1. "Stories are powerful. The stories that we share, that we tell one another, that may fill our homes, they have a way of inspiring something in us. Many stories we share to help us navigate hard times."

2. "Friends, the Bible is ripe with such stories, but these are different. These aren't fables. These are inspired accounts meant to help us navigate hard times."

3. "For all this city represents at its best, the glory that surrounds us here is not worth comparing to the glory of the Lord. All of these things are but shadows. All of these things won't last."

4. "The buildings of this city can't hold a candle to the Lord's glory when it comes. The power of this country may be projected abroad, but there it's often challenged and often mistaken. But when the Lord comes, no one will be able to stand before Him."

5. "You were made to glorify him. You were made to see his glory and contribute to it."

6. "God's work of salvation isn't separate from his judgment. Instead, he secures salvation through judgment."

7. "All of history converged on this day. The day when the wicked finally seemed triumphant. The day when it seemed all hope was lost. The day when God the Son died."

8. "Sometimes it can be tempting to just trust the answers of others and not to work things out ourselves. In these times, the temptation can be to find your satisfaction in the answer of others, and not labor to work things out personally before the Lord."

9. "The presence of other believers in your life is a rich testimony that God cares for you. They may let you down and well, that's kind of the point. They're not the substance. As for all the good that we do to one another, our goal in this life is simply to point one another to the banquet, to the Lord himself."

10. "We may not have tidy answers to all the questions of this life, but brother sister, we do have everything we need. The tension of God's goodness, His glory, and his judgment meet at the cross. That's where we find resolution to this tension."

Observation Questions

1. In Habakkuk 3:2, what two specific things does Habakkuk ask God to do "in the midst of the years"?

2. How does Habakkuk describe God's appearance from Teman and Mount Paran in verses 3-4? What specific imagery does he use?

3. According to verses 5-7, what natural elements respond to God's presence? List the specific reactions described.

4. In verses 8-9, what questions does Habakkuk ask about God's wrath? What weapons of God does he mention?

5. Looking at verse 13, what is stated as the purpose of God's coming forth? What specific action does God take against "the head of the house of the wicked"?

6. In verses 17-18, what six specific conditions does Habakkuk list before stating "yet I will rejoice in the Lord"?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does Habakkuk begin his prayer by asking God to "remember mercy" even while showing wrath? What does this reveal about his understanding of God's character?

2. Throughout the passage, Habakkuk uses imagery from the Exodus and other historical events. How does remembering God's past actions strengthen faith for present trials?

3. In verses 13-14, how does God use the enemies' own weapons against them? What does this tell us about God's sovereignty over those who oppose Him?

4. Why does Habakkuk's body tremble (verse 16) even though he has faith? What does this teach us about the relationship between fear and faith?

5. How does Habakkuk's declaration of joy in verses 17-19 differ from mere optimism? What is the foundation of his joy?

Application Questions

1. When did you last experience a situation where, like Habakkuk, you had to wait quietly for God to act? How did that challenge your faith?

2. Think about a current trial in your life. What past works of God can you remember to strengthen your faith in this situation?

3. When have you felt both fear and faith simultaneously, like Habakkuk did? How did you handle that tension?

4. What "fig trees" in your life are currently not blossoming? How can you follow Habakkuk's example of rejoicing in God despite these circumstances?

5. How has God recently used the challenges or opposition in your life to accomplish His purposes, similar to how He turned enemies' weapons against them?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Psalm 77:11-20 - A psalm recounting God's mighty deeds in the past, particularly the Exodus, to find strength for present trials.

2. Isaiah 12:1-6 - A song of praise that, like Habakkuk 3, moves from God's anger to joyful trust in His salvation.

3. Romans 8:18-25 - Paul's reflection on present sufferings and future glory, showing how faith sustains believers through trials.

4. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 - An explanation of how focusing on unseen eternal realities helps believers endure present difficulties, much like Habakkuk's perspective.

Sermon Main Topics

The Power of Stories and Biblical Remembrances

He Came in Glory (Habakkuk 3:3-7)

He Came to Judge (Habakkuk 3:8-15)

Preparing for God’s Action with Faith and Joy (Habakkuk 3:16-19)

The Ultimate Answer in Christ and Call to Faith

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Detailed Sermon Outline

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Stories are powerful. I wonder if you've ever taken time to think about that. The stories that we share, that we tell one another, that may fill our homes, they have a way of inspiring something in us. Many stories we share to help us navigate hard times. I wonder if last week, maybe you caught some of the Super Bowl.

Well, about halfway through, The Kansas City Chiefs were in, we'll just say a hole.

They were behind. And did you catch what the commentators said? Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady, they started saying, well, the Chiefs haven't been behind before. This team, they know how to mount a comeback. Well, it's no news to you that the Chiefs didn't come back.

But the interesting thing to me was that story. The story that the commentators were telling was one that was meant to inspire confidence, meant to inspire confidence in the Chiefs faithful, that all was not lost, that maybe they could, maybe they just could eke out a win again. The story was meant to extend hope. Well, stories like this just don't come in sports. They come in all matters of life.

I'm sure for many of us we tell stories in our families of those family members who have come before us. Usually those by proximity those stories have a way of we value those differently. Or as a nation, in this nation, the story of a small town lawyer who went on to lead the country through great conflict still inspires many. And it's memorialized just two miles from here in the Lincoln Memorial.

Great stories help us see and do great things. Such remembrances can help us navigate hard times. Well friends, the Bible is ripe with such stories. But these are different. These aren't fables.

These are inspired accounts meant to help us navigate hard times. And our passage this morning provides one such remembrance. This morning we're in Habakkuk 3. If you have a Bible, I invite you to go ahead and turn there. If you're using the Red Pew Bibles, you can find this on page 786.

If you're new to looking at the Bible, the large numbers that you see there are the chapter numbers and the small numbers are the verse numbers. It'll help you to keep your Bible open throughout our time this morning as I'll be referencing the verses pretty regularly. Habakkuk, by way of reminder, is that little known prophet who lived around the end of the seventh century B.C. So far in the book of Habakkuk, where this is the third and final study in the book of Habakkuk, so far in this book, Habakkuk has asked a question. He's asked, How can God sit idly by while the bad triumph over the good?

Habakkuk has seen great evil amongst God's people. God's people were absorbed in sin. And God answered by changing Habakkuk's sight. The Lord showed Habakkuk that the wicked will be judged and the righteous will live by faith. Now the Lord's response has ended and in our passage we have Habakkuk's final response.

As the day of trouble approaches that the Lord had prophesied, that in chapter 3 Habakkuk remembers this work of the Lord. Habakkuk's response in chapter three is recorded as a prayer to be sung. In chapter three, just look there at it briefly, chapter three begins and ends with instructions for how this passage is to be used. You see that there in verse one and then at the end of verse 19. Verse one says, A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet according to Shigionoth.

And then go all the way into the end of the book, to the end of chapter nine, verse 19, excuse me. Where it says, to the choirmaster with stringed instruments. At the beginning and end of this chapter, Habakkuk makes it clear. This is a prayer to be remembered. This prayer is to be used.

The prayer starts with a summary plea for God to remember mercy. You see that there in verse 2. To remember mercy and judgment. And then the rest of the prayer unpacks, how does this happen? First, Habakkuk remembers God is coming in glory.

That's verses 3 to 7. And then second, he remembers that God comes to judge. That's verses 9 to 15. And last, and finally, Habakkuk in verses 16 to 19 prepares himself for God's action. Our plan for this morning is to reflect with Habakkuk on God's work in the world and there find strength to face our trials.

I hope that as we do, you'll see God's work more clearly with the help of Habakkuk's faithful sight. So in times of trial, what should we do? In times of trial, remember the Lord comes. Remember the Lord comes. We'll explore this with Habakkuk in three points.

First, he came in glory. He came in glory. That's verses 3 to 7. Let's start there in Habakkuk chapter 3, verse 3. Habakkuk says, God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.

His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise. His brightness was like the light. Rays flashed from his hand, and there he veiled his power. Before him went pestilence, and plague followed at his heels. He stood and measured the earth.

He looked and shook the nations. Then the eternal mountains were scattered. The everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways.

I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction. The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Well, here Habakkuk starts this prayer by remembering the many marvelous works of the Lord. His imagery here rehearses great acts of biblical history in so few words. From creation to the conquest of the Promised Land, all biblical history is captured here.

These terms recall so many wonderful works. Habakkuk follows the patterns of the psalmists. Habakkuk offers a series of inspired reflections on the Lord's dealing with His people in history. He looks back on Israel's history and there he sees a picture of the glory of the Lord. His language, I think we can see it as applied to many events.

There's many things that Habakkuk is having us see that can be applied to several things in our Old Testament. But there is one event, one circumstance that rises above them all. Israel's exodus from Egypt is most prominent. Look at it there. Habakkuk sees the glory of the Lord radiating by covering the heavens with light and filling the earth with praise.

That's verses 3 and 4. When the Lord met with the people of Sinai, there the heavens flashed. There all people praised Him. His people praised Him around the mountain. Yet still with such great signs, this power of this God was veiled.

They saw a real picture of it, but they didn't see it fully. And like verse 5 says, plague and pestilence did the Lord's bidding. How did He deliver His people from the land of Egypt? Well, He did so with plague and pestilence.

He performed great signs to deliver his people from great captivity. He used the forces to deliver his people. And what Habakkuk wants his readers to see is through all these things, the Lord, this Lord, his Lord controls all things. When the Lord spoke, the earth shook. In all these matters, this God shows that he's the supreme ruler of all.

The very earth quakes before him. And as verse 6 says, His are the everlasting ways. The mountains they shake, the hills they fall. The work of the Lord endures forever. His are the everlasting ways.

That's Habakkuk's focus. The God of Habakkuk here is glorious and this glory is magnificent. When this God comes, he comes in glory. Though it's been concealed, it is real. And the people of Israel had only begun to taste it.

When this God shows up, no one mistakes him. His plans are fixed. The glory in his coming, the glory of his coming isn't something that takes months to prepare for. It doesn't take the work of many to construct. When his plans are laid, they're not abandoned when the weather changes.

Instead, this God controls the weather. All responds to him. His are the everlasting ways. He doesn't just tolerate the nations, as Habakkuk has said, why do you tolerate this evil? This God measures the nations.

He takes inventory of them. Before him, the mighty quake. There's no hiding from him. He is glorious, and this is what Habakkuk wants his readers to see. This God has worked in history, and He's shown His glory.

Before moving here, Laura and I enjoyed visiting D.C. regularly. We found it then and still find it to be a fascinating city. In many ways, the city that we're in is a picture of our nation. Monuments are built memorializing our country's great leaders. Statues stand, noting major achievements, and others testify to some of the darker days in this country's history.

But this city is also a study in contrasts. There's some who have great power and more who have great need. Through this city, this nation's power is projected abroad. The buildings just miles from here that surround our very meeting location are symbols of this nation's influence. In some ways, you could say our city pictures the glory of this nation.

It's not perfect. I think the picture is real. Friends, for all this city represents at its best, the glory that surrounds us here is not worth comparing to the glory of the Lord. All of these things are but shadows. All of these things won't last.

The buildings of this city can't hold a candle to the Lord's glory when it comes. The power of this country may be projected abroad, but there it's often challenged and often mistaken. But when the Lord comes, no one will be able to stand before him. When he comes in glory, no one will mistake him. His glory is incomparable.

There is none like him. This God The God that Habakkuk is calling our attention to, He is great. He has shaken the heavens and He'll do it again. When's the last time you've considered the glory of the Lord? Passages like Psalm 8, Psalm 19, and then this passage, it helps us consider how the Lord works and how His works show us how great He is.

It's not just that the Lord works, it's that through His works He shows off Himself. He shows that He is glorious.

A famous passage to see this is Isaiah 6. Let me go read that this afternoon and consider what Isaiah saw. Also consider when Isaiah saw it.

Isaiah saw the glory of the Lord in a time of trial. Friend, it would be a tragedy if you were to spend your days surrounded by the earthly glories of this city or any city and neglect the great glory of the God testified to in the pages of this Bible. Kids, this is a great thing to ask your parents about. Ask them today, what makes this God so great? Friends, the glory of the Lord is a salve for a weary world.

You were made to glorify him. You were made to see his glory and contribute to it. And all these great signs for Habakkuk served to underscore one point, and that's the fact that this glorious God came. He came. The events of the exodus that Habakkuk has been recalling here can often seem settled to us.

We have the luxury of sitting in our place in history and knowing how the story turns out. But I wonder if you notice back in Exodus, If you identify with the experience of the Israelites, let's go ahead and turn back there. Turn back in your Bibles to Exodus 2. Turn over to Exodus 2.

And start, look there in verse 23.

This is Moses writes, who says, During Those days, those many days, the king of Egypt died and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. Here in Exodus, God's people were in bondage. The people groaned. You could say the wicked were triumphing over the righteous.

And like Habakkuk wondered many years later, how long would this go on? Was all hope lost for God's people who were in slavery in Egypt? Well, look there at verse 24 in Exodus 2. It says, and God heard their groaning.

And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel and God knew. Or as Habakkuk 3:3 put it, God came. God saw the afflictions of His people. He heard their cries and He came.

The glory of His coming was remarkable. He would stop at nothing to come to His people then, and He came to the Israelites, a real people in real places. Back in Habakkuk 3, you can go ahead and turn back there. We're going to be in Habakkuk the rest of our time. Look there in verse 3 that says, God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran.

And then look over at the end of this section in verse 7, it says, I saw the tents of Cushan and Affliction. The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. These are real places. These are places southwest of Jerusalem where God moved to rescue his people. This God came in history.

After hearing the cries of his people, he came to them. He came and he rescued them. He came and they saw wonderful things because he was with them. Now Habakkuk remembers this God. Who remembered His people.

Habakkuk had heard of a great army assembling to the north, but he looks to the one who's greater still, the one whose glory extends through the ages, who's shown His glory in history, who's responded to the call of His people in power at just the right time. This God, whose glorious power will fall on those who oppose him, taking us to point two. Point two, he came to judge. He came to judge. See that in verses 8 to 15.

After considering God's glory, Habakkuk turns to consider what the Lord came to do. He came in glory, but he came with a purpose. He came aimed at something. And there we see with Habakkuk that this Lord came to judge. And as he does, he shows that God's power is applied.

Let's look at verses 8 to 12. We'll kind of take this point in two sections. First, 8 to 12. Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers or your indignation against the sea when you rode on your horses or the chariot of your salvation?

You stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed. The raging waters swept on, the deep gave forth its voice. It lifted its hands on high.

The sun and moon stood still in their place. At the light of your arrows as they sped, at the flash of your glittering spear, you marched through the earth in fury. You threshed the nations. In anger. This striking imagery displays the power of the Lord in judgment.

When He comes with such power, the seemingly stable, as we considered last week, they'll fall. And as His glory shows, the foundations of the earth will shake as His power is concentrated on His foes. Those things that have been looked to for strength will be swept away. It's like Habakkuk here has been observing the majesty of a great waterfall from afar. Those big ones that are majestic.

But waterfalls are majestic because of their power. So if Habakkuk has been viewing the waterfall from afar, he now starts to consider, what's it like for the rocks? What's it like for those experiencing the torrent of God's judgment? What's it like when this majestic one comes and his power is concentrated? Whether by sea, land, or air, God's judgment will come.

In Habakkuk's day, like ours, many thought that by mastering the sea, they could control the world. They thought by building their fortresses on mountains that they couldn't be assailed. Or if all else failed, their false gods in the sky would deliver them. But when the Lord comes to judge, he peels away all these false gods and these vain attempts for glory. Those things that they sought to master would overcome them.

Habakkuk is still though referencing what has happened. The Lord has acted to judge. The waters have overwhelmed the world. First they did in the days of Noah. Later the waters took the Egyptians who pursued God's people.

Such great acts cause Habakkuk to ask, Was your wrath against the rivers? Like we thought about last week, this isn't just some peaceful and serene river. It's not the peaceful view of the sea, but it is the mighty torrent of God's judgment. The Lord's judgment were mighty and fearsome. Verse 9 here, some of you have noted, it's rather difficult to interpret and some translations vary, but I think the function is clear.

The Lord is judging the earth and he's judging it personally. All the world witnesses. Again, the mountains quake in verse 10, not now because of the Lord's glory, but they rock under God's judgment. The sun and moon stand still in verse 11 as the Lord delivers his judgment. Here is in verse 12, we should see that the Lord's judgment are coming through the hands of his people.

He shows his power by using all these. All his power is coming together. Like many armies unified, his power is seen as his power is concentrated. Then Habakkuk observes God's purpose in judgment. If we see his power, we also see his purpose.

He comes and he judges and he judges to secure the salvation of his people. Look at verses 13 to 15. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. You pierced with your own arrows the heads of his warriors who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret.

You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. Why did this God come? Why did he come to judge? Well, verse 13 says it, he came to judge for the salvation of his people. This is the other side to God's judgment.

When he comes to judge, his faithful ones will be saved. God's work of salvation isn't separate from his judgment. Instead, he secures salvation through judgment.

As he came to judge, he secures the salvation of his anointed ones. He vanquishes his foes. Surely here, as Habakkuk is recalling these things, the list is long. In Israel's history, the Lord has time and again conquered the strongest of opponents. He's taken down the strongest enemy.

What was Goliath before David? Who were the Canaanites? To oppose God's people. What was Pharaoh in all the might of Egypt? Friend, what are your enemies for this God?

God has secured the salvation of his people and he's done so by judging those who oppose them. He's done so by attacking the strongest point of God's enemies. He attacks the head. He attacks there the head of the wicked's house. That's the second part of verse 13.

For those with eyes to see it, these all were fateful reminders that God was keeping His promises. Friend, when all this enmity began, the things that Habakkuk is recounting here, when the wicked started to overcome the righteous, when it all began, it was back in Genesis 3. And there, And since then, this God, Yahweh, had been marching through the centuries showing that his promises would never return void. The head of the wicked would be vanquished. The head of the serpent may bruise the heel of the seed of Eve, but the promised one would crush his head.

In verses 14 and 15, notice how the Lord does this. The Lord conquers his foes by using their weapons against them.

The arrows aimed at his people are turned back on his enemies. The whirlwind came for God's people, but the whirlwind was reversed. God's enemies sowed the wind and they reaped the whirlwind, as another prophet says. Habakkuk sees that the Babylonians may be effective now, but they'll pass away as quickly as they came. Their pursuit is one of vanity.

Verse 15 shows that the Lord will stop at nothing to secure his plan. He disposes of the mighty waters. And as the mighty Egyptians pursued the people on their famous horses, the Lord overcame them with his torrent. His, the Lord's, was the greater chariot. The fearsome speed of Egypt rushed them right into God's flood.

Surely they were no match for this God. And if God had done all this, surely he would still save. His people. These past acts of judgment remind God's people that this God is still faithful to save. The glorious God comes to save his people through judgment.

And Habakkuk here trains his readers to trace these lines through the Bible. How do the lines of God's glory and his judgment converge? When he comes, as Habakkuk remembers, both are displayed. Remembering the Lord's work in history, Habakkuk sees these lines converging at various moments, and he trusted that they would again. And he was right.

As God's instrument, the Babylonians would come in all their glory to judge Judah. But not many years later, the Babylonian glory would soon turn into shame, and their power would fail. The Babylonian capital fell in 539 BC, not too many years after Habakkuk is saying these words. And the Babylonian capital fell without an arrow being loosed. It fell not through conquest, but through subversion.

Its leader was betrayed and his rule was subverted.

For a power once so mighty, the Babylonians' way wasn't the eternal way. The head was conquered and the house fell. Habakkuk hadn't seen the particulars of this. It was still a few years in the future. But he knew the pattern.

He knew how this God had worked in the past, and he was sure that by faith this God would work that way again. Habakkuk prophesied these things, but Habakkuk was also looking forward to something greater. There was still a greater act that Habakkuk hadn't seen but hoped for. There was a greater work ahead of God's coming in glory and in judgment. And it came during another time of national confusion.

The numbers of the faithful had seemingly dwindled. The once great kingdom wasn't in ruins, but it was occupied by a foreign army. Those that should have been leading God's people to faithfulness were instead enriching themselves by building alliances with their idolatrous occupiers. Even those supposedly dedicated to the worship of the one true God were in this day enveloped in duplicity. No prophet had arisen in centuries.

No prophet had arisen to point the people back to Yahweh. The nation of the faithful was in chaos. Had God forgotten them? Did He see? Would He come?

Brothers and sisters, I don't need to tell you but that yes, He would. This God would again come. This time he did come with a veiled glory that all history to that point had been pointing to. The heavens sprang into song and a baby's cry pierced the silence of the nation of Israel. God came as a man and God came again to save.

And his birth was only the beginning. Those closest to him would see his glory. They would see it in flashes. They would see it progressively. They would see it as it was veiled.

But those trained by faith to see would know that when this God comes, when those see his glory, he also comes to judge. How would he judge? How would the God-man, how would Jesus judge? When would he judge? Would he deliver his people and vanquish their enemies?

Will the world wait it? And the answer comes again, but this time it doesn't come in the conquest of an army or the toppling of an empire. Instead, the answer comes at the cross. It's there that God's glory and God's judgment meet most profoundly. The power and purpose of God's judgment would all converge on Jesus.

God's coming in judgment would be seen through the death of His Son. The entire earth would witness and stand as testimony. The sky again would be darkened. The earth again would shake. Water and blood would again flow.

You can go read of this. Go read the reports of this in Matthew 27 and Luke 23 this afternoon. But see this, all of history converged on this day. The day when the wicked finally seemed triumphant, the day when it seemed all hope was lost, the day when God, the Son, died. Then, as in Habakkuk's day, had the wicked really triumphed over the righteous?

Here, Habakkuk still trains our sight.

No. Then, as now, the wicked would not triumph. The wicked's arrows, God's enemies, forces would be turned back on his own head. The vicious weapon of the wicked foe would turn back. Even the great foe of God's people, death itself, would fail against this righteous one.

God's glory would be seen through the death of his son as he came out of the grave victorious. Though crucified, though buried, this righteous one lives. He crushed the head of the slithery serpent. He conquers the house of the wicked, and all can see it by faith. Do you see it?

Do you see this work of turning God's enemies against them? Remember this work. Such are the marvelous works that the Lord through Habakkuk helps us to see. Yes, this Habakkuk wasn't recalling this in the past, but Habakkuk reminds us, remember what the Lord has done, and this is the great work of the Lord. When the many would be counted righteous through one.

Habakkuk didn't know what was ahead of him, but Habakkuk reveals these patterns. God came again in glory and he came to judge. God came to be judged that many would be counted as righteous. And what's our response to such truths? Well, that brings us to our final point.

Point three, He comes to you. He comes to you. Look back at verse 2. I mentioned a moment ago that this really stands as the heading of the whole chapter. I want to consider it here briefly, and then we'll skip to the end of Habakkuk's prayer.

Look at verse 2. O Lord, I have heard the report of youf, and youd work, O Lord, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it, in the midst of the years make it known. In wrath remember mercy. Notice here Habakkuk's first response to the Lord is to ask him to renew this work, to renew this old work in a new generation.

He's heard the report of the Lord. And verse 2 sets up all that follows in chapter 3. And in it, it contains Habakkuk's request. He says, in summary, revive your work in this day and make others to know it. He pleads with God to be merciful when he comes to judge.

Habakkuk knows that the only hope God's people have, the only hope that he has, is for this God to be merciful. Habakkuk suffers no illusion. He knows that if God were only just, no one would live because no one is righteous without God. So he pleads for God to be merciful when he comes in wrath. And after remembering the coming of the Lord in glory and judgment that we've just worked through Habakkuk ends the prayer by considering his and the people's situation again.

Look, skip over to verse 16. And I'll read through the end. And back it concludes, I hear and my body trembles, my lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones, my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us, though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food.

The flock be cut off from the folds and there be no hurt in the stalls. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the deers.

He makes me tread on my high places to the choir master with stringed instruments. Initially here, Habakkuk's response is one of fear. Habakkuk's body there in verse 16, it trembles. He's overcome. He's grieved as death itself seems to draw near.

That's what it's after there when it says, Rottenness enters his bones. Considering the work of the Lord does not puff Habakkuk up, he's not fueled with self-righteousness, at first, He's not brimming with confidence and satisfaction. Habakkuk's scared. I wonder how does considering the Lord's judgment strike you? We don't know what happened to Habakkuk.

We don't know if he did see the Babylonians come. Was he taken captive or worse? We simply don't know. But what Habakkuk did know is that he would encounter the Lord in judgment. The coming of the Babylonians was a picture of the judgment of the Lord, and that's what made him quake.

Habakkuk and you would face God personally. Have you considered the case that this God has against you? Have you considered what he requires of you?

Let Habakkuk serve as a warning for you. Soon, God will come to judge. He'll come to judge all. He'll come to judge you. Are you ready to meet him?

If you have questions about how to be ready or what that looks like, what it looks like to have the faith that we've already sung about and prayed through this morning, you can come talk to me. I'll be at this door after the conclusion of the service. Talk to any of us at the doors. Talk to a friend sitting next to you.

But think on what it means to meet this God who comes in glory and judgment. Friends, Habakkuk feared the Lord's judgment and Habakkuk had faith. Here Habakkuk, I think, captures attention many of us navigate in this life. For some, you're weighed down. Your burden is heavy.

You know God and you know that he is holy, but that often causes you to fear. And seeing him as holy, you're acutely aware that you're not. Each day you live causes you to see new ways that you've offended God. Yours may be the words echoed from Paul in Romans 7 where he says, Wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death? Maybe you've beheld the Lord, but you still sin.

And you know God's judgment is coming. You know he's glorious, but you struggle to see him as merciful. For those weary under such loads, keep looking to the Lord. Habakkuk can help. Habakkuk fears the Lord, and yet his faith produces a resolve.

In the second half of verse 16, he shows it. He says, Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. Though he fears the Lord, He knows the day of trouble will come on God's enemies. His belief of the Lord causes him to await that day with a quiet confidence. And that resolve, that quiet confidence, that's the fruit of faith.

It may seem hard to come by most days, but Habakkuk's prayer is an exercise in cultivating this confidence. And did you notice how he does that? Habakkuk's not looking inside himself. He's not looking to examine his own faith as if somehow his faith could be entangled or unattached from this God that he's just been worshiping. He's not looking inside himself to see that if he has enough faith to endure, rather Habakkuk is looking to the works of God in history to strengthen his resolve.

Habakkuk's not entrusting himself to others here. Remember that the judgment God will bring will begin with God's people, and then it will extend to the Babylonians. Habakkuk's confidence is not in what others have said, but in what God has revealed. I think here, too, is a danger for us to avoid. Oftentimes when trials come, we can take a number of things for granted.

And we can easily take for granted our pursuit of the Lord. Instead, we may rely on someone else's answers. It is good. It's good and right to seek counsel. Many of you do this when you're struggling, and that's a good thing.

I only want to encourage that. But I just want to flag for you a subtlety. Sometimes it can be tempting to just trust the answers of others and not to work things out ourselves. In these times, the temptation can be to find your satisfactions, satisfaction, excuse me, in the answer of others and not labor to work things out personally before the Lord. That's the task of you, Christian.

That's the task of faith. You will one day meet God on your own. He'll come to you. Make sure you're working things out before him now. This is kind of like being told food is good versus tasting the food for yourself.

You can tell me all about the recipe that you make and how good it is, but just know until I taste that, your words only get so far. I want to taste the recipe. I want to feast on the substance. The same is true with the matters of the Lord. You can only trust others but so much.

The Lord has given you his word and there this feast awaits. You may need some help getting started but the Lord consistently meets his people through his word. That's what Habakkuk has been recounting. How did he hear of these great things? Well the Lord wrote them down.

The Lord wrote them in a book. Take it and read it, consume it. This book will change your life. He comes to you in his word. The rest of the passage, Habakkuk recounts, is the fruit of this faith amidst fear.

Though the once-plentious land would lay waste, Habakkuk rejoices in the Lord. He rejoices in the wasteland because his hope is secure. That's because the joy that Habakkuk has is not in the land, but it's in the Lord. That's the joy of faith. You see, in remembering all the works of the Lord, Habakkuk hasn't just been reminding himself and us of what God did.

He's been reminding us of who God is. He's the one who makes the weak strong because he is strong. He saves because he is merciful. He makes the people walk safe and secure like the deer because he loves them. He's always loved them.

And he always will. He loves to provide good things for them and he will come to them. Brothers and sisters, this is the God that you serve. There's no trial that you face in this life that the Lord doesn't see you through, that the Lord doesn't hear from you in. He comes to you.

He draws near to you. He draws near in your time of need. And he often does so through his people. The presence of other believers in your life is a rich testimony that God cares for you. They may let you down and well that's kind of the point.

They're not the substance. As for all the good that we do to one another, our goal in this life is simply to point one another to the banquet, to the Lord himself. We let each other down, we need to bear with one another, we need to forgive one another, we need to forbear, But all of this, every little thing, points us to this God who in Him is our delight. This God really does draw near, and we see Him with the eyes of faith now. Like Habakkuk, we take joy in the Lord who is our strength.

We rejoice in the God who comes to us. Well, in this is how the book of Habakkuk ends. I wonder if maybe you're still left in attention. Has the book of Habakkuk really answered the question it presents? The question of how can God allow evil to triumph over the good?

Well friends, I think it depends on what answer you're looking for. There is, in a sense, the answer to that question is no. The book of Habakkuk doesn't answer that question. It doesn't give us a simple answer that satisfies all our curiosities. But then again, the God of the Bible doesn't typically accommodate himself to the speculative curiosities of his creatures.

In another way, though, the book of Habakkuk gives us a profound answer to that question. Considering this question with Habakkuk, takes us to the heart of the matter. The answer to the question, the question that we all ask, is found in God himself. Habakkuk begins by pursuing an answer, and he's left rejoicing in God. It's not that Habakkuk was a fool.

It's that Habakkuk was given faith. And he does this not because of His curiosity was satisfied. Habakkuk doesn't rejoice because he felt like all his questions were answered, but Habakkuk rejoices because this God came. Habakkuk cried out and the Lord drew near. And there lies the answer to the question.

We may not have tidy answers to all the questions of this life, but brother, sister, we do have everything we need. The tension of God's goodness, His glory, and his judgment meets at the cross. That's where we find resolution to this tension. There, and that is the darkest day in all of human history. And there, on that hill, is where God came, where he came and was judged.

And how these matters meet at the cross, that is the question that divides humanity. For some, the cross is a stumbling block. But for others, there you see the power of God. There you see God's glory. There you know God came to you.

You see Him by faith, and through faith your sins are atoned for. They're wiped away. He has come near and He has cleansed you. And it's not that you won't face hard questions in this life because of your faith. Sometimes this faith will bring on more questions, but understand but you'll understand in all of these things more of the purposes of the Lord.

You'll press on with clarity, the clarity that you need to carry on. You'll press on with the eyes of faith to understand more of this God who is glorious. You'll endure what comes with hope. You, like Habakkuk, will rejoice in the Lord who is your strength. It's not just that he gives strength, he is strength.

With Him, you can face all trials. Rejoice knowing that this God came and He will come again. He'll come in glory. He'll come to judge and He'll come to you. The stories that we tell do define us, but no story save this one have the power we need to strengthen us to endure all this life throws at us.

The power to live in this way comes from the author of history. Remember Him often and remember that He comes. Let's pray.

Our Father in heaven, we praise you, the one who comes to your weary people. Lord, you have given us all that we need We have no lack because youe have filled us. So help us to look to youo with the eyes of Habakkuk, with the eyes of faith, to see and know that yout are a God who's near. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.