In the sermon titled 'A God to Rejoice in When the Gifts are Gone,' Jason Dohm explores Habakkuk chapter 3, emphasizing that God is a source of joy and strength even when earthly gifts are stripped away. The sermon underscores Habakkuk's prayer for God to revive his works and remember mercy amid His wrath. It recaps God's historical interventions for Israel, showing Him as a mighty warrior who delivers His people. Dohm encourages believers to find satisfaction in God alone, as earthly comforts may fail, yet God's presence remains constant. The sermon concludes with a call to mature faith, urging believers not to rest in material gifts but to find their ultimate joy in God, who is their eternal reward.

Our sermon text today is the third chapter of Habakkuk. Please follow along. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shiginanoth. Oh Lord, I have heard your speech and was afraid. Oh 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 Kushan in affliction, the curtains of the land of Midian trembled. Oh 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, Selah. 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. Selah.

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. 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. To the chief musician with my stringed instruments. Let's pray. Father, we come to you seeking wisdom and discernment and guidance.

We ask that you would open hearts, open ears, and give us understanding as you speak clearly through your servant Jason to give us the word that you have for us today. We commit this time to you in the name of Jesus our Lord. Amen. The title of the sermon today is, A God to Rejoice in When the Gifts are Gone. What do you do when all the good gifts of God are stripped away and you're just left with God?

Would that be enough for you? That's really what the chapter is about. Okay, where have we been so far? Chapter 1, Habakkuk starts out addressing God. He's noticing the violence and the plunder, the strife and contention all around him in Judah.

He can't believe that Heaven has been silent in the face of that and that God's law is being trampled on without God responding. God then answers him and tells him that he is going to raise up the Chaldeans and he describes the Chaldeans. It's really a terrifying description of a very proud and arrogant, very ruthless people. Then the prophet responds back to God essentially saying he can't believe that as bad as the people of Judah are the Chaldeans are worse and that this holy perfectly Pure God would use such a dirty instrument to bring discipline to his people. And then in the last verse of chapter 1, Habakkuk says, Shall they, shall the Chaldeans Therefore empty their net and continue to slay nations without pity." And chapter 2 is really God's answer to that question.

And the answer is a resounding no. They're not just going to keep moving through the earth and plundering the earth. That God is actually going to bring judgments on the instruments of his judgment for their own wickedness. In chapter 2 we have the five woe oracles. We have these five sets of three verses each with a woe, God pronouncing, a warning and an impending judgment for some type of sin found among the Chaldeans.

And chapter 2 ends with God contrasting the idols, the false gods carved out of wood, worshipped by the Chaldeans who never could help anyone with God who rules from heaven, before whom all the earth must be silent. Every mouth is stopped before this holy God in heaven. So that's where we've left off as we come to chapter 3. Let's pray and ask for help. God, We're a people abounding with so many good gifts.

That's a blessing. We have so many privileges, so many Blessings to count, so many things to be thankful for. God, I pray that if you stripped every one of them away, that we would be so satisfied in you, even in the middle of hardship, that our souls would thrive. And that we would be filled with joy when all the worldlings are miserable. Make us such a people.

Thank you for setting a man of God before us who could say that with an honest heart. Make us like him in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, we're going to subdivide into three sections. The first is a short one.

We're again in Habakkuk chapter 3. Let me re-read verses 1 and 2 and then I'll develop that. So please read along. Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 1 and 2. A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on Shigianoth.

Lord I have heard your speech and was afraid. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years make it known. In wrath remember mercy. In these two verses we have the praying prophet.

If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, praying fills in the blank. The praying prophet is Habakkuk. Verse one identifies this as a prayer, then it says, on Shigianoth, what in the world is Shigianoth? No one knows. It's only found one other place in the Old Testament.

It's in the heading above Psalm 7, which is a psalm of David, and the new King James translates it there a meditation of David. So that might be a good translation. It could mean a song, a poem, a meditation. Even the most knowledgeable scholars don't know for sure. Based on the contents, what appears in Habakkuk chapter 3 is more likely to appear in the Psalms than in the Prophets.

It belongs really in the Psalms, if you were going to place it. If you blindfolded someone and you read the chapter and you said, where is this in the Bible? If you were knowledgeable about the Bible you would say this is in the Psalms. We have on Shigionoth, which appears, the only other place it appears is in Psalm 7. We have the word Seila three times.

It might mean think on it, it might be a musical notation, that's another one that the scholars aren't quite sure exactly what it means. There's debate about what it means. But the point is you find it three times in chapter 3 at the end of verse 3, at the end of verse 9, at the end of verse 13. And this is the only occurrence of that word outside the Psalms. And then at the very end of the chapter you have this instruction, to the chief musician with my stringed instrument.

It's just like lifted straight out of the Psalms. You look at Habakkuk chapter 3, you say this doesn't belong in the prophets. We want to put this back in the Psalms. But it's a very wonderful and fitting conclusion to the contents of Habakkuk chapter 1, Habakkuk chapter 2. Couldn't find a better ending to the book of Habakkuk.

In verse 2, Habakkuk confesses his reaction to what God has said to him. He was afraid. He feared God. Why is that? Well, it's because God has been saying fearful things, very fearful things to his prophet.

And it makes Habakkuk afraid. And Habakkuk brings it to God. Now sooner or later, God will make all of his enemies afraid. Revelation says that they're going to call for the mountains to fall down on them to shield them from the presence of God. Either in this life or after this life, all the enemies of God are going to be terribly afraid of God and they're going to want to be shielded from God, not so as people.

Habakkuk is really a representative of all of those who have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. Even when He makes them afraid, they don't run away from Him, they run to Him. He takes His trembling and He comes to God and he prays to God about the fearful things that God has been saying to him. I hope you know something of that. I hope you know something of God making you tremble.

He does say fearful things. He is not a tame lion. But I hope you know something of the fear of God that doesn't call the mountains to fall on you, to shield you from His presence, but that even in the trembling you go to Him. And you want to cast your cares upon Him knowing that He cares for you. Even in the fearful things.

In the remainder of verse 2, Habakkuk calls on God to revive his work and to remember his mercy. So let's look at Habakkuk 3, that second part of the second verse. Habakkuk 3, verse 2, that second part. Oh Lord, revive your work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make it known.

What is it? Make your work known. Let me restate that. I think essentially Habakkuk is saying, do for us what you've done for us so many times before, through the centuries. You've worked in and through and on behalf of your people for centuries.

Now revive that. Do it again. The judgment of Judah at the hands of the Chaldeans is near at hand in chapter 1 verse 5. It says, in your days, I'm raising up the Chaldeans to bring judgment that Judah deserves in your days. You'll see it in your lifetime.

The judgment of the Chaldeans, which we find in chapter 2, is farther off. In chapter 2 verse 3, God says, though it tarries, wait for it. It's going to seem like the judgment of the Chaldeans will never get here. It's going to seem like it tarries right on tablets so that this prophecy will survive the years, maybe the generations, it ends up being the generations of somewhere between 70 to 100 years before that is fulfilled. So Habakkuk is essentially saying in the midst of those years, between when you raise up the Chaldeans and when you judge the Chaldeans, in the midst of those years, please do your helping, sustaining work like you did for our fathers and our grandfathers and our great grandfathers.

Verses 3-15, We're not there yet, but when we get there in a minute, it's actually a recounting of God's historic dealings with His people, the children of Abraham. His very last part of verse 2, Habakkuk prays, in wrath, remember mercy. You've said that you're going to pour down your wrath and that is surely going to happen don't forget mercy as you're pouring out right God is a God of justice. Rebellion against his perfectly good and right law does make God angry. It fills him with wrath.

And Judah is guilty as sin. Literally guilty as sin. But God is also a God of mercy and Habakkuk knows this. So he calls on God as he's pouring out his wrath which he says he will certainly do to remember mercy in the midst of it. This is the great dilemma.

How can God who is perfectly righteous, perfectly pure, who must judge sin, whose eyes are so pure he can't even look on iniquity. That is true. When Abakit said that of God it is true. He has no participation with wickedness. How can he have mercy on sinners?

The earth has no one else to offer. The earth only had sinners to offer. So how can God have mercy on anyone? He's so pure. Jesus is the peace that makes the puzzle fit together.

It is represented in innocent animals being offered in the Old Testament. It is just a picture of Jesus. How can God have mercy on some in the midst of wrath? Jesus and His blood. It preserves His perfect purity and His righteousness as a judge but allows him to save sinners.

This is really the glory of all of scripture. And Habakkuk is calling for it. In wrath, remember mercy. How could such a pure God do that? Christ, Christ!

That's how he can do it. Now here's a question worth asking. Did he? Did God revive his work in the midst of those years? Did God make his work known in the midst of those years?

In the exercise of the pouring out of his wrath, did God remember mercy? Was Daniel rescued from the lion's den? That happened in those years? Then the answer is yes. Did Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego emerge from the furnace not even smelling like smoke?

Then the answer is yes! Did God bring back the captives from Babylon, raise up Cyrus to be king of the Persians to conquer Babylon and to inexplicably put the people at liberty to come back to Jerusalem, then the answer is yes. God did revive His work on behalf of His people. God did remember mercy in wrath. The things that Habakkuk prays for in Habakkuk chapter 3 were answered with a resounding yes by God.

Yes, I will revive my work on behalf of my people. I will remember mercy in wrath. Before we move on, let's give Matthew Henry the last word in this section. Matthew Henry says this, Prophets were praying men, Those that were intimately acquainted with the mind of God concerning future events knew better than others how to order their prayers and what to pray for. And in the foresight of troublous times could lay up a stock of prayers that might receive a gracious answer and so be serving the church by their prayers when their prophesying was over.

Amen to that. That's what's happening in chapter 3. Really the prophesying is over. God's saying what he's going to do in the future is over, but Habakkuk is praying. He is serving the church, or he is serving the people of God with his prayers after the prophesying is over.

And he knew better than any what to pray because God told him what was coming. So he interceded for the people. Verses 3-15. This is a long stretch but let's re-read it. Habakkuk 3 verses 3-15.

God came from Tamman, the Holy One from Mount Peran, Sela. 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 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, oes were sworn over your arrows. Selah, 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 of the house of the wicked by laying there 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 me.

Their rejoicing was like feasting on the poor in secret. You walked through the sea with your horses, through the great heap of waters." These verses, we have a history lesson. If you're taking notes on the handout and filling in blanks, history fills in the blanks. A history lesson. When I first read this, it reads very ominously.

It's dark in the reading of it. My first reading understood it as really just a continuation of judgment against God's people for their sins. But what this whole section is about is exactly the opposite of that. It is about God coming against their enemies with vanquishing power when he brought them out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, and brought them into the promised land. It's about him fighting for them.

So just know at a summary level, this is about God fighting for and conquering for his people. It's a history lesson about him doing that in the history of Israel. In verse 2, Habakkuk pleads for God to revive historic works, his historic works on behalf of his people. Now he recounts that history of him doing that. Look at the first part of verse 3.

God came from Tamman, the holy one from Mount Peran. Tamman, actually as a person in the Bible, was a grandson of Esau. But became the name of the city within Edom. Edom is Esau and Esau is Edom. That nation came from Esau.

This grandson, his name became the name of the city within the borders of Edom. Mount Peran in Deuteronomy 33 Verse 2 is used synonymously with Mt. Sinai where God came, descended on the mountain in thunderings and lightnings, a lot like the language we have in our chapter here, and gave them the law. So this is kind of the first part of their wilderness wanderings coming by Edom and then coming to Mount Sinai. In verse 6, it says that God startled the nations.

Did Israel, coming out of Egypt and wandering by nations ever shake the nations? They were all afraid. They heard what God did to Pharaoh in Egypt and They heard the report and were afraid. Look at verse 7. I saw the tents of Kushan in affliction, the curtains of the land of Midian.

Who are Kushan and Midian? Well, they're Arab tribes which bordered the promised land. So God never told his people to destroy Kushan or Midian or to capture and occupy their land. But they didn't know that. All they knew is that all their neighbors were being gobbled up by this indomitable, unstoppable people and coming right up to their borders.

No wonder they were afraid. Verses 8 and 9 speaks of God coming against the rivers and the sea as if He were angry. And of course the people of Israel crossed both the Red Sea and the Jordan on dry land at opposite sides of the wilderness wanderings. At the beginning, God brought them through the Red Sea to escape Pharaoh and his army. And then at the end, he made the Jordan stop and the waters pile up in a heap.

This is language from our chapter. And brought them across on dry land. Verse 11 speaks of the sun and moon standing still in their habitation. In Joshua chapter 10, The people have made a covenant with the Gibeonites. They shouldn't have made it, but they did make it.

And in response to that, five Amorite kings joined together and attacked the Gibeonites. And the Gibeonites call for help and Joshua brings the people against these five Amorite kings. What's really happening? These are Amorite kings within the promised land that God wants them to destroy. God is actually just ordering events to bring these Amorite kings together for their destruction.

And Israel wins a great battle but the sun is going to go down and stop their ability to pursue their enemies and Joshua calls for the sun to stand still so that they have an additional day of daylight. This is how it works out in Joshua 10. They get an additional day of daylight to pursue and crush and annihilate their enemies. This is what's being spoken of in verse 11. Verse 12 speaks of God trampling the nations.

Listen to Deuteronomy 7 verses 1 and 2. This is right before God brought Israel into the promised land. Deuteronomy 7 verses 1 and 2. Listen to this. Moses says, when the Lord your God brings you into the land which you go to possess and has cast out many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you.

And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. It's easy when you're reading Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, to forget that these weren't lesser nations, they were mightier nations. Each of them mightier than Israel. So how did Israel take the promised land? It was God.

God was fighting for them, fighting among them, defending them, crushing their enemies. Verse 12 says, it speaks of God trampling the nations. That's what happened in Deuteronomy. God trampled the nations. Mightier nations than Israel.

They had no business in battle with these nations. They crushed them because of God. Because God was among them. God fought for them. Look at verse 13.

We are back in Habakkuk 3. Now verse 13. You went forth, you God 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.

Now this could allude, when you see anointed here, the New King James translators have capitalized the A, so they think it's a reference to the Messiah. That's possible, but I really don't want to put a lot of weight on that because that's in dispute and there are so many indisputable places in the Old Testament you never need to stretch. So it's quite possible that this is talking about the Messiah but even if it isn't, this is a perfect summary for this historical reciting of God's faithfulness to his people. God went forth for the salvation of his people. For centuries he did that.

He displaced mighty nations When he did that. He crushed the wicked when he did that. Throughout this section, God is described as a glorious, mighty warrior fighting on behalf of his people. He has a bow, he has arrows, he has a spear, He brought his people out of slavery in Egypt and gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. And he can do it again.

That's the whole point. So we deserve judgment and we're going to be captives again in Babylon. Do again what you did before. Bring us out of the land of slavery and give us back the land of milk and honey. That's what Habakkuk is crying out for.

And God did that. God did all of that. Now verses 16 through 19. I believe verse 16 is returning us to where we left off in verse 2, which is, God you said a bunch of fearful things to me and you made me afraid. I think we're just returning right back to that theme in verse 16.

Follow along as I read 16 through the end. 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. 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, 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 a deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills to the chief musician with my stringed instruments. These verses we have the conclusion of a just man's prayer living by his faith. If you're taking notes by filling in blanks, just and faith Fill in the two blanks.

The conclusion of a just man's prayer living by his faith. This is just pulling from what God says in Habakkuk 2 verse 4, but the just shall live by his faith. That's Habakkuk. And all who live by faith. The just are the justified, and their faith sustains them through every hardship in life.

Habakkuk is now returning to where he began. He heard God's firm plans and was afraid. NASB translates verse 16 a little bit differently and I think it just helps us to understand what's really being communicated here. Let me just read the NASB translation. I heard in my inward parts trembled.

At the sound my lips quivered. Decay enters my bones and in my place I tremble. Because I must wait quietly for the day of distress, for the people to arise who will invade us. He's just setting still knowing that what God has said will surely come to pass and he's waiting quietly for the day of distress. There's nothing to do but just quiet himself, quiet his heart before the Lord, and wait for the day of distress, which God has promised is going to happen in his own days, in his own lifetime.

Then in verse 17, Habakkuk declares in prayer to God his faith in God. It's a declaration of faith. Even if the plants which normally grow for food Stop producing, no figs, no grapes, no olives, no corn or wheat from the field. These are all staples of a normal diet in Judah. And even if the animals which normally provide meat for me are taken away, No sheep, no cattle.

These are all staples of a diet in Judah. These are not just comforts. Do you understand what's being said? He's talking about things being stripped away from him. What?

His comforts? Well, is your food just a comfort? I guess comfort food is a thing. But what's being spoken of here is just normal necessary provision even if my normal necessary provision is stripped away I won't be left joyless Even then the Lord will be the joy of my heart. And I will rejoice in the saving God.

FF Bruce, who is one of the commentators I read this week, translates it, I will exalt in my delivering God. I love that. I will exalt. My heart will be filled with exaltation and praise and joy in my delivering God. Though God bring hardship, though He send me into captivity, I serve a delivering God who fills my heart with joy.

We were in Genesis 15 last week because Abraham believed God and it was credited to him for righteousness. We can just see how all that is intertwined with the just shall live by his faith. Well, listen to the beginning of Genesis 15. This is how God begins that chapter by speaking to Abram. He says, do not be afraid Abram, I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.

Meaning that If God is your God, He is your shield. He will protect you. And He is your exceedingly great reward. Is your food reward? No, it's the reward from your reward, God.

God is your real reward. His gifts are just that. And if you stripped away every gift, you would be left with your exceedingly great reward. It could never be stripped from you, because God could never be stripped from you. He is the God of His people, today and forever.

No one can ever deprive you of that and if you have that you have your exceedingly great reward. But my normal necessary Provisions have been taken away. You still have God God will sustain you God can make you happy the Puritans would want to come and push me out of the pulpit and say this You only see the stars at night meaning They're out now They're out now But you can't see them. But they're there, they're as present now as they'll be when we go out tonight and see them in their glory. But it's dark then, so you get their glory then.

So the Puritans were always saying, okay it's dark, it gives you the opportunity to see glories you could never see unless it was dark. Habakkuk has that perspective. Maybe Habakkuk was a Puritan. The fierce Puritan. He knows God has said darkness is coming and Habakkuk said we'll see the stars.

You'll sustain me in it. You are my delivering God. I exult in you my delivering God." What did Paul say? Philippians 3. Just listen to Philippians 3 verses 7 through 11.

This is the Apostle Paul. But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith, that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death if by any means I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. What did Paul trade his prominence in the Jewish religious system for? Paul was starting to be a thing in Judaism.

He had more zeal than his contemporaries and he was rising. So What did he trade in his prominence in that Jewish religious system for? Listen to this. From the Jews, five times I received forty stripes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods.

Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. A night and a day I've been in the deep. In journeys often in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of my own countrymen, in perils of the Gentiles, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren, in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Besides the other things, what comes upon me daily, my deep concern for all the churches.

That's 2 Corinthians 11, 24-28. Paul looks at that and he says, give me Jesus. Give me Jesus. Oh, but Paul, it comes with the whippings and the beatings and the stonings and the shipwrecks and the persecutions from Jews and Gentiles. Paul says, give me Jesus.

Give me Jesus. Don't give me my own life back not for one day give me Jesus Friends this brother sang in prison This brother sang in prison I think Habakkuk was a brother who could sing in prison. And if you're in Christ, his God is your God. Paul's God that gave him a singing heart and a singing voice in prison is your God. And Habakkuk's God seeing what was on the horizon and knowing that privation and hardship was coming said, I'll rejoice in God when it gets here.

That God is your God. Finally, look at the second half of verse 19. Or look at verse 19. Habakkuk chapter 3 verse 19. Habakkuk says, The Lord God is my strength.

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." Deer is not a bad translation. This animal is in the deer family, but it's more like a mountain goat. It's an animal known for being in the mountains and known for its sure-footedness.

Habakkuk is confident that God will raise him above the coming devastation and set him on the heights, sure-footed, whether in life or in death. And he doesn't know. Applications. I'm going to keep it simple. It's the same to believers and to unbelievers.

Don't stop short of this. Don't stop short of this. You can be a real Christian, trust in Christ, and stop short of this. You can be a believer, but be so attached to the gifts that if they were stripped away, you'd be miserable. You're going to heaven, that's possible.

It's immaturity in the faith. As our faith matures, we become more like what Habakkuk articulates in Habakkuk chapter 3. So maybe instead of don't stop short of this, press on into this. Don't be satisfied with anything less than this. Can't you see how much better this is than just chasing satisfaction in the gifts.

If Habakkuk, does he understand more than the person whose satisfaction is in the gifts or less. No, he understands more. So he's seen both. You have to know that Habakkuk has seen both. He's matured through the stage where he was fixed on the gifts, and now knowing both, he says, I'll take God.

I'll take God. It's better. It's like Paul. Okay Paul, having Christ will be at the cost of these other things. I'll pay them.

It's rubbish. I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ, be found in Him, and know the power of His resurrection. I'll take the darkness so that I can see the glory of the stars, experience the glory of the stars, bring it on. I will exult in my delivering God. Unbelievers.

The shiny things that you chase one after another, after another, after another, thinking that that next one is the one that will satisfy. It's a lie. It's a lie. It'll just be the next in a long line leading to the next, leading to the next, leading to the next. Your heart never satisfied.

This God will satisfy your heart. This God will satisfy your heart. Everything else is stripped away and you're satisfied and you're filled with joy and the worldlings are looking on saying, What? How can this be? As you have a peace that passes understanding, you have joy in the middle of the worst hardships.

Don't stop short of this. Press on into this. Don't be satisfied with anything less than this. God satisfies the heart. He's the giver and He gives all sorts of good things.

Well what if they're all stripped away then you still have God, your exceedingly great reward. God I thank you for this book. We're at a very sobering time in our nation where we could see things that we've taken for granted our whole lives long. We could actually imagine them for the first time. Imagine losing them.

I pray that you would arm us for whatever lies ahead, abundance or poverty, I pray that you would arm us with a radical clinging to you, knowing that scripture is true and that All things can be counted as rubbish to gain Christ and be found in Him and know the power of your resurrection. If in our lifetimes it would take tremendous darkness to see the glory of the stars and to experience you in your fullness. And we wouldn't shrink back from that. Let us be satisfied with you. In Jesus' name, Amen.