God's first answer: He is raising up the Chaldeans as his instrument of judgment
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: God is holy yet watches the wicked Babylonians devour those more righteous than they
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 to wait and hear what God will answer his complaint
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 tells Habakkuk to write the vision plainly so that he who reads it may run
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.
Wine is a traitor and the arrogant man's greed is as wide as Sheol
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.
First woe against those who heap up unjust gain and load themselves with pledges
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.
Fourth woe against those who make neighbors drink to gaze at their nakedness, with the cup coming around to them
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.
Fifth woe against foolish idolaters who say to wooden and silent idols, arise
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.
Habakkuk's closing prayer and hymn: fear of God's report, plea for mercy in wrath, description of God's majesty, and trust in God despite all circumstances
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 benediction: may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit
13 Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
The pastor opened the book of Habakkuk, a three-chapter Old Testament book that rarely gets its own Sunday morning. The sermon traced the back-and-forth dialogue between the prophet and God, landing on the truth that trusting God is not something reserved for easy times. It is the posture God calls his people to hold onto even when everything around them looks like it is falling apart.
What was said
Habakkuk was a prophet writing to God's own people during Judah's final days before the Babylonian exile. The trouble he was crying out about was not only coming from outside Israel. It was coming from within, from people who should have known better, oppressing one another. The pastor was clear that this was not a complaint aimed at outsiders. It was a word from God to his people about what was happening inside the community of faith.
Habakkuk's opening lament is raw. He asks God how long he has to cry out about senseless violence before God does something. He says the law feels paralyzed, justice seems perverted, and God seems idle. The pastor noted that what Habakkuk is wrestling with is the problem of evil, the tension between believing God is good and powerful and watching the world fall apart. The significant thing is that Habakkuk takes that complaint directly to God rather than just voicing it to people around him.
God's answer is not what Habakkuk expected or wanted. He says to look among the nations and be astounded, because He is doing a work in Habakkuk's own day that the prophet would not believe even if God spelled it out. The work turns out to be raising up the Babylonians, a fierce and ruthless nation that derives its sense of justice entirely from itself, to bring judgment on Israel. That is a hard answer. But it is an answer.
Habakkuk comes back with a second complaint. He acknowledges that God is eternal and holy and that Israel probably deserves the reproof. But he pushes back: the Babylonians are worse than Israel, so why is God using them? He accuses God of looking on idly again. He says his piece, and then he goes to his watch post and waits to hear what God will say, like someone who has called in to a program and is standing by for a response.
God's second reply tells Habakkuk to write the vision down and make it plain so that everyone who reads it can run, meaning repent and turn toward God before the judgment arrives. In the middle of this reply sits the line quoted later in Galatians, Romans, and Hebrews: the righteous shall live by faith. God then lists five woes against Babylon, covering unjust gain, violent ambition, exploiting neighbors, and idolatry. The pastor contrasted all of that with the single line that follows: "But the Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silence before Him."
The sermon closed with Habakkuk's prayer and hymn in chapter three. Having heard God speak twice, Habakkuk moves to worship. He says he has heard God's report and he fears Him. He asks that in wrath God would remember mercy. He describes God's majesty in sweeping, almost overwhelming terms, mountains writhing, the sun and moon standing still, and then arrives at a quiet resolution: he will wait for whatever day of trouble is coming, and he will trust God through it. The famous ending, that even if the fig tree does not blossom and the fields produce nothing, he will still rejoice in the God of his salvation, is not wishful thinking. It is a decision made by someone who has actually argued with God and come out the other side still believing.
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 frustration and grief directly to God rather than just venting to people around him. What does it look like in your own life to bring a complaint or lament to God, and how is that different from just talking about your problems with others?
God told Habakkuk he was doing a work in his day that Habakkuk would not believe even if God explained it. Can you think of a time when you looked back on a hard season and recognized that God had been at work in ways you could not see while you were in the middle of it?
Speaker 1Good morning, everybody. How are you? All is well? I'm looking. I'm seeing.
Would you stand with me? We're going to sing. He keeps me singing. How about that one? He keeps me singing.
Hymn number seven forty six.
Speaker 2Jesus whispers sweet and low. Fear not, I am with thee. Peace be still. In all of life's ebb and flow. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweet as name I know, fills my every longing, keeps me sinking as I go.
All my life was wrecked by sin and strife. Discord filled my heart with pain. Jesus swept across the broken strings. Stirred the slumbering cords again.
Speaker 1On the last. Oh. We're we're going to sing that without the last verse. Do y'all know the last verse? Soon he's coming back to welcome me?
Yes. Okay, we're going to sing it.
Speaker 2Soon he's coming back to welcome me far beyond the starry sky Amen.
Speaker 1Well, how about I'll fly away? Here we go. I'll fly away. Hymn number seven seventy nine. Amen.
Y'all can have a seat. I have a few announcements this morning. Not a whole lot, just a few. Home Sweet Home on Mondays here is Monday nights at First B. It's at 06:00 down the hall.
That fellow right there will be preaching the message, leading the music, and who knows, maybe even cooking the meal tomorrow. No, you're not cooking the meal. Okay. Meal, music, and a message. Carl has two thirds of those kind of in his hand but the meal is going to be Lasagna.
Lasagna and garlic bread salad, whatnot. It'll be good. Comfort food. Down the hall tomorrow night, 06:00, meal, music, and a message. Last Monday was one of my favorite services that I have ever been to in my life.
So, it's good, good, good job. He's closing out the book of James tomorrow. It's really good. Prayer group meets Wednesday morning, 07:30AM in the church office. The prayer that prayer group has been going for many many years and it's just kind of the heartbeat of the church.
I know what's going on on the mission field. We're praying for missionaries but also in each other's lives and in the life of this church and so if you want to be a part of that, seven: 3zero am in the church office. This first be in the Bible. So 2022, we started a Bible reading plan. It's delivered to your inbox on weekday mornings and we have a list of about 25 of us in the church that are writing it up.
So you it's a chapter of scripture and then notes on that. Usually, it's an introduction of the person that's doing the notes and application. Then the chapter scripture notes, exegetical stuff, notice this, notice that, and then application. And that has been so, so good. For those of us who are writing it, it kind of puts you in there where you need to do it.
And if you want to be one of the people who writes, please let me know. And I'll give your name to Brad Yates and he's the administrative side of making this happen. But it's really, really good. If you want to get that email, let us know. We'll send it to you.
And if you want to be one of the writers, let me know and I'll do that. Vacation Bible School. This is going to be Christmas in July. That's the thing. Christmas in July.
First be June 27 through July 1, 9AM to noon. Sign ups are available on the church website but also if you would like to volunteer, let us know and we will get you hooked up with that. I think that's the last announcements but Nancy's here and she wants to announce about something that happened yesterday. Feel free. Had a few speakers, ladies and go ahead.
Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And they during the luncheon, they had several speakers and there were ladies, some more ladies and their daughters who were speaking a word of testimony and it was just a good time was had by all. Thank you for contributing to it and for being here and being a part of it. But guys, if you weren't here, it was a good thing.
No? Sorry. Would you stand? I'm just messing with y'all. Would you stand?
It wasn't for us. In moments like these, moments
Speaker 2like these, I sing out a song. I sing out a love song to Jesus. In moments like these,
Speaker 1Let's sing that again. We have come into his house and gathered in his name to worship him.
Speaker 2Him Amen.
Speaker 1Y'all can have a seat. I'll ask the ushers to come forward and for the time of the offering but would you pray with me? Lord God almighty, you are the one who leads us along this path in shady green pastures sometimes and through the deep in other times, Lord. You are the one that leads us through it. And we're thankful for that, Lord.
We thank you for your provision and for what you have done, to guide us along on our pathway together. In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask that you would bless us with your will, that you would allow us to know your will, Lord, just so that we can do our part in it. You say in your word, Lord, that we are your workmanship, Poyama, workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works that you have authorized and established for us to walk in them. Lord God almighty, would you allow us to walk it out right now? That you would allow us to do what it is that you would have us to do individually and collectively so that those who do not yet know Jesus will come to know him and find him as their provider, find him as their savior and their lord.
In Jesus' name, Lord, we ask your blessing on this offering. We lay it down, Lord, trusting in you to do what it is that you will in your way through us who are gathered here this morning. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. We're standing in his presence on holy ground.
Wow. Usually, y'all know, most of y'all know that usually we're, going in the New Testament somewhere. Wherever we left off last week, that's where we're picking up this week. So, this Sunday, I I was reminded of something in the service last week that got my mind thinking about Habakkuk Habakkuk. So we're gonna have an old testament message this week.
We'll be back to Jesus and where he's headed next after his parables of the kingdom next soon. I won't say next week. I might do this again next week. Soon, we'll be back to that. But this is an Old Testament sermon.
I'm using the English Standard Version mostly today. I'll mention it if I change out of that. But ESV, for the Old Testament, I kinda like. So Habakkuk, trust in the Lord no matter what. That's today's message.
And we'll start by introducing the guy. Now, Habakkuk, you might think, you might have skipped over Habakkuk. Honestly, he's only three chapters. He's only on a couple of pages in the Old Testament. The man himself is not mentioned anywhere else New Testament outside of this book.
Now he's quoted multiple times. He's quoted in Galatians and in Romans and in Hebrews, and it's a big deal. The righteous shall live by faith. That comes from the book of Habakkuk. And I'll and I will say, I'm from Georgia.
I say Habakkuk. If you say Habakkuk or something else, I don't I'm gonna say Habakkuk. Alright? That's who he is. He's not mentioned outside of his book in the canonical 60 going talking time talking And for that.
Judah's last days. This is the time of of Habakkuk. It is in Judah's last days before the Babylonians came in and whipped them and took them away into exile. So not too terribly long before that happened, social oppression was abounding. And I say that, that was social oppression within Israel, within God's chosen people.
They were oppressing one another. Okay? So don't think that, oh, yeah. Social oppression abounds, meaning all the bad guys were surrounding God's people, and that's the way that it was, and that's the way it still is. It it is.
But this is a book that's written to God's people by one of God's people. It's a direct message. Habakkuk is mentioned in the very first line as being a prophet who received an oracle from God. He wrote it down and this is a message to God's people and it still is. So social oppression abounds and it's not just the outsiders that are doing it.
He's saying they're insiders, people who are supposed to know better that are doing it. Habakkuk was struggling to believe that God's plan was best. But I will say this, he does go to the sovereign with his complaint. He does go to the sovereign with his lament. He laments to God, or you might call it whining.
He goes and cries out. But he cries out to God instead of just to social media, just to people around him. Okay? He is saying, God, why is this so? Alright.
So we'll start right there. There's a dialogue. The whole book is kind of a dialogue. It's a Habakkuk speaks and God answers. Habakkuk speaks and God answers.
And then Habakkuk prays or sings a hymn at the end. And that's the whole book of Habakkuk. It's three chapters. Basically, Habakkuk speaks first just four verses. And if you read the church email, the bulletin this week, it kind of did hook you in, didn't it?
I had a guy text me as soon as he read it. So we send out that email and as soon as he read it, he said, woah, this looks really good. I'm excited to see what this is. And we'll get to what that was. To begin with, the oracle that Habakkuk the prophet saw.
This is true and accurate record of what he saw. And this is his lament that begins this way, oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help and you will not hear? Oh, that sounds like David, doesn't it? Doesn't David, the King David say, how long will I wrestle with my thoughts and have every day have sorrow in my heart and yet you don't hear? Right?
Oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help And yet, you will not hear. How long, lord? Or how long will I cry to you, violence, and yet, you will not save. The word for violence right now, right there is Hamas. Does that sound like anything you're used to hearing?
Hamas. You know somebody named their organization violence? It's it it is a terrorist organization. Violence. Wrong.
Actually senseless and injurious violence. And this is what this is the word and it's used a lot. Don't get me wrong. This is not this is what the word means is violence. It's used that many times in scripture.
And I know that that print's too small for you, but if you ask for the slides, I'll send them to you. Okay. It's translated violence, wrong. Wrong done to me. Violence specifically physical, also wrong including injurious language, harsh treatment in general of rude wickedness of men.
They're noisy and ruthless wildness. It's an enthronement of senseless violence. It's an instrument, weapons of violence, witness that promotes violence and wrong. Violence. Violence.
Violence. Oh Lord, how long shall I cry out for help and you will not hear or cry to you, violence. This senseless violence is all around us all the time and yet you will not save. Why is it why do you make me see this iniquity and why do you idly look at wrong? He said, I'm looking at this and I, even as a human being, can tell this is not right.
And yet you are idle and you don't do anything about it. Do you see the man struggling with the goodness of God or struggling with the power of God, one or the other? Has the problem of evil come up in any of your conversations in the last year? It comes up all the time in mine. Maybe it's occupational hazard, but Destruction and violence are ever before me.
Strife and contention arise. And so it seems the law is paralyzed and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous and so justice goes forth perverted. Can you hear the heart of Habakkuk here? Does it sound like any of our prayers?
Does it sound like our times? It does. God's answer. Well, so Habakkuk speaks. Let me just I'll try to do this too.
As I give it
Speaker 2to you, I'll give you
Speaker 1a summary. Habakkuk speaks and he says, Lord, why don't you act? Why don't you do something? If you're all good, and I think you are, if you're all good, and I think you are, and you're all powerful, powerful, and and I I believe believe you you are, are, then why don't you do something? Why don't you act?
Injustice abounds. The way that we're treating each other, Lord, is just awful. So he laments. But he does so to the sovereign. Like I said, he goes to God with his issue.
And then God speaks. God will reply back and this is the hook right here. Look among the nations, Habakkuk, and see. Look and see. Wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days at this time that you would not believe even if I told you. Wow. I I read a church planting movements book. I remember the name of it. It's Church Planting Movements by David Garrison, and it leads off.
This is the opening line. Look among the nations and see, wonder and be astounded, for I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe even if I told you. And that's true then and it's true now. And it's very optimistic. It seems to be very optimistic if you trust God.
It helps you to trust God to know that this is true. That's the way God leads off in this dialogue back and forth. Look and see. Wonder and be astounded. I am doing a work in your days that you wouldn't believe even if I told you.
For behold, look at this, I'm raising up the Babylonians. The Chaldeans. That's that's how he's doing this. For look, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, those who march through the breadth of the earth to seize dwellings not their own. They're dreaded and they're fearsome.
Their justice and dignity go forth from themselves. It's saying that their justice and their dignity are whatever they think it ought to be. It goes forth from themselves. It's not based on who God is. They have a sense of justice that is derived from themselves, And they take homes that were not theirs.
Their horses, militarily, 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, violence.
All of their faces forward. There is no retreat in this fearsome army. They gather captives like sand. You ever see kids at the beach just gathering sand up in a bucket? That's easy.
A two year old can do that. He says they just gather captives, slaves, like that. Just like a kid gathers sand. At kings they scoff and at rulers, they laugh. They laugh at every fortress for they pile up earth and they take it.
Those are siege ramps. They build up a ramp and then they overtake that city. Then they sweep by like the wind and they go on. These are guilty men. Guilty men whose own might is their God.
This is the Babylonians. So God speaks and says, be amazed and astounded. Habakkuk, that's hopeful. I am acting. I'm raising up the Chaldeans.
Oh boy, that's tough news. I'm raising up the Chaldeans. That's the Babylonians if you wonder. So the first cycle concludes and then second cycle ensues. Habakkuk has spoken.
God has spoken. It comes back to Habakkuk and he starts off like this. Are you not from everlasting? Oh Lord my God, I know you to be the eternal one. Are you not from everlasting?
Oh my God, my holy one? We shall not die. Really? That's that's what it's gonna be? I'm crying out to you because nothing.
We shall not die. Oh Lord, you have ordained them as judgment. I get that. I get that. You're right.
You're right. Oh you, O rock, you have established them for our reproof. The things that they're doing to us, we probably deserve that. We have not trusted in you. This is a statement of humility, but it's one of incredulous humility.
Right? He's like, really? Are we gonna have to die for that? You, Lord, you who are of purer eyes than to even see evil and you cannot look it wrong. Why is it that you idly there it is again.
He's already accused him of being idle. Why do you idly look at traitors and remain silent when the wicked swallows up the man more righteous than he? Oh, that's relative thinking, you know. God's point is even amongst your people, injustice abounds and there is judgment coming and this is the way it's going to come. And then he says, Why are you looking idly?
They're worse than we are. There's no one righteous. No, not one. Right? Outside of God's spirit, outside of God's gift, there is none.
You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler. Last week when we said that the kingdom of heaven is like a drag net. You remember that? Kingdoms of like a drag net. And it gets all kinds of fish, all races of fish, it said.
You make mankind like the fish of the sea, like crawling things that have no ruler, And he brings all of them up with a hook. That's he is king of Babylon or the head of Babylon. He brings them all of them up with a hook. He drags them out with his net. He gathers them in with his dragnet.
And so he rejoices and is glad. They just go about whipping people one after the other after another. Peoples conquering them. Therefore, he, Babylon, sacrifices to his own net. He makes offerings to his dragnet, his military machine.
For by them he lives in luxury and his food is rich. He is profiting off of the loss of other peoples. Is he then to keep on emptying his net and mercilessly killing nations forever? Is this the way it's gonna be, God? I'll take my stand at my watch post and I'll station myself on the tower and I'll look out to see what God will say to me and what I will answer concerning my complaint.
This one for some reason when I read it struck me because he said his piece and now he's just waiting for his answer. It's kind of like modern paraphrase would be, long time listener, first time caller, wondering what you'll have to say about all our problems and my complaints and I'll just stand here and take my answer off the air. Okay. Habakkuk has spoken and now God. What?
Wait. What? They're worse than we are. And then he describes the Babylonians, and they're a fearsome bunch. Let me see what God says now, and God speaks.
And his speaking first of all, it's like three verses. They're transitional, and then he goes into a five part woah. There are woes. There are five of them listed. But his speaking two one is is I'm gonna stand up there and take my answer.
In two two, it says, and the Lord answered me. Habakkuk, write this down. Write down the vision. Make it plain on tablets. You remember the Martin Luther King sermons of Blake and make it plain.
There's a guy in the back. If you ever listen to one of Martin Luther King's sermons from his own church, there's a guy who is almost always with him. And when he makes a particularly poignant part, it goes
Speaker 2Make it plain.
Speaker 1Make it plain. It plain. Nobody needs to nobody needs to miss this. So God is saying that to Habakkuk. Write the vision and make it plain.
Don't hide it. This is going to come to pass. Write the vision. Make it plain on tablets. Make it plain so that he may run who reads it.
This is a warning of judgment. And if they can understand it, they should be either running, that's a good way of translating it, or repenting, turning and running. Right? Turning, running towards God and away from the judgment. Right?
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. It will surely come and it will not delay.
In God's timing, this is gonna happen, judgment. Be so this is Habakkuk two four. This is the one that's quoted in Galatians and Romans and Hebrews. Behold, his soul is puffed up. The proud one, his soul is puffed up.
It is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith. That is kind of the silver lining in this dark cloud here. It is nice to see that Habakkuk can cry out to God and God responds. And he can cry out again and God responds, and then it ends in a hymn of praise. That's good.
But this the righteous shall live by faith. We might go over that one next week. We might hit that one harder next week. The New King James, behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. That's good.
Verse five says, moreover, beyond that, wine is a traitor, an arrogant man who is never at rest. Metaphorically speaking, there are things that are intoxicating to us. Money, fame, power, glory, and wine, and other inebriating substances, drugs. But this one specifically is talking about arrogance. It's an arrogant man, pride.
The pride. A proud. Behold the proud. His soul is not upright within him. And certainly the Chaldeans were proud.
Everything was derived on their own rightness, their own might, and their own sense of justice. That's intoxicating when you think you're in charge. Moreover, wine is a traitor and arrogant man who's never at rest. His greed is insatiable. It is as wide as Sheol, one of the Hebrew terms for hell.
It is like death, he has never enough. His greed is as wide as shield. Like death he has never enough. He gathers for himself all nations and he collects as his own all these peoples. They just keep on whipping people over and over.
So God speaks and when he does, he says, Write down this vision because it's important. I want for people to be warned. I also, when it comes to pass, want them to know that the reason for it coming to pass. Everything will happen just as I've said, but the righteous one will live by faith. And we'll cover that next week, I believe.
Really, what God's answers are saying is we should live a lifestyle of trust in God even during tough times. Maybe especially during tough times. We should live a lifestyle of trust in God even in tough times. I am acting, he said. I am acting.
So this is the beginning of the five part. Woah. Shall not all these things take up their taunt against him with scoffing and riddles for him and say, Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own unjust gain. And for how long? And loads himself up with pledges.
That's speaking about credit, as unpopular as it is to hear in our day. That's speaking of predatory extensions of credit. Woe to him who heaps up what is not his own or for how long he loads himself up with pledges. Will not your debtors suddenly arise and those awake who will make you tremble? Then you will be spoiled for them.
It will turn. Because you have plundered many nations, all the remnant of the people shall plunder you for the blood of man and violence to the earth, to cities and all who dwell in them. Woe to him who gets evil gain for his house 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, ignoring the poor. 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. 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 water cover the sea. This, this is a place to rest.
We're going stop here for just a second. Okay? There's a whole lot of doom and gloom. There's a whole lot of hard stuff. There's a whole lot to get through.
But this is a certainty. Though it tarry, wait for it. He says, because it's coming to pass. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord just as the waters cover the sea. He goes back into the woes now.
Woe to him who makes his neighbors to drink. You pour out your wrath and you make them drunk in order to gaze at their nakedness to take advantage. You will have your fill of shame instead of glory. Drink yourself and show your own nakedness, uncircumcision. The cup in the Lord's right hand will come around to you.
What goes around comes around, he's saying. And utter shame will come upon your glory. The violence done to Lebanon will eventually overwhelm you as will the destruction of the beasts that terrified them. All the military power in the world will not stand in that day. For the blood of 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 trust in his own creation when he makes speechless idols. Woe to him who says to a wooden thing, awake and to a silent stone, arise. Can this teach?
Behold, it's overlaid with gold and silver and there's no breath at all in it. This is one thing that the minor prophets and the major prophets mentioned. It's so bizarre if you think about idolatry. And idolatry at the time, Isaiah says, you spend so much time. You saw down a tree, you cut out a section, you chisel out something that's an image of something, then you take it and you overlay it with gold or silver.
And then you put a little bit of shim up under it so that it won't topple over. And then you bow down to it. That doesn't make any sense. It's stupid when you think about it. But you know what?
Idols aren't just wooden things overlaid with gold. We've got idols and there are a lot of them. They're our own creation and we bow down to them. This is a rebuke and a reproof to that. Don't do that.
So God speaks and he says, write down your vision. We already covered this. Everything's going to happen. The righteous one will live by faith. And the tenses on this are interesting.
We'll look at it next week. Lifestyle trust even in times. Oh, the contrast between oh, the contrast between these these inanimate objects that people are bowing down to and then this. It says, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before him.
I remember when I first got here and we had a little choir and we would get up and that first song was almost tremblesome. It was it was a tremor almost of, let
Speaker 2all the earth keep silence.
Speaker 1And I thought, we just sang. I saw the light in the first service. Maybe we need it. Maybe we needed this kind of reverence before God. The Lord is in his holy temple.
That's the place of that's the place of his presence, of his goodness, of his law, of his holiness, of his judgment. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth humble themselves and keep silence before him. So the five part vision of woe. Just to summarize really quickly.
They're big spenders. They're extending loans. They're living outside their means. Creditors are collecting, and they're collecting some pretty awesome interest. Unjust gainers.
They're always gaining but at the expense of others. We see that in the Babylonians in that they are just taking over what is not theirs. But think about that. That's what the Israelites were doing too. The rich were taking advantage of the poor and then the reproof was Babylon's gonna take over violent builders.
Towns were founded on violence and bloodshed. This was our resting place. Knowledge of the Lord's glory will fill the earth though. Neighborly imbibers. They are forcing others to drink from God's wrath just because they are establishing the world's system and the way that things work on this earth.
They're forcing other people to live within that system rather than trusting in their provider, God. They force others to drink God's wrath, but the tables will turn on that. That it will soon be their turn to drink from that. And then foolish idolaters. Those are the woe.
Woe to the big spenders, the unjust gainers, the violent builders, neighborly imbibers, and foolish idolaters. You contrast that with the Lord is in his holy temple. Everyone should keep humble before him. The proud, his soul is not right within him. God resists the proud but he gives grace to the humble.
So Habakkuk's prayer and hymn and that will close us out. It's 19 verses. So having pled with God and received an answer and pled again with God and received an answer, Now Habakkuk is moved to pray and at the same time he's praying, there's a little musical notation. So it's also a hymn. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigianath.
I don't know who Shigianath is, but this is Shigianath's version of this song. Oh Lord, I have heard the report of you. I heard what you said, Lord. I cried out and you answered me. I cried out and you answered me.
I have heard the report of you and of your work. I'm raising up the Chaldeans. Oh Lord, do I fear? The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. Oh Lord, I've heard the report of you and your work and Lord, I do fear in the midst of the years, lord.
Revive it. Revive us. In the midst of the years, make it known. In your wrath, remember mercy. Ain't that great?
I recognize that we deserve the reproof. I recognize that we deserve the rebuke. Oh, that the capital c church would recognize where we have strayed and that we deserve the reproof and the rebuke. In your wrath, Lord, that we deserve, please remember mercy for us. But it's also in your wrath against those oppressors.
Remember mercy for them too. We don't deserve it, neither do they, but you, Lord, are mighty to save. God came from Timan and the holy one from Mount Paran, Selah. Let it ring. Oh, gracious.
I lost myself. Let it ring. God came from Timan, the holy one from Mount Paran. Selah. Selah means 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. Probably a reference to Sinai. Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels. That one might be like, wait a second.
The rays of light I understand, the brightness I understand. Why does it say that before God? In front of him goes pestilence and plague follows at his heels. If you'll think back to Amos a few weeks ago, God speaking says, I gave you cleanness of teeth. I gave you a famine.
And it had a design. I gave you a famine so that you would turn back to me. It says, but you did not return to me. I gave you a war which took your young men, and yet you did not return to me. I gave you a plague, and yet you did not return to me.
Now, yeah, we could say that that's that's against Egypt or that's against Babylon. But he's saying that I'm in charge. The Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence. I know what I'm doing.
Trust me. I'm doing a work in your day you wouldn't understand even if I told you. If hard times fall on us, we turn towards God, not away from him. He stood and he measured the earth. He looked and he 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, Lord, 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. Let that ring out. Think on that for a little while. God is powerful.
The mountains saw you and they writhed. They wriggled. They trembled, tremored, trembled. Think about that. The mountains saw you and writhe.
The raging water swept on the deep, gave forth its voice. It's 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. That's what he's doing. There's a whole lot going on here. But the reason it's going on, you went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked.
You can see a reference there to Jesus crushing Satan's head. 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, the surging of mighty waters. I hear and my body trembles.
My lips quiver at the sound. Rotness 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. Leave room for God.
Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. He doesn't say that you need to be raising up arms. He said, he's got this. He's got this. Even though oppressors may come, trust in him no matter the circumstances.
He's got this. Habakkuk, yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. And though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food. Though the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls. If even if we don't have anything to eat and times are very difficult.
Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. Amen. The last verse is this, God, the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's feet.
He makes me tread on my high places. In the first service, I said, have y'all ever been out to the backside of the Elk Refuge and seen the deer up on the hillside? And then in the connect hour they said, those are sheep. The verse says deer. I'm going with deer.
Okay? And specifically, it's probably an ibex. It is a Middle Eastern deer, a hind, and they can stand on a ledge that's like three inches wide. How in the world can something that's this wide stand on something that's this wide? Physically, that doesn't look like it would happen to me.
But they're secure in it. They're able to not just be there, but get around in those tight situations. God, the Lord, he is my strength. He makes my feet like hinds feet in high places. He makes my feet like the deers.
He makes me tread on my own high places. Wherever it is that he puts me, he will get me through. That's the point. And then the last little notation down there says, To the choirmaster with stringed instruments. That's quite a song, isn't it?
This whole book of Habakkuk, or at least the third chapter, is a song. And he's saying, You're mighty to save. And even when it looks like things are pretty desperate, I still need to trust you. So from that prayer, his initial plea is, I fear your report, Lord, but I I'm sorry. I I fear I hear your report.
I fear you. And in wrath, Lord, we know we deserve it. Remember mercy, please. There's a description of God's majesty and its very majestic judgment against the nation, salvation to God's people, and then a resignation to God's purposes. I don't understand like you understand.
I trust you. I revere you. I must wait for the day of the Lord, and I'll trust God despite all the circumstances. So if you're looking for applications from Habakkuk, here they are. God is sovereign.
God is sovereign. I don't beat this drum as hard as some pastors. There there are folks in reform circles that really beat the drum of God's sovereignty. I find that if you hit that drum too hard and too often, the responsibility of mankind seems to take a backseat, and we just don't do anything. Okay?
God is sovereign, though. There's no doubt about it. And in humility, I have to say, we are also responsible. If he is planning on doing a work, we might not always understand it. All we want is to know our part in the work that he has for us.
God is sovereign. Do we live like God is sovereign? Or do we feel like we've got to fix every social ill and everything that's wrong? We've got to fix it ourselves before we get the direction of God. God is sovereign.
Do we live like it? Can I get an amen? We don't always understand God's ways. Yeah. I get a got a amen there.
We don't always understand God's ways. I I love that he says, I'm doing something in your time that even if I explained it to you, you still wouldn't give it. But you can trust God no matter what because he is on the throne in his holy temple, and we should humble ourselves before him and trust him. And just keep walking out the good old gospel way, living out of the merciful love and forgiveness that God has offered. I think that's it.
We'll come back to the righteous shall live by faith next week, I think. We'll see. Would you stand and I'm gonna invite Judy to come forward. And we're gonna sing. Take my life, lead me, Lord.
The altars are always open for prayer, always, always.
Speaker 2My life, lead me, lord. Take my life. Lead me, lord. Make my life useful to thee. Take my life.
Lead me, lord. My life. Leave me lord. Take my life. Teach me lord.
Take my life. Teach me, lord. Take my life. Teach me, lord.
Speaker 1I wanna pray and then we'll share the benediction with you. But Lord, as we go, as we leave from this place, Lord, whether our path takes us on a fun trip up to Yellowstone or takes us to the hospital to visit someone who is in hospice care. Or, Lord, we go home to our families just to have a meal. I pray, Lord, that you would allow us to see what it is that you're doing in our times. Even though we may not understand it, that you'd allow us to see a glimpse of what you're doing.
That we can see your majesty, and we can live in a difficult time with evil all over the place, that we can live in peace, that we can live trusting you. In Jesus' name, amen. And now may the God of all hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him. There's where it is. As you trust in him.
If you don't trust in him, you will be anxious and you will be depressed. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus name, I pray. Amen.
