In this book, the prophet Habakkuk sees the advancing of evil and darkness and cries out to God for understanding. It is often difficult for Christians to reconcile tragic events or the rise of evil with the sovereign, perfect plan of God. We hear about or experience the dominating power of the wicked and wonder if God is looking, working to defeat the wicked, or if He is even there at all. Accordingly, we often struggle to reconcile God’s omnipotence and His sovereignty with our experiences. While we know God is good and sovereign, that He hates the works of darkness, and that He is omnipotent, we often wonder why He does not spring to action. Habakkuk teaches us that we can “rejoice in the Lord,” for He will deal with the wicked in His own way in His own time. 

Okay, so open your Bibles to the book of Habakkuk. This book has only three chapters, but before we talk about it let me pray. Oh Father, I thank you for the way you declare your majesty through history, the way that you explain yourself as the years pass by, as the nations come and go, as the peoples of one generation pass and another rises up. Thank you, Lord, for your control of history. We appraise you for your majesty.

And now as we look at Habakkuk that you would show us your glory again. Amen. So Habakkuk has a singular message. I've summarized that message in one three-letter word, why. And what's happening in Habakkuk is that he's seeing the advancing darkness around him and he cries out to God for understanding.

And he asks why and how long. Those are two questions that we often ask when there's trouble upon us. And it is true that it can be difficult for Christians to reconcile what's happening in the moment of their life with the overall plan of God and not to see the plan of God in the midst of the clouds and the smoke and the fire of that thing that is happening. What happens to us is that we see or we experience the dominating power of the wicked, and we wonder if God is looking. We wonder if he's doing anything.

We wonder if he's even there at all. This is what people do. And Habakkuk, this godly man, experiences a moment like that, And he asks why God is doing what he's doing. And we have a difficulty reconciling the omnipotence of God and his sovereignty with our experience. We look at what's happening and we wonder how could God be sovereign over this?

And we know he's omnipotent, but we wonder why he doesn't spring to action. And this is why Habakkuk was disturbed. And so he's asking why. And I think many of us have asked the same thing many times about what's going on in our culture. You know, how many times have we gathered together and prayed as a church?

And really the cry of our hearts is, why Lord, why does abortion continue? Why don't you stop the carnage? Millions have been slaughtered, Lord. Why? Why?

Why do you let injustice like that rule? I mean we are in the midst of the greatest genocide that has happened in America And you know that's why we say we ask why. You know with this recent Supreme Court decision and the different things that have happened in the months preceding it and the days after it we've seen a lot of crazy things like there was a bakery in the Northeast that was fined a hundred and thirty five thousand dollars by a judge for one reason. They refused to bake a cake. That was their crime.

They didn't bake a cake. That was the crime. I mean, how do you get yourself inside the head of a judge that would do such a thing? You know, before that, there was a major technology company by the name of Mozilla who fired their CEO because someone found out that years before he'd made a $1, 000 donation to the marriage campaign Proposition 8 in California. He never wrote a thing about it, he never spoke a thing about it, but he made a donation of $1, 000.

I think it was five or eight years before, But somebody found out and he was shouted down and he's no longer the CEO of Mozilla. Right here close by down in Atlanta, a fire chief was fired. I mean, this is a fire chief of the city of Atlanta. He's a Christian. He wrote a book about sexuality, and he said homosexuality was sinful, and they fired him.

You know, a physician was recently fired because he expressed medical concerns about homosexuality. The statistics on disease and all kinds of problems among the homosexual community are legendary. But he just pointed out that homosexuality carries with it a lot of physical dangers. And they fired him. So, I mean, in times like these I've often asked why, Lord, why is this kind of thing happening in our society?

And it's just easy to cry, how long, Oh Lord, and why are you even there? And that's what you get with Habakkuk. I want to talk also about the genre of literature here in the second point in your outline. Habakkuk is one of the 12 minor prophets. They're called minor not because they're minor but because they're shorter.

The major prophets are longer, and you know who they are. They are Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel, but they're not necessarily more important, but they are longer. And the minor prophets are Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi and even though you know we call them minor it is true at the same time that most people are really unaware of the message. And my guess is that most of you couldn't tell me about Habakkuk before you walked in here. But when you walk out, you'll be able to tell me about it and you'll be really amazed at the message that's here.

So the third point on your outline is who was Habakkuk. Well guess what? We don't know. There's no biographical information about Habakkuk and you know why is that? And we're not really told, but I think that when we find something like this, when you find a godly man in the midst of an ungodly culture who has the voice of God upon him, and he's speaking it, That God works through ordinary men.

The message is greater than the man. He's not a celebrity, he has no stated qualifications. His name though does bear witness to something really important about him. His name means embracer in the sense of comfort. The word can also mean wrestle and I would draw from that that from what you read about him and about his message, he wrestled with God, but he embraced God at the same time.

You'll see that. You'll see this desperate cry, but you'll also see this dominant confidence that he has in God. It's so clear that he loves God. He wants to wait on God. His heart is faithful toward God.

He's embracing God at the same time that he's wrestling with God. He's also a professional prophet. In chapter three, verse 19, we learn that he's a priest. And for you musicians, he's a musician. He played a stringed instrument, and the last part of this reveals that.

Wouldn't you have liked to know more about that? Perhaps he put some of his words here into music. Habakkuk declares the mission of God. I think this is really important about him. He runs the same message that all the other prophets run, and that is that God is on a mission to glorify himself.

God is on a mission to destroy the works of the devil, to bring many sons to glory. This is the message of Scripture, that God is glorifying Himself in the midst of all things. God is declaring the unworkability, the unprofitability of idolatry, and the beauty and the happiness of the kingdom of God. And you'll see that in this book. Look for it when you read Habakkuk.

Look for the mission of God in Habakkuk. Let's talk about the historical significance of Habakkuk. And with his historical significance, we can also draw the same significance of the other prophets. And here's why. The prophets deliver to us the history of the ancient Near East.

They record the spiritual struggles of God's people. They also record the geopolitical challenges among the surrounding nations. On the one hand, they're always addressing idolatry. They're always pointing out syncretism. But it all exists in space and time with real people, real kings, real borders of nations, real armies.

So all of it is cast in the backdrop of history and it's the history of the ancient Near East. And what you find here is that the prophets are speaking of the rise of Assyria, her wars, Assyria's downfall, the rise of Babylon, and its apex at the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and Nebuchadnezzar's coming in in 586 BC and destroying Jerusalem. The prophets are speaking during this time in history. And the reason that we find the land of Israel so critical is that it was a land bridge between Egypt and Asia, and of course, Assyria. It was a geographically strategic land.

You had to pass through it and in order to control it was critical. You know the prophets are speaking in a historical context and what we find here is that the Bible through these prophets has ended up providing historians with an interpretive key to understand the archaeological discoveries that have been made particularly over the last 100 years, maybe 150 years, because there are cuneiform tablets that have been discovered. There are large reliefs that have been discovered. There are statues. There are obelisks and all kinds of things like this that have been discovered from this era and they speak of these things that we read about in the prophets.

So when you're reading the Minor Prophets you're also reading the history of the ancient Near East And so it's very important in that sense. Now Habakkuk was writing at a particular time, and that takes us to the next point in the outline, the fifth point, the time of writing. Habakkuk is a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum, and Zephaniah. And the northern kingdom had fallen to Assyria in 722 BC. The southern kingdom was Assyria's vassal state.

Babylon was rising as it was going to destroy Judah. Now Habakkuk is speaking either right during or just before Nebuchadnezzar's invasion. I think he is prophesying before Nebuchadnezzar's invasion, but just before. You know, the lights are getting ready to go out in Jerusalem, and Habakkuk is crying out. The social conditions, the economy is collapsing, morality is declining, the social structure is unraveling.

And these facts are critical for us. You know, what was happening 2, 700 years ago in Jerusalem can serve as helpful instruction to us during a time of moral decline. We live in a time of idolatry and syncretism, and it's helpful to look back and hear the voice of the prophets and ask, what of their words connect with our society? What of their words do I need to pay attention to in order to understand God and His glory in the midst of a difficult time? The seventh item in your outline is New Testament quotes.

And as you can see in your outline Paul quotes Habakkuk 2.4 in Romans 1, 16 through 18, Galatians 3.11, and in Ephesians 2, 8 and 9. And of course these are the passages about justification by faith. The just shall live by faith. Habakkuk proclaimed this and it was a foretelling of the coming of Jesus Christ and his death and his resurrection and the fact that faith in the Lord Jesus Christ saves sinners. Let's work through the book now so I hope you've got your Bibles open and let's go to the first chapter.

Now I'm going to just give you a sense of the outline here. One of the great things about Habakkuk is that it's a really simple book. In the first two chapters, we read about Habakkuk's burden, and he frames his burden in two questions. He states two burning questions in the first two chapters, and the first question is stated in chapter 1, verses 1 through 4, And the question is, how can a good God permit evil? And then the Lord responds to the question from the fifth verse to the eleventh verse.

The second question begins in verse 12 in the first chapter and ends in verse 17. And then God answers that question. And then finally, there's Habakkuk's prayer in chapter 3. You know, these prayers in the Bible are so helpful. Our prayers can get very stale.

Our prayers can get really repetitive. We can say the same old thing the same old way and we get in these ruts in prayer. How do you break out of the ruts? Two ways. Pray the prayers of the Bible.

Secondly, pray the Bible, particularly the Psalms. You know, I was praying through Psalm 27 this morning, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? I was just using that to form my prayers. So I'm not just repeating all the same old things the same old way that I always state them. But this prayer in Habakkuk is a remarkable prayer and you really see the majesty of God in it.

Well let's move into these questions and answers and prayer and this final prayer. So, the first question is how can a good God permit evil? Let's read it in verses 1 through 4 in the first chapter. The burden which the prophet Habakkuk saw. O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear, even cry out to You, violence, and You do not save?

Why do You show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? For plundering and violence are before me. There is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and justice never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous.

Therefore perverse judgment proceeds." Here you find a man who is making a social commentary. He's looking at what's going on around him and he's broken in pieces. It's a burden as it says there in the first verse. He sees the trouble. Do you see that?

Lord, why do you show me iniquity and cause me to see trouble? Well, this actually is one of the functions of Christians in the world, to see the evil and do what with it? To repent and to apply the law of God to it in order to find reformation as a result. And so this was his condition. Notice he says, how long.

Now this phrase, how long, is mentioned 65 times in the Bible. If you have time, look at Psalm 13 1 through 3 and you'll see another example of it. But notice he cries against violence and five times Habakkuk brings forward this issue to the Lord, violence. We live in a violent culture today. You know, just before our session this evening, I was looking at a video clip of Cecile Richards, who was the president of Planned Parenthood, trying to explain these recent videos that have come out.

And she is the president of the greatest company that promotes violence in America today and we live in a culture of violence but people want to call it something different. She calls it choice. She calls it health care. We call it violence. And this is what Habakkuk saw.

Look at verse 4, therefore the law is powerless and justice never goes forth. Justice never goes forth. That just reminds me of that bakery that was fined $135, 000. Where is the justice in that? "'For the wicked surround the righteous, therefore perverse judgment proceeds." So what we find here in verse 4 is that the court system is a mess.

There are unjust judges, they're not following the law codes, the wicked are trapping the righteous, and the courts are not handling just judgments. That's a picture of a corrupt court system. And you can look at that same corruption in our own court system as the ways of man have overtaken the whole legal profession and the way that the courts operate. But he felt that God had gone to sleep. You know, This is the same feeling that Asaph had, that he communicated in Psalm 74, verses 1-11.

Asaph says, O God, why have you cast us off forever? Why does your anger smoke against the sheep of your pasture? Remember your congregation which you have purchased of old." Here Asaph declares the exact same thing that Habakkuk is declaring, oh Lord, why have you cast us off forever? It just seemed to him like it was forever, but it wasn't forever. And Asaph says, lift up your feet to the perpetual desolations.

The enemy has damaged everything in the sanctuary. Your enemies roar in the midst of your meeting place. They set up their banners for signs. So this is a common situation that takes place. So in the first four verses is Habakkuk's cry.

Why and how long? Now the answer from God. Verse 5, look among the nations and watch. Be utterly astounded for I will work a work in your days which you would not believe though it were told you." I believe that that work is Nebuchadnezzar coming in to destroy Jerusalem, but I also believe that it also is a foretelling of the New Covenant because he speaks very clearly about the New Covenant in this book. So he's saying, you wouldn't even believe it.

And this is the way it is with God and with history. He's going to do things that you won't even believe and brace yourself for it. There's no way you could anticipate the trajectory of culture and the things that are going to happen. The political events that will happen in your lifetime will take your breath away. It'll be astonishing what you'll see.

So, you know, look forward to it. It's all for the glory of God. You're going to see things with your own eyes that no one else has ever seen. And how should you process it? Recognize that God is glorifying himself through history.

He says, be utterly astounded. I think that's how Christians should look at all of history, to be astounded at it. It's not just a bunch of facts and figures, but it declares the work of God in the world. So verse six says, For indeed I am raising up the Chaldeans, that is Nebuchadnezzar, a bitter and hasty nation, which marches through the breath of the earth to possess dwelling places that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful.

Their judgment and their dignity proceed from themselves. Here you have this picture of this aggressive, violent people that are getting ready to come down on the people of God in Jerusalem. And look at how they're equipped. Their horses also are swifter than leopards and more fierce than evening wolves. Their chargers charge ahead.

Their cavalry comes from afar. They fly as the eagle that hastens to eat, just like that osprey that I saw swoop down and splash into our pond and grab a fish and then fly away. It just came like lightning out of nowhere. That's the picture here. This is a picture of an eagle.

Eagles also are fishing birds. They feed on small animals and fish. This is the picture here. They come like an eagle hastens to eat. And you can just Picture this diving eagle down into the water, picking up and going away and taking the prey and eating it with delight.

Verse nine, they all come for violence. Their faces are set like the east wind. They gather captives like sand. Picture that, They gather captives like sand. You know, picture yourself at the beach and you're gathering sand to you, just hundreds and hundreds of thousands of grains of sand just scooped in with a couple of handfuls.

Verse 10, they scoff at kings, and princes are scorned by them. They deride every stronghold, for they heap up earthen mounds and seize it. Then, his mind changes, and he transgresses. He commits offense, ascribing this power to God. Isn't that amazing?

He attributes his success to God, and he's actually only being used by God. So there's the answer, the answer from God. The answer from God is this, I'm doing this. That's the answer. Habakkuk is saying, why does a good God do such a thing?

And he says, I'm doing it for my own glory. And God is very clearly saying that He's doing it. Then Habakkuk asks the second question in verse 12, and the essence of the question is how can God use evil nations to do His will? Because the answer to the first question very clearly was stating that God does use evil nations to do His will. Verse 12, Are you not from everlasting?

Oh, Lord, my God, my holy one. We shall not die. Oh, Lord, you have appointed them for judgment, O rock! You have marked them for correction." And then he speaks truth about God in verse 13. "...You are of purer eyes than to behold evil and cannot look on wickedness.

Why do you look on those who deal treacherously and hold your tongue when the wicked devours a person more righteous than he." So there's the question right there. And then there's another question in verse 14. Why do you make men like fish of the sea, like creeping things that have no ruler over them? In other words, Habakkuk is asking, why does it look like you have no control? And then he continues to explain this question in verse 14, in verse 15.

They take up all of them with a hook. They catch them in their net and gather them in their dragnet. Therefore they rejoice and are glad. Therefore they sacrifice in their net and burn incense to their dragnet, because by them their share is sumptuous and their food is plentiful. Shall they therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity?" So as you see, there are several questions wrapped up here in his second question, but I think that they all are summed up by how can God use evil nations to do his will and how can God just continue to let that happen.

Now this question has its focus on the power of God and his character. And the question may be stated as a little simpler this way. God, How could you let Babylon do this? And it's appropriate for the church to ask questions like this. I view Habakkuk's question as the humble question of a faithful man.

It's natural for us to ask these questions. And when we ask questions like this, it stimulates us to think rightly about things. You might ask a question like this in despair, as Habakkuk did, but then go and do the same as Habakkuk and place yourself under the mighty hand of God and cry out for his wisdom. And that's exactly what he does. This is how Habakkuk is instructed by God to think correctly about the political questions, about the moral questions, and the moral conditions.

He is lamenting, but he doesn't lament and end up at a dead end. And that's what's critical about him to recognize. And he ends up seeing God's mission in the world. So his cry actually works out for good. Now the Lord's answer may have been disheartening because basically God was saying I'm doing a work here that you won't believe and he's declaring his absolute control.

He's declaring that he will use a wicked nation like Babylon. So Habakkuk could have been disappointed in the answer, But it just reminds us of how critical it is that we believe the Lord at face value and take the words that He's given to us to help us to understand the situations that are surrounding us now. Okay, here are a few things. You know, people struggle and they ask questions like this. What should we do?

Let's don't marginalize every person that asks a question in despair. Let's don't write people off when they ask questions in despair. Let's bring the Word of God. We have to acknowledge the realities of a fallen world. And Habakkuk does do that.

What we learn from Habakkuk is that whatever happens temporarily will be solved eternally. And so these questions are appropriate as long as we end up with a vision of the glory of God. Okay, so God answers Habakkuk's second question in chapter 2 verses 1 through 5. But verse 1 I love. It really gives you a sense of the heart of this man.

Notice his heart. And you know, maybe when we discuss this at the end, maybe we should discuss this verse and ask, what do you learn from him? Well, here's the verse. I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart and watch to see what he will say to me and what I will answer when I am corrected." So here's a picture of Habakkuk. He's going to set himself on the rampart.

He's going to set himself in a certain place, but it's the place of instruction. His heart is open. He's wide open to correction. That's the beauty of verse one. He's a man who, he's honest with his feelings, But he's wide open to correction.

This is one of the most beautiful qualities of a Christian, that they're open to correction, and particularly the correction of God. And we should always be open to the correction that the Lord brings us. It's so healthful and so life-giving. When you ask a question, do what Habakkuk did. Put yourself on the rampart and open up your arms, open up your heart, and be open to the correction.

And then, once you're corrected, then answer the Lord back. Speak to the Lord. This is a relationship that's implied here. You have a question that's asked, you have a man who's open, and then there's his response. He's going to respond to the Lord when he is corrected and this is so critical that we acknowledge the Lord when he corrects us.

So it's a humble asking for correction And here's what we learn. God is faithful. God doesn't leave Habakkuk without answers. He commands him to get out his writing instrument and write down the answer. How about that?

That's verse 2. Then the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it. Now stop there for a second. I think this is one of the most exciting, practical verses in the Old Testament. What does it mean?

It means that God has written down his instructions for us. This prophecy was written down for us that those who run may read it. Who are those who run? All who read it. Those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

God has written the answers to our questions in His Word, so that as we run, we can run according to the goodness of God. That He may run who reads it. Boy, you can meditate on that. And then he speaks of the reliability of the vision in verse 3, for the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it will speak and it will not lie, though it tarries, wait for it, because it will surely come. It will not tarry." In other words, now he's writing this down now, okay, and God is...

The first thing He writes down is that, wait, don't be impatient, don't despair, Though it tarries, surely it will come. And it's so important that we understand this in the midst of the times that we live in. What do we do? How do we conduct ourselves in times like this? We read for the right answers in the Word of God and we wait, because God is going to demonstrate His glory through everything that happens in history.

And then right after that in verse 4, two kinds of men are described in summary form And these two kind of men are spoken about and quoted in the New Testament. And this is perhaps where Jesus Christ is so clearly seen in Habakkuk. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith. That phrase, the just shall live by his faith. This is a picture of Jesus Christ and all those who have faith in him.

By the way, this phrase, the just shall live by his faith, was the verse that launched the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther read these words and it changed his life. And he realized that salvation was by faith alone, not by antics, not by repetitions of prayers, not by rosary beads, not by works of righteousness, not by flogging yourself, not by becoming a monk, or going to a monastery of any kind. It comes by faith. And so this is why it's quoted in the New Testament.

The just shall live by his faith. And then in verse 5 there's more detail given regarding proud men. Indeed because he transgresses by wine he is a proud man and he does not stay at home. Because he enlarges his desire as hell, and he is like death and cannot be satisfied, He gathers to Himself all nations and heaps up for Himself all peoples." Now this is a picture of the proud man, the person who is not wrought bright. It's a picture of the non-Christian.

And what are the qualities of the non-Christian? First of all, he transgresses by wine. He doesn't want the control of God, he wants the control of a substance. He doesn't want his life regulated by God, he wants to regulate his life by wine so that the ups and downs, his sleep patterns, his feelings are driven by the wine. People often take wine in order to modify their attitude, and then they end up finding themselves entrapped.

Some take it to sleep. Here he transgresses by wine. He wants something different to regulate his life than God because he doesn't trust God. And then he's a proud man and he does not stay at home. In other words, He's always about trying to glorify Himself.

He doesn't nourish His home. It's a quality, the ungodly. This is why the last prophecy in the Old Testament says that when the Messiah comes, He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. A sign of revival is when a man turns his heart toward his children. But here, the proud man, he does not stay at home.

He enlarges his desire as hell. In other words, his desire is just overcome and He's interested in absolutely everything and as a result God is nothing. And He can't be satisfied and He just heaps up for Himself assets for His own glory. That's the picture of the man who is proud. And then after that, there are five woes that the Lord declares in his answer to Habakkuk.

And the first woe is found in verses six through eight in chapter two. And this first woe is a woe for the greed of the wicked by taking what is not yours. Verse 6, Will not all these take up a proverb against him and a taunting riddle against him and say, woe to him who increases what is not his. How long? And to him who loads himself with many pledges.

Now, there's lots of detail here, but the issue is greed. The second woe is found in verses 9 through 11, and this woe focuses in on exploitation of others, taking advantage of other people, doing what you do for yourself and never for love, never to bring benefit, never for generosity at all. He says, woe to him who covets evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the power of disaster. These are people that they just, they do everything to exalt themselves for the exploitation of others. Why?

To set his nest on high. It's a man who does everything he can just to deliver himself from disaster. He doesn't care about other people. And then the third woe is in verses 12 through 14. These are crimes against people and we're back to bloodshed again.

Notice, you know, how the prophets mentioned bloodshed. They were times of child sacrifice and bloodshed was real. But here in verse 12 we read, woe to him who builds a town with bloodshed, who establishes a city by iniquity. And then the fourth woe stretches from verse 15 to 17. This woe is back to drunkenness.

And woe to him who gives drink to his neighbor, pressing him to your bottle, even to make him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness. This is a person that is exploiting people through drunkenness. And there's particularly sexual sin that's connected with drunkenness. And you'll find this in the Bible, that sexual sin is often connected to drunkenness. And then the fifth woe runs from verse 18 to verse 19.

And this woe has its focus on idolatry. What profit is the image that its maker should carve it? The molded image, a teacher of lies, that the maker of its mold should trust in it. To make mute idols, woe to him who says to wood, Awake! To silent stone, Arise!

It shall teach. Behold, it is overlaid with gold and silver Yet in it there is no breath at all You know, we don't see this exact thing happening in America in this exact same way. But don't forget that there are billions of people in the world who actually do do this in the exact same way. You know, particularly in Asia and India, you have hundreds of millions of people who do this exact same thing. They go to mute idols, they go to wood and they say, teach, arise, speak to me, protect me, help me, counsel me.

That's what they do. And these are illustrations of how stupid it is to trust in idols. Now that's not the only kind of idolatry, because idolatry is much bigger than that. And that kind of idolatry is given to us as an illustration of how stupid idolatry is. And so that we say to anything of man, speak, teach me, looking at the ways of man and asking man to teach you.

That's what he's talking about here in this fifth woe. It's idolatry. And then in verse 20, there's this terrifying reality that is communicated. You know, while all this is going on, all these woes, the greed, the drunkenness, the idolatry, all this is going on, but then we encounter this one three-letter word, but, but the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." You know, all of the activity of the wicked is running on.

It seems to be out of control, but it's not because God is in His holy temple. And the most appropriate thing for the evil and the good to do is to keep silence and to look to God. Nothing escapes God's eye because the Lord is in his holy temple. And the most appropriate thing for the earth to do, the people of the earth to do, is to keep silence, to shut their mouths and stop it. And then in chapter 3 is his final prayer, but verse 2 says, O Lord, I have heard your speech, and I 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. This is a good prayer to pray today It's an appropriate prayer for the church that God would revive his work in the midst of the years that he's given to us. You know, who knows what's going to happen in the midst of these years that God has given us. You know, here we are in this room. We probably have many years together if the Lord would keep us alive.

What's going to happen in the midst of the years? My prayer is this prayer right here. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. Give people's hearts that find all of their joy in you and therefore their joy cannot be extinguished. Oh Lord, give us a people who hunger after you.

Give us a people who long to hear your Word and to declare your glory in the earth. Give us people who hunger for that. Oh God. I'm grateful we have many people like that in our church. It's a blessing and they desire the Word of God.

But that prayer right there, consider it as your prayer for the times. You know, all of you are very young. Wouldn't it be a blessing if we saw a great revival of God's work in the midst of your years, that you would see it and that I would say, I can't believe it happened, just like it was prophesied at the very beginning. And then in verse 3 he recounts the victories of the Lord in history. Now there's this reminder.

It's a man reminding himself of the victories of God. God came from Timon, the Holy One from Mount Peron. Selah, His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise. Well, Timon Was a city or a region in southern Edom, east of Israel? Timon is code for the east.

The sun rises in the east. In other words, what Habakkuk is saying is that God arises in the east. He comes. Now, do You know why in almost every graveyard in America, the faces are facing toward the east? Because of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And they come out of the graves because He comes in the east. Here's an allusion to that. God came from Timon, from the east. And verse 4, His brightness was like the light. He had rays flashing from His hand, and there his power was hidden.

Now this language is very much like the Song of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 33, particularly verse 2, and Habakkuk is connecting the Song of Moses to his situation. The Song of Moses was written in about 1445 BC, maybe 1400, so now we're at probably 586, 589, maybe 560 BC at the earliest, and he's bringing forth the same language. Look at verse 5. Before him went pestilence, and fever followed at his feet. This is the sovereignty of God over sickness in the world.

Verse 6. 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 take this to be figurative that the everlasting mountains were scattered. I think he's talking about the accomplishments of the pride of man, the great projects, the perpetual hills bowed, the things that man thought would last forever don't. They bow down. Verse 7, I saw the tents of Kushan 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. Sila, 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 the moon stood still in their habitation.

At the light of your arrows they went, the shining of your glittering spear. You marched through the land in indignation. You trampled the nations in anger and 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. Sila.

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 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. Now this is the first part of the prayer and I'm going to say the very last part for just to making a couple of comments. That's the essence of this prayer. And this is what Habakkuk was brought to.

He starts out with why, how long, and he ends up with, Oh, Lord, you are mighty. That's the answer. You are mighty. And then In verses 17 through 19 are some of the most beautiful verses in the whole Bible. You'll recognize them.

People quote them regularly. Verse 17, Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit beyond the vines, though the labor 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." Now, he mentions various conditions and it's a blessing to meditate on each one of them. There's the fig tree that doesn't blossom. Think about that. Think of the sweetness of figs.

Nor fruit beyond the vines. This has to do with grapes. Though the labor of the olive may fail, the oil that comes from the olive. And the fields yield no food. You know, the produce of the ground, the vegetables, and all the wondrous things that come out of the ground.

And there be no herd in the stalls, no meat, no milk." So he's speaking about all these things that are just rich blessings. If you just meditate on their tastes and smells, there's energy, there's nourishment from all these things. And he says, though none of these happen, verse 18, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord 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." So he says even if all these earthly blessings don't happen, he's not lost his rejoicing. He's not lost his heart. His heart can be glad because God is His strength. And then he quotes David, he will make my feet like deer's feet. He'd been reading the Psalms.

My supposition is that he's been praying the Psalms, And now he's praying the Psalms again right here in this 19th verse. You know, it's so good to pray the Psalms. And I do believe that's what he's doing here. He will make me walk on my high hills. You know, it's interesting, you can be in the midst of the valley of the shadow of death physically, but you can be on the high hills in your heart.

And that's really what marks a Christian from a non-Christian. He knows where his help comes from. And he can walk on those high hills, even though he sees the smoke and the fire and the bloodshed and the wickedness of the earth. His confidence is not in man. He doesn't trust in man, because man's breath is in his nostrils.

He trusts in God, who orders all things for his own glory. I wonder why it is that this whole prophecy ends with this, with my stringed instruments. I think that's a vision of hope. It's a vision of happiness. You know, music is such a blessing.

It does revive the soul in many ways. You know, we sang a new song, a fairly new song in church yesterday. I've been singing it over and over again and it's such a blessing to have songs in the heart and to have stringed instruments to enhance them. So there the prophecy ends. It ends with a guitar.

How about that? There you go. Okay, let me give you some applications. First of all, ask. You have questions?

Ask. God will reward you with insight. Go to Him with your questions. He's a rewarder of those who seek Him, and His answers are written in His holy book. Go with the question and find the answer in His Word.

Secondly, We live in a time in history that's confusing, and Habakkuk lived in a period of history that was confusing. Let's acknowledge this. There are mysteries of our times that we can't get to the bottom of. We don't have to answer all the questions about what's happening politically or socially or morally. God has the answers.

We can ask the questions, but recognize the people of God have lived in confusing times from the beginning. And we shouldn't think it any different for our own times. Number three. God will sometimes use the wicked to deliver his people and to punish His people. That's what was happening with Nebuchadnezzar.

When you see the wicked prosper, don't despair. God is always at work. You know, there are people who miscalculate. You know, I heard of a professor who walked into his classroom one day and he went up to the chalkboard and he was there to demonstrate that there was no God. And he wrote four things to prove there is no God.

It was a logical progression. The first thing he wrote was, God is good. The second, God has all power. The third, there is evil in the world, therefore there is no God. That was his calculation.

That's a miscalculation. Habakkuk did not fall into that mathematical error and that logical error. He did believe that God was good. He did believe that God had all power. He did believe that there was evil in the world, but he believed that God was sovereign over all and that he would do his will and glorify himself in the world.

God does permit evil. We see from this passage that God also comes against, confronts, and He punishes evil. We also know that God declares His goodness even through the most evil of circumstances. He makes good out of evil in the same way that we find Joseph declaring that to his brothers, you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. We also know that God uses evil to discipline and test his people.

You find all these things in the book of Habakkuk. But I love these last words of Habakkuk more than anything. Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor 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. So when you ask why or how long, Pray. Pray the Word of God. Go to Habakkuk and pray his final prayer and especially find yourself in verses 17 through 19 and you'll find the answer.