Great Prayers No.6 Habakkuk's Prayer - praise against the odds

I will ever love and trust Him in His presence daily with men. I surrender all, I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.

All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. The scriptures. We'll also collect your glasses at this time.

But we will stand and sing, Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me. Number 64 in Mission Praise. Let's stand up.

Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me. And of this break the bread which I have seen. Be of the sacred grace I see before.

For my spirit comes for thee from heaven afar. Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me. Thy holy word, Lord, to my savior give.

Give me to eat and live with thee above. Teach me to love thy truth for love of God. Send thy spirit, Lord, now unto me.

That he may touch my heart and make me sweet. Show me the truth of spirit within thy word. And in thy book may live my Savior.

Break thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me. And of this break the bread which I have seen. And shall no bondage cease for evermore.

And I shall find my peace, my all in all. And I shall find my peace, my all in all. Father, we have come so far as a nation.

And as the sons of Adam. And yet the faults of the past do not seem to be rectified by the activities of the present. And as far as the future is concerned at the human level we have little hope.

But we thank you that the dimension at which we operate within the Christian church is not the human level. There is a wider framework. There is the fact of God and his sovereignty.

There is the conviction that history is his story. God moved in the beginning. And we believe that you will move mightily at the end.

Remind this nation of its indebtedness to you. Remind Europe of its obligations to you. Remind the so-called Christian West that we shall not be so foolish as to throw away our anchorage.

Bless this nation not because it deserves it. Bless the United States of America we bring to you their reaffirmed president. And ask your hand to be upon this man.

Restrain, control, correct and inspire. We pray too for Boris Yeltsin. For his recovery.

And for an insight into the purposes of God and an acquiescence to the fact that God is. That he might recall the baptismal vows taken on his behalf by proxy by his mother. Remember Lord all the peoples of the world.

The smaller nations as well as the larger. Those who are in plenty and those who are in poverty. Remember this church.

Speak to us through your holy and inspired word. And this we pray. Thanking you for our Lord Jesus.

For his death and mighty resurrection. Amen. Do be seated.

Will you turn your Bibles to the prophecy of Habakkuk. I love the prophecy of Habakkuk because it has what is perhaps my favorite verse of scripture contained within it. It speaks about the coming of the Lord.

That one day the whole earth shall be filled with God's glory. As the waters cover the sea. The book of Habakkuk is a minor prophet.

But he has a major message. And his message is no more relevant to the Old Testament Hebrews in the day of his preaching. As by divine inspiration it is relevant and necessary for us today.

We have in these series from the Bible on the theme of prayer. Touched on a number of important subjects. And on a Sunday evening also in a complimentary fashion we have dealt with some of the peculiar problems that confront thinking people.

Where is God when it hurts? Well here is a question that crops up in the prophecy of Habakkuk. Why doesn't God act more quickly than he does? Why is God sometimes silent? You need particularly to concentrate on the address this morning. Not least of all because there could be a bit more opposition from our musicians outside.

But also because on Wednesday week we will be using this as the passage for our Bible discussion groups. Our pastoral groups as they meet around the town. Normally it would have been the subject matter of next week.

But as my friend George Verver who can never be constrained to one particular theme if you ask him. Because he will be preaching next Sunday and I am looking forward to George being here. We thought it would be best to make our passage for the study on Wednesday week from the prophecy of Habakkuk.

That reminds me to say that leaders and those of you who perhaps have a particular interest in what I shall share this morning. Who would like to have an outline of this address. They are available by the welcome desk as you leave the service.

Where is God when things in a nation are so serious. It really requires God to immediately involve himself. Well that was Habakkuk's difficulty.

Let's go to the third chapter where Habakkuk is moving towards a resolution of his problem. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigionos. Lord I have heard of your fame I stand in awe of your deeds oh Lord.

Renew them in our day in our time make them known. In wrath remember mercy. There is his prayer.

Here now is his reflection. God historically came from Timon. The holy one from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens and his praise filled the earth. His splendor was like the sunrise. Rays flashed from his hand where his power was hidden.

Plague went before him. Pestilence followed his steps. He stood and shook the earth.

He looked and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age old hills collapsed. His ways are eternal.

I saw the tents of Kushan in distress. The dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers oh Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? You uncovered your bow.

You called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed.

Torrents of water swept by. The deep roared and lifted its waves on high. Sun and moon stood still in the heaven at the glint of your flying arrows.

The lightning of your flashing spear. In wrath you strode through the earth. And in anger you threshed the nations.

You came out to deliver your people. To save your anointed one. You crushed the leader of the land of wickedness.

You stripped him from head to foot. With his own spear you pierced his head. When his warriors stormed out to scatter us.

Gloating as though about to devour the wretched who were in hiding. You trampled the sea with your horses churning the great waters. I heard.

And my heart pounded. My lips quivered at the sound. Decay crept into my bones.

And my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity. To come on the nation invading us.

Though the fig tree does not bud. And there are no grapes on the vines. Though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food.

Though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my savior.

The sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on the heights.

For the director of music on my stringed instruments. So who was he? Habakkuk. This mysterious man whose three chapters adorns the pages of the Old Testament.

Actually we know little about him. The word Habakkuk means embrace or wrestle. And certainly he had to do that.

Wrestle with problems and embrace God. There are various indications that at least the third chapter was to be used. As we have been using our hymns today in an order of service.

And thus the opening verse makes reference to that strange term Shigionoth. Which might well indicate the way in which this chapter was to be sung. With enthusiasm mounting to an ecstasy.

The last verse gives some direction to the person who was controlling the music in the temple. Habakkuk was a priest, a Levitical priest who became a prophet. A priest had his day organized.

He followed the routine set up by his forebears. He followed the calendar of yesteryear. But the prophet, well, he followed the Holy Spirit.

Not the will of the wisp. And sometimes he would speak in an unpopular fashion. Not with the intention of winning popularity as far as the audience is concerned.

As for the politics of those days. It was like I speak with respect to the United States of America after the war. And to a lesser extent ourselves.

Having put down one enemy. Now wondering if another even greater enemy was hovering on the horizon. The dawn of communism.

The sweeping over of the world by an unstoppable force. As far as Habakkuk was concerned, it was the Chaldeans. That God should use the Chaldeans to in some way discipline his nation was intolerable.

As it was difficult for our American friends and to some degree ourselves. To believe that the communist block in the east. Could take on the forcefulness that it had.

With the net result that there was a purging of all those who were Marxist in their philosophy. In the United States. There was panic.

Also amongst the countries of Europe. And yet we have lived to see. That that threat is no longer a threat.

But there is probably a deeper one buried. Hidden in our society. For the concerns that bring men.

The thing that brings concerns to men and women. Is not the political ideology. It's the state of the individual before God.

So you find Habakkuk. In the first chapter in a valley. He does not understand why God is operating in the way that he does.

And why in certain circumstances he is not active at all. And in the second chapter from the valley. You find that the prophet progresses a little.

And you discover him on a watchtower. He's elevated a little waiting to see the purposes of God materialize. And when you come to the third chapter.

You find that he scales a higher height. The end of the 19th verse. You discover him saying.

He enables me to go on the heights. So here in this prophecy. There is an indication of a spiritual pilgrimage.

Lord lift me up and let me stand by faith. On Canaan's table land. And it may well be that there are those in my audience this morning.

Who too need to be taken out of the doldrums. Out of the valley. Lifted to the watchtower.

And then persuaded by God to go even higher. Believing that the Christian has an insight into the future. And can believe that God who brought the world into existence.

Will also bring it to its consummation. In other words this is what I'm arguing. And if you don't understand this Christianity will never help you.

I say that again. If you don't understand this Christianity will never help you. Habakkuk looks for a wider framework.

Into which he can bring his own immediate problems. All things work together for good. To those who love God.

The Bible doesn't say all things are good. It doesn't always say that you have to feel good. It doesn't always give you the impression that you will live to see the good.

What it does say is that all things will inexorably work together for good. To those who love God. The earth shall be covered.

As the waves cover the seas. So the world shall be covered. With the glory of God.

As the waters cover the sea. Let me give you that in the authorised and not the sergeant version. For the earth will be filled.

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. As the waters cover the sea. And if you think lapse of concentration is inexcusable.

You try holding a service like this together. Watching the mayor and everyone else outside. Take part in the service.

The third chapter shows Habakkuk. Engaging first of all. In prayer.

Praying. And from verse 3. Almost to the end but not quite. He engages in pondering.

He reflects on what God has done. And from the 18th verse to the end. It's praising.

From praying. To pondering. To praising.

How does he pray? Well, he prays first of all in respect of the word of God that he has heard. I have heard of your fame. I stand in awe of your deeds.

And within his prayer there is a recognition of the wrath of God. The anger of God. And in our time in wrath, Lord.

Will you remember mercy? You see, here is Habakkuk. And he has this great problem. To which I have made reference.

Now, what is going to help him? His particular difficulty is the political situation. And the seeming inactivity of God. What is going to help you in your perhaps more personalized difficulty? And the answer is the word of the Lord.

Faith comes by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. This is why I am never particularly impressed by jokes about preaching.

I really do mean that. Because it was when Habakkuk heard. When someone talked to him.

When someone shared with him about what God had done yesteryear. Then his faith started to grow. His doubt was reduced.

Lord, I have heard of your fame. Somebody told us about what you did yesteryear. Lord, I appreciate something of your works.

I stand in awe of your deeds. And when Habakkuk realizes that yesteryear in the history of Israel. God intervened.

So he dares to believe that in his present situation. This same God is not idle. He is not inactive.

So he says, Lord, will you renew in our day. What you did then. So the church is in a state today.

And sometimes you are disappointed with the established church. In particular, though thank God for a great evangelical segment. But why do not the leaders of the church stand up.

And sometimes declare that what the Bible says wrong is wrong indeed. Why does there seem to be such pussy footing. And you think sometimes with despair.

In regard to the present situation in our country. Even at the religious level. But then you think of what God did in the 18th century.

And the 17th century. You read the history of revival. And you say, Lord, renew.

Come down again in the way that you did before. And this is precisely what Habakkuk is saying here. Lord, unless you do that.

Unless you remember this nation in your mercy. Then your anger will never be turned away from us. But God is a merciful God.

Today, surely 75 years that we are commemorating. In terms of the faithfulness of God. And the acknowledgement of his grace towards us as a nation.

The first world war, the second world war. Do we not realize that what God did, we did not deserve? In his grace we entered into peace. Lord, we're praying not just at a political level.

Nor at a military level. But spiritually. Will you move in our world today? Now you see, that prayer of Habakkuk.

It causes him to develop into reminiscing about yesteryear. In other words, the praying goes to a pondering. He is now extending upon a principle on which I have just touched.

Verse 3, he reminds himself about what God did in former years. What did God do? Well, he acted in three very remarkable ways. God came, verse 3. God stood, verse 6. God rode, verse 8. God came? Well, yes, he came at a particular time in Israel's history.

And at a particular point. References made geographically to Timan. References made to Mount Paran.

Reference later on is made to Sinai. God has moved in history. A child was born in Bethlehem.

A man was crucified at Calvary. The preacher in this particular prophecy brings to mind what God has done in the past. God came.

God stood. Look at verse 6. He stood. And what did he do? He shook the earth.

God displayed his power in the natural realm, in the realm of nature. God politically helped Israel, verse 7, when she went through the wilderness and returned to the promised land. When God revealed his power and his glory, sometimes he did it in a phenomenal way.

He caused rivers to part. He dealt with the seas. He spoke and the Jordan River also allowed the Israelites to go dry shod into the land that God had promised Abraham.

All these things God has done. He has shown his power. He was never against the forces of nature.

Never against the seas. Never against the material or the animal world which he had made. Sun, moon, and stars stand still in the heavens.

The whole realm of nature recognizes the majesty and the grandeur of God. And if God so moved in the realm of nature, can he not move in the hearts of men and women? Indeed, as the prophet goes through these particular statements in this passage, he shows how God has put to flight the enemies of Israel yesterday. He also recognizes that Israel itself has rebelled and been disobedient as far as God is concerned and deserves his judgment.

So we see God not only coming, God not only standing, but look at verse 8. God riding. Did you rage against the sea when you rode with your horses and your victorious chariots? In wrath, verse 12, you strode through the earth and in anger you threshed the nations. The power of God demonstrated physically in the earth.

He also demonstrated against the enemies of Israel. But Israel too has sinned as our nation has sinned. So what hope is there? God brought the Chaldeans to punish his ancient people.

God has allowed circumstances in our country to punish this nation. Unfortunately, as with Israel, we have not responded to the lessons. We've turned a deaf ear to what God is saying.

And the prophet here recognizes that the disobedience of the people, when he puts that against the revealed word of the Lord, causes him to be afraid. I hear, verse 17, my heart pounds, my lips quiver at the sound, decay creeps into my bones, and my legs tremble. Why? Because he realizes that his nation too is on a collision course with God.

Don't you see the Jews were only special in the degree that they were faithful to the Lord. And this nation too can only merit the blessings of God when correlated to its obedience to the word of the Lord. This is why years ago, if I had been arguing, I would have said to our friends in America as well as to ourselves, here in the United Kingdom, that the great threat was never the Marxist government of the Soviet Union.

The great threat is never to be found in political blocs. The great threat is in the heart of the individual. Add the individuals together, you get a community.

Add the communities together, you get a country. The threat is within the nation. When the nation refuses to accept that God is God, that God is a holy God, that God requires righteousness, then they run the risk of God pouring out his judgment upon them.

God who shakes the world, naturally speaking, can shake the individual, can shake a nation. And that's the reason why the prophet hears, and his heart pounds, and he is afraid. But there is something else that he can remember, and that is that within the justice of God, there is also a mercy.

And he says he waits patiently, waits patiently for the day of calamity, waits patiently for the judgment of God to come upon the Jewish nation. But he has within his conviction the notion that God will still deal not only with the Jews, but with all men and women who are prepared to repent in a merciful fashion. God is still the God of salvation.

This God who is known in the prophecy of Habakkuk as the Holy One is also described in the 18th verse as God the Savior, God the deity who responds to the penitent cry of the individual and of the community. And as John Wesley and George Whitfield believed that the righteous remnant within the United Kingdom and its prayers would be heard by God, and as a result at that level would save the nation, so Habakkuk believed that though the Chaldeans would come and wreak their vengeance in the name of God, he would not forget to be merciful. Thus, though the fig tree does not bud, verse 17, and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, I will rejoice.

Vines, olives, sheep, cattle, that was the stock of life for Israel. Here is the economy being highlighted. Put it in modern terms, he's saying there is no food on the shelves of the supermarket.

Not only Wall Street but also London has crashed. No further confidence in the dollar, no further confidence in the pound, no further confidence in the currency of Europe, everything in a state of disorder. Yet, yet, I will rejoice in the Lord.

Why? Because you see there is a wider framework. God will still work out his purposes despite the disobedience of men. He will have in mind those people who have still remained true.

And so Habakkuk goes on from his praying and his pondering to his praising. Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord. There is a confidence which faith brings.

So he tells us, verse 16, I will wait patiently. Verse 18, I will rejoice. And by implication, verse 19, I will trust.

When we waited patiently during the time of the last world war, we did see God demonstrate his power and his authority. Dunkirk did happen and as there had been prayers for the nation, so there was an acknowledgement of the intervention of God. How feeble is our acknowledgement of our indebtedness to this faithful God today.

How much we ought to with compassion treat one another and with regret wring our hands before God who has dealt so well with us. Habakkuk looks forward to the day when the purposes of God have been worked through and he sees a new tomorrow and he says, I will rejoice in the Lord. The translation actually is, I will jump for joy.

And we could well have entitled this address, From the Grumps to the Jumps. From being in the valley to going to the heights. For the sovereign Lord is my strength.

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to go on to the heights. He guarantees that for spiritual Israel, there will be a future.

And for the church, the people of God today, there will be a future. God has acted. God will act.

And it's within that wider framework that we are to interpret our present circumstances. Live on in the victory that Christ has achieved for us by his death and by his mighty resurrection. Amen.

Let's sing a song which helps to pull what I've feebly tried to share together. Speaks about the glory that Christians can see with the eye of faith. Our eyes have seen the glory of our Savior Christ the Lord.

It's 549. Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia Alleluia Father sometimes we do see ourselves like Habbakuk having to take stock Were it not that we had not read that you had acted in the past then maybe we would be despairing for the present But we praise you that you have You moved, you moved at Calvary You moved in this nation yesteryear And in that confidence we look forwards to the future and believe that our Lord Jesus shall return and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Christ and he shall reign forever and ever give us a spring in our step and even though Lord we suffer sometimes and find great problems in coping with the immediate difficulties of life we nonetheless ask that we may see everything within that wider framework and believe and know that God is in control so be with us all send us out seeing you more clearly loving you more dearly following you more nearly all our lives amen