Habakkuk Chapter 3
A Doxology to God
June 12, 2022
Quacco Baptist Church
Savannah, GA
Introduction
The first two chapters of Habakkuk presented Q
& A between the prophet & God. Now that God had answered Habakkuk, the
prophet prayed to close the book. Habakkuk had complained about the sin that
had gone unchecked in the country & was very bewildered, shocked no less,
that God had already made arrangements for an instrument to judge Judah, that
being Babylon.
Chapter 3 is the culmination & climax of
the book - There are some scholars who contend it was written at a much later
date or by someone else assuming his name. But it has been determined that the
chapter isn’t a postscript; it is a pinnacle of praise. It’s the summit
destination reached on the journey that began, to use the allegory from
Pilgrims Progress, the City of Destruction through the Slough (sluff) of
Despond.
Transition
v1 A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet, according
to Shigionoth. Shigionoth
is related to a verb meaning to reel to & fro. I take it to mean when you
see the Jews praying at the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem how they rock, and move
the body, to & fro. By some, it is seen as an erratic song of enthusiastic
irregularity. I look at it as praying with emotion.
This prayer was intended for public use as
shown in the first verse, according to Shigionoth, and as in verse
19 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
V2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you,
and your work, O LORD, do I fear. In the midst of the years revive it; in the
midst of the years make it known; in wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk began this book by saying,
"Lord, why don't you do something." Now he says, "Lord, be
careful, don't do too much. In wrath remember mercy. I see you are working
Lord, but remember that you are still a God of mercy in the midst of it."
That is all he has to say. there is no more philosophy, no more theology, no
more arguing with God.
This prayer is one of the most remarkably beautiful,
poetic passages in all the Scriptures. Read it and see how the prophet is doing
nothing more or less than going back and remembering what God has done in the
past. That is what convinces Habakkuk that God can be trusted. He rests upon
events that have already occurred, events which cannot be questioned or taken
away or shaken in any way; the great fact that God has already moved in human
history. And this is where faith must rest. We do not live by blind faith. We
live with a God who has acted in time and space, who has done something, who
has indelibly recorded his will in the progress of human events. The prophet
looks back to God's action in Egypt when Israel was in trouble and remembers
here how God moved (verses 3, 4):
3 God came from Teman, and the Holy One from
Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covered the heavens, and the earth was full of
his praise. 4 His brightness was like the light; rays flashed from his hand,
and there he veiled his power.
Remember how he hid his power
from Pharaoh, and then flashed out in sudden acts of miraculous intervention?
The prophet says (verse 5, 6): 5 Before him went pestilence, and plague
followed at his heels. 6 He stood and measured the earth; he looked and shook
the nations; then the eternal mountains were scattered; the everlasting hills
sank low. His were the everlasting ways.
He remembers how the people
of Israel were afflicted and in the wilderness, and how in the land of Midian
they trembled. Then he thinks of the crossing of the Red Sea and how God made a
way through the waters, and he is reminded of how the Jordan River was rolled
back when they came into the land (verse 10): 10 The mountains saw you and writhed; the
raging waters swept on; the deep gave forth its voice; it lifted its hands on
high.; how at the request of
Joshua (verse 11): The
sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they
sped, at the flash of your glittering spear.
This is the kind of God we
have. The God who actually moves in human history to accomplish events that no
man can duplicate. As the prophet thinks of all this, his mind goes out to the
greatness of God and this is the way he concludes (verse 16):
I hear, and my body trembles;
my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble
beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people
who invade us
He sees the problem and he
knows it is coming. The fearsomeness of it grips him, and he feels the
pressure. But that is not all. He adds (verses 17-19): 17 Though the fig tree should
not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the
fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd
in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of
my salvation. 19 GOD, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the
deer's; he makes me tread on my high places. To the choirmaster: with stringed
instruments.
Even though the problem
remains along with the pressure, there can be a strengthening of the inner man
that makes the heart rejoice and be glad even in the midst of the difficulty.
That is what Habakkuk discovered. "The Lord himself," he says,
"is my strength." And that is the New Testament truth. That is the
great not-so-secret, secret of a Christian. The world is desperately trying to
find a way to get rid of the problem. But God has ordained that the problems
shall remain. "In the world you have tribulation," Jesus said,
"but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." (John.
16:33).
The Sovereign Lord gives
triumph over circumstances to those who trust Him, those whose faith is in Him.
The way to get out from under the load is to get right under the Lord. To be
under the Lord is to be over the circumstances. The lesson seems well the price
of the book especially when the world seems like a cesspool of quicksand.
Habakkuk was about to “go
under” when he started the book. Destruction, violence, strife, conflict,
injustice, and wickedness is all he could see. He cried out to God and it
didn’t go unheeded. God answered & provided the confidence that he needed
to lift him up from the quagmire. Habakkuk started in the pits but ended on the
mountaintop. The journey wasn’t easy, but very worthwhile.
God directed Habakkuk through
the dialogue in chapter 1- God revealed his plans for disciplining Judah &
destroying Babylon; He recorded, at God’s command, a woeful digest justifying
further God’s judgment on Babylon - Finally, Habakkuk reached a pinnacle, that
highest point of praise in which God revealed Himself in power &
glory-
The doxology ends with
Habakkuk’s trust, his faith all in the Lord. His fear turned to faith - These
days we are living, as we approach the end of the age; as we see the upheavals
in Europe, in China, the South China Sea, and the disruptions and problems here
at home, those fears, the burdens like Habakkuk’s can be transformed to
security buoyed up with blessings - -
Yes! The just, the happy, the
content, the victorious will live by faith. As it is written in 1
John5:4, everyone
who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has
overcome the world--our faith.
“Encamped along the hills of
light, Ye Christian soldiers, rise, And press the battle ere the night Shall
veil the glowing skies. Against the foe in vales below Let all our strength be
hurled; Faith is the victory, we know, That overcomes the world.” Our hope is built on nothing less Than Jesus Christ, our righteousness; We dare not trust the sweetest frame, But wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid
Rock, we stand; All other ground is sinking sand, All other ground is sinking sand.
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