stand in awe of you- and yet I also know that the Chaldeans are still coming- I hear and my body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound- rottenness enter into my bones. Have you ever had someone come up to you and say I need to talk to you in private? And you know it is bad news. What happens in your body at that moment? It’s like rottenness enters into your bones and your legs tremble beneath you. You see living by faith in awe of the Lord does not make the trials go away- we still have to go through them. But how we go through them- that is the question! If we are standing in awe of the Lord and living by faith- we can reply as Habakkuk- Yet, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Yes, the Chaldeans are coming, by my faith is in the Lord. I will quietly wait for God to bring about perfect justice.

Notice things going from bad to worse here:

Habakkuk 3:17–19 KJV 1900

17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labour of the olive shall fail, And the fields shall yield no meat; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19 The Lord God is my strength, And he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, And he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.

Hab 3.17

Can you reply like Habakkuk does in these three verses? Can you live by faith even when things go from bad to worse?