“I Will Rejoice!” (Part 1 of 2)

It is Alistair Begg looks for answers in a book of the Bible that is often overlooked. I invite you to turn to the Old Testament with me to the prophecy of Habakkuk, and which you will find in between Nahum and Zephaniah. So let me read chapter 3 for us, a prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, on Shigeonoth. Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.

Renew them in our day, in our time, make them known. In wrath remember mercy. God came from Teman, the holy one from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.

His splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from his hand, where his power was hidden. Plague went before him, pestilence followed his steps. He stood and shook the earth, he looked and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled, and the age-old hills collapsed.

His ways are eternal. I saw the tents of Cushun in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers, O LORD?

Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers the mountains saw you and writhed.

Torrents of water swept by, the deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heavens, at the glint of your flying arrows, at the lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth, and in anger you thresh the nations. You came out to deliver your people, to save your Anointed One. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness, you stripped him from head to foot. With his own spear you pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses, churning the great waters.

I heard, and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound, decay crept into my bones and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity to come on the nation invading us. Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet 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, for the director of music on my stringed instruments. Thanks be to God for his Word.

Father, now we pray that in turning to your Word, the Spirit of God will teach us and that we will be changed as a result of our encounter with you, the living God, through your written Word, the Bible, as we pray in the name of your Son Jesus. Amen. Life, by its very nature, is untidy. It constantly defies our attempts to control it. We are challenged by it on multiple levels, on virtually a daily basis. Physically, we are clearly not in charge.

And silly if we think it to be other than that. Emotionally, we are often very quickly overwhelmed and find that things that we thought we had control over have unraveled before us, and we find ourselves in difficulty and often in sadness and chaos. Spiritually, by our nature, without God, left to ourselves, we are confused, we are like those who are always learning and yet never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. And all of these circumstances and more besides are inevitably represented when a congregation of this size gathers as it does routinely on the first day of the week. And this congregation represents a whole variety of perspectives on life itself, on who God is, on what the Bible is. And I am not unaware of that when I speak Sunday by Sunday. But I want you to know, especially for those of you whose view of the world differs from this, that all of our study of the Bible here at Parkside starts from the position that the Bible is God's Word—that God in his Word has said exactly what he wants to say and that he has said it in precisely the form that he wants it to be said. Some who are here today may doubt the very existence of God and therefore would have no truck with the idea that the Bible is God's Word.

Why would anybody be concerned about it? To study it and to declare it as being authoritative. I recognize that. Some regard God either as a figment of their imagination or as of their own creation—a God who exists for them, not by whose power they exist. And they determine just what it is they believe and, not least of all, about the Bible. And I recognize that some are in that position too.

But we're starting from the position that the Bible is God's Word. That doesn't clean everything up. Some people think it does. Some people think that the reason that we would be prepared to affirm that is in order to remove the difficulties.

But in actual fact, it introduces almost as many difficulties as it removes. For example, if our world is chaotic, haphazard, and devoid of meaning, then while we may be disappointed by the horrible events of life, we should simply take them in our stride. After all, what do we expect? There is no one in charge, there is no one responsible, no one has made anything, no one has appointed anything.

It's all just unfolding before us. Interestingly, those who would affirm that kind of existence when things go wrong often immediately want to lay the blame at the feet of some God, real or imagined—a God in whom they say they do not believe but yet whom they want to hold responsible for the earthquake in China or for the tsunami or for whatever else it might be. Why they say that?

They're not even sure themselves. What the Bible says is that God has set eternity in their hearts, that they know of God by their very creation, and although they turn their back on God and they marshal arguments in order to make it possible for them to deny God, yet when the chips are down, he is once again reintroduced—not as a God to be praised but as a God to be abused. For the believer in this God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we also have the challenge that comes as a result of affirming that God is all good and he is all-powerful, and yet we face disappointment, disease, chaos, heartache, and violence. And so people justifiably will ask the question, if this God of creation is all-powerful and all-good, then why are things the way they are?

Such questions are not unusual. They come routinely, and they're found frequently in the Bible. And indeed, the prophecy of Habakkuk begins with two of those very questions. This little prophecy, about six or seven hundred years before Jesus, begins with Habakkuk bewailing the fact of injustice and violence, strife and conflict. The law of the land is paralyzed. The wicked seem to be winning out over those who are seeking to do the right thing.

Not an uncommon set of circumstances, and yet all those years before. And his dilemma is the dilemma that emerges from a belief in God. And he is concerned about two things. One, God's timing. How long is this going to go on? And two, God's apparent tolerance of evil and of injustice.

How long is this going to last, and why do you tolerate it? Again, I say to you, those are contemporary questions. The answer that God provides begins in verse 5 of chapter 1, and the answer that he gives presents an even bigger problem than the first one introduced by the prophet. Because what God says in response is that he is raising up a pagan people who will punish his people.

So his people have been doing bad things, and he's determined that he will raise up a nation that does really bad things to punish and to take care of those who are doing quite bad things. Oh, now Habakkuk has a double problem—the problem of his initial question and then the problem of God's answer. Well, God replies in chapter 2, and he says, Well, the actual fact of the matter is that justice will inevitably prevail, that the earth will be filled with the glory of God—verse 14 of chapter 2—as the waters cover the sea. And as Habakkuk sits or stands in the beginning of chapter 2 in expectation, laying his requests like the psalmist before God, he's waiting to see what God will say.

Interesting verbs, aren't they? You usually listen to hear what somebody will say. But here the prophet is listening to see what God will say. A reminder to us that actions in this instance speak louder than words as well. And in chapter 2, in this wonderful, poetic, challenging chapter, God says, Don't you worry.

The instrument that I am raising up to deal with problem number one I will deal with and deal with properly as well. And so in coming to chapter 3, we notice, first of all, that the prophet reacts. The prophet reacts. If you take verse 2 and 3, you can see this initial reaction, Lord, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD. Renew them in our day, in our time, make them known.

In wrath remember mercy. And we might want to add to that verse 16, where his reaction to the further statement that he himself is the bearer of is as described there, I heard, and my heart pounded, my lips quivered at the sound, decree kept into my bones and my legs trembled. So what we discover is this, that the complaints with which he has begun—how long and why—are now replaced with awe and with wonder. And there in verse 2 of the chapter, you will see that he stands to attention, as it were, before the display of God's power.

If you like, God provided his own firework display in verse 4, his splendor was like the sunrise, rays flashed from his hand where his power was hidden. And immediately, instantaneously, Habakkuk finds that he stands, he rises to his feet in the display of God's majesty and power. If you've been at events where something of significance takes place—not just the singing or the playing of the national anthem, but if somebody does something spectacularly well, whether it is in a concert or someone playing a guitar or whatever it might be, and all of a sudden you discover that people all around the place just stand to their feet, and they stand in awe and in wonder.

Isn't it awesome that this person is able to do this? That's what they're saying by standing. And the prophet stands in awe of God's deeds. God, in his majesty, has brought him to his feet. But in verse 16, it is the same majesty and power of God that has floored him.

Floored him. He not only rises to adore God's splendor, but he falls on his face before all that he has revealed of himself. And you will notice his heart pounds, and his lips quiver, and his feet give out, and we find him literally flattened by the devastating impact of God's might. You see, this is in direct contrast to the invented gods with which chapter two has closed. At the end of chapter two, the pagan nation that was being used in order to punish God's people is described under the rubric of their pathetic and futile idolatry. And the prophet asks in verse 18 of what value is an idol since a man has carved it, or an image that teaches lies. For he who makes it trusts in his own creation. He makes idols that cannot speak.

Now, just pause here for a moment and think this out. Because this is the issue of idolatry. The issue of idolatry is that it is not only futile, but it is foolish. It is eminently foolish for people to say, Well, no, I don't believe in the God of the Bible. I don't believe in a creator God. I don't believe in the God of Abraham and Isaac and of Jacob. But I'm not saying I don't believe in God.

Well, all right, well, then tell me what you are saying. And then they will say things like, Well, I believe that God is a cosmic principle into which I plug, or I believe that God is inside of myself, or I believe that essentially, since I am part of humanity, since humanity is part of creation, since God himself is part of the creation that he made, then I am somehow or another part of God myself. So, when you run up against it, when life is so horribly untidy, when the wheels fall off, when tragedy hits, when sickness beckons, when you stand before an open grave, to whom do you go? To the God of your own creation? I like to think of God as, as opposed to a God who stands outside of time, who has created the world and all that is in it. Who stands to attention before a block of wood? Who falls on the floor between an idol of my own invention? No, you see, the God of the Bible is a God who calls people to their feet, is a God who demands attention, is a God who, in the display of his sovereign power and majesty, causes men and women to put their hands over their mouths, brings them to their feet in adoration and in awe, and puts them down on the floor of their bedroom before the displays of his majesty and his power.

Small wonder that when J. B. Phillips, our favorite paraphraser of the New Testament, wrote his book concerning men and women's view of God, the title of the book was Your God is Too Small. You see, what Habakkuk is doing here, in his very own prophecy, is that every display of God's power, every revealing of God's character, is like, for the prophet, another piece of the jigsaw. He reaches, as it were, into the box that God has provided, and he picks out another piece, and he places it in the picture that is being formed. He is, if you like, developing his own theology as he goes along. Logos, the Word, or knowledge. Theos, God.

Knowledge of God. His knowledge of God is growing as he comes along, and as the pieces go into the puzzle, he realizes, This is why God is doing this. This is who God is. I asked him why, and he answered in this way. I asked him how long, and he responded in this way. And so it is that now you find him waiting patiently. Verse 16b, Yet I will wait patiently.

Well, that's a bit of a change, isn't it? Because you weren't waiting patiently when you started your little prophecy, Habakkuk. No, you were shouting.

You were banging on the table. How long, O LORD? How long is this going on? Why is this happening? Why isn't this sorted out now? Look at the change.

I will wait patiently. What happened? Did he get an answer? Yes, did he get the answer he expected? No. Did his circumstances change?

Not a bit. God just displayed himself. And then he said, You know what I think I ought to do? I think I should wait patiently.

Good idea, Habakkuk. God perfectly understands your questions at the beginning. He understands that.

But that's the right response. I will wait patiently, verse 16, and I will pray fervently, verse 2. And his prayer is clear. Do in our day what you've done in other days. Renew your deeds in our day.

In our time, make them known. In wrath, remember your mercy. It's as though Habakkuk is living in a kind of flat, uneventful era.

Nothing much is going on. And then all of this violence and destruction and injustice breaks out, and he knows that God needs to intervene, and he cries out to him. And now as he says, I'm going to wait patiently, he says, I'm also going to use the time to talk to you.

And this is what I'm asking you. In your wrath, remember your mercy. Incidentally, a prayer that would only finally be answered if you fast-forward seven hundred years to a scene outside of the walls of Jerusalem, and to the second person of the Trinity, Jesus Christ the Son, hanging on a cross and declaring, It is finished.

What is finished? The work of redemption, whereby he took in himself all of God's righteous wrath against sin, and he displayed in himself all of God's mercy provided for the sinner. Well, that's something of the prophet's reaction. Secondly, the prophet reviews.

The prophet reviews. And in verses 3–15, what you have is a wonderful poem. It is a classic example, I'm told, of Hebrew poetry. It provides a magnificent and a frightening picture of God's acts in history. It displays his power not only over nature but also over all of the nations. So, for example, look at verse 6. God stood, as it were, and he shook the earth, he looked and made the nations tremble.

So when you're tempted to get all bent out of shape about the United Nations, or phenomenally excited about the United Nations, when you see them all sitting in their circle there, with their microphones and their little signs, all resplendent in their glory. And all the events of the nations, as described here, and as described on a daily basis in our news broadcasts, are under the control of the creator of the ends of the earth who doesn't grow weary and whose wisdom is unsearchable. There is great confidence and comfort that comes when we know God is in control. You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life.

Habakkuk was able to wait patiently and to pray fervently after he recalled God's goodness and his sovereign power. And here at Truth for Life, we want that to be your assurance in times of trouble as well. The more you know God, the easier it is to trust him. That's why we're passionate about teaching from the Bible every day. We do this, of course, with God's help, trusting that his Spirit will be at work in each of our lives as we listen.

Along with providing Alistair's messages, one of the things we do at Truth for Life is to recommend books to you, books we choose with great care and with our mission in mind. You may have heard me mention our current book, The Christian Manifesto. This is Alistair's newly released book where he unpacks the challenging and radical teaching from Jesus found in the sixth chapter of Luke's Gospel. Jesus' message in what is known as the Sermon on the Plain is challenging to our modern thinking. It helps us think differently about what we think of as burdens or blessings. We're challenged to love others the way Jesus loves and to find our security in Christ.

Find out why the Christian life really is the best life. Ask for your copy of The Christian Manifesto when you donate to the teaching ministry of Truth for Life at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us at 888-588-7884. When you request your copy of The Christian Manifesto, look for the companion study guide as well. Together they make an excellent resource for your Bible study group. The study guide is available to purchase as a booklet or you can download it for free. You'll find it in our online store at truthforlife.org slash store.

I'm Bob Lapine. It's hard to imagine being joyful in the midst of prolonged suffering, but that's what the Bible says we ought to do. Tomorrow we'll find out why and how we can rejoice in troubled times. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.