Whatever the Circumstances
Notes
Transcript
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.
Scripture: Habakkuk 3:1-19
Sermon Title: Whatever the Circumstances
This morning we conclude our series on the book of Habakkuk. Up to this point, it has been a back and forth dialogue between Habakkuk and God. In our first encounter, we learned about what it means to wait upon God as God responded to Habakkuk’s complaint that he heard and was going to send justice through the feared and dreaded Babylonians. Last week, we focused in God’s commitment to holiness, as he taught Habakkuk that even in using a greater evil to punish a lesser evil, all evils will be punished in due time. This week, the dialogue ends as we come to chapter 3, and we find a psalm-like prayer spoken by the prophet Habakkuk after reflecting on God’s prophecy for his people.
Brothers and sisters in Christ, as we have watched Habakkuk over the last several weeks, we have seen him journey now from complaint to understanding to praise. One commentator puts it, he goes from fear to faith. I do not know Habakkuk is ever without faith, but certainly he has needed some reassurance. The prophet has been looking for some affirmation that the God who promised to be in covenant relationship with his people—through blessings and curses, is still there, especially for those who continue to seek him. As we read his prayer, full of reflection and then confession, we know that his faith is firm, that God’s message to him for Judah has been received as a message of his ruling, providing, and saving. These two parts, reflection and confession, will be our guide this morning.
First, the reflection, and for this we are looking at the majority of our passage up until verse 16. Habakkuk begins his prayer by ascribing to God what he knows of his fame and the awesomeness of his deeds. All that he has heard about God’s presence with his people Israel, all that he has heard in this oracle, all that he has seen in his life—maybe this is even written during the destruction of Judah—bring him to this point of completely giving himself up to God.
What follows are glimpses of at least 800 years of history. We cannot know for sure whether God gave him a vision that replayed all of these events or if he reveals these things to the prophet as he meditates on God through all that he has been taught—either way, Habakkuk gives us an amazing perspective on what God has done and his creation’s response to him. When we read the narrative books of the Old Testament, we read of how Israel descended from Abraham and grew so abundantly that the Egyptians made them their slaves; how they were led by Moses when God had performed plagues and called them out to Mt. Sinai, and all the way to the Promised Land; how they defeated many kings and territories, settled and developed new cities and civilizations, had judges, kings and prophets. In those books we see glimpses of God’s actions. He breaks in through things like pillars of cloud and fire, a whisper in the wind on the side of a mountain, but so often we are given the view of things on the ground. The narrative books give us the point of view of the people, the warriors, and the leaders.
Habakkuk delivers a different point of view or perspective of how all these things happened and came to be; he gives the perspective of God’s role in all of the journeying and conquering and punishing. He includes some vivid pictures for us: splendor like a sunrise whose rays are the power that seeps through the spaces in his hand; plague and pestilence—again, images of God’s wrath, a part of his holiness, are in his footsteps; he shakes the earth and makes mountains tremble, he rides through the waters stirring them up, and at his command waters split the earth with rivers. Even the celestial bodies, the sun and moon, stand still—not just because Moses’ hands are held up but because God is sending arrows and spears. Whether it is simply poetic and Habakkuk is using words to try and describe how great God’s actions are or whether these marvelous sights actually happen, the truth remains that God has always been with his people. God has always been active with them. This is what lies at the heart of these prayerful reflections—that God might renew the way he has been before with wrath and mercy.
Whether he is writing from what has literally been revealed to him or trying to describe just how majestic yet terrifying God’s work is—all of this is pointing toward God being in control of not just a people but all creation, all beasts, all the cosmos, and all humanity. Habakkuk is led to tremble when he considers all of these things, “My heart pounded, my lips quivered…decay crept into my bones, and my legs trembled.” His body is weakened, any strength that he might have is gone when he thinks and hears about the strength of God.
I imagine some of us have been in Habakkuk’s shoes before. In considering the power of God, the strongest man is broken not just in spirit, but as he thinks about his own strength, it is incomparable to what God is able to do. This happens when we think about the destructive forces that interact with human life—when floods take home and field, when tornadoes or hurricanes devastate a community or city, when war or plague take victim without discriminating between the good and the evil—we are brought to our knees. God is in control but so much devastation overwhelms the mind, the heart, the soul, and the body.
“Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us.” Habakkuk’s reflection turns to confession. Literally, he and I think all of Judah, long for the day to come when justice will be done. He describes the times that they are facing or will face when Babylon invades: “the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines…the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food…there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls.” Long ago, God had brought his people to this land he had promised their ancestors to bring them to. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, plentiful with fruit and vegetation, but now everything has faded away, been cut down; there is famine to plant and livestock.
In waiting upon calamity to come, justice to be done, when life is seems at its end, he further confesses, “I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.” What a clear image Habakkuk provides of when we are in weakness that God is the giver of strength. When all has been stripped away, life, possessions, and anything we could take pride in, God is eternal. The God who has been merciful by giving him life and the hope that he has also gives him joy, and enables him to delight in him. He is able to stand, and not just stand on flat ground, but the believer is able to stand and travel even over tedious mountainside like mountain deer are able.
The joy that Habakkuk confessed and that we have the opportunity to confess is so much more than just a verbal, music-guided praise, but it is a means by which God restores strength in those who trust in him. We noted last week how Paul used the language of chapter 2 “the righteous will live by his faith,” and I have no doubt that Paul was well-acquainted with the whole book of Habakkuk. The revelations of this prophet influenced how he lived through struggles and with those who sought to defeat him and the good news he was spreading. In Philippians 4, we come across these words, “I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”
I don’t know about you, but that sure sounds like he picked something up from this man we have been studying for the past few weeks, a man who God called to prophesy to his people several hundred years before Paul was even born. If there is any joy to be expressed in our life, it is the joy that we have in God, and that his will is true and his timing is perfect. All throughout Scripture we find testimony of a God who preserves those who trust in him, and even into our darkest days, the times when we have so little, even unto death he provides strength.
This is the vision that Habakkuk casted for the people of Judah and for all who read this book—that we might know the strength of God which is greater than physical strength, greater than the ability to hold tears back when you have experience deep emotional hurt. The strength of God, the sovereign Lord, is that which comes completely from that which is not us. The strength of the Lord is quick to come and mighty to save when we call upon him. It satisfies all our needs. To trust in his strength is to surrender ourselves as he has called and gathered us to himself, but he also makes a way forward for living in joy unto him.
God loves his people, and he fights for his people; there is nothing in all of creation that does not submit to him. When we put our weakness with his strength, we find that not only does he defeat the earthly enemies, the wicked nations, but he defeats the devil and his reign through sin. Through the power of Christ, the battle has been won! The one who charges through seas on a chariot, the one who crushes the leader of the land of wickedness, he has defeated the wicked one who seeks to take us captive. Salvation is sure, and it is a most wonderful thing that we do not have to fight the battle on our own! Let us put our hope in the same God that Habakkuk experienced and talked with and petitioned to show mercy—for he is the only one who can provide life and strength when it is needed most. May this be a reminder that life and faith and trust is so much less about what we can understand and control, and so much more about the one who gives and takes away, who exalts, humbles and destroys.
I mentioned early on some of the ways to describe the journey that takes place in Habakkuk, and I think the most helpful I came across is this from J. Ronald Blue. He writes that this is “The mountaintop destination of a journey that began in a valley of distress. As believers, when you wait upon the Lord, when you come to understand his holiness, you come to experience his joy through the work that he has done. What a wonderful conviction and promise it is for us brothers and sisters that our confidence need not be and may not be in that which we can accomplish, but which God alone satisfies. May we be among those who stand with Habakkuk and Paul rejoicing in the Lord always, for we can stand and live with the confidence that the Lord is near—near to act and near to come again, to raise the banner of peace in the new heavens and new earth where there will no more pain, no more famine, and justice will reign. May this trust and hope be ours and be evident in our lives whatever the circumstances, Amen.