5 “Look among the nations, watch, and wonder marvelously; for I am working a work in your days, which you will not believe though it is told you.
6 For, behold, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, that march through the width of the earth, to possess dwelling places that are not theirs.
7 They are feared and dreaded. Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves.
8 Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
9 All of them come for violence. Their hordes face the desert. He gathers prisoners like sand.
10 Yes, he scoffs at kings, and princes are a derision to him. He laughs at every stronghold, for he builds up an earthen ramp, and takes it.
11 Then he sweeps by like the wind, and goes on. He is indeed guilty, whose strength is his god.”
Habakkuk's second complaint, are you not from everlasting, why do you idly look at traitors
12 Aren’t you from everlasting, Yahweh my God, my Holy One? We will not die. Yahweh, you have appointed him for judgment. You, Rock, have established him to punish.
13 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he,
14 and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
15 He takes up all of them with the hook. He catches them in his net, and gathers them in his dragnet. Therefore he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net, and burns incense to his dragnet, because by them his life is luxurious, and his food is good.
17 Will he therefore continually empty his net, and kill the nations without mercy?
Habakkuk stations himself on the watch post to wait for God's answer
1 I will stand at my watch, and set myself on the ramparts, and will look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
God says write the vision down, the righteous shall live by his faith
2 Yahweh answered me, “Write the vision, and make it plain on tablets, that he who runs may read it.
3 For the vision is yet for the appointed time, and it hurries toward the end, and won’t prove false. Though it takes time, wait for it; because it will surely come. It won’t delay.
4 Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
God's five-part vision of woe against the proud, closing with the Lord is in his holy temple
5 Yes, moreover, wine is treacherous. A haughty man who doesn’t stay at home, who enlarges his desire as Sheol, and he is like death, and can’t be satisfied, but gathers to himself all nations, and heaps to himself all peoples.
6 Won’t all these take up a parable against him, and a taunting proverb against him, and say, ‘Woe to him who increases that which is not his, and who enriches himself by extortion! How long?’
7 Won’t your debtors rise up suddenly, and wake up those who make you tremble, and you will be their victim?
8 Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the peoples will plunder you, because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to the city and to all who dwell in it.
9 Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
10 You have devised shame to your house, by cutting off many peoples, and have sinned against your soul.
11 For the stone will cry out of the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork will answer it.
12 Woe to him who builds a town with blood, and establishes a city by iniquity!
13 Behold, isn’t it of Yahweh of Armies that the peoples labor for the fire, and the nations weary themselves for vanity?
14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Yahweh’s glory, as the waters cover the sea.
15 “Woe to him who gives his neighbor drink, pouring your inflaming wine until they are drunk, so that you may gaze at their naked bodies!
16 You are filled with shame, and not glory. You will also drink, and be exposed! The cup of Yahweh’s right hand will come around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory.
17 For the violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and the destruction of the animals, which made them afraid; because of men’s blood, and for the violence done to the land, to every city and to those who dwell in them.
18 “What value does the engraved image have, that its maker has engraved it; the molten image, even the teacher of lies, that he who fashions its form trusts in it, to make mute idols?
19 Woe to him who says to the wood, ‘Awake!’ or to the mute stone, ‘Arise!’ Shall this teach? Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all within it.
20 But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
Habakkuk's closing prayer hymn, fear of the Lord, yet I will rejoice in the Lord
1 A prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, set to victorious music.
2 Yahweh, I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds, Yahweh. Renew your work in the middle of the years. In the middle of the years make it known. In wrath, you remember mercy.
3 God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and his praise filled the earth.
4 His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
5 Plague went before him, and pestilence followed his feet.
6 He stood, and shook the earth. He looked, and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains were crumbled. The age-old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.
7 I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The dwellings of the land of Midian trembled.
8 Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
9 You uncovered your bow. You called for your sworn arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers.
10 The mountains saw you, and were afraid. The storm of waters passed by. The deep roared and lifted up its hands on high.
11 The sun and moon stood still in the sky, at the light of your arrows as they went, at the shining of your glittering spear.
12 You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
13 You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the land of wickedness. You stripped them head to foot. Selah.
14 You pierced the heads of his warriors with their own spears. They came as a whirlwind to scatter me, gloating as if to devour the wretched in secret.
15 You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.
16 I heard, and my body trembled. My lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness enters into my bones, and I tremble in my place, because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, for the coming up of the people who invade us.
17 For though the fig tree doesn’t flourish, nor fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive fails, the fields yield no food; the flocks are cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls:
18 yet I will rejoice in Yahweh. I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 Yahweh, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like deer’s feet, and enables me to go in high places. For the music director, on my stringed instruments.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Pastor Mark walked through all three chapters of Habakkuk, showing how the prophet's honest complaints to God, and God's answers, lead finally to a posture of trust even in the worst circumstances. The thread running through the whole book is that the righteous person lives by faith, not by what the circumstances look like at any given moment.
What was said
Habakkuk opens with a lament that sounds, Pastor Mark noted, like a prayer many people have prayed recently. The prophet cries out to God about violence, injustice, and a law that seems paralyzed, and he asks why God does nothing. What matters here is that Habakkuk does not simply complain to anyone who will listen. He takes his complaint directly to God, which itself shows a baseline trust even in the middle of his doubt.
God's first answer is jarring. He tells Habakkuk to look at the nations and be astonished, because He is doing a work that Habakkuk would not believe even if told. The work turns out to be raising up the Babylonians, a brutal conquering people, to come against Judah. This is God's answer to the prayer about injustice, and it only deepens the problem.
Habakkuk's second speech wrestles with exactly that tension. He acknowledges that God is holy and eternal, that the Babylonians are clearly being used as an instrument of judgment, and then asks how a God of pure eyes can remain silent while a nation far more wicked than Israel swallows God's own people. The complaint is sharper now, and Habakkuk says he will stand at his watch post and wait for whatever God says in reply.
God's answer in chapter two begins with a command to write the vision down plainly, because it will come to pass at its appointed time. The key line from that answer is that the proud man's soul is not right within him, but the righteous will live by his faith. God then speaks five declarations of woe against the kind of power Babylon represents: those who take what is not theirs, those who build on bloodshed, those who force others to drink of their cruelty, and those who trust in idols they shaped with their own hands. The section closes with the statement that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea, which Pastor Mark paused on as the one moment of rest inside a dark passage.
The book closes with Habakkuk's own prayer, written as a hymn. He begins by saying he has heard God's report and he fears it, and asks that in wrath God would remember mercy. He then moves through a sweeping description of God's power over creation and history, building to the declaration that even if the fig tree does not blossom, the vines fail, the flocks disappear, and the fields produce nothing, he will still rejoice in the Lord and find joy in the God of his salvation.
Pastor Mark drew two things together at the close. First, God is sovereign and does know the end from the beginning, though he cautioned that leaning too hard on that truth can be used to escape human responsibility. Second, and more personally, the book is about a lifestyle of trust. Habakkuk does not end up with answers to all his questions. He ends up with God, and that is enough to let him wait quietly rather than taking matters into his own hands.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Habakkuk took his complaints directly to God rather than just venting to the people around him. What does that tell us about his relationship with God, and what does it look like in your own life to bring your hardest questions directly to Him?
Pastor Mark pointed out that the social oppression Habakkuk describes was happening inside Israel, among God's own people, not just among the surrounding nations. What does that challenge us to examine about the condition of the church today?
Speaker 2Hey, my friends. Good morning. How are doing? Good morning. Oh, thank you, Larry.
Thank you. I like to I like to hear a little good morning back. What do you say we stand and we'll sing together from first chronicles sixteen twenty nine? It says, give to the Lord the glory he deserves. I'd love to do that.
Bring your offering. Come into his presence. Worship the Lord in his holy splendor. Let's do it.
Speaker 1Amen. Y'all can have a seat. Got a few announcements this morning before we sing some more. Home sweet home.
Speaker 2Oh, yes. We're on tomorrow, Monday night, 06:00, meal, music, message. We're gonna wrap up the book of James. It is on prayer, and it's so rich. It really is.
And then the meal will be lasagna and and bread, salad, and things like that, but it's another worship gathering that you're invited to. So please join us tomorrow.
Speaker 1Music, message meal, music, and message tomorrow night, 06:00. No Awana tomorrow night. We've taken that off for the school break. That school break hadn't started yet though, has it? Okay.
Oh, that would be nice. Anyway, no Awana tomorrow night. Prayer prayer group Wednesday in the church office at 07:30AM in the front church office right there. That's a good group. The blurb, I just call it the blurb.
It's first be in the Bible. That has been a huge blessing to me, and I've been getting emails from people saying, I just love that. It's a chapter a day from the Bible and then one of us, one of the people here and if you want to, you can be one of those people. If you'd like to do your little little exegesis and a little application and look at the passage, take a few notes, share em with us. It's really good.
There are about twenty twenty five people here who are doing that. If you want to be a part of it, let me know and I'll let Brad Yates know or Brad is around here somewhere. If you let him know, that'd be good. First, be in the Bible. That's fun.
Vacation Bible School, Christmas in July. This is happening first B, June 27 to July 1, 9AM to noon. That's the morning vacation Bible school. Last of June, beginning of July. If you'd like to volunteer or if you'd like to sign up a child for that, please do so at firstbjackson.org.
And that's it. Are there others? Is there anything I'm forgetting? Casey, yeah there is one. I knew there was one.
Here you go. Should be a hot mic right there. Thank Thank you, KC and Nancy, for kind of heading that up. There's also, if you didn't see the dramatic transformation, this place, there's a quick changeover between services in Awana sometimes but to see it go to an absolutely to a store and then back in the space of three days is pretty amazing. Would you stand with us and we'll sing about something amazing.
I stand amazed in
Speaker 2the presence From Psalm 66, shout joyful praises to God all the earth. Sing about the glory of his name. Shall we continue to do this? Here's a good word from Ephesians. It says this, for we are God's work workmanship.
He's created us. He knows us and we're created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we should walk in them. Carry them out. To. There's nothing I hold on nothing I hold on to.
You can have a a seat here for a moment. This is the worship through giving part of the service. I'll invite the ushers to come on forward, and and we're gonna sing. I saw the light from second Corinthians five fifteen. It says, Jesus died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves.
Instead, they live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. Before we sing, Ray, would you would you pray? Sure.
Speaker 1God almighty, we thank you for the time, lord, this morning to just come together and sing your praises, to study your word. Lord, to get the inspiration that we need, to breathe in the air that you've given and to breathe out praise. It's an amazing, amazing thing, lord. So, I pray that we would be doing just that. I pray that with our resources, whatever they are, our talents and our gifts, our finances, that we would be putting those, lord, in your hands to do with as you will.
So, God, would you take what is given here among these present here today? Would you take what is given, Lord, and do your will with it? I I pray that you do that with what's given, but also with each of our individual lives. May we be a blessing to our families. May we be a blessing to our community.
And may that blessing spread lord like ripples to the very other end of this earth. In Jesus name, we pray thankful for those lord who are heading out and moving away from us. We give you thanks for the time that we have had. We pray that you'd go with them and that you would bless the road between here and there and lord, when they arrive, that they would be a part of that vast witness that is advancing the kingdom of God. In Jesus name, we thank you for your promise that the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
Amen. Why y'all remain seated? You're tapping your foot. Oh, so much fun. Thank you fellows and thank you Ben.
Ben's been playing with us for quite some time. He's heading out today. He's one of the ones that's heading out today headed towards Bellingham, Washington. So we are thankful for you, thankful for your talents, and love you buddy. Children's Church is downstairs.
It's happening. So lately, lately, we've been going through the gospels, the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke as a harmony approach and just kind of wheeling through there. And you all know me to be a New Testament guy and it's almost always going to be New Testament but this week we're going to Habakkuk. Habakkuk.
That's the way I pronounce it. If you pronounce it some other way, just try to get used to it because Habakkuk is the way it's going to come out. Habakkuk, trust in the Lord no matter what. I'm using the English Standard Version mostly this morning, ESV instead of the NASB, just because I didn't have a real strong reason not to. But the introduction to Habakkuk is like this.
Habakkuk, the only thing we know about him in the Bible is this book. He's not mentioned outside of this book in our standard 66 book canonical New Testament. Although Baal and the dragon, if you know the story, Baal and the dragon does mention Habakkuk. It's he's not anywhere else in the Bible. His times though, it was in Judah's last days.
So this is before their exile. It's before enemies conquered. Okay? It's the last days. It's ahead of time.
It's beforehand, before Babylon came in. But it's their last days. And social oppression in Israel. In Israel. Okay?
It's God's chosen people. It's in Israel that social oppression abounds. It's not just the bad guys around them. Okay? It's within them.
If you're trying to make a parallel to today, it would be a message to the church. Okay? So social oppression abounds. It should be, I mean it's normal for it to be that way everywhere else. But within the family of God, it should not be that way.
That's the point of the book in some way. Habakkuk was struggling to believe that God's plan was best. And he does so with a lament. He starts off lamenting and whining, crying, complaining, whatever you want call it. He starts off that way, and it starts off like this.
So Habakkuk is having a dialogue with God. And it's like that for the whole book. Habakkuk will speak and then God will speak. And then Habakkuk will speak and then God will speak. And it's only three chapters long.
We're going to cover the whole thing. And if there's time at the end, I might come back and pick up one verse, hit it harder. We'll see. Alright. First part.
Habakkuk speaks his dialogue with God starts like this. The oh, the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw. He's called a prophet. That is one who proclaims thus saith the Lord. Whether it is saying it in the future or saying it in the past, future or the past.
The oracle, this is the vision that Habakkuk the prophet saw. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help and you will not hear? Does that sound like an earnest prayer that some of us may have prayed this week? Oh Lord, how long shall I cry for help and you will not hear? Or cry out to you, violence.
Look at it. Violence. It's everywhere and you will not save. Violence. The word for violence right there is Hamas.
Hamas. Yeah. That's the word for violence. Actually, senseless violence, wrong, evil. So for an organization to be called Hamas, it's saying we have found no other option and we're resorting to Hamas.
Senseless and injurious violence. That's bad. Habakkuk is saying, there is Hamas around us all the time. Actually, all the references to Hamas in the Bible, if you ask for the slides, can get them and you can read that tiny little print. Why do you make me see iniquity, Lord?
Habakkuk, the prophet, saw this. He could see what was wrong. Why do you make me see all of this sin, all of this iniquity that's around me all the time? And why do you, God, idly look at wrong? Why is it that you don't act?
How many of y'all have had somebody throw up the problem of evil to you in the past year? You've watched any kind of social media. It happens all the time. If God is almighty, then he cannot be all good because he would act. If he sees what's going on, he would act.
This is what Habakkuk is having this is his problem. The problem of evil is bothering him. Why do you make me see this iniquity, Lord? How can I see it and yet you seem to not see it? You don't do anything about it.
Destruction and violence are ever before me. Strife and contention arise. So the law, Lord, it seems as paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous, so justice goes forth perverted. Does that sound like a prayer for today?
It's it's it's it's a prayer for today. So Habakkuk has spoken. He said, Lord, why don't you act? Why don't you do something? Injustice abounds, and he's lamenting.
But he is doing it to the sovereign. He's not just doing it, just complaining in the field of people, right? He went directly to God. That shows a level of trust in God. Even though he's questioning his goodness and even though he's questioning his ability to act in some way, he's saying, Why don't you?
He's lamenting. But he's doing it directly to God and I think that's good. So now God speaks and he speaks back to Habakkuk and it's, Look, look, look at this. Among the nations and see, wonder Habakkuk and be astounded for I am doing a work in your days right now that you would not believe even if I told you. God is saying, I'm in charge.
I've got this. Look among the nations and see, wonder and be astounded. I'm doing a work in your days, but you would not believe it even if I told you. I've I read this verse, at the beginning of a book about church planting movements and I thought, wow, that's a very encouraging verse. That's awesome.
God is saying, I've got this. It's really, really good. I know what I'm doing. Trust me. And and it is an encouraging verse.
If you really trust him, it's super encouraging. I had somebody call me this week because of our blurb that we sent out, not the first be in the Bible blurb, but just our normal weekly bulletin blurb that had the first five verses of Habakkuk. And they said, man, those are some interesting verses. This sounds really good. Go, God.
I can't wait. Looking forward to it. Well, from verse five, look among the nations and see, wonder, and be astounded for I'm doing a work in your days that you would not believe even if I told, for behold I am raising up the Chaldeans. The Babylonians. I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own.
He's raising up an occupying force. They are dreaded and fearsome. Their justice and their dignity go forth from themselves. They do whatever they think is right. And conquering other people is what they think is right.
And they're powerful. Militarily powerful. Their horses are swifter than leopards, more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swift to devour. They all come for Hamas. They all come for senseless violence. All their faces forward. There's no retreat for these people.
They gather captives like sand. You ever see a kid on the beach just gathering up with a little shovel and putting it in a pail? Easy pickings. They gather captives like sand. At kings, they scoff and at rulers, they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress for they pile up earth and they take it. This is God speaking to Habakkuk. Okay? Then they sweep by like the wind and go on. Guilty men.
These are guilty men whose own might is their God. They are so proud of themselves. And God is raising them up to come against Israel. So God speaks and he says, be amazed and astounded Habakkuk. I am acting.
I'm raising up the Chaldeans also known as the Babylonians. Okay. This is the last days of Judah. This is going into the exile. Right?
Tear down the temple. This is a big big deal. And Habakkuk has a prophecy of foresight. He sees what is going to happen and he writes it down. Well, we'll get to that in a minute.
First cycle concludes. So that's Habakkuk speaks, God answers. And then second cycle starts out like this. Habakkuk speaks again. He goes, Are you not from everlasting, Lord?
Oh Lord my God, my holy one. I've always trusted in you and I I see you as being absolutely omnipotent and wonderful. Are you not from everlasting, oh Lord my God, my holy one? We shall not die. Really?
Is that the news? No. We shall not die. You've ordained them as judgment. I get that.
And you, oh rock, you have established them for our reproof. I get that. You, you, Lord, who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot even look at wrong. Why do you idly look at traitors? So the question comes back up again.
Why do you idly look at traitors, bad guys, and remain silent? You don't do anything to them. When the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he. You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. They're just all over the place doing whatever they please.
You've given us your way, Lord. You make mankind like the fish of the sea. There's so many out there like crawling things that have no ruler. And he brings all of them up with a hook and he drags them out of his net. Remember last week we had the drag net where Jesus said, all the fish this reminded me of this.
This is probably how we got here. Sorry. He brings them all up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in his dragnet.
So he rejoices and is glad. This is saying that that's what the Babylonians do. They are the ones who just pull people in and gather them in and they're glad about it. When they stomp someone, it makes them happy. Therefore he sacrifices to his net and makes offerings to his dragnet for by them he lives in luxury.
Oppression of other peoples is the way that Babylon was able to make its way. That's the way they enrich themselves. They took from other peoples. Therefore, he sacrifices to his net and he makes offerings to his dragnet for by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich while other people starve. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and end mercilessly killing nations forever?
Is this the way it's always going to be, Lord? I'll take my stand at my watch post, Habakkuk says, and I'll station myself on the tower and I'll look out to see what he will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint. This to me, for some reason, it struck me as a modern paraphrase. Longtime listener, first time caller, wondering what you have to say about all the problems and my complaints. I'll take your answer off there.
All right. I'm I'm just going to stand on the watch post and listen. And then that's Habakkuk speaking. And he says just for covering. What?
What? Wait. What? They're worse than we are. His description of the Babylonians pretty clear.
And then let me see what God says now. Make sure I've got this right. And God speaks. And he speaks a five part vision of woe. Actually, what he does to begin with is just kind of a little three verse two or three verse in between.
So the second verse of chapter two, we're almost halfway through. And the Lord answered me. He said, write this down. Write the vision down. It's important.
Write it down. Make it plain on tablets so that he may run who reads it. I'm giving you a warning what's coming. There's judgment coming. It's because you're not acting like my people, but it's coming.
Right? It says that. It says that. Write the vision. Make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it.
Running here could be repenting. Okay. If you want to read it that way. It's turning from what you're doing and going the other way. Write the vision.
Make it plain on tablets so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits its appointed time. It hastens to the end and it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it. For it will surely come and it will not delay.
Right? In God's timing, the things that I've said will come to pass will come to pass. Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. That's the ESV version.
I'm going give you the New King James here. Behold the proud because his soul is puffed up. It's a synonym for the proud. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright within him, but the just or the righteous shall live by his faith.
Okay. This is a verse I might come back to. If we still have time at the end, we're coming back. If not, you might have to hear it next week. Behold the proud.
His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. Behold, his soul is puffed up. He just said that he does whatever he darn well pleases. Right? This Babylonian king or these Chaldeans.
Soul is not upright with him. Maybe it's not about maybe it's not about the Babylonians or the Chaldeans. Look at this. Behold the proud, whoever it is, God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble.
If you recognize the error of your ways and you say, God help me. Remove the sin from me and allow me to walk out a righteous life. He will. Behold the proudest soul is not right within him, but the just shall live by his faith. Moreover, wine is a traitor and arrogant man who is never at rest.
There are inebriating factors in this world. And you can get drunk off of power. You can get drunk off of fame. You can get drunk off of wine. You can get high.
You can get stoned. But arrogance and pride is never at rest. His greed is as wide as shield. That's another word for hell. Like death, he has never enough.
He gathers for himself all nations and he collects as his own all peoples. Is there ever enough for the conqueror? No. They just keep conquering. And I mean, we could go financial today.
There's never enough, right? People just keep on going. There's a I forget the name of this certain matrix, but the happiness scale, you know, you're happy with this and then you see that. You go, I would really be happy if I had that. And so you work and work and work work until you get that.
And then you say, Man, I would be really happy if I had that. That's kind of what this last little section is talking about. Greed is as wide as shield. Like death never has enough. Gathers for himself all nations, collects, has his own all his peoples.
Now back to this is the Babylonians, I believe, Chaldeans. And God speaks and he says, write down your vision. Write down the vision. I don't want for this just to be a sole thing. Nobody's ever heard from you except for Bella and the dragon.
Okay? Write this down. It's important. Write down your vision, and it will occur just as I've said. But the righteous one will live by faith.
This is the silver lining in this prophecy. Okay? The righteous one will live by faith. Habakkuk is about having a lifestyle of trust in God even in the toughest times. When you've walked through the valley of the shadow of death and you can still look at them and say, You're riding your staff for what comfort me, Lord.
I don't understand everything that's going on, but you just lead me and I will go with you. Okay? Yeah. The circumstances do look bad, but I trust you. That's what Habakkuk is about.
Here we go. This is the five part judgment of woe. And I just divided it into five. These are the five that I saw. We'll recap at the end of this little 13 verse or 14 verse run.
Shall not all these things take up their taunt against him with scoffing and riddles for him and say, woe to him. Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own and for how long. This is about somebody, in this case the Babylonians and Chaldeans, who are taking what is not theirs. Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own for how long and he loads himself up with pledges. That's credit.
Oh my goodness. Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those awake who will make make you tremble? And then you will be spoiled for them because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you. For the blood of man and the violence to the earth, Hamas to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house to to set his nest on high, to be safe from the reach of harm.
You have devised shame for your house by cutting off many peoples. You have forfeited your life. For the stone will cry out from the wall and the beam from the woodwork will respond. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. Iniquity is sin.
Missing the mark. Woe to him who builds a town with blood and founds a city on iniquity. Behold, is it not from the Lord of hosts that peoples labor merely for fire and nations weary themselves for nothing. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. This is going to come to pass.
Okay? The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. That is future and we can just sit and rest for a minute. My goodness, this is a dark book. Let's let's take a time.
Everybody breathe. Trust in God. It will be okay. It will work out in the end and if it is not working out, it is not the end. Okay?
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Woe to him who makes his neighbors drink. You pour out your wrath and you make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your uncircumcision.
The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you and utter shame will come upon your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will overwhelm you. Your senseless violence will be repaid, God is saying. As will the destruction of the beast that terrified them for the blood of the man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it?
A metal image, a teacher of lies. For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. This always baffles me. And I was a sculpture major, so I've made a lot of things. None of them were idols, but I've made a lot of things.
And it just baffles me that some Habakkuk points it out, a lot of the minor prophets pointed out, Isaiah points it out. It says, You struggle and struggle and struggle. You cut down a tree, you let it dry out, you chip away and carve out it, you make it look like something, you cover it with gold or with silver and then you put something up under it so that it won't fall over and then you bow down to it. Does that make any sense to you? What profit is an idol?
There are a lot of different idols. They're not all stone and not all wrapped in gold. There are a lot of different idols we have today. What profit is an idol when its maker has shaped it, a metal image, a teacher of lies? For its maker trusts in his own creation when he makes speechless idols.
He trusts in his own creation. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, 'Awake!' to a silent stone, 'Arise!' Can this thing teach? Behold. It's overlaid with gold and silver. There's no breath at all in it.
So God speaks, write down your vision. All will occur just as I've said. The righteous will live by faith. We heard all that. And then to the Israelites and to Bakkah, he said, a lifestyle I mean, a lifestyle of trust.
That's what he takes away from it. But then he gives this five part judgment and woe and closes out with this. This is in contrast to that. But the Lord is in his holy temple. The Lord is enthroned in his holy temple.
Let all the earth keep silence before him. Humble yourselves before God. So the woah. Big spenders. They were extending loans and creditors were collecting.
They were unjust gainers. They were always gaining at the expense of others. They were violent builders. Their towns were founded on violence and bloodshed. The knowledge of the Lord's glory, though, will fill the earth.
That was a little rest in the middle of that. Neighborly imbibers. They force others to drink, metaphorically, to drink of God's wrath, but it will soon be their turn to drink from it. We don't have the Babylonian empire still in existence. Right?
Not where it was anyway. Metaphorically, it's alive. Foolish idolaters. Idols are worthless. So those are the five different visions of woe.
And it contrasts with the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him. There's a there's a hymn. There's a hymn that that is that verse exactly, and it's sung over and over, and it's very solemn. And when I first got here and we had a little choir going, one of the songs that we sang was, let all the earth keep silent.
And I was thinking, we just sang I saw the light in the first service. And now there's there's a time for both. There's a time for rejoicing, but there's also a time for just humility before God. Taking that moment to breathe in and breathe out and go, Lord, center me on how good you are. Allow me to see clearly, Lord.
If there be any sin in me, Lord, would you show it to me so I may confess it and move through it, move past it, move out of it? Because you offer your unmerited favor and your forgiveness. So Habakkuk's prayer hymn is what closes out this last. So this is Habakkuk speaks, God speaks. Habakkuk speaks, God speaks.
And then Habakkuk closes it out with a prayer that is a hymn. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. This is according to Shiggyanath. You know Shiggyanath. Right?
Shiggy. We're getting shiggy with it. Oh Lord. Oh Lord. Oh Lord.
I have heard the report of you. And your work, oh Lord, do I fear. He's starting with the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. Oh Lord, I have heard the report of you and I I heard what you said. And your work, oh Lord, I do fear.
In the midst of the years, revive it, Lord. In the midst of the years, make it known. In your wrath, remember mercy. Oh, so good. So good.
What a humble prayer. I agree that we, your people, deserve the reproof that you are given by these bad guys all around us. I agree that we've gotten off track. We have made this thing something that it wasn't, and we've justified ourselves rather than looking to you for our justification. In your wrath, Lord, which we deserve, in your wrath, remember mercy.
Also, in your wrath towards our oppressors, remember mercy. God came from Teman and the holy one from Mount Paran Selah, let it ring. His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light raised flash from his hand and there he veiled his power. Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels.
Wait a second. All that was good and then all of a sudden, before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels. Everything that a good God does has a design for bringing you into fellowship with him. Remember from Amos, he said, I gave them cleanness of teeth, famine, and yet they did not turn to me. I gave them a war which took their young men, and yet they did not turn to me.
I gave them a plague and yet they did not turn to me. In their pride, they raised up against me. 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 cushion and affliction and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, oh 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 sheaf from your bow calling for many arrows. Selah, let it ring. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and they writhed.
Can you imagine the mountains writhing before God? The raging waters swept on. The deep gave forth to its its voice and 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 know what you're doing, Lord. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. 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, a 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. I recognize we deserve what we're getting and I'll have to wait instead of taking up arms myself. I will quietly wait. I will leave room for God because I trust you even in the hard times. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon the people who invade us.
Though the fig tree should not blossom nor fruit be on the vines even if we're going through a famine. The produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herds in the stalls. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord and I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Even in the hard times, I look to you, Lord.
I will praise you in the storm, as the song says. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers. He makes me tread on high places to the choirmaster with stringed part that I says it's a hymn. It's a hymn.
It has a musical notation or two in there. Selah means let this ring out. Let that one dwell for a while. God the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers.
Have y'all ever been out the backside of the Elk Refuge and you watched how the deer jumping down on those rocks? Have you watched them up on the hillside? That's amazing. There's a ledge this wide. A deer is this wide.
How can that be? Physically, that doesn't make any sense. You'll make my feet like that. I'll be able to tread on the little ledge that I have. He makes me tread on my high places.
Wow. So the initial plea from him was, I fear your report, Lord. In in wrath, remember mercy, please. His description of God's majesty, his judgment against the nations, and salvation of all of God's people, and there will be people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Resignation to God's purpose.
I must wait for the day of the Lord. Fear is the beginning of wisdom, but I must wait for the day of the Lord, and I'll trust in God despite all the circumstances. So the application from Habakkuk are these. God is sovereign. I don't beat this drum.
I think you can beat this drum too hard, and it removes all of your human responsibility for acting in accord with his will, for human humility and responsibilities. God is sovereign though. He is sovereign. He does know the end from the beginning. Do we live like it?
Do we live like it? If God be for us, who can be against us? Well, the Babylonians, Chaldeans, you know. But what's the end of the matter? The end of the matter is God is sovereign.
And if we have trusted in him, we are among his people. He is mighty to save. And no matter what befall us, he is our God, and we will praise him. We don't always understand God's ways. Can I get an amen?
We don't understand God's ways. But we must trust the Lord no matter what. And I think that's a good place to close. Get the band back up here and I have if you want to dwell on something, let's get to this. This.
Not that. I'll come back to that next week. Would you stand with us? We're going to sing Be Thou My Vision. I've sung this song 1,500 times probably, and it hit me harder this morning than it ever has.
And Florine said the same thing. So listen to the words as you sing them. Amen. And for the benediction today, we'll go to Romans 15. May the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him.
This message today about trusting God in the hard times no matter what. Some of you all are going through incredibly difficult times. May the God of all hope fill you with joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, may it be so. Amen.
