Again, we're going to ask you to direct your attention back to Hebrews chapter 3 this evening, or not Hebrews, Habakkuk chapter 3. How about chapter three? The book of Habakkuk is a fascinating book that gives us an unusual prophetic insight into. Judgment which is Unrelentingly going to be deposed upon the people of Israel. There is no hope.
This is a very dark book. And it's unusual in the sense that Habakkuk is Communing with the Lord, speaking back and forth to him, and wrestling with this reality in his own soul. The book of Habakkuk teaches us something brilliant about the doctrine of concurrence. Which is essentially that he is going to take the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. He is going to use them as um as belts to whip Israel.
And yet because Babylon's motives are evil, He's going to turn and destroy them as well for their evil intentions. And so it's a beautiful book that teaches us a little bit about how. God works through secondary means. and that he is still righteous in them to punish evil.
Well, that's not necessarily what I'm interested in tonight, but it is something that I think is helpful for understanding what Habakkuk is teaching us. The subject I want to look at tonight is how to rejoice. when losing everything. You're awake at 3 a.m. again.
Your mind is racing, and so is the. Time on the clock beside your bed, and as you lay there, you're consumed with worry about how you're going to survive the next. month, the next week, the next day. And as you try to think through every avenue, it simply seems that you're losing everything. Maybe a relationship seems unmendable, or maybe a job seems unsalvageable.
Maybe the bills are more than you can handle, and you feel like you're going to lose it all. And then Sunday comes, and you have to deal with the fact of how I can go to church and mean the things that I'm going to say and the truths that I'm going to hear and appreciate them when life is like this. As you know, and as we all know who have been with the Lord for any length of time at all, it's relatively easy to praise God when things are going well in our life. But how do we rejoice when it seems that we are losing everything? And so if that's you this evening, you're not alone.
The scriptures speak into where you're at. And so in the book of Habakkuk, the prophet has no good news. Judah is past the point of redemption, and judgment is hopelessly coming upon her. And as he dialogues with the Lord, Habakkuk gets an understanding. of just how horrific the Chaldean or Babylonian invasion is going to be.
Judah is going to lose everything. And that's what happened when Nebuchadnezzar led his invasion on them in the year 586 BC.
Now As Americans, we are terminal optimists. Even our movies always have to have A smiling family and a happy ending, but as you know, that's not always how life goes. Is it? What about those times where Things are actually as bad as they seem. How on earth do we rejoice in the Lord when we lose everything?
Well, as we wrestle with that question tonight, I want us to learn three things about praise that endures the storms of life. How do we rejoice while losing everything? What is it about this praise, this Christian praise, that honors the Lord, that can endure while everything else around us that we hold dear is being stripped away from us? And as we look at Habakkuk 3, we'll find first and foremost that this praise is praise that endures, well, the praise that endures recognizes reality. The praise that endures.
recognizes reality. Look with me at verse 16. When I Heard. My body trembled. My lips curled.
quivered at the voice. The new English translation Translates that as my stomach churned. Rottenness entered my bones. I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble when he comes. Up to the people.
He will invade them with his troops. And then listen to how he's going to intensify his language here with those, that the language. Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. In verse 16, Habakkuk confesses that he is distraught.
And although he knows the truth about who God is, he recognizes the reality of the painful judgment that is coming, and that has left him in knots. As he explains an aspect of the problems to come in verse 17, you'll notice that as this judgment comes, the problems are only going to get worse. worse. Again, turn your attention to verse 17 at first. the fig trees won't be blossoming and That that That's an unfortunate event for them.
Figs were a delicacy, but this is not something that's going to crush the daily life of an ancient Jew, and this is not something that's going to cripple the economy for them, but it is the loss of a delicacy. While that's a downer, it's not going to change much for their lives, but it continues.
Furthermore, the fruit, likely grapes, won't be on the vine. Again. This is This is their daily drink that they would have. But this would simply be an inconvenience for them. But the problems don't stop here.
They they continue to snowball.
Now the olive crop. The olive crop provided oil for their cooking. They provided oil for their lamps. And that's not going to come through. And furthermore, it states that the fields will yield no food, which means that not only will the olive crop fail, but so will the grain harvest.
And the loss of these two crops would mean starvation for myriads of Jews, and it's going to result in the crippling. of their economy. But even then It's going to continue to get worse. As we find that the cattle Won't be spared. In Israel, the cattle and the sheep made up for most of the wealth at the time.
And sheep and goats were often used to provide wool for clothing and occasional meat. And while the Israelites aren't known in their diet for regularly eating their cattle per se, they did use them for preparing their fields for farming. And in this agrarian society, this is an economy that thrives on agriculture, we are talking about the stripping down to there being nothing left of their way of life completely. Not only is my job lost, the way I feed my family, the way we eat as a society will be completely taken from us.
So their lives are going to be brought to a standstill. The kind of issues that this prophet is describing dwarfs the events that we saw in 2008. In short, There is going to be an unconscionable loss of life. and well-being for the people. of Judah.
And the fact that he knows what is coming Has Habakkuk in a chokehold? Lord, you have seen fit to tell me what is coming, and even though the others don't believe it, and even though even if they did, it's too late to be turned back. The fact that I know what's coming. destroys my soul. My stomach churns within me.
And I am afraid. There will be starvations, there will be mass deaths, there will be ultimately bondage and exile. coming at the ensuing invasion of the Chaldeans.
Now, years ago, when my mother was hospitalized with COVID, they called us to inform us. That she was struggling immensely. And they asked if we would like for them to perform life-saving measures on her if. and or when she coded. And as a 22, 23-year-old at the time, that was something I wasn't particularly ready to deal with in my life at the time.
And so it led me to a place of prayer. It hit me like a ton of bricks. Like Habakkuk previously with this theodicy we see playing out earlier, I knew my theology. But it's like my brain forgot to inform the rest of me that what we knew was true. And so I would find myself alone praying for the Lord, Lord, help my heart to understand and to grab a hold of the truths that I know you've taught us in your word.
This is what Habakkuk is dealing with here. I know, Lord, that you are powerful and you are just, and I know that we're your covenant people, and I know that what's coming for us is right. You do no wrong, but Lord, when I think about it, I'm in knots. I'm afraid. I'm terrified.
And I think that Habakkuk's confession In this passage, gives us a good opportunity to understand something about Christian praise. in the face of hardship. Unfortunately. I think that many believers in the Christian community respond to. difficulty in a way that may be more akin to stoicism.
That good Christians are supposed to stand unwavering in the face of difficulty, and we would never admit openly that we are struggling with the hardships that are happening to us. I'm just going to stand here and take it.
Well, I'm not content to necessarily say that that is. Completely wrong, but I'm not content to say that it's right either. And I don't think Habakkuk is. as well. What I want us to understand from Habakkuk's confession here is this one thing.
Christian praise is not plastic.
Okay. It's not plastic. It's not a stuck stoicism that either refuses to see reality. You have that sometimes, people who think that the Christian life is, I'm just going to kind of tuck my head underneath the sand and pretend that bad things aren't really happening. That's not biblical.
The Christian life is not an overwhelming sense of optimism, nor is it an overwhelming sense of pessimism. What I find in the book of Habakkuk is that real praise that endures is a praise that recognizes reality for what it is. Habakkuk clearly feels the weight of this ensuing destruction. And so he shakes and he grieves, which is the proper response to pain in a broken world. It is right for you to grieve.
the agony of loss in a world that is broken. It's not right. for your children to be sick. It's not right. For a wife to stand beside the grave of her husband.
It's not right for a father to be up all night wondering how he's going to provide for his family. It's not right in the sense that it is the effect of rebellion against God. and the effects of sin on this world. And so it is right for us as Christians to recognize reality for what it is and to confess that we reel with pain when the brokenness of this world comes to our front steps. It grieves me.
To see people counseling someone at a funeral not to cry because we have hope. It's perfectly fine for you to grieve. It's natural for you to do this. We grieve. But we don't grieve as those without hope in Christ.
And yet we are creatures. who have been put on this world for great purposes. Image bearers of a holy god. And yet we have rebelled against him. And the repercussions of that sin hurt.
And it's okay for us to recognize reality for what it Yes.
So what I want us to get first and foremost is that Christian praise is not plastic. It doesn't require you to pretend that there is no pain in your life. The kind of praise that glorifies God is perfectly aware of reality and perfectly honest in admitting that I hurt. But it also purpose is to anchor ourselves in who God is. Did you get that?
Christian praise that glorifies God. is perfectly aware of reality, We're perfectly honest about the pain that we feel. But in the midst of those things, I am purposing. to hold on Because I know who my God is. And that leads us to our second point, which is that praise that endures is rooted in redemption.
Look with me in verse 18. Things get bad and then on a dime. Yet I will rejoice. And the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Notice with me, as we look at verse 18, Habakkuk says, Yet I will rejoice. The word that he uses for yet I there is emphatic, and it conveys that this is a vow before the Lord. This is a decision. This is not necessarily a feeling. We know how the man is feeling, he's feeling distraught.
He just told us. And yet, he has come to the point where he is making a vow before the Lord, Lord. Even if you don't deliver us. Even though judgment is coming, I'm going to see to it that I am not going to waste this trial. You will be glorified in this.
You will be glorified. In this.
So how did they get to his point? How did they get to this place?
Well, as we read on, we find that the object of Habakkuk's joy is what? It's the God of my salvation. The word salvation here, that's the hinge for us. The hinge by which we are going to swing on here this evening. It's the hinge for us to rejoice while we lose everything.
What we will find here is that Habakkuk doesn't get to rejoice in the circumstances of his life. The circumstances are not metaphorically as bad as they can get. They're not hypothetically as bad as they could get. The circumstances are literally as bad as they can get. And yet he is not.
Vowing to glory in his circumstances, but he is vowing to glory in the God that is his salvation.
Now, how did he get here? The circumstances are as bad as they get, so what did he do? He rejoices in his Savior. But before I unpack what that means, we need to ask. How did Habakkuk get to this place?
So, with that in mind, I want to give you a few sub-points here for my note-takers. First sub-point here is that Habakkuk went to God with his fear. Look at me in verse 1, traveling way back to verse 1, a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigianoth. On shiggy enough. The word Shigianoth is only used in one other place in the entirety of the Bible.
It's in Psalm 7. at the very beginning in verse 1, and it's translated meditate. No one knows what shigianoff means. No one has a clue what it means, but there is something that we can point out. Is that it seems in these two contexts that there is a relationship between this use of Shigianoth and those who.
Are in instances where they have nothing but complete reliance on the Lord. I've got nothing else to hold on to but you.
So there's something significant about these two. Connections. And what does Habakkuk do? We know in the first two chapters, Habakkuk is having an internal struggle here, and knowing what is coming. What does he do?
What does he respond with? Does he respond by writing a letter to his friends? Does he respond by going and looking at his bank account? Does he respond by going and burying his head in the sand? No.
What he does in verse one is he issues forth a prayer. He issues forth a prayer. He didn't go to his friends. He didn't spiral out of control. Instead, he prayed.
And what we find is that his prayer is grounded. entirely in God's past actions. In essence, what he is going to to say here is Lord. I know what you've done in the past. I've seen you work before.
And I need you to do it again. Listen to what he says. Oh Lord. I have heard your speech. And was afraid.
Oh Lord. Revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known in wrath. Remember mercy. He is recalling.
the past actions of God in Israel's history. And as he looks back on them, he says, I'm afraid. But yet, Lord, in the midst of my fear, Would you do it again for us? The great acts that you have done in the past, would you do them again?
Now I want you to notice that word afraid there. He says, I heard them and I was afraid. When I hear the word fear or when I hear the word afraid, I think of a panicking sense of my finitude and need to get out of Dodge, right? That is not what he is feeling here. It would be maybe a word we would use for it would be.
I'm in awe. I'm in awe. Fear. And the way that we would think of it would be... For my hunters out there, it's turkey season.
You walk out into the pines and you sit down, and as you sit down and you get set up, you look in the brush that you're sitting in, and there's a friendly little copperhead. Fear. Fear. You are small and I need to get away. But the awe that Habakkuk is feeling here as he looks back over the role of history and God's glory.
would be akin to you standing on the beach. And as you lift your eyes and look out, out of nowhere, seemingly. A giant storm has formed. And it poses no threat to you because it's miles off, and yet it's thousands of feet high, and you can hear the rumbling in the distance, and you can see the flashes that are out there, and you just stand. And you're in awe.
Of the glory and majesty of the God that created that. That is what Habakkuk's feeling as he's standing on the brink of history. He looks back in Israel's past and he remembers all that God has done, and he says, I have to pick my jaw up off the floor. Lord, I remember who you are, and so Lord, I'm asking you, please do it again. You're the God who's given us the Exodus.
And so, Lord, please give us an escape again. Please do for us what you did for us against Egypt. But do it now against. Babylon. Notice furthermore, he says, in wrath, remember mercy.
So just in case, Lord. If we're going to open up the waters. Please make sure we get to the other side. We're deserving of judgment just as much as they are. But would you provide deliverance for your people?
And in the midst of your wrath upon those who are against you. Remember us. Remember us. Habakkuk goes to God. with his Fear.
Yes, you feel small. But you're not in awe of the event that is going on around you and you're afraid. You're filled with panic desire to escape, but this is not what he feels. He looks at the Lord's work and says, I'm in awe of you.
So Where do you go? when fear strikes you. Do you run to your friends? Do you run into that endless feedback loop of despair in your mind? But what we find if we back it Is that he takes his fear to the Lord.
And what is it in that time with the Lord that helps him with that fear? Second sub-point. is that he reminds himself of who God is. Verses 3 through 15, I wish I had time to go through all of them. I don't.
But I want to pull three things from them as we do a survey. First, He finds first that God is a present The first thing he recalls is the presence of God in past hardships. He's going to highlight something that. Doesn't particularly maybe stand out to us, but he's gonna highlight God came from Timon. The Holy One from Mount Paran.
Now what this is, is Habakkuk is recalling the The route that Israel took following the Exodus. God took us through Timon. God took us through Param. God has been with us. And then furthermore it seems And I tend to perhaps maybe disagree with commentators, and I'm admitting that openly.
This says that his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise, and brightness was like the light he had raised flashing from his hands, and their power was hidden. I tend to think that this maybe is alluding to the pillars of cloud and of fire which are leading Israel through, but the commentators often say that this is also referring to Mount Sinai. Regardless, though, it seems to me that what he is meditating on here, first and foremost, is that the God that he is meditating on is the God that is a present. God. God, we are about to go through something horrendous.
And one thing I need to remember about you is that while my ancestors wandered through the wilderness, you were right there with them. And while we are wandering through the landscape of destruction that's coming, you're going to be present with us here too. Are you remembering that today? As you travel through this broken world, Are you remembering that your Lord has promised to never leave you and to never forsake you. Are you recalling that the Father has ordained whatever comes to pass for your good?
Are you recalling that the Son of God ascended on high, in whom you are in union with? You are as good as in heaven right now in Christ. And that Son is interceding on your behalf before the Father right now. Are you remembering that? Are you remembering that the Son has sent His Spirit to indwell you and you're never alone?
Yes, you're going to walk through. the brokenness of this world. But Packet remembers. My God. is present with me.
My God is present with me. You are not alone. The next thing I want us to notice is that our God is not only a present God, but my God is a powerful God in verses 8 through 12. God is going to be. uh displayed here In miraculous array as a divine warrior.
There's a shift in the language. Verses 8 through 11, we find that the power and wrath of God are directed against nature. God was displeased with the rivers, against the rivers, against the sea. And then we'll find later on that His wrath is directed against nature, but in verse 12 his wrath is directed against nations. And the kind of power That Habakkuk is meditating on is only assuring If you're on the right side, of that kind of power.
Right. When we see a God whose wrath and glory are displayed in nature and nations, the only way that's going to give me comfort is knowing. I'm on his side. I'm on his side. Which is why Habakkuk prays in verse 2: In wrath, remember mercy.
And so, the question that this should push us to deal with is: who are we leaning on for strength? Are we leaning on our jobs? Are we leaning on a political entity? Are we leaning on our savings accounts? Or are we leaning on the one?
who commands creation to be and it was. And then he stands before the mountains, and they shake like children in their boots. This is fascinating. The everlasting mountains were scattered and the perpetual heels bowed. God's ways are everlasting.
I'm a proud Appalachian. And one of the things that you'll hear some people talk about about the Appalachian Mountains is how old they are. They are old, there's something about them that inspires. Um stories. I do disagree with the dating about how old they are.
And yet when we look at the mountains and we think about how aged they are, God stands before them and the hills just bow. And these aged mountains look up to the Lord and they state, Your ways. are everlasting. The mountains, as wise and as aged as they might look, stand before their Creator and recognize. There is only one eternal, all-wise God, and it's you.
And this is the God that we call to. This is the God that we lean on. And so not only is Habakkuk's God a present and a powerful God, But third, we will find that Habakkuk's God, here's our climax, Habakkuk's God is a pardoning God. Verses 13 through 15. You went forth for the salvation of your people.
For salvation. with your anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked by laying bare from foundation to neck. See law. Verse 13, we read: You came out to deliver your people.
You came out with your anointed one. The mighty warrior God, who is trampling over nations and trampling over nature, isn't out to destroy us as his people, but to rescue us. And he does this by crushing our enemies, the text says, and as it were, setting us free. And if you'll look down in verse 18, I will rejoice in the Lord. Why?
Well, I will joy in God my salvation. God, my salvation. The word translated salvation here in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of your Old Testament. is uh the word sodzo, which is uh which is a more verb fir verb form of the word soter, which is where we get our our phrase soteriology from, the study of of salvific acts. You are God, my Savior.
And in the Old Testament, when we see Soter or Sotzo used, it's always referring to the deliverer of Israel, some savior of Israel, and most commonly is referring to. to God Well, what I love about this is that If you take your Bible and you turn with me over to Luke chapter 2. Go over with me at Luke chapter 2. We're going to find this word used again. I'm going to start at verse 9.
And behold, An angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were greatly afraid. Then the angel said unto them, Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David. A savior.
A Saviour who is Christ the Lord. A soter, a sotzo, which is Christ. The Lord, this word used for God, the deliverer of Israel, this word that is used for God, the one who is going to come as the anointed one to crush the head of the evil ones, is Christ, the soter, Christ, the Savior. I will rejoice in the Lord. Why?
I will rejoice in the Lord, my Savior. It's as though when that angel appears in Bethlehem, he is reaching back and telling us that the divine warrior and gracious deliverer that we see in Habakkuk has arrived on the scene. And he's coming to bring forth a great. and a final exodus. Hum.
We see here that in verses one and two, there's almost an allusion back to the Exodus. If you go through and read verses 3 through 15, they're not chronological. At all? You'll bounce around and you'll see he's going to refer to Sinai, he's going to refer to the Exodus, he's going to refer to Joshua, and he's going to bounce all over the place. But I can't help but to appreciate The fact that we see that he's joying in God his Savior.
He's praying for that God to, as it were, do another Exodus. And last time I preached to you, I told you about Jesus speaking with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, and he tells Moses, My death is going to lead the second Exodus. The term for depart there is an Exodus. And so this is the hope. That Habakkuk has, that there is going to be a deliverer to come on the scene.
And what does the Lord come to do? He has come He has struck the head of the house of the wicked, like verse 13 says. Jesus has come and he has bound the strong man so that we are spoils of his holy war. He has bound Satan and by his spirit has invaded the strong man's house and we are his trophies of grace and he is doing this. All throughout history, Jesus has bound the strong man, set us free, and I believe here.
And we see a what's called a canonical theme. And biblical theology. From Genesis 3.15 down through Habakkuk 3 and then to Colossians 2. Genesis 3. Satan There's going to come a seed.
And you're going to bruise his heel. He's going to crush your head. Habakkuk There's going to come the Lord. and when His Anointed One comes, He is going to destroy the leader, the head, of the house of the wicked. And then what do we see?
Over in Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 and 15, is Paul is is Just meditating, just marinating in all the glory of Christ and His holy war. He says, And you Being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us. which is contrary to us. and he has taken it out of the way. having nailed it to the cross, and here's where he almost thumbs his nose at Satan and says, having disarmed the principalities and powers, he made a public spectacle of them triumphing over them.
In it.
So in Genesis 3, there's going to be a head crusher. In Habakkuk 3, there is going to be one who is going to, as it was, be the anointed of the Lord Christ, and he is going to destroy the head of the house of the wicked. And Paul says You and the fact that you are forgiven, and the fact that you have been freed from your sin is all just gloating in the face of Satan. Christ is. This is what would happen when Romans would come back from war.
They would march through the cities with these great power parades, and behind them, all the spoils of war would come behind them as the train of the victors. And Paul says, You are the train in Christ's glorious parade, and also in them are the principalities and powers. And he's just embarrassing them. He's just embarrassing them. In the words of Marie Cardwell, when I think about this, my holding backstrap almost breaks.
It just gets me excited. That we are open testimonies here. That Christ is victorious. Our Christ has conquered paganism. Our Christ has overthrown Roman paganism.
Our Christ has thwarted Islam's reign. Our Christ is the Christ who is victorious. And the fact that we bunch of Gentiles Whose ancestors was once hiding in Germanic woods, painting ourselves blue. The fact that we are people who know Christ and live to make Him known, the fact that we are here and we know Him and we live to make Him known is just an open testimony. He's good and He's victorious.
And the forces of evil, Habakkuk. They stand no chance against the Lord. Your Savior. We personally know what Habakkuk was looking forward to. as we look back on the work of Jesus Christ.
Likewise, we find in this text that Habakkuk's praise is stable, not because his circumstances are stable. But because his joy is anchored in something that the Chaldeans just can't touch. And as I think about Paul. As he seeks to soothe whatever anxieties we might have in this life, Paul in Romans 8:32 says, He? who did not spare his own son.
but gave him up for us all. How will he not also? With him graciously give us All things. Will he not take care? of us as his people.
Are not all the riches in the heavenly places ours in Christ? And yet, if we only think it's just spiritual in that sense, doesn't Christ look and he goes, You see those flowers out there? You see how beautiful they are and Solomon can't even touch them with all of his clothes. You're worth a whole lot more than sparrows and flowers. The Lord will take care of you.
The Lord will take care of you, Habakkuk. Lord, we'll take care of us. Do you feel like you're losing everything? Do you? Do you feel like your life is falling apart?
I want you to do three things first. Look up and remember who your God is. Second. Look back and remember what your God has done. I think there's two ways to think about this, and they are not opposed.
But I want you to think first and foremost biblically about what Christ has done. Paul tells us: if you ever doubt the love of God for you, look at the cross where he commendeth his love towards us. But I also want you to think and have some pillars in your life, some testimonies about how the Lord has worked in your life. When I was a boy, we used to sing the old Church of God Redback hymnals. If If you didn't grow up in that world, you just won't understand.
And we used to sing this song. that would say, Lord, remember I'm human. and humans forget.
So remind me Remind me, dear Lord. And we often do that, don't we? You prayed for our spouse and God's given you that spouse and now decades later there's turmoil in your relationship and yet you almost forget that the God that you prayed to who gave you that spouse is somehow not interested in blessing that marriage now and so he's not worth going to. Lord, remember I'm human and we forget, so remind me. of your past faithfulness.
Yeah. I've said this before, I'll say it again. You are not a burden to the God who crushed his Son for your salvation. If you are distraught, God invites you to come to Him and to find rest in Him. And so in his commentary on Habakkuk, Kenneth Barker writes, Habakkuk.
Exhibited the kind of relationship with God. Where he enjoyed the divine person more than the things. that he could do for the prophet. He just enjoyed God for who God was. And not for what God could give him.
Are you enjoying God for who He is? Have you made time to drink in his glory this week? Have you meditated on the attributes of your Saviour? I think about the hymn that we sang this morning. Give praise to God.
I was overwhelmed at the beauty of these. No one can counsel God all wise. Or truths unveil to sh his sharp eyes, He marks our paths behind, before. He is our steadfast counselor. Nothing exists that God might need.
for all things good from him proceed. We praise him as our Lord, and yet We never Place God. in our debt. And then With your heart just exploding at who God is. Creation.
Life. Salvation too And all things else both good and true, come from and through our God always. and fills our hearts with grateful praise. Boy, that is. That is theology.
that causes your hearts to burst at the seam. That is the handwriting of a man who is soaked in The glory. of God. The glory of God. Isn't our Lord good?
When our hearts are held fast by the glory Of our God and not the changing goods of this world, will find a praise that endures the passing trials of this life. And so, finally, I want to point out my third thing, which is that praise that endures will remain by grace. Praise that endures will remain... By your stick-to-aveness? No, by God's grace.
Verse 19. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet. He will make me walk on high hills. At last we come to verse 19.
I love how the New English translation gets this. It says, The sovereign Lord is my source of strength. I want you to notice that the word Lord there, capital L-O-R-D, all caps, it's referring to God. as the covenant-keeping God of Israel.
So he's the sovereign and covenant-keeping God of Israel. It's like Habakkuk said: How much theology can I get in two names? And I'm just going to throw it up before the Lord. And just exalt in his glory. You are all powerful and you are all faithful.
Not only Is his God in control of all things, but his God is faithful. I love that he says that God is our strength. No, not their strength. God is my strength. It's my heart that's unstable right now.
It's my heart that is, my stomach that is churning. My strength that comes from God. God is my strength. What I want us to see before we close Is the source of Habakkuk's persevering praise. It's not that Habakkuk has an unrelenting resolve to hang on no matter what.
The source of his enduring praise is the grace of God. That's why he tells us that God will make his feet like a hind's feet.
Now, if you've ever been out west, You may have seen on those big cliff ridge lines Mountain goats hanging on these little tiny edges, and you're thinking to yourself. How Are they still living? They must have a death wish.
Well, no, they have some gifts from the Lord. You got these feet that are like suction cups to the rocks. Hanabak says, That's what the Lord's gonna give to me. The world seems to be crumbling beneath my feet, and there's not much ground for me to stand on. And so the Lord's going to be with Me.
This is not stating that the Lord is going to give him solid and flat ground to walk on, but that the Lord is going to give him grace to endure the rocky turmoil that he is going to face in his life. It's a promise that God is going to sustain him in hardship. Let me close with this. One of my favorite hymns is It Is Well by Horatio Spafford. If you know Horatio's story and it's very well known, then you know that this is a man who knew suffering.
Spafford was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost an unbelievable amount of money in the Chicago fire of 1871. Just around that time, his young four-year-old boy, contracted the scarlet fever and died. And so He looks at his wife and his only remaining four daughters and said, Let's go on a trip. And so he loads them up on a boat. And he says, I have some business to take care of and I'll meet you in England.
And on the way there they sh they had a wreck. and the ship sank. And a few weeks later, Horatio Spafford receives a letter from his wife. saved alone. What shall I do?
Learning that his four children, his only remaining children, were all dead, he immediately cancels his business, gets on a ship. and sails to go and to meet and retrieve his wife in England. At one point during the voyage, The captain looks at Horatio and tells him that we are passing around the spot where they would have sunk. And here are the words that came to his mind. when peace like a river.
attendeth my way. When sorrows like sea billows roll, Whatever my lot. for thou hast taught me to say, It is well. It is well with my soul.
So how do we rejoice while losing everything? We look up. and who God is. We look back. at what God's done.
And we look down. And remember that he sustains us. by grace. If we're going to finish well, Like Pastor Carnes taught us this morning. It's not just that you are going to do it just despite the people who said you can't.
If you're going to finish well, it's because God's grace... is a sustaining race. Paul teaches us in Philippians 1.6 that he who began a good work in you We'll complete that work. until the day of Christ Jesus. Our Lord.
Let us pray. Dear kind and gracious Heavenly Father, we are thankful for your word. And we are thankful that it speaks to the multifaceted sufferings and joys of this life. We are thankful that you have seen fit to record the heartache of this man for our benefit, to minister to us, to strengthen us. And if we are not going through hardships, if someone is going through a season of joy and jubilance, may they tuck this in their back pocket to be nourished on at some other time.
But Lord for all of us today Help us. to sit and meditate. and the glory of our unchanging and faithful God. You are good, Lord. in a world That is broken.
And Lord, we pray. With John the Revelator. Maranatha, Lord Jesus. Come quickly. Amen.
Yeah.
