Habakkuk 3

Perseverance ~ faith worships

Pray

Intro

√ Perseverance ~ faith worships

You’ll recall that in chapter 1, perplexity ~ faith wavers, we found Habakkuk complaining loudly to God that life wasn’t fair!

From his perspective it looked like God didn’t care and that God didn’t hear, because everywhere that Habakkuk looked he saw the wicked prospering and the righteous suffering.

Then in chapter 2, perspective ~ faith waits, we find the prophet waiting patiently for the Lord’s answer to his prayer.

The answer came in the form of a taunting song, or riddle, in which God revealed His plans to destroy Babylon the instrument of His judgment upon Judah.

When Habakkuk understood God’s plans for the wicked he recognized that God does care for His people and that his duty was to live by faith in God’s goodness.

We turn now to chapter 3, perseverance ~ faith worships where we find Habakkuk bowing before God and lifting his hands and voice to God in prayer and praise as he worships God for His marvelous plans.

Ap. Come on up!

Habakkuk’s experience began in a valley of despair and ends on a mountaintop of praise!

His experience reminds us that God is always calling us to come higher up where we can be closer to Him.

That’s where the joy, peace and confidence are found to endure dark times.

In His presence!

Like Habakkuk we live in a world that is falling ever more quickly under the shadow of Satan’s will.

The wicked aren’t just prospering, they’re legislating protection for their evil behavior and proclaiming that it is a reflection of God’s love!

The greed of Men strips the planet of the blessings that our Creator committed to our stewardship and robs the laborer of his retirement.

Blood sport is no longer a secret whispered in dark alleys it is broadcast to a sick nation on national television.

Christians today can relate to Habakkuk and Lot of whom Peter wrote…

“…Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds)”

2 Peter 2:7-8

Like Habakkuk we can find ourselves stuck in a valley of despair without hope and joy.

The only way out is up!

To look to the Lord and to follow His voice as He calls us to come up higher where we can see His majesty, His power, and His plan for the future!

It’s there on the mountaintop of praise that we’ll find peace, joy and hope in the midst of whatever dark time we’re called to serve our God.

Request (vs. 1-2)

Hab. 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth.

Hab. 3:2 O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;

O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!

In the midst of the years make it known;

In wrath remember mercy.

√ Request

God told Habakkuk that He was at work (ref. 1:5), but here we find him asking God to continue working!

“O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;

O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!

In the midst of the years make it known;

In wrath remember mercy.” ~ vs. 2

His two requests of God are…

That God would move in a fresh manifestation of His power.

That He would extend mercy to His people when He poured out His wrath upon Judah and Babylon.

His first request is that God would rescue His people as He had in times past…

When He delivered them from Egypt by a demonstration of His awesome power!

When He opened the Red Sea so that His people could escape from Pharaoh and then closed the sea over the armies of Egypt!

Habakkuk prayed that God would save His people once more by intervening in human history with an awesome display of His power!

His second request is that God would show mercy to His people even though they deserved the judgment that He was sending.

That when the Babylonians came to destroy Judah that God would place His hand of protection on the righteous and keep them from harm.

Habakkuk now understood God’s perspective, but He also knew that God’s mercy triumphs over His judgment…

…so he prayed that God would be merciful in the midst of His judgment.

Ap. God knows how to deliver the righteous

All through the Scripture we see examples of God protecting His people during times of punishment.

He carried Noah and his family safely through the Flood.

He delivered Lot from Sodom & Gomorrah before the fire fell.

He protected Jeremiah from both the wicked of Judah and the Babylonian army when Judah was sacked by Nebuchadnezzar.

So, it will be when God pours out His wrath during the Great Tribulation.

He will deliver the Church from His wrath by removing us from the earth before the Tribulation begins.

Jesus promised…

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.” ~ Rev. 3:14

It’s not that we don’t deserve God’s wrath, but since we have accepted Jesus as our Savior we will escape His wrath because we are now protected by His mercy and grace.

Throughout the Bible we find God’s promise to deliver us from the coming wrath.

Paul wrote…

1Th. 1:10 and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

And…

1Th. 5:9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,

And…

2Th. 2:1 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you,

2Th. 2:2 not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

2Th. 2:3 Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition,

2Th. 2:4 who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.

2Th. 2:5 Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things?

2Th. 2:6 And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time.

2Th. 2:7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.

2Th. 2:8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.

This section of Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians reveals that the Antichrist can’t be revealed to begin his demonic program until…

…the Holy Spirit (“He” in vs. 7 & 8) is removed.

If the Holy Spirit is removed then the Church has to go too!

Review (vs. 3-15)

Hab. 3:3 God came from Teman,

The Holy One from Mount Paran.

Selah

His glory covered the heavens,

And the earth was full of His praise.

Hab. 3:4 His brightness was like the light;

He had rays flashing from His hand,

And there His power was hidden.

Hab. 3:5 Before Him went pestilence,

And fever followed at His feet.

Hab. 3:6 He stood and measured the earth;

He looked and startled the nations.

And the everlasting mountains were scattered,

The perpetual hills bowed.

His ways are everlasting.

Hab. 3:7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction;

The curtains of the land of Midian trembled.

Hab. 3:8 O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers,

Was Your anger against the rivers,

Was Your wrath against the sea,

That You rode on Your horses,

Your chariots of salvation?

Hab. 3:9 Your bow was made quite ready;

Oaths were sworn over Your arrows.

Selah

You divided the earth with rivers.

Hab. 3:10 The mountains saw You and trembled;

The overflowing of the water passed by.

The deep uttered its voice,

And lifted its hands on high.

Hab. 3:11 The sun and moon stood still in their habitation;

At the light of Your arrows they went,

At the shining of Your glittering spear.

Hab. 3:12 You marched through the land in indignation;

You trampled the nations in anger.

Hab. 3:13 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.

Selah

Hab. 3:14 You thrust through with his own arrows

The head of his villages.

They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me;

Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret.

Hab. 3:15 You walked through the sea with Your horses,

Through the heap of great waters.

√ Review

In these verses we find Habakkuk reviewing some of the great and awesome manifestations of God’s power in previous generations, perhaps he was thinking of…

When He appeared to Israel at Mt. Sinai!

When He destroyed the people of Midian by the hand of Gideon and his 300 soldiers!

When the Angel of the Lord killed 186,000 Assyrian troops in one night!

Whatever great and powerful works he had in mind Habakkuk found encouragement to trust the Lord to deal with Babylon.

Ap. Effective prayer

Prayer often involves reminding ourselves of God’s promises and then claiming them for ourselves and the situation we’re facing in life.

Rejoice (vs. 16-18)

Hab. 3:16 When I heard, my body trembled;

My lips quivered at the voice;

Rottenness entered my bones;

And 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.

Hab. 3:17 Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor 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—

Hab. 3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Hab. 3:19 The LORD God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

To the Chief Musician. With my stringed instruments.

√ Rejoice

Habakkuk began in a valley of despair (chapter 1), then went to the watchtower (chapter 2), and now climbs up to the mountaintop of praise!

Faith always lifts us higher and makes us happier!

Habakkuk found the secret to a joyful life (ref. vs. 18) and that is to praise the Lord no matter what the circumstance!

It doesn’t matter how difficult our circumstance are, or how bad the economy is…

…joy is found when we praise the Lord for His goodness and the promises He has made to deliver us from all evil.

Ex. Paul and Silas ~ Acts 16

They’d been beaten by a mob for doing a good work, tossed in jail where they were locked into stocks and denied their rights as Roman citizens…

…yet we find them singing praises to God for the privilege of suffering for Him.

Ap. Rejoice!

Rejoicing in a difficult situation doesn’t mean that we’re glad to be in it, nor thankful for our suffering…

…it means that we recognize that while we may not have a clue why God has allowed this thing into our lives we are confident that He has a good reason for doing so.

Close

√ Perseverance ~ faith worships

So, when you find yourself crying out to God…

“Why is there so much oppression?”

“Why do evil men prosper?”

“Why do the righteous suffer?”

“Why doesn’t God do something?”

“Why doesn’t God fix this mess?”

Remember our friend Habakkuk and that God’s answer to those questions is that we can trust in His goodness to work everything out for our benefit, but in His timing…

“The just shall live by faith”

So, rather than complain about our circumstance we’re called by God to enter into His presence and to praise Him.