In this sermon, Pastor Dave Capoccia concludes his examination of the book of Habakkuk and the three-part process of dealing with the question, “God, what are you doing?” Worship is the final step in the process, and, in Habakkuk 3:1-19, the ancient prophet provides a model prayer song of worship to show you how to express joy and trust in God amid ongoing trials. The model prayer song has three parts:
1. Petition: Yahweh, Bring Your Wondrous Works to Pass! (v. 2)
2. Meditation: Yahweh, You Are My Coming Divine Warrior! (vv. 3-15)
3. Exultation: Yahweh, You Are My Joy and Strength! (vv. 16-19)
Full Transcript:
Have you ever noticed how much a simple bit of misunderstanding can strain an otherwise close relationship? Perhaps your spouse once bought you a gift that you didn’t really want. You had a hard time hiding the disappointment from your face. Or alternatively, maybe your spouse didn’t buy you a gift when you were expecting one. In either situation, you can be tempted to think to yourself, Is this really what my spouse thinks of me? I thought he knew me. I thought she cared about me. After this fiasco, I’m not so sure.
But misunderstandings don’t just happen in marriage. They were surely a part of our very first relationship in life, our relationship with our parents. You kids and teenagers probably know what I’m talking about. You ask your mom or dad for something you’d really like, something you’re pretty sure that you need, but your parent says no. And you can’t figure out why. Why can’t I have that new video game? Why can’t I sleep over at my friend’s house? Why can’t I have dino nuggets for dinner every night? And you are tempted to conclude, it’s only because your parents are mean.
Even good friendships can be hurt by misunderstanding. I remember hearing a true story about two Christian women who experienced this. They hadn’t seen each other for a long time, and they had made plans to visit with one another at one of their friend’s churches. And because the first friend was busy with ministry during the service, they were going to talk after the service. The second friend had to wait until after the service to talk to her.
But when this second friend finally saw the first friend and gave a big wave to her from a distance, the first friend literally turned up her nose and ran the other direction. You can imagine how puzzled, how hurt, even how angry the second friend might have felt at such treatment.
Many times in life with people, we cannot understand why they’re treating us a certain way, and we suspect, we even believe, that there’s some sort of dark, some sinister, some cruel reality behind it all. But it is amazing how quickly one’s fear, one’s hurt, one’s anger can be dispelled with just a little bit of clarification.
In the case of the two friends I mentioned, when the second friend later confronted the first friend and said, “Hey, what happened? Why’d you do that?” well, the first friend clarified, “Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t even see you waving at me. I had a terrible nosebleed, and I had to run to the bathroom to deal with it.”
Parents often try to explain to their children that it is not because the parents do not love the children that they don’t give what the children want, but because they love them. “No, this wouldn’t be good for you.”
And as for spouses, it is a good practice, even as was mentioned in our Sweetheart Social question and answer time, it’s a good practice to give your spouse the benefit of the doubt. “Maybe I wasn’t being clear with him with what I really wanted, or maybe she simply forgot and made a mistake. I make mistakes too. It’s clear, though, from our time together that my spouse really does love me. I know my spouse has proven character, so there’s probably some explanation for this mixup.”
What’s true in a small way about human relationships is also true in a more profound way when it comes to our relationship with God. Now, unlike people, God doesn’t make mistakes, but God does do things in our lives that we don’t totally understand, like bringing us into painful, longterm trials.
We encounter a terribly difficult situation. We pray to God for deliverance, but He doesn’t provide it. We ask God for help, but the situation seems to get harder, not easier. And so we may begin to wonder, God, what did I do to anger you? Why do you hate me so? Have you forgotten about me? God, I don’t understand how what’s happening to me fits with who you are and what you’ve promised. God, what are you doing?
That is, of course, the question that we’ve been considering the last few weeks, the question that God’s people have wrestled with across the centuries. God shows us how to deal with that question in this little book of Habakkuk, and we’re going to be back there today. If you haven’t yet, please open your Bible to Habakkuk 3. Habakkuk’s at the end of the Old Testament, just a few books before Malachi.
As I said, we’ve been investigating this book, and what we’ve seen is that there is an explanation for the trials that we go through, even the things that don’t seem to change. God has an answer, a good answer, a perfect answer for what He’s doing and why. Therefore, our relationship with God need not suffer when we suffer under God’s painful providence. We don’t have to resent Him by some misunderstanding.
To review, the Book of Habakkuk lays out a three part process for dealing with the question, God, what are you doing? Each part basically corresponds to one of the chapters of the Book of Habakkuk. We saw the first part in chapter one, questioning. It is normal and right for us to bring to God our pain filled questions about what He is doing in our lives, but we are to bring those questions in humble faith and not prideful doubt.
Last time together in Habakkuk 2, we saw how our questioning is to lead to the second part of the process, and that is listening—questioning, listening. We are to recognize that God’s Word has the fundamental answers to our questions, and we are to wait in perseverant faith for the fulfillment of God’s good promises. You know that famous statement from chapter two:
“The righteous will live by his faith.”
Yet there is still one more part to dealing rightly with the question, God, what are you doing? And it should be the outcome to faith filled listening. We go from questioning to listening to worshiping. Worship is the ultimate—it’s ultimately where God leads the prophet Habakkuk, and via his example, it’s where God leads us when we don’t understand what God’s doing in our lives.
So today, we conclude our study of Habakkuk with God, “What Are You Doing? Part Three: Worshiping.”
Now, before we read and work through the beautiful text that is Habakkuk chapter three, just notice—glance at a few key details with me. If you just notice verse one, it says, “A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according to Shigionoth.” Verses three, nine, and 13, you may notice in your Bibles, they all feature the word Selah. And then in the last verse of this chapter, verse 19, it concludes with, “For the choir director, on my stringed instruments.”
What do these words and phrases show us? That this final chapter of Habakkuk was composed as a prayer song, a prayer song to be used in public worship. We don’t know exactly the meaning of the term Shigionoth. It might mean something like emotional song, or to be performed with excitement. We also don’t quite know the meaning of the word Selah. It could mean something like crescendo or pause or musical interlude. But what we do know is that these are musical terms. They also appear in the Psalms, and those too are prayer songs, or prayer chants, to be performed corporately.
So then, poignantly, the outcome of Habakkuk’s wrestling with God’s difficult providence is not changed circumstances but a changed perspective leading to genuine worship—and not just personal worship for Habakkuk, but together worship, even an invitation for all God’s people to rejoice in God amid trials.
We can summarize what’s going on in the chapter in this way: In Habakkuk 3:1–19, Habakkuk provides a model prayer song of worship to show you how to express joy and trust in God amid ongoing trials. This song divides into three main sections—petition, meditation, and exultation. And each of these ought to appear in our own prayerful worship of God, even in difficult days.
So let’s begin examining this song. We start with the first short section, a petition in verse 2. What is Habakkuk’s petition? First sermon point: Petition Yahweh—bring your wondrous works to pass.
Habakkuk 3:2:
Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear.
O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years,
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Notice here that Habakkuk begins his song and his petition with that special covenant name of God, Yahweh, the one who eternally is the faithful God of Israel, the one who has promised His intimate, faithful love to Israel. It is based on this gracious covenant relationship that Habakkuk appeals to God in petition.
And notice the explanatory line that comes next: “I have heard the report about you.” This is a good translation, for what God has declared to Habakkuk in the Book of Habakkuk in the first two chapters is not merely a report about what is going to happen in the world, what God is doing in the world. It actually is a revelation about God Himself—who He is. Of course, that connects with what He does, but it is a revelation about God. God has revealed in this book that He is the God who sees and cares. He is the God who judges and who rescues in righteous power.
Habakkuk’s reaction to this self revelation of God is therefore appropriate. You see there next, “I’ve heard the report about you and I fear.” Proverbs and the Psalms remind us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. A right regard and affection for who God really is, is the foundation of all blessing and peace. If you want to rightly worship and rejoice in Yahweh, you must fear Him. You must fear Him with holy fear.
Now Habakkuk’s fear leads to an intriguing request of Yahweh. Notice in the next line, “Revive your work in the midst of the years.” Or we could say, bring it to life; let it live. What does Habakkuk mean? Well, he clarifies in the following parallel line: “In the midst of the years make it known.”
At this point, God has shown Habakkuk that God has not been idle in Habakkuk’s days. God has been doing a mighty work the whole time, even though Habakkuk doesn’t see his situation changing. God says, I have been working. Yet His work, in Habakkuk’s view, is both unexpected and unseen. Furthermore, God has declared what He will do in the future, but that too is yet unseen for Habakkuk. It’s like God’s work sleeps or is dead; it’s waiting for life.
So Habakkuk appeals to God: Wake up your work. Bring it to life. Make it known. Let me see your mighty deeds in the midst of the years, or that is to say, in my days. Let me see, God, the very works that you have promised and secretly revealed will come. It’s not that Habakkuk won’t believe or be content unless he sees God’s works. Rather, for the sake of God vindicating His own faithfulness, for the sake of God preserving the lives of His people, for the sake of God’s glory being put on full display before the nations, Habakkuk prays, God, bring your wondrous works to pass now. I want to see it myself.
Moses prays similarly in the Psalm that we have from him, Psalm 90:16:
“Let your work appear to your servants and your majesty to their children.”
I’m also reminded of Simeon’s testimony in the New Testament when he saw the baby Jesus in Luke 2:29–30. He reported how blessed he felt to see with his own eyes the long awaited consolation of Israel. He says, “Now God, I can die in peace because you’ve let me see your salvation.”
What Simeon experiences, what Moses and Habakkuk hoped for and prayed for—Faithful Yahweh, let us see in our lifetimes Your glorious works come to pass. You have promised; let us see the fulfillment so that we may glorify You for it. We should be praying this petition too as part of our worshipful prayer to God. And we should even be praying specifically for what Habakkuk says at the end of verse 2: “In wrath, remember mercy.”
Now at this point, it’s worthwhile to remember how the attributes of God work. It’s not as if God in His essential being—in who He really is—is sometimes wrathful, sometimes merciful. No. Whatever God is, He is totally, one hundred percent of the time. He can never stop being all He is, all the time. And Scripture declares that God is both wrathful and merciful all the time.
So, as my theology professor at seminary used to say, we must integrate these attributes in our minds—connect them. God’s wrath is merciful, and God’s mercy is wrathful. You say, “wait, how do those fit together?” I don’t see how that can work. Well, there are at least two ways that this plays out.
One, in God mercifully restraining the fury of His discipline on His own people. When God has to chasten His own, it is an outpouring of wrath, so to speak, yet it is tempered by mercy.
But there’s another way. God also has His mercy and wrath connected in that He shows mercy to His own in the wrathful judgment of the wicked. God’s wrath is His mercy, depending on whether you’re God’s own or not.
And surely both of these ideas are part of Habakkuk’s petition to God here. It’s as if Habakkuk says in his short phrase, God, when you judge Judah for its sin, do not forget to be merciful. Do not let your wrath rage so hot that we are totally destroyed. And God, do not forget to judge Babylon for what they will do to Judah. Show mercy to us by perfectly recompensing our enemies for their evil.
God’s people have prayed this prayer—God, in wrath, remember mercy—through all the ages and will continue to do so. Think of how Abraham sought to intercede for Lot and Sodom. It’s basically the same prayer. Or think of how the martyrs in Revelation ask, “How long, O Lord, until you avenge our blood on the earth?” We are a people who pray for God’s merciful restraint in His chastening and for God’s merciful judgment on those who harm us and persist in evil.
And you know what’s great about this prayer? You know that God will answer it. God will fulfill it. And why? Because it’s who God is. God cannot help being wrathful and merciful—in wrath remembering mercy. In His agitation to execute His wrath, He will always remember compassion.
Now to that we might ask, “well, if so, then why pray about it?” Why pray as Habakkuk does for God to do and to be what God has already promised He will do and He will be? Isn’t that a waste of time, a waste of breath to pray that to God? Well, no.
First of all, because this is the pattern God gave us to pray. Second of all, because we should always pray according to what is holy and good. This is a good thing to desire and to express to God. And also third, because in a way that is in the end somewhat mysterious, God declares that He acts in response to the prayers of His people: You pray it, then I’ll do it. It’s like we have two realities side by side. God will never fail to be who He is—even wrathful and merciful—yet He will be wrathful and merciful in response to the prayers of His people.
Your prayers matter. God has given us the role of praying for what He’s already promised as part of the means of bringing those promises to pass. Not just in this area, but with so many other things that we pray. So far from using God’s promises as an excuse not to pray, you should be using God’s promises as an encouragement to pray, because you know God will answer. He will answer in the affirmative. Yes, I promise to do that. I will do it—even because you prayed for it. And it’s the same with evangelism, right? Or any other area of life where God’s sovereignty and our agency and responsibility come together.
So then, this is the first part of Habakkuk’s model prayer of worship, showing us how to express joy and trust in God amid ongoing trials. Let us petition God that He fulfill His promises and bring His wondrous works to pass.
Now the second part of Habakkuk’s model prayer is much longer—a meditation extending from verses 3 to 15. What do we see in these verses? What is it that Habakkuk chooses to think and even declare to God in worship?
Second sermon point: Meditation—Yahweh, you are my coming Divine Warrior.
Some have called Habakkuk 3:3–15 the most detailed theophany, or earthly appearance of God, in the Old Testament. But rather than giving a vision of when God once actually appeared on the earth or will one day appear on the earth, Habakkuk presents a collage of sorts of God’s acts in the past, the present, and the future. As we read through, you’ll see that there are references to Sinai and other ancient acts of God in this section. There are also references to what will shortly occur even in Habakkuk’s day with Babylon. And there are even references to what will occur in the last days of the earth, when the Lord returns.
So in a way, then, this meditation section from Habakkuk presents us here a timeless picture of who God is and why He is lovely. He is the powerful Divine Warrior who always arrives at the perfect time to rescue His people and to obliterate His enemies. Thinking on and declaring this essential picture of God should be part of our worship amid ongoing trials.
This meditation consists of a few subsections—first focusing on Yahweh’s arrival and then on Yahweh’s attack. Let’s look at the first subsection of verses 3 to 7. Habakkuk 3:3–7:
God comes from Teman,
And the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His splendor covers the heavens,
And the earth is full of His praise.
His radiance is like the sunlight;
He has rays flashing from His hand,
And there is the hiding of His power.
Before Him goes pestilence,
And plague comes after Him.
He stood and surveyed the earth;
He looked and startled the nations.
Yes, the perpetual mountains were shattered,
The ancient hills collapsed.
His ways are everlasting.
I saw the tents of Cushan under distress,
The tent curtains of the land of Midian were trembling.
Notice in verse 3 from where God comes in this vision. Teman is another name for the land of Edom, southeast of Israel, whereas Mount Paran was in the wilderness of Paran, south and southwest of Judah. So it’s like God retraces the route of the Exodus, going through the wilderness around Edom, just as Israel entered the Promised Land. God retraces the route as He comes again to deliver His people.
Notice also the light imagery that is associated with God’s coming here. His splendor lights up the heavens. His praise—that is, His praiseworthiness in His person and in His deeds— it lights up the earth. He’s exuding radiance like sunlight. Rays, or literally horns, of light flash from His hand. Yet the end of verse 4 clarifies that His powerful display, this amazing display of light, is actually muted, because there in His hand, it says, is the hiding of His power. No one sees the full power, the dazzling power, of God. He hides it in His clenched fist. Yet what is displayed shines up the whole world in majesty.
In verse 5, we see a reference, surely a reference to the Exodus in the mention of plagues. Habakkuk says that where God walks, pestilence goes before Him, and burning plague is left in His wake. When God, the Divine Warrior, comes in His wrath, His very steps wither life around Him. Indeed, verse 6 records the terror of the world itself at God’s mere surveying glance. Whole nations are startled—literally made to jump. Mountains, the greatest symbols of permanence and strength on earth, are pulverized when He looks at them. The ancient hills, or we could translate that the everlasting hills, they crumble before Him. Indeed, note the contrast: while the greatest rocks and land masses on the earth seem everlasting, only Yahweh truly is everlasting, and so are all His ways.
Verse 7 then ends with a mention of the trembling tents of Cushan and Midian. And these could be references to two nomadic tribes who lived in the Sinai area—that would again be an allusion to the Exodus. But more likely, this is a reference to two tribes from the Book of Judges, two groups of people who acted as purging judgments on Israel when Israel went astray from God, much like Babylon is about to act. Judges 3:8 says that God sold Israel into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim, king of Mesopotamia, for eight years. Judges 6:1 records that Yahweh also gave wicked Israel into the hands of Midian for seven years. God did judge Israel through these agents, but then He remembered Israel and His compassion, and He judged the agents of judgment—just as God declares He will do with Babylon.
Now if the world and the nations tremble at the mere appearance of the Divine Warrior and at the scrutiny of His glance, what about when Yahweh actually strikes in holy vengeance? This is what the rest of the verses in this section describe, but we’ll split it because it first depicts God’s wrath against the land and second against the land’s people. And you’ll notice there’s a shift here from the third person to the second person. Habakkuk now addresses God directly with “you” and “your”.
Look now at verses 8 to 11. Habakkuk 3:8–11:
Did the Lord rage against the rivers,
Or was Your anger against the rivers,
Or was Your wrath against the sea,
That You rode on Your horses,
On Your chariots of salvation?
Your bow was made bare,
The rods of chastisement were sworn.
You cleaved the earth with rivers.
The mountains saw You and quaked;
The downpour of waters swept by.
The deep uttered forth its voice,
It lifted high its hands.
Sun and moon stood in their places;
They went away at the light of Your arrows,
At the radiance of Your gleaming spear.
Notice how this section begins with a series of rhetorical questions, asking if Yahweh God is making war with the water and ground itself, because it sure looks like it. The universe itself cannot handle the unleashed weaponry and the war machines of God. The end of verse 8 describes God riding on His horses, even His chariots of salvation. Now it’s not as if God needs creatures or war machines to wage war, but these are pictures of the swiftness and the power of God’s attack. Notice it is not merely for judgment that God is attacking here. No, this is that mercy in wrath. These are chariots of salvation. God is invading earth to save His people.
In verse 9, we see God unwraps both His bow and His rods of chastisement. These rods are perhaps spears. They are, notice, associated with words, even oaths. This assault by the Divine Warrior, this is part of God keeping His oaths and fulfilling His Word, just like God declared earlier in Habakkuk. God will keep His Word. That’s what He’s doing here. God then unleashes His weapons, and He cleaves, or He cuts, whole rivers into the land.
In verse 10, we see that the mountains again shake—they are writhing with terror. Rainstorms pour from the sky. The deep, or the ancient ocean, begins its rising roar, even lifting up its hands, its watery hands, high. And no doubt there is an allusion here to the great flood judgment and even the crossing of the Red Sea, where the water rose and then fell on the pursuing Egyptians.
In verse 11, we hear the sun and moon stand in their places, just as they did when Joshua fought against the Canaanites at Gibeon In Joshua 10. But notice here there is a difference: the sun and moon do not merely stop, but they go away—they hide. Why? Because there’s a new light on the earth. There’s a new light on the scene that makes these heavenly lights unnecessary, even afraid to continue their normal function. What’s the new light? Habakkuk says it’s the light of Yahweh’s arrows and the radiance of God’s gleaming spear flashing through the air. Sometimes the Bible likens lightning bolts to the arrows of God, and perhaps that’s the idea here. The sky is just filled with bolts of lightning. If so, then this is a truly monumental storm. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a storm like that, where it just seems like it’s bright the whole time because there’s so much lightning. Imagine that, but ten fold. The lightning is so prevalent, the brightness is so complete, that the ground, the water, even the heavenly bodies, they cannot stand still. It’s so bright, so powerful.
But Habakkuk asks, Is God’s wrath indeed against the inanimate universe? Well, no, not ultimately. It is instead against the proud, the rebellious, the wicked, the sinful ones who inhabit that universe and who oppress His people.
So now we look at the last subsection here, the final part of Yahweh’s attack in verses 12 to 15. Habakkuk 3:12–15:
In indignation You marched through the earth;
In anger You trampled the nations.
You went forth for the salvation of Your people,
For the salvation of Your anointed.
You struck the head of the house of the evil
To lay him open from thigh to neck.
You pierced with his own spears
The head of his throngs.
They stormed in to scatter us;
Their exultation was like those
Who devour the oppressed in secret.
You trampled on the sea with Your horses,
On the surge of many waters.
Notice how verse 12 quickly clarifies for us that God does not merely trot across the earth—the ground itself—but He tramples. He literally threshes. He stomps to pieces whole nations of wicked men and women. This is God’s indignation on display. This is His anger on behalf of His people. According to verse 13, God is going forth to save His people, and save them He will. The wicked will no longer oppress, for the Divine Warrior is here. He comes to help. He will rescue.
Now you see the phrase, “for the salvation of Your anointed,” it says. It goes with the salvation of Your people, for the salvation of Your anointed. The Hebrew word for anointed here is Mashiach, from which we get Messiah—Christ in Greek. Though “for” at the beginning of that phrase is an allowable translation for that beginning preposition, the Hebrew word more literally means with. So we could take the line this way: “You went forth for the salvation of Your people with the salvation of Your anointed.”
Now understand, there are multiple kinds of anointed ones, or messiahs, in the Bible. Priests were anointed; prophets were anointed; kings were anointed. They’re all different kinds of messiahs in that way. Nevertheless, God does often use the term anointed one—Messiah—to refer to a specially raised up savior for His people. Actually, King Cyrus is called an anointed one, or messiah, in Isaiah 45:1. This Persian king would ultimately overthrow Babylon and initiate the return of God’s people to Judah. God was raising him up as a saving anointed one.
Certainly, we are familiar with other times in Israel’s history where God raised up savior deliverers—even in the Judges period. He was doing it again and again, raising up saviors to deliverer His people from the very judgement that God sent to chasten His people. It’s God’s habit to raise up special savior-deliverers, even anointed ones. And of course, the ultimate Messiah, the ultimate Savior Deliverer was, is, and will be the Lord Jesus Christ—King of the Jews, Hope of the Gentiles—who came to deliver His people from the tyranny of sin, death, and Satan, who came to rescue His people from the overwhelming anger of God against sin, the very anger we see displayed in this passage. He came, He accomplished that mission for all those who repent and believe in Him.
But He is also the one who is coming to, in one sense, complete that salvation. He will save His people once and for all when He finally deals with sin and the wicked by warring against them, destroying them, and establishing His Kingdom on the earth. God indeed, even through His Messiah, has gone, is going, and will go forth for the salvation of His people. And this is the cause for our great joy, is it not? That’s our Savior Messiah. It is the cause for our great hope in the midst of ongoing trials.
But what about for the wicked? What about for those who have not repented and believed in the Lord Jesus? Well, the rest of verse 13 says God strikes and thoroughly exposes even the leaders of the wicked. So what will the followers do? The leaders are subdued and made helpless before God, the Divine Warrior. God even pierces through the leaders of their throngs—the wicked throngs—with their own weapons. All these evil leaders who, Habakkuk reports, exulted in scattering the people of God, rejoiced in believing that they would get away with devouring God’s people in secret, never expecting to be so quickly and so completely dealt with by the raging Divine Warrior.
I like what one commentator said: May Christians never fear an unstoppable or unchecked evil power. They say nobody can oppose them, nobody can stand against them. Well, remember, at any moment, God can turn that evil power against itself to destroy itself. He has done so many times in the Scriptures. Armies will turn their weapons against one another because Yahweh ordained it; Yahweh commanded it. This has happened, and this will happen even in the last battle, the Battle of Armageddon. Zechariah 14 indicates that besides making those wicked soldiers rot in their places, God will also turn them against one another. We can be assured the wicked will not escape judgment. And sometimes that judgment comes by their own hands.
Verse 15 concludes this section with one final image of God trampling the sea, even the surging waters. This picture of trampled water parallels God’s trampling of the wicked nations, of wicked peoples. Just as God powerfully tramples down the raging, chaotic waters of the sea, so God in His holy wrath will trample down all unrepentant sinners. This is a glorious image of God as the Divine Warrior, but it is also a fearful one, is it not? You can understand the statements we hear in other parts of the Scripture: It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. That is, to remain His enemy. God will bring salvation for His own, and He will bring fury against His enemies.
So now in Habakkuk’s prayer song, he has petitioned God to bring God’s mighty works to pass, and he has meditated on God as the Divine Warrior who has come and will come to save His people. This is already a glorious song, a song of worship. But the true high point comes in the last section. The final piece of Habakkuk’s model prayer is in verses 16 to 19—exultation. And what will Habakkuk exult in? And what must we exult in and rejoice in, even as trials continue and sufferings prolong? Here’s the third point of the sermon: Exultation—Yahweh, You are my joy and strength.
Let’s start with just verse 16. Look there:
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 quietly for the day of distress,
For the people to arise who will invade us.
There sure has been a lot of quaking and trembling in this chapter, hasn’t there? Well, now it’s Habakkuk’s turn. He gives four descriptions here of how overcome he is in his body in response to the revelation he has received from and about God.
At this point, Habakkuk has seen three visions having to do with God’s judgment: a judgment against Judah, a judgment against Babylon and all the proud evildoers, even the judgment that comes when Yahweh comes as the Divine Warrior. There is clearly hope and vindication promised in these visions of judgment, but there is also dread. There is dread in God’s coming judgment. Habakkuk is affected. Notice in verse 16, Habakkuk says that he shakes because he must wait for the day of distress.
Now, there is some question here as to which day exactly Habakkuk is talking about, because it could be, as the New American Standard has it, that the day of distress is the same as the day in which the Babylonians come to invade Judah – you have the little comma that indicates that in the New American Standard). But it could alternatively be, and this is the way it’s translated in the ESV and the NIV, that the day of distress is the one that will come upon the invaders: I’m waiting for the day of distress to come upon those who will soon attack us, namely Babylon and other proud, wicked persons. The Hebrew could be translated either way, so we have to rely on the context to determine which is the right sense. But the local context could support either translation. What do we do? Well, the wider context for the rest of the book makes me lean toward the ESV/NIV translation, that he’s waiting for the day of distress to come upon the invaders. Because what does Habbakkuk chapter 2 exhort? God says, though it tarries, wait for it. Though it delays, it wiill come to pass. The thing that you are hoping for, it will come. What’s that? When I finally deal rightly with the wicked, even Babylon. Until then, the just, the justified, will live by their perseverant faith. So I lean towards the day of distress is the one coming on Babylon.
But either way, Habakkuk does have to face a fair amount of darkness before the dawn. There must be judgment before there is deliverance. And even though God is remembering mercy in wrath, it is still a terrifying judgment. Habakkuk feels overwhelmed, as we would be too if we were in his shoes. But then he expresses something extremely amazing. Look at the first part of this next statement he gives in verse 17:
Though the fig tree should not blossom
And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive 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,
Now, I know that’s not a full sentence, but let me stop there. In this verse, in the beginning part of this second to last statement from Habakkuk, Habakkuk imagines the worst case scenario for himself and for his people in Judah. What’s that? Whole economic devastation, a total loss of all that is necessary for him and the people of Judah to live normal life, or even survive.
Now the Babylonian invasion might not be that bad, but then again, it could be. Habakkuk imagines, first in the first three descriptions, the loss of all luxuries—no more figs (a fruit delicacy), no more grapes (which are necessary for making wine), no more olives (necessary for making oil, which functioned as fuel and food and even cosmetics). Life will be much harder without these things, but you could survive.
But what if those are all gone? And what if, in the second three descriptions, we even lose all of our real necessities. Crops fail, our main source of food is gone. Flocks are gone, our other source of food and of clothing; and cattle, the last source of food, all gone, if they’re all gone, if they all fail, if they’ve all been taken and destroyed? Habakkuk envisions, in this part of the prayer, a situation in which everything he wants, everything he needs for life, is gone. It’s basically, to use a modern kind of setting, a post-apocalyptic world. What if I go into a post-apocalyptic world? What if we go into a post-apocalyptic world? I mean, imagine this, an equivalent in our own time – impending nuclear attack or EMP bomb that results in the loss of everything that we enjoy here in America, and even everything we need to survive. Even when such a horrible, terrible, painful situation might arise, Habakkuk says, still, I will respond in a certain way. What’s that way? Let’s look at the end of the statement in verse 18:
Yet I will exult in Yahweh,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.
This is a striking statement that can only come from a heart that is truly filled with faith. I will exult, Habakkuk says, or we could translate it, I will triumph. I will rejoice, Habakkuk says, or we could translate that, I will shout in exultation. And these two phrases both feature a special verb form in Hebrew—it’s called a cohortative of resolve, which emphasizes the commitment and determination of the speaker: I will rejoice. I will exult.
Wait, Habakkuk, you will have lost everything. In what will you have left to rejoice and exult? Only the greatest and most enjoyable thing, or rather, the greatest and most enjoyable Person—Yahweh Himself, the God of my salvation, Habakkuk says, the God who is personally committed to saving and sustaining me. But He hasn’t saved you, Habakkuk; He’s brought you straight into overwhelming suffering. I know, Habakkuk would say, and I don’t totally understand it, but He will save me in the end because that’s who He is, and that’s why I love Him.
Brethren, this is a profound and scarcely believed truth, even by many Christians. But even if we lose everything in this world—even if our lives are filled with wave after wave of painful providence from God—we can rejoice. We can shout in exultation. Why? Because we have God. We have the Lord Jesus Christ, who loves us and gave Himself up for us, and we will never lose Him. God is the fountain of all joy. He is the Giver of all good gifts. He is life in Himself. His character is lovely and perfect, and we have Him. He gave Himself to us as an undeserved gift and as an unlosable gift.
You know, we often don’t realize what a bottomless treasure we have in the Lord until He takes away our other treasures. It’s only when the Lord lovingly afflicts us, when He graciously crushes us with suffering, that we finally see and say, Oh, God is where true life is. Joy is in God and not my circumstances. Life is knowing Him, walking with Him, waiting for my reward with Him.
Brothers and sisters, when God brings us to the place where we have that realization, we not only find joy there, but you know what else we find? Strength—strength to endure whatever grief, burden, or affliction God has set upon us. Because whose strength have we found at that point? Who’s now the one upholding our spirits? God Himself. Just as Habakkuk also says to close his song in verse 19:
The Lord God is my strength,
And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet,
And makes me walk on my high places.
Habakkuk declares that the Lord God—Yahweh Adonai—is Habakkuk’s strength. Just God Himself, His power, and His glorious character is what enables Habakkuk to go on in faith and joy and obedience, so much so that Habakkuk memorably describes what walking with God in this way is like. He says it’s like God has made Habakkuk’s feet like the agile feet of a female deer, even like those animals that God especially designed to leap up cliff sides and walk securely, even on precipitous heights.
Habakkuk is telling us, I can face danger and death; I can skip like these amazing animals that God has made, because God Himself is the one leading me. He’s causing me to walk on high places made especially for me. What’s so special about a high place? Well, it’s a place of honor; it’s a place of security. We heard earlier in Habakkuk that the wicked try to secure such high places for themselves by violence, but God says, No, I will give it to My own.
Habakkuk declares, God is the one who makes me fleetfooted; He leads me to safety and rest. I may indeed lose everything that I love and value in this world, but if I have God, I still will have everything. I can face the loss of everything else. Yahweh Adonai is my strength. God is my joy and my cause for exultation.
That is a remarkable testimony, isn’t it? But it wasn’t just true for Habakkuk. It is really the heart cry of every believer. After all, Habakkuk includes this sentiment in his model prayer song. We can’t say, Oh, well, Habakkuk was just a really holy guy. That’s different than what I feel. No, he says, This is what we should all be able to testify. This is what we should all be able to say to God in worship, by faith. Yes, Yahweh Adonai is my strength. Jesus Christ is my joy. Indeed, if I lose everything in this world, even if I don’t understand all that God is doing, I will yet rejoice in my God who is my sweet portion.
Isn’t that what the psalmist says? Isn’t that what Hebrews 11 is all about? Isn’t this the testimony of all the apostles—especially Paul in his letters? To live is Christ; to die is gain. I count all things loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I can do all things—I can endure all difficult situations—through Him, through Christ, who gives me strength.
This is what it means to be a believer. And brethren, if this is true even in the worst case scenario, is it not true also in our lives right now? What is the trial that you’re facing right now? What long term trial has God mysteriously but graciously led you into? Is it some painful, long term health condition? Is it continual mistreatment by some people in your family or at work? Is it that longing for something you don’t have and you just keep asking God for it? God, I need a job. God, I’d like to be married. God, I want to have children. God, I’m looking for a house. God, I need legal protection. God hasn’t given it to you. I don’t know what your particular trial is, but whatever you’re facing, do you see the truth of what Habakkuk declares here? That God, Jesus, is where your true joy, your true strength, your true life is. Your situation might not change. You might not ever get the thing that you desire. But you know what? That’s okay, because you have God. He’ll give it to you at the right time if it’s good. But even if He determines it’s not good, you have all that you need already. Your life is in God.
My friends, this is where Habakkuk brings us. This is ultimately where God brings us when we ask the question, God, what are you doing? Ultimately, we are led to the place where we sing in joyful worship to God, because He Himself is our sustaining treasure. And we don’t just sing this alone. We sing this together. That’s the design. We sing this together. Can you sing that? Are you part of that singing in your heart? Is this already what your heart sings? Can your soul testify with Habakkuk here, even through pain, confusion, and tears, Yes, Yahweh is my strength and my joy?
If not, it’s time to join the chorus. Anything else you’re holding on to is going to disappoint you, and worse, it’s probably an idol which the Lord will judge you for. So give it up. Don’t be like the wicked, who will be trampled down by the Divine Warrior when He comes. Let the Divine Warrior be on your side. Give up yourself. Give up the passing treasures of this world. Give up your pride. Give up your sin and say, I want God instead. I want Christ as my treasure. Take Him by faith. Repent of all that dishonors Him. Rejoice and worship Him.
To be sure, God will continue to lead us through His difficult providence in this life. But if we follow the pattern set before us by God in the Book of Habakkuk—questioning, listening, worshiping—not only can we make it through, but we can sing with joy to God. And wouldn’t that be a powerful testimony to a watching world?
Let’s pray. God, we do confess, we do testify that You are our joy. Lord God, sometimes we forget that. Sometimes we don’t even believe that. And then when You bring us into trials, we get so upset, we get so wrapped in despair, we get so anxious, we don’t know what to do. Lord, You are gracious in all Your works, but even, Lord, gracious to give us this Book of Habakkuk—to speak to Your prophet many years ago and have him write this down so we might be instructed and encouraged by it today. Lord Jesus, make it so that we don’t have a divided heart. May we indeed be wholly given over to You so that we can truly say, just as Habakkuk does, Lord, that You are our treasure. Lead us, God, in Your perfect providence, and whatever You’ve decided, we will trust You and live by faith. In Jesus’ name, amen.