Sovereignty Grown Faith

If you would turn in your Bibles
to Habakkuk, Habakkuk, fifth book from the end of the Old
Testament, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk. If you get to any of
the Z books, you’ve gone a little too far. Anyway, this morning,
I want to do an overview of this great book of Habakkuk, which
was, although was written about 600 years or so before Christ,
is it extremely relevant for today? Because the issues that
Habakkuk is concerned about are ones we see today. It’s a book
about faith and trust in the sovereignty of God. And although
this short three chapter In this short three chapter book there
are three verses that you’re a part or three passages a couple
of verses in a passage that you are probably very familiar with
but maybe didn’t know were in this book. But just before we do that I
want to ask you a question. Have you faced times in your
life or been in situations that make you question just what is
God doing. Have you ever wanted to ask God
how long is this going to go on? Have you ever felt that your
prayers weren’t being heard? If you haven’t had that, then
maybe you should be up here and I should be down there because
I think it’s, I’m not thinking, I know these are questions that
have been prevalent down through history. In Job, The oldest book
written in the Bible, Job asks God in the midst of his suffering,
how long? Moses complained to God, how
long must I endure this stubborn, grumbling people? David asked,
how long, oh Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you
hide your face from me? Jerry Bridges in his book, Trusting
God, said the sovereignty of God is often questioned because
man does not understand what God is doing. Because he does
not act as we think he should. We ask because we don’t understand. What is happening just doesn’t
seem to make sense. Habakkuk 2, wanted to know why,
Lord? How long? And isn’t that the
hard cry of, as one described it, men and women all through
history. We want to know how long. If
we know how long or if we know why, then just maybe we’ll be
able to deal with it a little better. We want to know why or
we want to know why aren’t. Why are you allowing this? Why
aren’t you doing this? It seems that every day there
are reports and events that take place that just seem to prove
the world is crumbling. Even in this country. There are
those who want to make it something it was never intended to be.
They have also attempted, under the guise of public health, to
shut down churches. Nothing would bring them more
joy than to shut down the worship of the one and only true God,
the preaching of the gospel. They wish it would be banished.
And it leads me to ask, God, how long? How long are you going
to let this go on without repercussions? Please God, expose the agenda,
expose the evil, and crush it. In addition, I don’t know about
you, but I’m bombarded with emails about what to do to prepare for
the coming whatever. I know it’s good to be prepared
for certain situations, but what it can also do is take our minds
off of the larger picture, the bigger truth. It can take our
minds off the fact that God is not uninformed, that God is not
blind to this, that God is in complete control. That is why
the sovereignty of God has been so much on my mind and such a
comfort for quite a while. I can say we can really get worked
up and passionate about things, things that really, when they
happen, will affect us personally. And getting passionate about
the right things is not bad. We get angry. We get frustrated.
And it’s good, again, to be passionate about the right things. But when
it gets us to be anxious and it gets us to take our minds
off God, to think that he’s, maybe he’s not up to date yet,
that becomes a problem. Because we’re to be anxious about
what? Philippians, be anxious for nothing. But in everything
by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests
be made known to God. And the peace, the peace of God,
which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your
minds in Christ Jesus. We get unnecessarily stressed. A couple of weeks ago, we sang,
as we did this morning, about the sovereignty of God. That
week, I read a quote by Charles Spurgeon. And it said, there
is no attribute of God more comforting to his children than the doctrine
of divine sovereignty. I have entitled today’s sermon,
Sovereignty Grown Faith. Now, if you’re an English major
or something, or you looked at this and thought, there’s a typo.
It’s not. It’s not sovereignly grown faith,
it’s sovereignty grown faith. The other could make sense too,
but I wanted to show through the book of Habakkuk that the
sovereignty of God will cause our faith to grow, and as a result,
followers, or Christ, should be filled with hope. Habakkuk
is believed to be a contemporary of Jeremiah. He’s believed younger
than Jeremiah, but He’s a contemporary of him, and he was prophesying
to the southern kingdom, the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.
We don’t know much about Habakkuk because he doesn’t tell us anything.
A lot of times when you read the prophets, they’ll say, Isaiah,
son of, or Micah, during the reign of. So we know the king, maybe a
time, or where he was from, who his father was. But Habakkuk
doesn’t give us anything. Most scholars and commentators
believe he was prophesying during the time of the reign of Jehoiakim. Habakkuk tells us of the not
too distant invasion of Babylon, and Jehoiakim was a king during
that time. The situation in Judah would
be even more frustrating for Habakkuk, because he would have
lived during the reign of King Josiah, who was just before Jehoiakim. Josiah was a good king. He was
the one who became king at eight years old. And then 18 years
into his reign, he created or wanted to do a renovation of
the temple. And during that renovation, they found the Book of the Law.
Hilkiah, the high priest, gave it to the scribe of Josiah, who
read it in Josiah’s presence. And he tore his robes in humbleness
and repentance and instituted many reforms. So there was a
good time there. And then a king followed Josiah
who reigned three months, and then came Jehoiakim. And he got
rid of those reforms quickly. Of Jehoiakim, it was said in
Jeremiah 22, verse 17, but your eyes and your heart are intent
only upon your own dishonest gain, and on shedding innocent
blood, and on practicing oppression and extortion. So we see there
in Jeremiah that he is dealing with Joachim. So that’s the state
of affairs that Habakkuk and Judah are under. God’s people
have abandoned God’s ways. There is blatant corruption from
its leaders. There’s oppression, violence,
and rampant injustice. In Habakkuk, we don’t see Habakkuk
giving the message to the people. we see him receiving a vision
from God that he is to give the people. And in this vision, we
see him conversing with God about the message that Habakkuk is
to give the people. So let’s get into it. Habakkuk
1, the verse starts with, The oracle which Habakkuk the prophet
saw. Okay, the oracle, if you have
NIV, it might say burden. Oracle is translated into burden. The same word is used in Nahum
and Isaiah. Nahum 1, 1 and Isaiah 13, 1 and
22, 1. The vision God gives him is a
heavy message. It’s a heavy message of judgment.
Have you ever received news about someone or some event, some situation
that is disastrous? The person might know that something’s
not quite right, but they don’t think it’s a serious thing, when
in reality, it is extremely serious. And you’re the one that’s supposed
to tell them. The only thing I could even conceive of would
be to tell a parent something horrible about their child. Maybe
it’s some loss of a home or some calamity that you would have
to give a message too. But this is Habakkuk, this is
what he is given, and it’s a vision even worse than those things.
It starts with Habakkuk asking God questions that we have asked
all through history, when people can’t make sense of these things.
But God in his mercy engages Habakkuk, and the questions begin
in verse 2. How long O Lord, will I call
for help and you will not hear? I cry out to you, violence, yet
you do not save. Why do you make me see iniquity
and cause me to look on wickedness? Yes, destruction and violence
are before me. Strife exists and contention
arises. Therefore, the law is ignored
and justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous.
Therefore, justice comes out perverted. Habakkuk is bewildered
at God’s perceived indifference of what is happening and frustrated
at God’s silence in response to his prayers. He is trying
to reconcile himself with what he knows about God and what he
is seeing in the land. This is Judah, a part of God’s
chosen people. Judah, the tribe that’s named
after Judah, but that Christ’s line comes from. But yet there’s
violence, corruption, injustice, all around wickedness happening. Corrupt leaders, corrupt priests.
There are righteous people being oppressed. And Habakkuk is asking
God, why? Why aren’t you doing anything
about this? How long are you going to let
this go? I mentioned earlier that Habakkuk, the issues that
he deals with are very similar to what we have today. In fact,
when I first read through this, I thought, wow, this could be
said about us. Granted, we are not the chosen
nation, but we are a country that was founded upon the principles
of God. We have very similar happenings
going on here, and I wonder why. How long are you going to let
this go? Evil and violence. have been part of our society
ever since the beginning. We see God lamenting the fact
in Genesis 6 when he says that every intent of the thoughts
of man’s heart was only evil continually. We saw violence
very early when Cain killed Abel. Here in the United States, we
definitely have an evil in the way of violence, but what strikes
me more is the absolute depravity that is now permeating this country. Now all of a sudden we have many
genders. Agender, not having a gender
or identifying with a gender. There’s bigender, a person who
fluctuates between traditionally male and female genders based
on behaviors and identities. There’s a third gender. A term
for a person who does not identify with either man or woman, but
identifies with another gender. Even talking about these things,
this makes me sick. And there are a lot more. They’re
fluid. I mean, there’s so many. No matter
what one may want to call themselves, God made them male and female. There are only two. Not only
have millions been killed in the womb, but now some want to
kill them after they have been born. Infanticide bills have
been introduced in a number of places. Not only is there an
uproar about a law that gets passed that bans abortion after
six weeks, but there are rallies at state capitals, including
ours, to overturn it. And a leader who is asking federal
courts to strike it down. Planned Parenthood is lauded,
but the Crisis Pregnancy Center is blocked from CSU. I read of
a school district back in the East that has suggested a reading
list that includes LGBTQ pornographic materials. So yeah, I ask, how
long? And so does Habakkuk. This morning,
I’m going to give you three principles of sovereignty grown faith that
we can take from the book of Habakkuk. And they just happen
to break down by chapter. So the first principle is taken
from chapter one. Principle one, sovereignty grown
faith trusts that God never stops working and his plan doesn’t
always make sense to us. We don’t see all that God is
doing, and that’s why it’s called faith. God’s response to Habakkuk
is that I am doing something, but beware, it’s not what you
think it would be. Look at verse 5 of chapter 1.
Look among the nations, observe, be astonished, wonder, because
I am doing something in your days you would not believe if
you were told. For behold, I am raising up the
Chaldeans, that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the
earth to seize dwelling places which are not theirs.” God tells
Habakkuk that he’s already on it. But be warned, what is coming
is judgment by the hands of the Chaldeans, Judah’s enemy. Yes. those Babylonians, Habakkuk. And just to make sure there’s
no confusion or a case of mistaken identity, God gives a little
description in the following verses. God describes them as
that fierce and impetuous people who march throughout the earth
to seize dwelling places that are not theirs. And in verses
10 and 11, they mock at kings and rulers are a laughing matter
to them. They laugh at every fortress
and heap up rubble to capture it. They laugh at any oppression
or opposition that may come their way. But at the end, verse 11, he
also throws in a caveat that because of the message Habakkuk
may not have heard. Verse 11, he said, then they
will sweep through the wind and pass on, but they will be held
guilty, they whose strength is their God. Can you imagine what
Habakkuk’s reaction is to the previous verses? It would be
astonishment. What? Obviously, this isn’t what
Habakkuk was expecting. It’s not the course of action
he wanted, he would want God to take. Maybe he was hoping
for a revival, a literal tent meeting. Or maybe he was thinking
along the lines of what God did to the sons of Korah when they
opposed Moses and Aaron. Sons of Korah got their followers
together and all 250 of them were swallowed up by the earth. Purge the nation of the bad guys
and let’s move on. Matthew Henry said it would be
thought incredible that God should deal so severely with a people
that had been taken into the bond of the covenant and that
he had done so much for. So God’s answer raises even more
questions for Habakkuk. And again, he tries to resolve
how this could be. How does this, how does this
work? And these questions come in verses
12 and 13. Are you not from everlasting,
O Lord, my God, my Holy One? We will not die. You, O Lord,
have appointed them to judge, and you, O Rock, have established
them to correct. Your eyes are too pure to prove
evil, and you cannot look on wickedness with favor. Why do
you look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why are
you silent when the wicked swallow up those who are righteous than
they? Kind of reminds me of Psalm 73.
If you remember Psalm 73, Asaph, He says, my feet almost slipped.
I was envious of the wicked, because their ways seemed to
prosper in whatever they did. And he goes through a list. And then he says, then I perceived
their end. And ended the psalm with, as
for me, the nearness of God is my good. I have made the Lord
my refuge. And that’s what will happen here,
but we’re not there yet. Habakkuk raises more questions.
See, though, that his faith is not wavering. He approaches God
as he knows him to be. But what he’s calling for in
the way of judgment just doesn’t make sense. He’s trying to figure
out how a holy God, a righteous God, could use a godless heathen
nation to bring judgment on God’s people. Habakkuk sees the punishment
to be worse than the sin. Habakkuk agrees that something
needs to happen, that God’s people need to be reigned in and corrected.
But why are you going to use people worse than us to do it?
Again, he’s trying to figure out how this can be. When I have
encountered those who are in a difficult season and say, I
just want to know why. We had a friend whose husband
died very early when people would say, oh, it’s too early, whatever that
phrase is. She said, it’s not out of the right time. It was in God’s timing. But she
just wanted to know why. He was in another state training
for a job, studying for a test. And he had a heart attack in
the apartment and died. And she said, John, I just want
to know why. When you can’t figure it out,
I tell them, just go back to what you know about God. We sang
it this morning. What can heal the troubled soul?
God is good. Go back to the basics. That he went to great lengths
to save you. It wasn’t your doing, but his.
All he does is for his glory and to grow you closer to him. He loves you and he will not
abandon you. But he will use different methods
to accomplish this. Isaiah sums up what Habakkuk
is finding out and what we have all come to hopefully have a
little grasp of. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts. Nor are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. In addition,
Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 tells us, trust in the Lord with all your
heart. Lean on what? Lean not on your
own understanding. Lean on God. Lean not on your
own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he will
direct your path. After Habakkuk raises these questions, he says in the first verse of
chapter two, I will stand on my guard post and station myself
on the rampart. I will keep watch to see what
he will speak to me and how I may reply when I am reproved. So he’s not going to literally
stand up on a rampart or in the watchtower. But he’s going to
wait. He’s going to wait for what God will answer him. And
the word for reprove, the N-I-V-E has totally different language.
The other words are rebuke. Remember, he’s He’s this is not
he’s not talking to the people here. He’s getting a vision.
So he’s waiting to hear what God will say so he can answer
the questions when he brings this message because if he brings
this message to the people they’re going to have the same questions
and they’re probably not going to be as nice about it as Habakkuk
is here. So he wants to know how am I
going to answer these people. Principle one, sovereignty, grown
faith, trust that God never stops working and his plan doesn’t
always make sense to us. Principle two, sovereign, grown
faith, trust that unrighteousness will not prosper. Look at chapter
two, verse two, where the Lord gives his answer to Habakkuk.
Remember, already hinted at this in chapter 1 verse 11 where he
says they will be held accountable. But he makes it here clear that
they will be judged. First he tells Habakkuk, here’s
my answer, write it down because this is going to occur in my
timing. Write it down so it’s clear what
I’m going to be and there be no understanding. Write it down
so that those who doubted will know. Verse two, then the Lord replied,
write down the revelation and make it plain on tablets so that
a herald may run with it. For the revelation awaits an
appointed time. It speaks of the end and will
not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it. It will certainly come and will
not delay. Please note here in verse three,
you may think it’s late, but wait for it. It will definitely
come, and it will not be late. It will be on my table, timetable,
not yours. And then comes the key verse
of the book, and one that is probably very familiar to you,
verse 4, see the enemy is puffed up. His desires are not upright,
but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness. In
Hebrew, it reads, righteous or justified one, by his faith shall
live. It’s a key verse in respect to
this book, but also in history. This verse is what got Martin
Luther changed and provided the impetus for the Reformation.
And although this verse was given in reference to the Chaldeans,
who God will use as his instrument to judge Judah. It pertains to
all the unrighteous who have ever been and ever will be. Observe
that he doesn’t specify the Chaldeans. He doesn’t say the Chaldeans
are puffed up. He says the enemy’s puffed up. His desires are not
upright. The unrighteous will trust in
themselves. They will trust in their power,
their wisdom, their wealth, all things worldly. They say, I can
do this. I don’t need God. They are arrogant
and greedy, and their greed is never satisfied. And it will
be their end. But the righteous, they will
put their faith in God. They will lean on God and trust
in God. And then God provides how the
unrighteous will fall. He provides five woes, or as
one said, five miseries, that will come their way. Again, these
are traits of the ungodly, the worldly, those who put their
faith in themselves. And we’ll look at them quickly.
The first woe is in verses six through eight. And in the middle,
let’s see, in the middle of verse six, it says, Woe to him who
increases what is not his. For how long? And makes himself
rich with loans. Will not your creditors rise
up suddenly, and those who collect you awaken? Indeed, you will
become plunder for them. Those who practice greed, who
get what they want by taking from others, they practice extortion. Looted and plundered are basically
the same thing. Plundered, it’s a steal goods
from a place or person, typically using force. in a time of war
or civil disorder. They took what wasn’t theirs.
They exercised usury on the nations, taxing them at exorbitant rates. Their wealth is not rightfully
theirs, and the rightful owners will one day awaken, rise up,
and come and get it. The second woe is in verses 9
through 11. Woe to him who gets evil gain
for his house, to put his nest on high, to be delivered from
the hand of calamity. That was verse 9. Verse 11 says,
Surely the stones will cry out from the wall, and the rafter
will answer it from the framework. These are those who think because
of their status or their wealth, they are safe from calamity. The imagery here is of a building,
your fortress high, and out of reach of your enemies. They used
their wealth to build a false sense of security. But like the
one who built his house upon the sand, it crumbled. Psalm 20 says, some trust in
horses, some trust in chariots. They trust in their might, but
we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. The third woe,
Comes in verses 12 to 14. I’ll just read verse 12. Woe to him who builds a city
with bloodshed and founds a town with violence. These are those
that treat others mercilessly. They will be judged for their
harsh treatment of their slaves. They were cruel taskmasters. They used the oppressed And those
of the nations they invaded to build their cities, often in
unsafe conditions where many lost their lives. They will be
judged for that. The fourth woe comes in verse
15. Woe to you who make your neighbors
drink, who mix in your venom even to make them drunk. So as
to look on their nakedness, you will be filled with disgrace
rather than honor. Now you yourselves drink and
expose your own nakedness. The cup in the Lord’s right hand
will come around to you and utter disgrace will come upon your
glory. These are those who practice
immorality and debauchery. They will be judged for their
exploitation of others. In scripture, when it talks about
one’s nakedness, it has a meaning of being humiliated or disgraced. They drug their victims to take
advantage of them. The fifth woe comes in verse
19. Woe to him who says to a piece
of wood, awake, to a mute stone, arise. And that is your teacher? Behold, it is overlaid with gold
and silver, and there is no breath in it inside. They’re idolatry. Woe to them who trust in their
idols, who put their faith in inanimate object that cannot
speak or hear. There are some portions of scripture
I just, I mean, that you just actually laugh at, because it
talks about creating idols and it takes You take part of the
wood and you put it in the fire to warm yourself or to help bake
bread or whatever. And then the other, you bow down
and worship to it. And it’s just kind of, can’t
you just start laughing at that? The futility of that? I mean, I’ve cut wood before.
In Simi Valley, we, I don’t know, we had a fireplace, so I’d like
to go out and get wood and cut it. And they cut some trees down
along the street. And I would go under the cover
of darkness and pick up these huge logs. And I’d drive in Carolyn’s
van, and we’d be driving like this down the road. And I’d take
them out, and then the neighbors would call me Paul Bunyan because
I just love to go out and chop wood. And I never thought of
cutting one in half and say, OK, we’ll put this in the fire.
Here, honey, decorate this so we can worship it. It’s just
ridiculous, the thought. And then, in verse 20, comes
the great contrast. Following the last woe, and to
provide that contrast, God says, but the Lord is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before
him. Whereas their gods are a piece
of wood and have half of which is thrown into the fire, to warm
in the other fashion into a God. God who is omniscient, who knows
all. God who is omnipresent and is everywhere, and omnipotent,
all powerful. The God who created the world
out of nothing, who spoke the world into existence, is in heaven. And he sees all, he hears our
prayers, and he is in control. This obviously reminds me of
Elijah, When he challenged the prophets of Baal, Elijah mocked
them, because they were calling out for their god to come and
bring fire down onto their altar. And Elijah said, may perhaps
he is sleeping. Yell louder. Nothing. Yet Elijah filled his
with water, poured water all over it. And God sent down fire
and consumed it and theirs. The chapter begins in chapter
3 with Habakkuk no longer asking questions, but providing the proper response
to God’s answer. And that is one of worship. It begins with a prayer and a
call for mercy. Lord, I have heard the report
about you, and I fear. Lord, revive your work in the
midst of years. In the midst of years, make it
known. In wrath, remember mercy. It’s one of those verses you
are probably familiar with, but maybe didn’t know was in here.
The NIV says, I stand in awe. Other versions use the word afraid. instead of fear. From what I
have studied, Habakkuk, who knows the effects and calamities that
war will bring about, and although it is in God’s plans, he trembles
with fear. We all, we’ve all experienced
fear, being in a bad area late at night, serious illnesses,
some fear flying. Whatever it is, we all experience
times of fear. He knows what God is planning.
And although it is God’s doing, he’s experienced fear. He knows the pain and destruction
war can and will bring. It’s possible, I’m not saying
anything about anybody, but it’s possible that some here or some
in our congregation could remember times of war. I know when I was
in high school, on Fridays, they would, in California, they would,
Friday at 10 o’clock, they would sound the air raid signal. And you knew what it was. But
what would happen if it went off now? Would we experience
fear? Because we don’t know what’s
coming. Habakkuk has resigned to what God is going to do. in
his sovereignty. So we asked God to exercise another
is another of his attributes and that of mercy. Isaiah 54
7 says for a brief moment I forsook you but with great compassion
I will gather you. Habakkuk is pleading with God
for his compassion in the midst of his judgment. Please don’t
completely decimate us. Mercy. Isn’t that the gospel
message that in God’s judgment of sin, God shows mercy? Providing Jesus Christ to pay
for our sins, be forgiven and have peace with God. There’s another act that God
displayed that many who hear the message from missionaries
says doesn’t make sense. There’s a video called the insanity
of God, and it’s not saying anything that God is insane or anything
like that. It’s just the reaction that missionaries get when they
go to these other countries, right, third world countries
and all, and they give the gospel message, and they say, that is
insanity that one would give his only son to die and help
others. That’s the message of the cross.
Doesn’t necessarily make sense, but it was the only way that
it could happen. So Habakkuk recalls God’s acting
on Israel’s behalf in verses 3 through 15. He recalls God’s
power. and how he’s acted on behalf
of Israel in the past and said, please do that again. Principle one, sovereignty, grown
faith, trust that God never stops working and his plan doesn’t
always make sense to us. Sovereignty, principle two, sovereignty,
grown faith, trust that the unrighteous will not prosper. Principle three,
Sovereignty-grown faith is not dependent upon circumstances. Our praise of God should never
be dependent upon circumstances. Job knew this. We sang about
it this morning. Naked I came out of my mother’s
womb, and naked I shall return. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. We see it in verse 16, 16 through
19. I heard, and Larry mentioned
this before, I heard and my inward parts trembled. At the sound,
my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones, and in
my place I tremble, because I must wait patiently, quietly for the
day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us.
Though the fig tree should not blossom, and there be no fruit
on the vines, though the yield of the olives should fail, and
the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from
the fold, and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult
in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of
my salvation. The Lord God is my strength,
and he has made my feet like hinds feet, and makes me walk
on high places. Again, he mentions fear. Fear at what’s coming. And you
know what’s coming. Have you ever had something you really didn’t
want to do? Something that was not going to be pleasant, and
it’s a few days in the future, and those few days leading up
to that are just misery. The anticipation, the waiting.
Waiting for something that you don’t want to happen. Well, he’s got war coming. He’s
got judgment coming. And he’s waiting for it. But then he expresses his unequivocal
commitment to the Lord, the God of his and our salvation. The circumstances haven’t gotten
any better. In fact, they could be slightly
worse, because now he’s just waiting for it to happen. The
conditions he mentions are not just comforts that he would be
losing or the people would be losing. These are essentials
that are no longer staples of everyday life that are no longer
available. In this, an agricultural economy,
it would be devastating for the crops and herds to be decimated. These are also the results of
war. The land has been ravaged. There are no supplies. Food is
scarce. His rejoicing is not in the circumstances,
but in his sovereign God. What would make you? What could
we say today? Gaskets up to $89 a gallon. I
have to wear a mask every time I go into a store. Maybe there’s
no food. Shelves are scarce. But yet,
I will praise him. And these are things that are
not close to what Habakkuk is experiencing. This also reminds me of lamentations.
Jeremiah had witnessed all these things that God says what’s going
to happen. He’s witnessed them now. He’s
in Judah, and he has seen some horrible sights. Three lamentations,
one and two, and you can see what he’s talking about. And
in the middle of verse, chapter three, verse 20, after he describes
horrific events, He says, surely my soul remembers and is bowed
down within me. This I recall to mind, therefore
I have hope. The Lord’s loving kindness indeed
never cease, for his compassions never fail. They are new every
morning. Great is your faithfulness. The
Lord is my portion, says my soul, therefore I have hope in him. One writer said, the book of
Habakkuk begins with a question mark and ends with an exclamation
point. So how do we apply this? We’ve
been looking at this exchange between Habakkuk and God, and
this is a national issue. It’s a huge one. This is a nation
of the people of God who are going to be judged. But what
about us as individuals? How do we respond to God’s sovereignty
in our lives? Does his sovereignty work in
the same way? And my answer would be, yeah,
it does. And if you believe scripture,
I would take you to Romans 8 28 to a verse that is often used
in the wrong context. But here it is talking about
God’s sovereignty in the midst of trials and suffering, and
it fits perfectly. And we know We know that God
causes all things to work together for good to those who love God,
to those who are called according to his purpose. In Romans 8,
verse 18, Paul is talking about suffering. And we know how many
of the things Paul had to deal with. And he writes how those
things are not even remotely comparable to what awaits the
follower of Christ when our bodies are resurrected and we have our
glorified bodies and we will be like Christ. He uses the events
in our lives for His glory and to grow our faith. We can see
this in verse Peter, verse Peter 1, starting in verse 3. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy
has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance,
which is imperishable, and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved
in heaven for you who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this, you
greatly rejoice, even though now, for a little while, if necessary,
you have been distressed by various trials. So that the proof of
your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable,
even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise
and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And though you
have not seen him, you love him. And although you do not see him
now, but believe in him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible
and full of glory. obtaining as the outcome of your
faith the salvation of your souls. What both are saying is that
there will be difficult times, but going through them is no
comparison to what is coming eternally for the believer. It
also says that as you go through them, God will be there to help
you, sustain you, support you, and protect you. And the purpose,
so that your faith, being more precious than gold, which is
perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result
in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
So he uses events for his glory to increase our faith, grow us
closer to him. And lastly, he uses events in
our lives to chastise us for the purpose of getting us back
on the path to him. In your bulletin, I put up quote
or passage by C.S. Lewis that I saw on Friday. And
I thought, wow, this fits really, really well. It says, I am progressing,
and I gave it to you because it’s a long one. And when I read
it, you probably wouldn’t get the whole thing, but now you
will have it with you. I am progressing along the path
of life in my ordinary, contented condition, when suddenly a stab
of pain threatens serious disease, or a newspaper headline threatens
us all with destruction. At first, I am overwhelmed, and
my little happinesses look like broken toys. And perhaps by God’s
grace, I succeed, and for a day or two, become a creature consciously
dependent upon God, and drawing its strength from the right sources.
But the moment the threat is withdrawn, my whole nature leaps
back to its toys. Thus, the terrible necessity
of tribulation is only too clear. God has had me for but 48 hours,
and then only by dint of taking everything else away from me.
Let him but sheathe the sword for a minute, and I behave like
a puppy when the hated bath is over. I shake myself as dry as
I can and race off to reacquire my comfortable dirtiness in the
nearest flower bed.” And that. is why tribulation cannot cease
until God sees us remain. It’s easy to have faith when
things are going well. It is when difficult times get
rough that faith gets tested. When events come about that directly
affect you, Your comfort, your security, your health, that’s
when faith gets tested. John McKay, who wrote a commentary
on some of the minor prophets, says, the triumph of faith is
to look at difficult situations from above, from the perspective
of heaven. Like Habakkuk, we see things
from below. God is above. We sing the song,
as long as you are glorified, When we sing it, do we mean it? I think it’s one of the easiest
omissions that a Christian can commit is to forget to thank
God when things are going well. We’re quick to run when a trial
comes, but are we equally as quick to thank him when things
are good? Shall I take from your hand your blessings, yet not
welcome any pain? Shall I thank you for days of
sunshine, yet grumble in days of rain? Shall I love you in
times of plenty, then leave you in days of drought? Shall I trust
when I reap a harvest, but when winter winds blow, then doubt? Earlier, I read a quote by Charles
Spurgeon that said, there is no attribute of God more comforting
to his children than the doctrine of divine sovereignty. But there
is more to what Spurgeon said. The sovereignty of God. is a
sweet pillow that on which you can lay your head at night. It
is a beautiful truth. Not only that God is in control
over all, but it’s also working everything out the good and the
bad for your good and his glory. The sweet doctrine is medicine
for the soul that you can take in any season of life. Be assured
God is working He has a plan. He doesn’t have to react to current
events. His purposes will be fulfilled
and they will not be late. For I consider the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory that is to be revealed to us.