Anchor the Storm

Thank you, Brian.

Thank you, Brian.

Amen.

Someone once said that in life,

! it often seems like we're either entering a storm,

! we're in the midst of a storm,

or maybe we're coming out of a storm.

Here in the Carolinas, we are well acquainted with storms, are we not?

1996, my wife and I were living in Westbrook.

I went to bed September 5th,

knowing that a hurricane was coming

and going to hit the outer banks of North Carolina,

never expecting that the eye of the storm

would go over Wake Forest, North Carolina,

where we were living.

We woke up about 3 in the morning

to be in the midst of a hurricane.

And it feels like often life can feel that way.

And certainly at a time like this,

as what we've been through as a church

and as a family these last several days,

can feel a bit like a storm.

And I want to spend just a few moments in the Word of God,

just reminding one another, by God's Word,

of what you and I are anchored to.

Because here's the truth.

Giving our lives to Jesus and follow Him

doesn't mean we will live a storm-free life.

But what it does mean is that Jesus is in the boat with us.

Amen?

There's an old country song,

and the woman singing to her romantic love interest says,

I beg your pardon,

I never promised you a...

Oh, you've dated yourself.

Never promised you a rose garden.

The Christian life, it is roses,

but at times it's thorns, is it not?

And I want us to spend just a very brief time together

in the Word of God,

being encouraged by God's Word,

of what you and I are anchored to

in the midst of a storm.

So I want to invite you to open your Bible

to the book of Habakkuk.

It's in the Old Testament,

maybe a book you're not as familiar with,

so take a moment and find the book of Habakkuk.

And we're going to look at Habakkuk chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

Habakkuk chapter 3.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

And as you turn there,

I'll set the context for us.

Habakkuk is a prophet of God to God's people,

to the nation of Judah.

And actually, this little three-chapter book of Habakkuk

goes really well with the book of Job.

Because Habakkuk is going to begin to ask the Lord,

Lord, why do we go through challenging times?

As the people of God, Lord,

why do bad things happen to your people?

Why do you allow suffering and challenges and storms

to come into the lives of your people?

And he has this brief three-chapter conversation with the Lord

about going through challenging times.

And the pinnacle of the conversation

between Habakkuk and the Lord

is what we're going to look at.

And it's in chapter 3, beginning in verse 17.

And this is what he writes.

He says,

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fell,

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold,

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation,

for God the Lord is my strength.

He makes my feet like the deer's,

and he makes me tread on my high places.

Let's pray together.

Lord Jesus, we are moved this morning

by your goodness and your faithfulness

and your grace.

And we are reminded that in the midst of the fiercest storm,

you are with your people.

You never leave us nor forsake us.

And in these next few moments,

as we look into your word,

we ask, Holy Spirit,

that you would open our minds,

give us understanding of your word.

We pray, Holy Spirit,

that you would soften our hearts,

that we might be changed

and transformed by your word.

Speak to us, your people,

we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

If we look at verse 17,

Habakkuk outlines for you and I

the dire situation.

That God's people find themselves in.

Notice what he says in verse 17.

He says,

Though the fig tree should not blossom.

Figs would be a source of food

for God's people at that time.

And so he says,

The fig tree does not blossom,

so there's nothing to eat.

He says,

Nor fruit be on the vines.

He's referring to grapes there.

And of course,

they would take grapes

and press them

and make juice and wine.

And so he says,

There's nothing to eat.

There's nothing to drink.

The fig tree does not blossom.

There is no fruit on the vines.

Watch this.

He says,

The produce of the olive fails.

Now they would take olives

and press them into olive oil,

which primarily they would use

to light their homes.

They would put in lamps.

So stay with me.

He says,

There's nothing to eat.

There's nothing to drink.

And they've turned the power off.

He says,

The fields yield no food.

He emphasizes that again.

He says,

The flock be cut off from the fold.

It's referring to sheep.

And the primary function of sheep in that day

would be they would shear them,

take the wool,

and make clothing.

He says,

There's nothing to eat.

There's nothing to drink.

They've turned off the power

and all of my clothes are gone.

And then he says,

And there be no herd in the stalls.

He's referring to oxen

that they would use to work the land.

So listen to his predicament.

He says,

I have nothing to eat.

I have nothing to drink.

I have nothing to wear.

They've turned the power off

and I've lost my job.

Sounds like a country music song,

does it not?

He's lost everything.

But notice this one little word

in verse 18.

He says,

Yet.

Yet in the midst of losing everything,

in the midst of the biggest storm,

what does he do?

He says,

I will rejoice in the Lord.

He says,

I've lost everything

and I'm going to choir practice.

And it would be fair to say,

but Habakkuk,

what do you have to think about?

And he says,

I have three truths

that anchor me

in the midst of difficult times.

And here they are for us, church.

Number one,

in times of hardship

and difficulty,

we're reminded

that God is our source

of salvation.

In times of hardship

and difficulty,

we are reminded

that God is our source

of salvation.

Look what he says there

in verse 18.

He says,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy

in the God of my salvation.

The God of my salvation.

The apostle Paul says,

To live is Christ

and to die is what?

Gain.

To live is Christ

and to die is gain.

See, for those of us

who know and love

and follow Jesus,

even death has been conquered

by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Amen, church?

And so death has no hold

on the people of God.

And so he says,

Listen,

in the midst of hard times

and difficulties,

never lose sight

that God is your source

of salvation.

And this life

is but a vapor.

This life is but a vapor.

Daniel and I have been,

as we would say in England,

we have been best mates

since the age of 16.

Now, you know how it works.

In my mind,

Daniel and I are still 16.

Right?

When I saw that video,

I just chuckled.

Brian told me this morning,

he said,

Oh, Daniel's made a video.

And I literally busted out laughing.

I was like,

Listen,

a heart attack's not going

to stop that man

from talking.

Amen?

It's not going to do it.

Right?

I've known him

my whole life.

Here's what we know.

Is that life goes by quickly.

One moment you're 16

and the next moment you're 56.

Right?

Our life is but a vapor.

But salvation in Jesus

is for an eternity.

Amen, church?

It's for an eternity.

And so,

when the storms are brewing,

when the waves are crashing,

what do we have to sing about?

I'll tell you what,

we have something to sing about

for all eternity.

And that is,

we have a home in glory land

that outshines the sun.

Do you know that song?

I've got a home in glory land.

If I had a banjo,

I'd start picking it.

Amen?

Right?

And we've got a home in glory land

that outshines the sun.

And for that and that alone,

we have all eternity

to worship Jesus.

In the midst of the storm,

we hold on to the truth

that God is our source

of salvation.

Death has no hold

on the people of God.

Secondly,

he says this,

in the midst of challenging hard times,

we are anchored to the truth

that God is our source of salvation.

But secondly,

we're anchored to the truth

that God is our source of strength.

God is our source of strength.

Look what he says there.

Verse 18,

he says,

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God the Lord is my what?

Strength.

God the Lord is my strength.

In the midst of trying times,

we worship Jesus for his salvation,

but we are reminded

that not only is he our source of salvation,

he is our source of strength.

The word there in Hebrew

means the force of an army.

The force of an army.

There are many names for God

in the Old Testament,

and one is the Lord of hosts.

It literally means

the Lord of heaven's armies.

That all the armies of heaven

are at our disposal

as we are strengthened by God himself.

And it's lovely

because he says,

The Lord is my strength.

And the word Lord there

is the personal name for God.

It's Yahweh.

It's this personal God

who knows us

and loves us

and knows the very number of hairs on our head

and cares for us.

And he is our strength.

Have you ever faced a trial in life

and you just didn't know

if you were going to make it through?

Have you ever cried out to the Lord

and said,

Lord, I don't know

if I can take it one more day.

Lord, I'm not sure

if our marriage can bear this.

I'm not sure

if our children

will make it through this.

Lord, I'm not sure

how we're going to endure this.

Can I just say,

take heart.

Take heart.

The Apostle Paul

writing of his own storm

in 2 Corinthians chapter 12,

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

said he called out to the Lord

three times

to remove it from him.

This is the answer

the Lord gave him.

He said,

Oh, Paul,

don't you know

that my grace is sufficient for you

for my power

is made perfect

in weakness.

And Paul says,

for when I am weak,

then I am strong.

Do you know it's okay to be weak?

It's okay to cry.

It's okay to not have

all the answers.

It's okay.

Because Jesus does.

Amen, church?

And the Bible says,

when we are weak,

that's when he is strong.

And in fact,

I would go on to say,

I just believe

the weaker I get,

the stronger he gets in me.

And maybe you've had

that experience

where you've looked back

on those storms

in your own life

and you don't even recollect

how the Lord did it,

but what you know is

that he carried you

every step of the way.

He carried you

every step of the way.

He is our source

of salvation.

He is our source

of strength.

But then lastly,

church,

we see this

in times of hardship

and difficulty.

God is our source

of security.

God is our source

of security.

Look at verse 19 again.

He says,

God, the Lord,

is my strength

and he makes my feet

like the deers,

like the feet of a deer,

and he makes me tread

on my high places.

The word deer there

is more akin

to what we would think of

as a mountain goat.

Now, we don't have

many of those.

At Table Rock,

you have to go

more out west,

Wyoming or Montana

or somewhere like that.

And a mountain goat

is a spectacular animal.

They live in an altitude

usually of about

13,000 feet.

They're the largest

living animal

at that altitude.

And if you've ever seen

a nature documentary

of mountain goats,

they have this ability

to climb

near vertical cliffs.

And their security,

the way they're able

to get away

from their predators,

they're not poisonous,

they don't have big horns,

they're not very fast,

but what they can do

is they can climb.

And their security

is in their feet.

They know they can go places

that their enemy can't.

They know they can go places

that their enemy can't.

Those that are hunting them.

A mountain lion

can't climb

like a mountain goat.

And so David here

is saying

that just like

that mountain goat

finds its security

in its feet,

look what he says.

He says,

the Lord makes my feet

like the feet

of the mountain goat.

He makes me tread

on the high places.

He's talking about

being secure

in the Lord.

Being secure

in the Lord.

The Lord

is our salvation,

He is our strength,

and He is

our security.

David says it

this way

in Psalm 91.

He says,

whoever dwells

in the shelter

of the Most High

will rest

in the shadow

of the Almighty.

And I will say

of the Lord,

He is my refuge

and my fortress,

my God

in whom

I

trust.

Our

security

as followers

of Jesus

is not

in the stock market,

it's not in the bank,

it's not in the White House.

Our security

is firmly placed

at the foot of the cross.

Amen, church?

And it's in Christ

and Christ alone

that we find

our security.

So let me encourage us

this morning.

Wherever you might be,

maybe things for you

this morning

are smooth sailing

and praise the Lord

and make sure you

praise Him for that.

But maybe for you

the waters are a bit choppy.

Maybe things are not

as you would like them to be

and you find yourself

in the midst of a storm.

Can I encourage you

to rejoice?

To rejoice?

Can I encourage you

to be reminded

that even in the

biggest challenge

that the Lord Jesus

is your salvation,

He is your strength

and He is your

security.

We have

two children.

Our daughter is 22

and our son

is 20.

And we've spent most,

they spent most of their lives

in England.

We've been living overseas

for 18 years now.

We spent 17 years of that

living in Birmingham,

England.

And when our kids

were quite little,

our son was probably

about four years old,

we went to go do

a fun day out

as a family.

And we went up

to the mountains

and there's a place there

not far from our home

called the Heights

of Abraham.

And it's an old

lead mine

and it's about

4,000 feet up

and you have to ride

a chairlift.

We ride this chairlift up

and we spend the day

taking a tour

of this mine.

So we're about

500 feet underground

in the earth

and we have hard hats

on with lights

and we're taking

this tour

of this lead mine.

And there's about

20 people

in our tour group

and we're at the

deepest part

of the mine

and the tour guide

says,

look,

I'm going to

instruct them

to turn the lights

off and you're going

to turn your lights

off and I want you

to appreciate

just how dark

it would be

if you were a miner

here in the 1800s.

And as soon as

he said that,

I thought,

where is Max?

That's our son.

Now Max is a

four-year-old

full of life

and energy.

He was climbing

stalactites

and hanging from

stalagmites

or whatever you do

on those things,

running everywhere

around this mine

and I immediately

thought,

where is Max?

And as soon as

the thought hit my mind,

the lights went out.

And I've never

experienced

that level

of darkness.

Didn't know it existed.

500 feet

underground

in the middle

of the earth,

no natural light.

You couldn't

see a thing

and as a dad,

my heart

was beating

out of my chest.

And I'm thinking,

has he fallen?

What has happened?

Because I hear nothing.

And in the midst

of the darkness,

I feel

five little fingers

grab my hand

and pull me down.

And I came down

and in my ear,

I hear this,

Dada,

is that you?

I said,

yes son,

it's me.

And he said,

then I'm going

to be okay.

I'm going to be okay.

Maybe this morning

you need to reach out.

Take the hand

of your Heavenly Father

and say,

Dad,

is that you?

And he'll say,

yes it is.

And I promise you,

you're going to be okay.

Let me pray for us.

Lord Jesus,

we love you.

We praise you.

We thank you for your word.

God,

I just pray

for one who would be here

this morning

who find themselves

in the midst

of a trial,

of a storm,

of a hardship.

I pray that this morning

they would reach out,

take your hand,

and that they would know

they're going to be okay.

Okay.

Bless us,

your people.

We humbly ask

in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Let's stand together.

We're going to sing

and Jeff is here.

If you'd like to come

and speak to him

to pray

however the Lord leads

and you obey

as we sing together.