Lessons From Habakkuk Trusting

God’s Providence
Hab. 3:16-19

16I heard, and my body trembled,
My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entereth into my bones, and I tremble
in my place; Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming
up of the people that invadeth us. 17For though the fig-tree shall not flourish,
Neither shall fruit be in the vines; The labor of the olive shall fail, And the
fields shall yield no food; The flock shall be cut off from the fold, And there
shall be no herd in the stalls: 18Yet
I will rejoice in Jehovah, I will joy in the God of my salvation. 19Jehovah, the Lord, is my strength; And he
maketh my feet like hinds’ feet,
And will make me to walk upon my high places.

I-
Verse 16 of our text is an
expression of great fear upon hearing the word of God

16I heard, and my body trembled, My lips
quivered at the voice; Decay entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself;
Because I must wait quietly for the day of trouble, For the coming up of the
people that will invade us.

A- And then
a statement of great trust in God’s providence   verses 17-19

>

1-  Want to take you very quickly through the
book of Habakkuk, noting what happens to bring the prophet to both these
conditions.

2- Anyone that has served in somee capacity in the Lord’s church  has heard someone ask the question,
“Why?   Why does
it have to be this way?  Why do I
have to go through this, why does family  or my child have to experience these
things.?”

B-
The truth is...  that
“why?” is a Biblical question.

1- In Job chapter 3, after Job𕢙s troubles had begun. Notice what
he says Job 3:11  “11Why died I not from the womb? Why didn’t I just die when I was
born.... why was I born, I don’t understand why I had to go through all
of this ?

2- And then I suppose that on
the cross in Matthew 27:46 Jesus said, “Why hast Thou forsaken Me?”   Why is not a bad question,
doesn’t necessarily indicate I doubt God ....    It just indicates that I have doubts in
my own life. I have struggles that I am confronted with.. and I need some
answers in order to overcome them.

C- But before we really go deeply into our subject

1- I think it is extremely
important that we understand what providence is and  the difference between “Providence and Miracles” Providence is God working in accordance with
His divine, established and revocable laws.

2- The difference in
the miraculous and the providential, is that God works through and by means of
His divine laws in the providential, and He sets aside or goes beyond law in
the miraculous.    One
Commentary states:

>     Just how and to what extent God in His providence may
overrule and direct the lives of His children I cannot say. Our part is to
follow His directions through His Word. And trust Him excepting His promises by
faith knowing that He can and will fulfill them.

II-
I want to focus primarily on the prophet Habakkuk,  Some have described him as the prophet of providence.

>          If ever
there was a godly man who asked extensively the question that we all long to
ask “why?”  it was
Habakkuk.

A-
I want to divide our lesson into three parts,

1- First of all we will look at <Habakkuk’s 1st question.
And then God’s answer, Then Habakkuk’s 2nd question, and
God’s answer. And finally we’ll look at that beautiful prayer song
that he prayed at the end expressing his trust in God.

B- Let’s start with the question
Habakkuk first asked God, it is found in Habakkuk 1: 2-4

2How
long, O Lord, will I call for help,
and  You will not hear? Or cry out
to You , “Violence!”
and You do not save? Why do You make me to see iniquity, And cause me to look on wickedness? 3Yes,
destruction and violence are before me; Strife exists and contention arises. 4Therefore,
the law is ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the
righteous; Therefore, justice comes out perverted. (NASV)

D- It appears
that the prophet had been crying for a long time.

1-  He is effectively saying,
“I’ve
been crying for a long time, and the only answer I’ve received is silence”    No
Answer!  The word cry here is an
interesting word and is much stronger perhaps than we imagine it. Have you ever
heard a young mother struggling with all those kids say “I could just scream”   That’s the word. It is a cry of
pain.. and of anguish   You see he had been watching his own
people in Judah
abuse  others who were righteous. and
he could not understand why....  “God answer me”
is effectively his cry.

2- You see the wicked had  surrounded the righteous and were
oppressing them.  There was no
JUSTICE in the eyes of the prophet.
The law had become slack, through improper or no enforcement. And recognizing
that, he asked God basically “WHY?”

E- God will answer:
chapter 1 verse 5

1- And His answer in summation before we read it is this:  “My providence is already at work.”   Now before we go into this I want all of
us to contemplate something. In the New Testament we frequently like to talk
about the fullness of time. There is not a great deal of difference between the
fullness of time and what God is saying right here. “I’ve  been working along, you just
didn’t know it. My providence is already at work.”  listen to Him beginning  in verse 5.

5Behold
ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it
be told you. 6For,
lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that
bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to
possess the dwelling places that are
not theirs.  7They are terrible and dreadful: their
judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves.

E- I’m
at work.... God says. OK...... how? ......Well you are not going to believe
when you hear it.

1- I’m going to use the Chaldeans to punish my people.   Now we probably don’t get that Instantly,
You’ve got to imagine the reaction of the prophet. The
Chaldeans?.  We’re going
from bad to worse here. Judah
is bad but the Chaldeans are worse.

2-  But God says “that’s who
I’m going to use.”  I’m going to send them and they are
going to be swollen up with their own pride. Truth is...  they live by one law... and one law
only,  might makes right. If you are
the strongest, then you get to decide the rules.

3- That was the way the Chaldeans worked. Listen as God continues
— Habakkuk 1:8-11

8“Their
horses are swifter than leopards And keener than wolves in the evening. Their
horsemen come galloping, Their horsemen come from afar; They fly like an eagle
swooping down to devour.  9 “All of them come for
violence. Their  faces forward. They
collect captives like sand.  10At kings they scoff,  And rulers they laugh. They laugh at
every fortress,  for they pile up
earth and take it. 11Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god.

F- God’s
description of the Chaldeans is quite effective when you think about it.

1- He used three animals first to describe them.  He said that they are like leopards. Swift to their prey,  and anyone who has watched animal kingdom
or something like that and seen the imagery of a leopard going after its prey
knows what He’s talking about, they’re pounce on you before you
have time to know it..

2- Ravenous wolves,  so again think about wolves....  Wolves spend the entire day
fasting.  And at night they go forth
in packs to look for their prey. They are terrible hungry.  When the Chaldeans come, they are going
to be like wolves....  hungry.

3- And they will be like the
eagle....  that is an eagle
comes from afar.....  The eagle
hunts broad large stretches of land searching for it’s prey, and that is
how the Chaldeans would do.   The
truth is they were already doing it.

4- Now interestingly enough, this reference to an eagle sounds like the
fulfillment of a prophecy that God had long ago given to Moses....  in  Deut 28:47-52.   God had told His people what would happen
if they did not follow His law.  He
would send an enemy like an eagle and they would be taken away.

G- He continues
describing them as

1- Gathering up people in conquest like the sands of the seashore. You
can’t number all the people that the Chaldeans are gathering up.....

2- Rulers?  Why they scoff at rulers. Who cares
about those people they are not strong enough to hold us back. And strongholds?
Strongholds are no problem...  why they just ramped up dirt until they
reached the top of the wall and over they came. And they defeated those people,

3- The Chaldeans went forward with such a rapid pace that finally they
began to give credit ... not to the
God of Heaven... but to their false gods, and their own foolish pride.

H- Anyone that
has read the book of Daniel knows the type of people that we are talking about.

1- Nebuchadnezzar was very, very proud of himself, of all that he had
amassed,  of the gigantic size of
his kingdom,  and basically said,
“Look at
what I’ve done.”  But you remember in Daniel Chapter 4 that
God gave him a vision, a dream.  In
that dream he saw a massive tree...
he didn’t understand what the tree was about. The tree was cut
down, he didn’t understand that either. He was bound with the heart5 of a
beast for seven times, and by the way, I’m not sure I understand
fully what that is....

2- And after Nebuchadnezzar has gone through his period where he is
insane, wandering around on all fours, and has hair that is like eagle’s
feathers it so long and claws on the end of his hands and feet, when he comes
to the end of that time and has returned
to his senses,  He states Daniel 4:17

17This
matter is by the decree of the
watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the
living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it
to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men

III-
Nebuchadnezzar at last acknowledges that one great truth,   “God Rules In The Kingdom Of Men.”

A- And
that’s the message that both Habakkuk and those of us today  need to see and understand.

1- From within that statement I would have us to note two things I
believe to be significant,

B-  No. 1 — God rules in the kingdom
of men...

1- Please notice that its singular.  When we look at the world, we see
kingdoms, we would say nations. We see nations of people. And as we think about
it, we think of  our nation, the
place where we live....    God will surely take care of us.

C- The truth
is, God rules in the kingdom of men,
the whole world is His field.

1- Jesus very adequately set this forth in that  great parable in Matthew chapter 13. His
people are all over the world, and not just in one nation. And that needs to be
the focus of the Lord’s church  to see to it that all people get the
message isn’t it? We cannot be nation focused, we’ve got to be
world focused, God’s nation. His kingdom, because He rules...

D- And then
notice the second part  — Dan
4:17

“He appoints over it whomever He will, even
the basest of men”

E- We get a
little bit too wrapped up in politics sometimes don’t we?

1- Why if God lets that republican get into office..  or you can put it democrat, which ever
way you care to go.  If He puts that
man in office, I just can’t see how... well  He worked through Nebuchadnezzar.
Don’t you think that He could work through ________  you write in  the name.   Of course He can

2- Did you realize that when Daniel starts to relate the meaning of the
dream, that three more times within the coming verses, the essence of this
verse is repeated, “God rules in
the kingdom of men— and appoints over its whomever He will”.

F- Leroy
Brownlow in the Fort Worth
Christian College
Lectures way back in 1961

1- Looked at the book of Habakkuk and he made this most beautiful
statement. “God uses the free will of wicked people to accomplish His
holy purposes.  Of course they lift
themselves up by their own pride, covetousness and brutally,  but there is a higher order of
things.  God is still running the
world,  and God can order their
sinful actions to fulfill His righteous purposes. ”That’s what Habakkuk needed to see,
“God rules.... “.

IV-What was God’s motive in bring
the Chaldeans?  His
motive was correction

A- In Hebrews 12:6 the writer of Hebrews
says

6For
whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

1- Again in John chapter 15 in that beautiful
parable of the vine and the branches, notice in verse 2 what the Lord says:

2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth
it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

2- We like the fruit
bearing, the blessing part , I’m not sure I like the purging, And that is
really what Habakkuk is saying? It’s the purging that we struggle
with,  It’s the correction
that we don’t like, isn’t it?

B- Psalm 119:71 the singer of Israel said it
this way:

71It
is good for me that I have been afflicted; That I may learn thy statutes.

1- Sometimes it takes pain to come to the greatest blessings.
Listen to Brownlow again a short statement but beautiful “Out of
disappointments and afflictions come the de-velopment of real character.”

2-  That’s a good
summation. We grow sometimes through the hardest things we go through,  not so much from the easy.

V- So!
Habakkuk having heard God answer,  has
a 2nd question —

A- And I
think that we might well ask the same question he did.

1- And so at last he says basically to God,

“How could a just God punish His wicked people,
by using a more wicked people as their conqueror? ”

2- And after he states that question basically he sits down to watch and
see what God will say. God begins to answer. Habakkuk 2:2

2And
the LORD answered me, and said, Write
the vision, and make it plain
upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.  Write it big....  so that everyone can read it , make it
plain.

B- God
effectively says to Habakkuk,

“you
can write this in large letters, so that everyone can read it, because, this is
the way that its going to be,  you
can be assured of that,  for the
vision is yet for an appointed time,
but in the end it shall speak and not lie, though it tarry, wait for it,
because it will surely come and will not tarry.”

1- And here’s the part we don’t like. God works in His
own time. We want an answer right now. Like the fellow that prayed “Give me patience... NOW!”.  No, probably to get patience,
you’re going to have to go through a lot, for a while,  to be honest about it.

C-  Hab. 2:4  God brings this charge against the
Chaldeans..

4Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not
upright in him;

1- When you think about the proud Chaldeans you have to recognize that
lifted they did not in any way serve righteousness in their lives, but. Now God
used them to accomplish righteousness,  .

2- Then comes that quote that is repeated in the New Testament, “but
the just shall live by faith”.

3-  The righteous need to
listen to God, and  do His
will.  Ultimately they will be
sustained. Regardless of what is going on today, regardless of how matters
seem.  God is still in charge He is
working.  And we need to see that
don’t we?

D- The
Chaldeans were very proud but God was going to bring their pride to an end.

1- In Hab. 2:8-19 God lays out warnings in the form of 5 Woes. to
them... The that famous passage Hab. 2:20 — and we sing. “the LORD is in His holy temple... let all
the earth keep silence before Him.”

2 The Chaldeans were going to see the need to acknowledge “that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of
men, and learn to be silent in His presence. There is a sense in which that
will be extended to the utmost degree in the day of judgment,  when all will praise the name of
Jesus,  and then stand silent.

VI- Habakkuk
has expressed his two questions and heard God’s answer,

A-  God would bring judgment.  Habakkuk 3:2

2O LORD, I have heard thy speech, and was afraid: O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years,
in the midst of the years make known; in wrath remember mercy.

1-  In other words, “Go ahead Lord, carry out the judgment, carry
out against my people and later against the Chaldeans, but while You’re
doing it, please keep Your mercy for the righteous. ”

B- Chapter Three-
Habakkuk’s song of praise is worth everything that you can get out of it.

1- Read it again and again, it is beautiful and powerful.  God remember mercy in your wrath,  Next the prophet recalls visions from
the past where God has fought for His people, acknowledges that God has always
worked for His people  And
expresses confidence that He will continue Hab. 3:3-15

2-
It is then in  Habakkuk 3:16 the
prophet expresses the fear we noted at the beginning

16I
heard and my belly trembled, at the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my
bones, And I trembled within myself. Because I must wait quietly for the day of
distress, For the people to arise who will
invade us.

C- But then the
prophet closes with something that we need to learn to say every day

17Although
the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labor
of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be
cut off from the fold, and there shall
be no herd in the stalls:  18Yet
I will rejoice in the LORD, I
will joy in the God of my salvation. 19The LORD God is
my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

1- Though everything seems to be against me, and I cry out “Why?”  ultimately God,     I trust your providence.