26th July 2026 : Habakkuk ch 3 v 1 - 19

Habakkuk ch 3 v 1 - 19

It's a reading from Habakkuk and it's chapter 3, 1 to 19.

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. God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran.

His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his 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 anger against the rivers, was your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, your chariots of salvation? Your bow was made quite ready. Oaths were sworn over your arrows.

You divided the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered its voice and lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. At the light of your arrows they went, at the shining of your glittering spear. You marched through the land in indignation. You trampled the nations in anger. 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.

You thrust through with his own arrows, the head of his villages. They came out like a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. You walked through the sea with your horses, through the heap of great waters. When I heard, my body trembled, my lips quivered at the voice. Rottenness entered my bones, and I remembered 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.

Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food, though the flock may be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will 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.

To the chief musician with my stringed instruments.

God bless you. Before we look at the word, let's just invite the Lord to bless it all over again for us.

Lord, you caused the word. You inspired the word. It's your word written down. Lord, now may your word enter in a living way, enter into our flesh, enter into our heart and mind. Speak in a way that I can't speak, Lord. Make your word come alive in that way which only you can, considering those points that are on your heart for us. And Lord, speak to those people you've got your hand on in a special way this morning. If there's anyone in this room, Lord, that needs the comfort and the reminder that God's love is eternal and that the door is open and no one can shut it. Lord in Jesus name let them be so convinced and Lord let them be led into the comfort of your word and the testimony of your Holy Spirit in Jesus name. Amen

It's really at the bit at the end of this that it's one of those great passages of the Bible that's often preached. In fact, chapter 3 is one of those great prayers of the Bible. If you focus or do a study on the great prayers of the Bible, you probably go to 2 (correction: should be 1) Samuel chapter 1, that's a good stopping off place, isn't it? The prayer of Hannah. And then you might go to Mary, they call it the Magnificat, don't they, the song of Mary, but you can call it a prayer, but she sang it. And actually this prayer, the one of Habakkuk, chapter 3, he sang it as well. In fact, he was singing in the spirit as he did so.

How do I know that? There are two things in there actually. People don't often really focus on. That last bit at the end, Margaret said to me before, shall I read it out? That bit at the end, you know, the piece where it says to the chief musician with my stringed instruments. And I said, oh yes, read it out. Because that's a clue, isn't it? Why would you give something to a musician with stringed instruments unless you intend it to be sung? Not rocket science.

But then there's other clues in there as well and people don't read these. It's in my Bible, it might not be in yours. Three times you'll see a little word that you usually find in the Psalms. After verse 3, there's a pause. It's what they call a musical pause and it says selah. Just the same again after verse 9 and after verse 13. Just pause and be at peace.

The gaps in music are very often as important as the notes, aren't they? Otherwise you wouldn't have the style and the passion and the peace. It's the same with the Bible. The Psalms are meant to be so, and this prayer was actually somebody who was so inspired to pray and as he prayed, he told out the wonders and the glories of God. But he did so in a way which is what we call praying in the spirit. And that's not just praying in tongues, it's praying with your mind as well. You remember that verse, don't you, in the New Testament, 1 Corinthians 14, 15. There's Saint Paul writing to the church says, I'll pray in songs, I'll pray with my spirit, yes, but I'll pray with my mind as well.

So you've got the two kind of in tandem with each other and supporting one another and discerning what is of the Spirit and what isn't. And when you come to this great prayer of Habakkuk, try and imagine yourself singing it. I mean, I don't know how we'd have a go at this if we did try it. How do you sing psalms?

Well, a little bit of testimony there. When I first became a Christian, you know, I was really blessed because I belonged to quite a good church at the time. In fact, there were two or three churches in the same area that were quite strong. And they'd meet together for prayer sometimes and do some testimony and evangelism on the market square and just get together. But if you went into, there was a guy called Jim Harper and we used to go into his house before going out on the square and everybody would crowd in there and pray, you know, sort of people from different fellowships. But they'd all pray with their mind. Kind of stuff you'd expect, Lord bless us today, Lord stretch out your hands today, all that stuff. And then there'd be a pause.

And it's usually begun with the ladies and I can't do it because I can't sing soprano, no surprise. And there'd be just kind of a little chant or a, I don't know how to describe it. Like a warming up exercise for an opera singer. You ever heard them doing that? And they just stretch their voice. Only they were very gentle with it. And then the blokes came in and a couple of them just spoke, inspired and others spoke in tongues and without being invited, somebody would interpret it. And it just carried on until there was another pause. And then you knew it was over. It was time to stop.

And they said, right, let's go to the market square. We're all full of it. We get there and get the usual response, which more typically was get lost, you lot, that kind of stuff. We didn't mind because it was the testimony of the Lord. But I was blessed because there's only been a Christian a very short time and I heard all this and it was kind of educational for me.

But it's When we pray in the Spirit, you'll tell out the wonders and the glories of God. And this can be confirmed in other scriptures. What happened in the day of Pentecost, people heard in their own language the wonders and the glories of God. And when they heard that in their own language, they ran to see what it was all about and inquired, what's this? What's going on here? It's very powerful. They were praying with their mind as well. They knew what they were doing, not in some kind of trance.

But coming away from that, because I'm getting way ahead of myself, it's a great passage of scripture that people often refer to because of the last few verses where Habakkuk gets to the conclusion of the piece and he says, no matter what happens, I'm going to worship the Lord. He says, whether there's cattle in the stalls or not, whether there's grapes on the vine or not, whether there's olives or not. I will still worship the Lord. He is my strength. I will joy in the God of my salvation.

And when you look at something like that, you've got to investigate, haven't you? How did he get there from where he was at the beginning? That's more homework for you. There's only three chapters. So during this afternoon, you might take 20 minutes and you might take 3 hours. It depends whether the Lord gets hold of you or not. And you start at chapter one, you'll see there that Habakkuk complains against all that's going on around him. He's having a moan at God.

Do you ever do that? Don't bother to reply. I know. I know what it's like. And there he was. How can you stand it, Lord? Can't you see what's going on around us, Lord? Haven't you seen the violence, Lord? What are you going to do about it, Lord? I've been praying, Lord, and I can't see anything happening, Lord. And that's where you'll find him in chapter one. Different to how you find him at the end, isn't it? What happened? Well, God didn't rebuke him. God answered him.

In fact, the first two chapters are two complaints, not one, and then each one gets an answer. So there's two complaints, 2 answers, and at the end, one prayer. Two complaints, two answers, but one prayer. Oh the Lord was guiding him to that wonderful experience of trusting in God and being at peace with God regardless of what was going on around him. What was going on around him? What was the violence? What was the things he thought God couldn't see? They were in bondage to the Assyrians. They'd been in bondage for 100 years.

Do you know something, beloved? It's peculiar, but when people go into bondage especially for quite a while, they've become accustomed to it. What you call being institutionalized, really. Comfortable is perhaps a better word. The alcoholic who is in bondage to their addiction reaches for the bottle to find comfort. The drug addict reaches out for another fix to find comfort. Not because they like it, not because they don't know where they're heading or what it will mean. It's comfort that they're looking for. The compulsive shopper, you know, got some bargains today, you know, and people think that's quite innocent, but actually it can be quite a problem.

And there's all sorts and forms of these different troubles that people come into and God wants to free them from. This was quite serious. They'd been in bondage to the Assyrian Empire and although there'd been prophecies against those people because of their cruelty, they were still waiting for the answer. Is there an answer that you're waiting for today? This is someone in the room that's been praying. I've been waiting so long God, can't you say? Don't you know? Haven't you heard me praying? Why not now? Why, it worked? Why not like that?

Yeah. Usually nothing happens when I click my finger button anyway. Not much friction there. People do that. They call out to the Lord, why haven't you heard me? And that's the first complaint. There's about four verses. And then you get to verse 5 in chapter 1 where God begins to answer the prophet and he says, oh, you think I haven't been listening, have you? You think I can't hear you? You think I'm not doing anything? In verse 5, he says, Behold, I am doing a work in these days that you would not believe even if somebody told you, even if it was explained to you. I'm not idle, I'm not unaware, I'm not powerless, and I can see quite clearly, and I know what I'm doing, and I'm in control.

And that was God's answer to him. In fact, he expanded on that answer and said, I'm going to punish the Assyrians, their time is almost up. I believe Habakkuk saw the end of the Assyrian Empire. Very difficult to date him, not much is known about him. But he's quoted a lot in the New Testament. You go to Habakkuk chapter 2 verse 4, what does it say? It says, the just shall live by faith. That's how you're living, isn't it, at the moment? Somebody say yes.

But that's quoted in the New Testament several times, Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, the just shall live by their faith. So regardless of what's going on around them, this is what God was saying, and to him, regardless of what you can see and hear now, regardless of that, as a just and righteous man and a prophet called of God, you shall live by faith and continue like that until the end. That's for you, regardless of what you can see.

And that was God's answer to him. And you wouldn't believe the things I've begun to do in your own age and in your own lifetime. And what God was going to do is to bring the Babylonians and punish the Assyrians, which he did. The Assyrians never rose again, not throughout history. But there was only one problem. In that answer, God said, I'm going to punish Judah as well. That's God's people. You know, not used to hearing now. Do you know what that is true from scripture? God never ignores sin. If you confess it, he forgives you. If you try and hide it, he can see it. And if you try and manipulate with it, or rationalize it and make it okay He knows it, but he never ignores sin.

And what he was doing with his covenant people was disciplining, disciplining, if I can say it. Just like Jesus said when he said, John 15, he said, this branch might be broken off, off the vine and taken away and pruned and tended and then brought back at some time and grafted in. And that's what the exile of the Jews was. God took them away because their worship had become corrupt. They'd broken covenant with him. They were living in sin and they were okay with it. They were as comfortable with that as they had been in the bondage that they had been in.

And God spoke of these things to the prophet Habakkuk. And when he heard it, he was shocked. Far be it for the Lord to take people to punish those who are more righteous than they are, even though they're in sin. In other words, I know they're all sinners, but they're not so bad, are they? Why take those sinners to punish those sinners? Surely God won't do that. And God said, I will, I am. And he did. When the Babylonians came, you remember all that about Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel, in the books of Kings? He did. He did exactly as he said.

And when Habakkuk heard that, he was shocked. Now, if God revealed to you today, beloved, what he's going to do in Leigh and Wigan and the Northwest in the future, maybe in a short time, maybe in a long time, and if he revealed to you he's actually heard your prayers, if he revealed to you today that your own personal private affairs are governed by the grace of God and he knows all about them, and though you wait and you agonise and you question and you, like him, you come and you complain, why haven't you, why haven't you done anything yet?

Only if God was to explain and say, I'll show you what I'm going to do. And I do that sometimes. I pray like that. Do you? Open my eyes, Lord, so that I can see what I can't see now. And he will envision you. He did with Habakkuk. Why not you? Open my ears so I can hear the joyful things and not just the other stuff. Surround me with the fellowship of God's people. God will hear those prayers. He didn't rebuke this prophet for complaining

But when he heard those things, he was shocked and in chapter 2, he complained again. Complained again and God answered him again. And then when he saw the extent to which and the power with which God is actually in control and governs all things and works in his own time, he came to this place of peace. Like Jesus promised, remember John 14 verse 27, Jesus said to his disciples, My peace I leave with you. Not like the world gives, cheap grace, no. My peace I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. This is God's word for you.

And that's what Jesus said. And it's really an echo of what God said to Habakkuk. And he came to this place where he just came to a place of peace with God. He knew what he wasn't wrong about what he could see. He wasn't wrong about the way he felt about it. He wasn't wrong to tell God about it. And neither will you be. But he came to a place where he was at peace with God and he began to pray in the spirit. And it was a song. He actually sang this stuff.

I'm not going to try and sing it to you. No. But he came to this great conclusion, which is, even if, even if the fig tree does not blossom, even if the fruit is not on the vines, the labour of the olive might fail and the fields yield no food. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, there is no herd in the stalls. Yet I will still rejoice in the Lord, in the joy of my salvation for he is my strength. I will walk like a deer on my high places.

You ever seen a deer? The way they walk is very tentatively, isn't it? You know, I don't think I could do that unless God bless me, I do it. The way they walk is as though they're feeling the way all the time, very carefully. Is that the way you're walking at the moment, beloved? Very carefully, with sensitivity, discerning where the Spirit is leading you and not where all the temptations and the other stuff are leaving you.

And has God answered your prayers yet? Or are the heartfelt prayers you think, I wonder what's happened. I wonder what's gone wrong. Maybe you condemn yourself. You say maybe I'm no good as a Christian and that's why I'm waiting and nothing's happened. Come to that place where God is, at peace, in complete control. And give it to the chief musician and praise your way through it. Okay, praise your way out of it.

You know, depression used to be a favourite companion of mine and I'd go two weeks without going out the house. Years and years ago, hallelujah, I'm not going to talk about that. But you know, when I find myself tempted in that direction now, I just start to sing within myself. Praise my way through it. and pray. Come to the same place as the prophet and that place is a place for you. God has a place for you and it's a place of peace and fellowship, the anointing of the Holy Spirit to lead you into an experience which is different to what you've seen.

Let's just pray together. Lord in Jesus precious name I believe there are folks in this room who have been agonizing, waiting, concerned, maybe even folks who are in a comfortable situation with things that you don't want them to be comfortable with. Lord, however you're speaking to people today, I just pray that you lead them out of it as you led this man and that Lord, even in their confusion and disarray, that Lord, you'd lead them to that place of peace which is only in the fellowship of your Holy Spirit and only as we live and walk and move and give ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, bring us to the throne of grace afresh and refresh your people. In Jesus' precious name. Amen.