Yet I Will Rejoice
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Habakkuk.
We were introduced to Habakkuk in chapter 1 with Habakkuk’s complaint before the Lord.
He was a prophet in Judah, surrounded by people who no longer had any regard for God’s Word.
He cried out to God challenging him on why he was sitting idly by not bringing any justice to the people of God.
He felt that God was not listening and not acting in a timely manner.
He inquired of God, “Why do you idly look at wrong?”
God’s apparent inactivity did not make any sense to Habakkuk, in light of the evil and injustice happening all around him.
But, in chapter 1:5, God speaks.
And he begins to adjust Habakkuk’s perspective.
He corrects Habakkuk
God speaks and says that he is doing something.
5 “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.
God was raising up another nation, the Chaldeans, to bring judgment on the land of Judah and take the people of God into exile again just as he had promised he would do if they rejected God’s law.
But this plan, seemed worse to Habakkuk than the original situation.
The Chaldeans, another term for Babylonians, were an utterly wicked nation who brought all kinds of evil upon the nations they conquered, often treating their enemies as less than human.
They would often lead their prisoners of war in a line with hooks in their lower lip, or they would drag them in nets behind their chariots.
In chapter 1:12, Habakkuk tries to remind himself of what he knew about God to be true.
He resolved to wait on God to make sense out of all this.
How could a good and all powerful God sit idly by while the wicked nation of Babylon unleashed such atrocities on the nations of the world?
Habakkuk was asking a question that all of us have asked, and perhaps are asking this week.
How could a good God allow evil to seemingly prevail in this world?
But, God’s answer to Habakkuk’s second compliant was a promise:
God’s answer to the problem of evil in the world is a promise.
“Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him,
but the righteous shall live by his faith.
One day, God will save those with faith, and he will judge the puffed up.
Last week, Drew walked us through the rest of Habakkuk 2 which articulated what the puffed up person looks like and what their end really is.
Only the Glory of God will prevail over all the earth.
The Earth will keep silence before God who stands in his holy temple.
God assures Habakkuk that he is working and that he will have final victory.
But now we turn to Habakkuk’s final response to God in the book.
Habakkuk’s perspective of God has been challenged.
His eyes have been directed to the sovereignty of God even over that which is evil.
And now in chapter 3, Habakkuk declares what he has learned about God, and what he is resolved to do going forward.
Chapter 3 is identified as a prayer, and it is actually structured like a song.
It is believed that this chapter was actually used in Israelite worship.
Habakkuk now responds to what he has learned about God with worship.
As I read chapter 3, I want you to notice what Habakkuk is reflecting upon in his song.
He is actually reminding himself of how God has been faithful to save his people in the past.
He is reflecting on how God sovereignly exerted his power to free the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.
To lead them through the waters of the read sea, through the waters of the Jordan river.
He is reflecting upon battle after battle and war after war throughout Israelite history, where God has exerted his power over every power of nature and every enemy army.
So as I read, notice the themes of God’s power unleashed to accomplish God’s purpose.
I am going to read all of chapter 3, and then we are going to pause and pray for understanding.
A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.
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.
Before him went pestilence,
and plague followed at his heels.
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.
I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;
the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.
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?
You stripped the sheath from your bow,
calling for many arrows. Selah
You split the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw you and writhed;
the raging waters swept on;
the deep gave forth its voice;
it lifted its hands on high.
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.
You marched through the earth in fury;
you threshed the nations in anger.
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. Selah
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.
You trampled the sea with your horses,
the surging of mighty waters.
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.
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.
Lets Pray
The Habakkuk of chapter 3 is not the same Habakkuk of chapter 1.
His perspective has been adjusted.
His world has been rocked.
But he has now found solid ground.
His prayer begins with a petition that he knows will be answered.
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.
Habakkuk now knows what the Lord is going to do
He has “heard the report” of the Lord’s “work” straight from the Lord’s mouth.
He knows what God has done in the past.
He knows what God is capable of… and he “fears”
He admittedly “fears” what is coming upon Judah.
And what he himself might experience.
He fears God… but not in a sinful way… rather in a sacred way.
The Lord has just spoken to Habakkuk very clearly in 2:20
But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let all the earth keep silence before him.”
God has declared who will be the final victor standing in his holy temple.
and Habakkuk trembles at the magnitude of God.
He knows that judgment over Judah is coming.
He has no more complaints.
He has no more questions.
He now has only to pray.
And He prays a prayer, which deep down he knows will be answered.
Habakkuk 3:2 (ESV)
....In the midst of the years revive it;
in the midst of the years make it known;
in wrath remember mercy.
Habakkuk is praying that in the midst of the judgment and the suffering that the land is about to face… God would “remember mercy”
He is praying for God to preserve those who are his people.
He is praying that when the dust clears Habakkuk 2:4 will prove to be eternally true, “the righteous shall live by faith.”
Wrath is coming… and now he humbly asks, “in wrath remember mercy.”
What a profound acknowledgment of the very character of God.
He is both a wrathful God...., but he is also a merciful with his children.
These to attributes of God come together for our salvation most fully at the cross of Jesus Christ… where Jesus endures the full wrath of God for our sin, but at the same time extends mercy to us for our salvation.
Habakkuk prays for mercy to be remembered,and then he transitions from a prayer of petition to a prayer of exaltation and expectation.
verses 3-16 contain a powerful vision of God.
Habakkuk recounts what God has done in the past, but he is also looking forward to something God will do in the future.
And from what follows I want us to meditate upon three themes of this prayer that rise to the surface.
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
Remember that at the beginning of the book, Habakkuk questioned God.
In fact, he accused God, of not hearing him, not saving him, and idly sitting by while evil prevailed.
But now, Habakkuk, catches a vision and he writes it down.
God is“coming”
Habakkuk poetically portrays God breaking into the world as a visible acting force.
He is not silent, he is not invisible,
in fact, he is blinding.
3 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.
4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand; and there he veiled his power.
This poetic description of God’s coming mirrors many moments throughout the Old Testament.
In Genesis 1 we learn that God is Creator.
We learn that when God says let there be light, there is light.
Stars explode into existence, and “his splendor covers the heavens”
At the word of his mouth, birds, fish, and animals fill the earth, “and the earth is filled with his praise”
When this Creator God makes himself known to his people he does so in a flame of unapproachable fire descending on a mountain as in the case of Mt. Sinai.
Thunder, lighting, earth quaking, majesty descended upon the mountain when God came to give Moses the book of the Law.
Moses’ own shining face had to be veiled after meeting with God.
When Moses requested that he “see the glory of the the Lord”
God hid Moses in the cleft of the rock, and passed by so that Moses might see only his back.
Even in God’s most intense manifestations of himself to his people, he veils the fulness of his power for their good.
One of Habakkuk’s most fundamental problems at the beginning of the book was that his view of God was too small.
He now reflects on the Holy One who comes into his creation in such glory that he has to veil the fullness of his glory in order to protect his creatures.
He comes, and he proves himself powerful over forces that man has no control over at all.
5 Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels.
In the book of Exodus we learn of God’s conquering of Egypt through 10 plagues.
Through:
The river turned to blood
frogs
gnats
flies
disease
boils
Hail
Locusts
Darkness
and Death
God showed absolute power over all things, so much so that gnats fly to do his bidding, and frogs hop in the direction that he orders.
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.
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. Selah 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.
What are obstacles for man to journey through, God is sovereign over.
He shakes nations, scatters mountains, sinks hills, parts rivers, controls seas.
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.
Habakkuk even recounts the story where Joshua needed more day light to have victory over his enemy, and God causes the sun to stand still so that the victory might be one.
Whether it be the Earth’s orbit around the sun, or the flight path of a gnat, NO force of nature acts on its own outside the absolute power of God.
He wields them all as tools in his hand.
And if this be true, certainly no human enemy can prevail over his plans.
12 You marched through the earth in fury; you threshed the nations in anger.
The point here is God’s immensity over and against nations which seem to be unstoppable.
God threshes over them.
To thresh, means to trample over, like an ox might trample over grain.
Egypt, Babylon, Edom, Israel, Irqan, North Korea.... these nations do not threaten the power of God… they are like pieces of grain on the ground over which God can trample if he so chooses.
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
And Habakkuk has been reminded of this by the Lord himself.
But he has also been reminded, what the Lord has been doing and what God ultimately intends to do with that power.
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. Selah
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.
Truth #2 God Has a Plan to Preserve His People
Truth #2 God Has a Plan to Preserve His People
As Habakkuk reflects on God’s remarkable acts throughout Israel’s history, he also reflects on why God has exerted his power in these ways.
God went out for the salvation of his people
God went out for the salvation of his anointed.
He crushed the head of the house of the wicked on behalf of his people.
The language should trigger another OT passage in your mind that goes back to the very beginning.
God had created humanity to be his special people....
Adam and Eve were tempted by the evil one, Satan in the form of a snake.
But in the curses that followed the fall… there was also a promise.
In Genesis 3:14 God turns to the serpent and says these words...
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
There is this promise that the evil one, the serpent, will have his head crushed by the offspring of the woman.
And here Habakkuk describes God as the one who crushes the head of the house of the wicked on behalf of his special people.
From the beginning God’s absolute power has not been purposeless...
He is carrying out a purpose which will come to fruition at the end of time…
He is working a great salvation for his people.
He is working a great salvation for his anointed.
He is moving history along so that one day “the righteous shall live by faith.”
There is an end toward which the story is moving.
And all these small conquering of evil kingdoms are simply foreshadows of the great conquering that is still to come.
One day God’s defeat over Egypt, Jericho, the Canaanites, and the Babylonians, will all look like child’s play by way of comparison to his total conquering of all evil, Satan, and death itself.
Habakkuk is recognizing these two realities...
right now, God has said that these curses are coming upon Judah through the Babylonians.
But one day, God will serve justice upon all of his enemies including the Babylonians, and he will preserve his people.
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.
do you hear both realities in verse 16?
He trembles, because he now knows what God will do to Judah for their rebellion, but he quietly waits for the day that God settles the score.
He waits for the day of trouble to come upon all of God’s enemies.
He waits for all of God’s victories in the past to find their most ultimate fulfillment in the future when God successfully and finally perseveres the righteous by faith, and punishes the wicked in wrath.
This is why the book of Revelation describes the last days as a defeat of Babylon.
Babylon becomes symbolic for all the evil kingdoms of the earth.
Revelation 18 is a chapter entirely devoted the fall of man’s kingdom… and chapter 19 shows us who will be left standing in God’s Kingdom.
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning.
10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say, “Alas! Alas! You great city, you mighty city, Babylon! For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more;
22 and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more,
23 and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”
But now look at who will remain.
6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
This is the end we look forward to - Feasting in the presence of God, with all of God’s enemies over come.
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
Truth #2 God Has a Plan to Preserve His People
And these are the lessons that Habakkuk has learned in his dialogue with God.
So, what does that mean for him now?
He still lives in Judah.
A great deal of suffering and difficulty is heading his way.
The Babylonians are in route.
What do you do now with these truths before you?
Habakkuk now does, what God intends for all of us to do.
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.
In verse 17, Habakkuk acknowledges that he might face some of the worst realities imaginable.
We don’t feel the weight of verse 17 because we do not live in a culture where we consciously rely upon agriculture.
For Habakkuk though this description is a frightening one.
No fig tree is blossoming
No fruit on the vines
No produce of the olive
No food from the fields
No flock
No heards
This description is a description of corporate wide scale starvation.
It is a description of a community dying slowly.
It is a description of a type of suffering, that most of us can’t fathom.
And though, Habakkuk describes this as a possible scenario in which he might find himself....
verse 18 articulates his response.
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Truth #3 God’s People Find Joy in Pain Because they Know God’s Plan
Truth #3 God’s People Find Joy in Pain Because they Know God’s Plan
Habakkuk recognizes that nothing about verse 17 changes anything about verse 18.
Even if starvation is his end… he knows that it will not be his end.
The LORD is his salvation.
The righteous shall live by faith.
The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
The day of trouble for all the evil of the world will come.
Habakkuk found in God a joy that cannot be taken away by outside circumstance.
Habakkuk found in God what we Christians have been promised in Christ Jesus.
Christ suffered for the joy that was set before him.
He died and rose again so that we might live eternally and rejoice continually.
Christian, we have an eternal well of unshakeable joy from which we drink even as we walk through the desert of pain and sorrow.
Peter puts its so well to Christians facing persecution in the first century.
6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials,
7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,
9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.
13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.
This is why it was so difficult for the Romans to control the apostle Paul with imprisonment or threat of execution.
20 as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.
21 For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
22 If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell.
23 I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.
24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.
25 Convinced of this, I know that I will remain and continue with you all, for your progress and joy in the faith,
This is why the persecution of the Christian church in Hebrews was unsuccessful in stopping the Christian movement!
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings,
33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated.
34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
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.
Perhaps you are here this morning and your not feeling this.
Perhaps you are here and you are saying in your mind…
I believe all that, but I still am joyless
Perhaps joy feels impossible in this moment, or in this situation.
Turn your attention to verse 19.
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.
As we have said already, God has all power over all things...
and that includes your own joyless heart.
the answer to finding joy in God, is not that we work ourselves into it… rather we surrender ourselves to it.
We turn to God to help us find joy in God.
He is our strength.
He is the one who causes our feet to be like deer
He is the one who makes us tread on high places.
God chose to reveal himself to Habakkuk.
God made Habakkuk understand.
God led Habakkuk to this moment of joy in the midst of sorrow.
Listen to what one commentator on this verse writes,
“Habakkuk now proceeds naturally to the conclusion, where he shares the secret of his position: GOD, the Lord is my strength. The prophet is ready to let anyone know the reason for his hopefulness in a bleak situation. It is not due to any innate, inherited, or inwardly developed strength of his own. There is no technique to master, no guru to consult, no formula to adopt: GOD, the Lord is my strength, no more, no less. He is clear that it is Yahweh, the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God of Israel, who is personally the one who provides all the strength he needs.”
This may be overly simplified.... but we find joy when we ask God to help us find joy in God.
It has been a hard year.
In January we lost a precious church member to COVID.
This week we lost another church member to Cancer.
Yet these things remain true.
Truth #1 God Has Absolute Power Over All Things
Truth #2 God Has a Plan to Preserve His People
Truth #3 God’s People Find Joy in Pain Because they Know God’s Plan
I want to conclude by challenging you to do what Habakkuk did.
Here are four responses I want you to embrace from this text.
Response #1 Consider God’s Absolute Power of All Things
Response #2 Consider How God Has Been Faithful in the Past
Response #3 Consider What He has Promised You in the Future.
Response #4 Pray for Joy in the Present