Living Faith in a Dying World
Habakkuk 3:1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet. On shigionoth. 2 Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy…. 17 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, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights. For the director of music. On my stringed instruments.
The prophecy of Habakkuk is unique. Most prophets speak to the people of behalf of God. Habakkuk speaks to God on the behalf of the people. But he doesn’t stand in a priestly posture. Habakkuk is angry with both God and the people.
Remember we discovered that the name Habakkuk means to embrace, hug, hold onto something. In chapter 3 we discover that Habakkuk embraces, hugs and holds onto the promises of God.
Friends, it is great when God holds onto you. But you also need to hold onto God.
Revisit Heaven’s Melody
One of the first things we see is that there is a strnage word ‘Shiḡionoth’ (H7692), an uncertain musical term.bThis word has been described as a musical term and is only seen here and at the beginning of Psalm 7: A shiggaion of David, which he sang to the Lord concerning Cush, a Benjamite.
This word is derived from the root word shagah – (H7686) and means ‘to go astray, to err, to wander or stray, and to be intoxicated’. Possible meaning ‘a wild passionate song with rapid changes of rhythm’, which we see certainly happening in this chapter as he changes the rhythm from acknowledgement of God’s judgement coming, lawlessness seen and then to praise.
So, this is a musical prayer, something sung, crying out to God for those going astray, those in exile, those without hope. It’s energetic! It’s not a dirge, but something upbeat, with changes in rhythm, pitch and tone.
We also know it is memorable - because the people would be able to sing it!
What Habakkuk is doing is putting something to music for the people to sing! They would need this in exile, a song to lift them and remind them that God is good!
Did they sing it? Not sure, but there is evidence that they may have!
Story: I did not grow up in a Christian home. In fact we were as far from Jesus as you’d care to get. But I did have two introductions to the Bible as a young boy. One was through a tombstone - we found several in our back garden (previously a stonemason had lived there) and we used one as a step into the house form the back garden (Job 1:21 - but he had got the reference wrong). The other introduction was Boney-M, By the Rivers of Babylon!
This song took Psalm 137 and Psalm 19 (although their intended meaning was different from Scripture. See for more: https://ig.ft.com/life-of-a-song/rivers-of-babylon.html)
Psalm 137: 1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. 2 There on the poplars we hung our harps, 3 for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” 4 How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
We know that song was important to the exiles but that they were taunted by their captors to song for their entertainment. They refused! But surely Habakkuk’s song was one of those that they would sing!
Renew Them In Our Day
2: Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy.
The prophet Habakkuk’s first reaction was to embrace God’s will. “I heard of your fame” (3:2). Lord remember mercy!
There is a tendency to use this as a revival only verse - but actually the prophet is asking God to bring the people out of exile even before they are in exile. He is reminding God that he brought them out of Egypt.
He is reminding God that He is the sustaining and a delivering God. So often we want God’s deliverance - take away the circumstances we face and give us a better life or situation. But He is also a sustaining God - He keeps you through the hard times too.
Habakkuk is praying: “Lord let there be people left who love you at the end of this exile.”
And the people would sing this! “Lord, repeat what you have done before, sustain us so that you can one day deliver us! Lord remember mercy!”
We read in Habakkuk 2:4: “the righteous shall live by faith.”
This prophetic song-prayer is one of the strongest affirmations of faith in Scripture. It outlines for us the dynamics of living faith.
Reality of Living Faith
Many people have been deceived to think that faith guarantees favourable circumstances. But Habakkuk corrects us of that myth and gives us a realistic understanding of authentic faith.
Verse 17: “Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls.”
That does not sound like name-it-claim-it to me.
The fig tree often represents Israel and its state (I don’t have time to look at this in the NT - Matthew 21:19; 24:32)
Habakkuk sees that Israel has:
- No fruit - no spiritual fruit because they’ve turned from God.
- Economic crisis - no harvest, no flocks, the backbone of their economy at the time.
- No oil - no olives to get oil, no anointing of the Holy Spirit.
Things are bad in Habakkuk’s world and they are going to get worse! They’re going to be exiled, ruled by the Babylonian's. Friend's, we live in difficult times - wars, plagues etc, and things may well get worse!
“Tempting God means trying to get more assurance than God has given.” (Lesslie Newbigin).
Living faith walks the fine-line between the unfairness of life and the goodness of God, with the patient hope that God will have the last word.
Living faith involves me pleasing God far more than God pleasing me.
“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.” (D. Elton Trueblood).
Job 13:15a: “Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him.”
Rejoicing Though Things Go Wrong
The profession of faith does not assume the possession of faith. I meet people who call themselves Christians but they would not know what Christian living is.
Story: As a missionary to the South Sea Islands, John G. Paton translated the scriptures for the islanders. When he came to the word “believe,” he searched for a word the they would understand. But he couldn’t seem to find the right word. One day, as Patton was working, a messenger arrived. He had run from the other side of the island and was out of breath. He sank down into a chair in Paton’s room, leaned back, and relaxed. Startled and thrilled, Paton made a connection. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Give me the word for that.”
Patton used it to translate belief – a word that meant to take a load off, put your weight on another, and relax.
People who believe God, sing Habakkuk’s hymn of faith:
18:“yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour.”
Literally, verse 18 says, “I will jump for joy in the Lord; I will spin around in delight in God.”
In the face of defeat, despair, and destruction, Habakkuk offers rebellious praise to God. He stands up to his problems and says, “Though everything around me fails – the fields, the vineyards, the flocks, the herds – I still have something to shout about!”
“Here is the hilarity of faith! Joy at its best with circumstances at their worst.” (Richard Baxter).
There are two ways to live: one says, ‘if’ the other says, ‘though’.
‘If’ says: “If everything goes well, if my life is prosperous, if no one I love dies, if I’m successful, then I’ll believe in God and say my prayers and go to church and give what I can afford.”
‘Though’ says: “I believe God. So though evil prospers, though loved-ones die, though my dreams are not fulfilled, yet… nevertheless… precisely then… I will rejoice in the Lord.”
This ‘if’ mentality uses circumstances to interpret God, the ‘though’ mentality uses God to interpret circumstances.
Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
James 1:2-3: “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”
Reasons to Trust
Faith equals: “paranoia in reverse.” (Philip Yancey).
A paranoid person is utterly convinced that something or someone is out to get them. They are convinced that there is a conspiracy against them, even if they don’t have any real evidence that clearly proves the validity of their fears.
Faith works the same way, in reverse.
Paranoid people are convinced someone is out to hurt them. Believers are convinced that God is out to help them.
Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (NKJV)
That’s a conspiracy of trust.
18b … I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength…
In verse 18 Habakkuk says God is my salvation and in verse 19 he says God is my strength. Notice the personal pronouns Habakkuk used: “my salvation” and “my strength.”
Habakkuk had a proper understanding, a personal relationship, and intimate fellowship with God.
So, he trusted that, whatever happened, God would take care of him: That’s faith.
- God Saves.
In the New Testament, the word “salvation” is primarily connected to the forgiveness of sin. But in the Old Testament, salvation is defined more comprehensively. It refers to deliverance, rescue, and safety. This is the sense is this sense Habakkuk intends.
In verse 17, Habakkuk can see losing everything that was essential for survival in the agricultural world of the ancient Near East. But in verse 18, he determines to rejoice.
He says, “God may not save my crops and cattle, but he will save me.”
Like Habakkuk, you may be wrestling with God’s timing or methods. You’ve got unanswered questions and unresolved issues. But God is still there saving you - you’re still winning compared to where you would be without Jesus! You’re victorious!
When Paul lists all the things that could potentially separate us from God’s love he says:
Romans 8:37: Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
- God Strengthens.
Verse 19: “The Sovereign Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to tread on the heights.”
This reference to deer’s feet is a Hebrew idiom for agility, speed, and sure-footedness. Habakkuk uses it to say that because the Lord is his strength, he could move joyfully through difficult circumstances without falling.
The phrase “tread on the heights” is also a Hebrew idiom. It speaks of challenge, responsibility, or hardship. And Habakkuk says that God will make him walk above the circumstances. That is, God would get him through whatever troubles or trials he had to face.
These two pictures are comforting. There are some things God will get us out of. Some things God will get us through.
Which kinda takes us back to the beginning of the chapter - ‘renew them in our days’ - take us through it and take us out of it.
Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (NKJV).
Isaiah 40:31: “But those who wait on the Lord, Shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles, They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” (NKJV).
Wrapping this up:
- This book opens with complaints, but it closes in glory.
- It opens with a question mark, but it closes with an exclamation mark.
- It begins with doubt, but it ends with confidence.
- It begins with complaints, but it ends with celebration.
- It begins with Habakkuk singing the blues, but it closes with a song of faith.
My friends, let the songs of faith rise, let the joy come out, God saves and strengthens!
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