Pastor's Notes:

Can you remember one of the first Sunday School songs you learned? Back in Janesville, Wisconsin one of the first songs I remember was, “Jesus Loves Me”. My Mom sang it with me. I also remember my mom teaching me the Lord’s Prayer when I was 4 or 5. I still have memories of asking her what the word, “hallowed” meant? I mean, that’s a ginormous word for a kid - “hallowed.” But she was patient and would explain it.

A few years later, when I was walking down the alley to do my paper route for the good old Waterloo Courier I ran into something that freaked me out. It was Sunday morning and I had to get up real early to get all 74 papers delivered. I walked down the alley to start my route and I didn’t notice it until I almost stepped on it. I looked down and there was a bat. And the bat was looking up at me. I don’t know if it was because it surprised me or because I had the fear of vampires (I would sleep with the blankets over my head so Dracula couldn’t bite my neck. Electric blankets are as good as holy water) But when I looked down at the bat, it looked up at me, opened it’s mouth full of sharp pointy teeth and said, “ScrEeCH!!” I ran. I ran fast, yelling my head off and when I got in the house you know what I did? I prayed the Lord’s Prayer.

It was just a bat. I know. But it freaked me out. It scared me. I wanted to run. Believe me, there were other times that I wanted to run when I was growing up. There were other times that I was very afraid, but it wasn’t of make believe monsters it was of very real, frightening situations at home. And I prayed the Lord’s Prayer a lot during those times and I sang Jesus Loves Me too. Whether under a blanket or in a closet or behind the couch or in time out, that prayer and song were words of faith and comfort.

           Thank God for my Mom who taught me that prayer and that song.  A prayer and a song to rely on when things got scary. A prayer and a song to make me look up to God. Habakkuk 3 is that kind of prayer and song. Like many moms and dads that love God, Habakkuk is preparing a way for generations that follow God to have faith even though it looks dark and tragic. Habakkuk 3:1-2, A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, on Shigionoth. O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; O LORD revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy.

 Prayer in the temple was central in the Old Testament. Over and over again we see God answering prayer that was offered in the temple. Habakkuk is telling us this is a song that’s to be rehearsed and drilled just as much as we know Amazing Grace, How Great Thou Art, I Love You Lord.

Habakkuk wants us to remember this song and prayer. But it says here, O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid; He was afraid. Afraid of what God is going to bring. Look how he responds after He says He’s afraid, O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it know; In wrath remember mercy.

A long time ago, the king of Hungary was depressed and unhappy. He called for his brother who was a good-natured but pretty indifferent prince. The king said to him, "I am a great sinner; I am afraid to meet God." But the prince only laughed at him. This didn’t help the king’s mood at all. Even though he was a believer, the king had gotten a glimpse of guilt for the way he’d been living lately, and he really wanted help.

In those days it was the custom that if the executioner sounded a trumpet outside your door at any hour, it was a signal that you were to be led to your execution. The king sent the executioner in the dead of night to blow the trumpet at his brother’s door. The prince realized with horror what was going on. He stepped to the door and was grabbed by the executioner, and dragged pale and trembling to the king. In pure terror he fell on his knees before his brother and begged to know what he had done. "My brother," answered the king, "if the sight of a human executioner is so terrible to you, shouldn‘t I, having deeply offended God, fear to be brought before the judgment seat of Christ?" You see, fear can be a sign of faith. That is what Habakkuk had before God and His coming judgment.

Right now Habakkuk is pleading with God to help His people know how to survive the trials coming down the road. Habakkuk quickly realizes that it is only the undeserved mercy of God that will sustain us. “In wrath remember mercy.”  Mercy is what His people need. His own people have oppressed the righteous and the poor. His own people have corrupted His law. There is no fair trial. There is no justice in Israel. And now God is coming with judgment in the form of Nebuchadrezzar and the cruel Babylonian army. It is coming soon and Habakkuk pleads for mercy.
            What is so interesting about this last chapter of Habakkuk is that it reminds me of the photo collage of the mission trip the youth group have been putting together. It is a collage of images from the past that have a very real impact on the future. Habakkuk here has a collage of God’s interventions in history of the past - and the future. Pictures of God showing Himself in all that He has done and will do. And this is a basis of faith as Habakkuk prays and waits. But some of us have given up praying God will never move.

            Years ago a hydroelectric dam was to be built across a valley in Maine. The people in the town were to be relocated and the town itself submerged. During the time between the initial decision and the completion of the dam, the town, which had once been well-kept, fell into disrepair. Why keep it up now? Explained one resident: "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no work in the present." But Habakkuk knew there was a future and he prays.

Habakkuk 3:3-8, God came from Teman, The Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, And the earth was full of praise. His brightness was like the light; He had rays flashing from His hand, And there His power was hidden. Before Him went pestilence, And fever followed at His feet. He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations. And the everlasting mountains were scattered, The perpetual hills bowed. His ways are everlasting. I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; The curtains of the land of Midian trembled. O LORD, were You displeased with the rivers, Was Your wrath against the sea, That You rode on Your horses, Your chariots of salvation?

Habakkuk is showing that God is coming in all His glory. And He will affect everything - from nations to nature. Habakkuk brings up Israel’s past as a way of anticipating God’s intervention in the future. Several years ago, Johnny Carson had Billy Graham as a guest on The Tonight Show. At one point in the conversation Johnny said, “You know what, Billy? I bet if Jesus ever came back to earth, we’d do Him in again!” Billy Graham leaned forward in his seat, and said, “In the Bible we read that Jesus WILL someday return to earth again. The first time He came in love. The next time, He’ll come in power. And no one will do Him in!” What God has done in the past are anticipations of the final glory of God when Christ comes again.

In verse 8 Habakkuk introduces salvation along with judgment. God’s, “chariots of salvation.” The chariot at that time was the fastest way of getting something somewhere. God’s salvation was going to come and come fast. But was it fast enough? It was a big step of faith for Habakkuk to expect salvation despite this coming devastation. Jesus told his disciples and us that things would get tougher and worse more and more as the end comes nearer, (Matthew 24:3, 7-9) Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”…For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake.

The 1989 Armenian earthquake needed only four minutes to flatten the country and kill thirty thousand people. Right after the quake stopped, a father raced to an elementary school to save his son. When he got there, he saw the building had been flattened. Looking at all the stones and rubble, he remembered a promise he had made to his son: “No matter what happens, I’ll always be there for you.” Driven, he found the area closest to his son’s room and began to pull back the rocks. Other parents started arriving and began weeping for their children. “It’s too late,” they told the man. “You know they’re dead. You can’t help.” Even a police officer urged him to give up. But the dad refused. For eight hours, sixteen hours, thirty-two hours, then thirty-six hours he dug. His hands were raw - his energy gone, but he refused to quit. Finally, after thirty-eight wrenching hours, he pulled back a boulder and heard his son’s voice. He called his son’s name, “Arman! Arman!” A voice answered him, “Dad, it’s me!” Then the boy said these priceless words, “I told the other kids not to worry. I told them if you were alive, you’d save me, and when you saved me, they’d be saved, too. Because you promised, ‘No matter what, I’ll always be there for you.’”” No matter what God is here for you and he’s coming. He’s getting ready and He’s behind all the changes you see around you, (Matthew 24: 9-12) Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another. Then many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

All the signs of the times around us (false leaders and teachers offering Christ-less hope, earthquakes, increased persecution of Christians around the world, a weak and anemic judicial system) are all part of God’s purpose and redemption plan. You see, God’s big picture is not for you to be comfortable, secure and cocooned within your home and careers. His purpose and intent has been and always will be to bring salvation! When will we make that something between our eyes rather than something in the back of our minds? The traitor’s kiss, the arrest, the mocking, the beating, the scourging, the crown of thorns, the nails, the cross, the death of God’s only Son. Jesus Christ’s ultimate plan was to save us from our enemies of sin and death. (Habakkuk 3:13) You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your Anointed.

But Habakkuk is forced to set his hopes on a future, more perfect anointed one because the kings of Israel at that time were wicked, cruel and oppressive. Definitely not leaders - but users. And the wicked king of Babylon is part of the problem (Habakkuk 3:13-15) You went forth for the salvation of Your people, For salvation with Your Anointed. You struck the head from the house of the wicked, By laying bare from foundation to neck. Selah. You thrust through with his own arrows. The head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter; Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. You walked through the sea with Your horses, Through the heap of great waters.

In the midst of all this fierce wrath and judgment Habakkuk responds. Let me ask you, do you remember as a kid when Dad would call your name when you were in trouble? Or maybe you remember his voice when there was just trouble? How did you feel? What did you do? Bite your nails? Say a prayer? Pace the floor? Freeze up? What traumatizes Habakkuk specifically is God’s voice. (Habakkuk 3:16) When I heard, my body trembled; My lips quivered at the voice; Rottenness entered my bones; And I trembled in myself, That I might rest in the day of trouble. When he comes up to the people, He will invade them with his troops.

This just isn’t dramatic language. Habakkuk is having an actual physical experience. Body trembling, voice quivering, weakness in his bones - he trembled and was speechless. Listen to Psalm 29 (Psalm 29:3-5, 7-9). The voice of the LORD is over the waters; The God of glory thunders; The LORD is over many waters; The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars, Yes, the LORD splinters the cedars of Lebanon…The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; The LORD shakes the Wilderness of Kadesh. The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth, And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everyone says, “Glory!”

Jesus reacted to God’s judgment as well. Remember Gethsemane where Jesus prayed? Jesus was greatly troubled because of the coming judgment. His sweat was like drops of blood. He felt crushed under the judgment. So Habakkuk is feeling the same. His response to all this when he can finally get unshocked is realistic and hopeful too. (Habakkuk 3:17-19) Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though labor of the olives may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no heard in the stalls – Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will take joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, And He will make me walk on my high hills.  He knows that the choice crops will be gone. He knows the necessities of life will disappear. But God’s mercies extend to His people past material losses.

          A Sunday school teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible: Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the chapter. Little Rick was excited about the task, but he just couldn’t remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Rickey was very nervous. When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd, and that’s all I need to know."

That’s really all that we need to know. God’s grace will endure. And Habakkuk rejoices in the essence of who God is. That despite all losses he still has his faith in the Almighty. So how can he do it? How can Habakkuk go from complaining and provoking to rejoicing despite the coming devastation?  When I was selling books door to door in Maryland during college I received bad news that my grandmother was diagnosed with leukemia. My grandmother was one of the few sources of spiritual strength and encouragement I had. She helped me understand some rough things in my life. However, when I heard that she had cancer I immediately thought, “I am going to lose her. I will lose that pillar of faith that helped keep my life up.” But it was then, that I also realized that I couldn’t keep on counting on Grandma’s faith. I needed that faith myself and it drove me to my knees in repentance - asking Jesus to be my Lord and Savior.

            And Habakkuk can also say, “The Lord God is my strength. The Lord God is my God.” You must own your faith! You must own the words that you repeat week after week here at church in prayer and song. The Doxology - what is that? What’s the first line? “Praise God from whom all blessings flow,” It is from His hand that we receive all things. What’s the opening phrase to the Lord’s prayer? “Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be Thy Name,” Hallowed - Honored, holy, wonderful is the Name of God!

           Listen, God can’t restore life if you are not willing to own it and dare to believe again. It takes a living faith, a faith that is not just attendance and doing your duty but a faith that is from the heart and soul and lifeblood of who you are in Jesus Christ.

Some of you right now need to take His Word, His Song and His prayer and apply that to something devastating that happened when you were a child. And some of you have to crucify and devastate that pride and come to Him with childlike faith and pray, “Forgive us our debts…“ You need to sing, “Jesus Loves Me.” Love Him now, worship Him now like He is your God and your strength. That takes faith. And if you have faith not only will you say to the mountain, “Move” but you will climb that mountain!