Habakkuk 3 - The Prophets Prayer and Living By Faith

You're listening to the Christ Our Cornerstone

podcast, Ministry of Christ Our Cornerstone Church

in O 'Neill, Nebraska. I'm Pastor Logan Manrick,

and it's our prayer that this message strengthens

your faith and draws you closer to Christ. Let's

dive in. Hello there, friends. Pastor Logan here.

Before we get going, I just want to thank you

for streaming this podcast and this sermon. Before

we get going, though, I just want to say If you

do not have a home church and you are in the

O 'Neill area, we'd love to have you. But if

you do not, if you do not have a home church

and you don't live in the area, I would encourage

you to find one, find a church where you can

have a pastor shepherd you, be over you, to love

you, point you to Christ and help you grow in

discipleship. Let this sermon and this podcast

be only supplemental to what you are currently

doing. Don't let it be the thing. And so I just

wanted to encourage you with that. This sermon

is from Sunday, October 26th, and it finishes

up our final week in Habakkuk. Excited to get

started in Jonah next week. And so without further

ado, here we are in Jonah or I'm sorry, in Habakkuk

chapter three. As we finish up the book of Habakkuk

today and then tomorrow or next week we'll start

Jonah. Now we've done this kind of backwards

because I felt like Habakkuk was the perfect

place to be for what we were kind of experiencing

and talking about and walking through. And so

we're gonna go Jonah and you have to go to Jonah

before you can go to Nahum because Nahum is what

actually happens to Nineveh after Jonah. And

then we'll skip over Habakkuk and go into Zephaniah.

So we'll cover those minor prophets. So if you

want to turn to Habakkuk chapter 3, we're going

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

to walk through the entire chapter together.

We will have the verses up here. But we'd love

for you to have the scripture in front of you

because it's important that you're seeing exactly

what I'm saying. And like my professor used to

say, if my mouth Departs from what you see here

you follow this before you follow my mouth And

so I want you to see what we're unpacking. So

Let's do a little bit of a recap For those who

have not been here, what do we know about Habakkuk?

He's a prophet. Yeah prophets do what I Speak

right there this they are the what I call the

spiritual chiropractors. They're getting the

church in the state of Israel back in alignment.

So that's what they do. They are the mouthpiece

of God. What else do we know about Habakkuk?

Oh, Nolan, you weren't here the first day when

I did it? Yeah, so it's not Habakkuk. It's not...

Habakkuk, it's not any of those things that I've

heard before. It's Habakkuk. And if you are still

trying to find it, that's okay. Just go to the

table of contents. It's much easier to do that

than to flip around because it's a very small

book in the Old Testament. What else though?

What is he experiencing right now? Yeah, yeah,

exactly. They're caught in between two warring

countries also Judah itself is wicked, right?

and so he's just seeing wickedness inside and

outside and He's going what is going on and he's

the first person to ever ask if God is so good

then why evil right and so He's asking that question

and he's also this is the only book as we as

I've said before where you are getting an inside

look at a conversation between a prophet and

God. It's God's talking, then Habakkuk talks,

and then God talks again, and they're going back

and forth. It's like an inside look into his

prayer life. So he starts out with that question

of like, where are you God? Like people are dying

of famine. I'm watching people get murdered.

We are going, you know, like We're stuck in between

warring countries. We have a wicked king. We

have a wicked leader in Jehoiakim who is doing

wicked things inside your temple. Where are you

and what are you doing? Don't you care? And many

of us have asked that question before, right?

Like where are you and why don't you care? Like

why am I experiencing these things? This is...

Hard it's hurtful. It's brutal. And why are you

making me look at it? And so we start out and

he is in the valley And as we wrap up in chapter

three, we're gonna see him go to the mountaintop

literally in both his spiritual walk and physically

But before we do that There was a time early

on and I don't want you guys to get this like

kooky kind of thought of me in your mind. But

there was a time when I had the swoopy, cool

rock star hair when I was a rock star. And I

wore the tight jeans, much tighter than what

I'm wearing right now. And I played a guitar

all the time. So yeah, that was me early on in

our marriage. And I would write songs for my

beautiful wife all the time. didn't sing very

well so my wife would be like the lyrics are

very nice and but I would always just be playing

well when I would find myself in a place of just

kind of a spiritual depression or tough times

we were foster parents at one time on this on

this ranch and we had ten teenage boys that we

had to take care of And when we just, we just

experienced a lot of like spiritual warfare during

that time. And so I would literally grab my guitar

and I would just go out into the cow pasture

and just be out there with my Bible and my guitar.

And I would just read scripture and I would sing

scripture just me and the Lord. And it was like

therapeutic for me to have this time of just

singing. And it's a good thing it was just me.

And only the Lord would say it was a joyful noise.

That's what he would say. He wouldn't say it

was great. He would just say it was a joyful

noise. But the thing about it was is that the

foster boys knew, they'd be like, where's Logan?

And they'd be like, oh, he just went out into

the pasture. And they knew what that meant. I

was kind of going through my own struggle, and

I just needed to go out there and voice it to

the Lord. And so we're going to unpack. why it's

important that you sing and why you also need

to partner it with Scripture. But I want you

to know that I've practiced this myself. And

you should too. You may be like, I don't play

an instrument, I play the radio. That's okay,

turn the radio on, sing, whatever. But it's important

that you do that. And we see in chapter three,

we see Habakkuk. is going to sing a song. So

last week we talked about how God sings a song,

right? He sings this mocking song that they are

meant to sing in a time of trouble and to get

them through and he is mocking Babylon with this

song. Well, now we move to Habakkuk is now going

to sing a song. He's going to be that little

rock star Logan in the cow pasture singing a

song back to God. And I want you to know, his

circumstances don't change. It's him that changes.

Because God doesn't give him this like, oh, never

mind. So here we go. If we read in Habakkuk chapter

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

3, a prayer of the prophet Habakkuk, according

to Shiga Neoth, that is actually a really Interesting

word. It's a Hebrew word that just means a prayer

song It's a psalm that actually is to you We

only see it twice in scripture one is in psalm

7 and then the other is here and it means A song

from your heart that when you are in the in an

utter place of despair is what that is and so

Some may say some of your translations may say

on But it's not a physical. It's not a physical

place It is a song from the heart. And then so

here is what Habakkuk says. He says, Lord, I

have heard the report about you. Lord, I stand

in awe of your deeds. Revive your work in these

years. Make it known in these years. In your

wrath, remember mercy. And so let's just pause

for a second. And so see, he's now living in

a place of faith instead of by sight. So he's.

He's moving on from, Lord, what are you doing

and where are you at, to now he's going to begin

to sing a song to God. And he's like, I'm no

longer going to look at what I see. I'm just

going to live by faith. And so if you're taking

notes, the core of what we're going to unpack

today is what it means to live by faith. But

he keeps climbing higher up the mountain of faith.

And when we climb up the mountain of faith, it's

not easy, OK? I want you to know that. When you

decide I'm going to start living what it means

to live by faith, and I'm going to take God at

His Word, and I'm going to draw closer to Him.

Things don't get easier. You might as well put

a target on your back. The enemy does not want

you to draw closer to your Creator, so therefore

he is going to begin to make things a little

bit harder in life. But if you're drawing closer

to the Lord, the Lord makes it easier. For you

Because he's like it's like this It's it's like

my my children knowing that we may be struggling,

but they know that that's a mom and dad still

have it Does that make sense? Like things may

be difficult, but I know that mom and dad are

taking care of it So I'm just gonna rest in that

and it's the same thing with the Lord things

can be difficult But I'm going to rest in my

dad who has it all. And so what took Habakkuk

from the valley to the summit? It's going to

be three spiritual disciplines that we're going

to unpack. Those same spiritual disciplines will

take you there as well. And so there's three,

like I said. So here we go. Here's the first

one. When we read verses one and two, what do

you see him doing? What's the first spiritual

discipline you see him doing? Prayer. So what

I have for my first point is prayer. Pray for

the work of God. So this chapter is known as

a prayer psalm and Habakkuk has moved from arguing

with God to praise and worship. He prays because

now he's heard God speak. He now knows God's

will. It's not what he would have chose, but

he knows God is trustworthy so Listen there can

be those times when you're struggling in faith

or struggling in life and not sure of what's

next But when God speaks and you may be saying

well, I don't know when God speaks Well, I'm

gonna I'm gonna give you a cheat code. Are you

ready? Here's a cheat code for you. If you're

like, I need to know the voice of God. I need

to know when he speaks There you go He speaks.

He has spoken. And he continues to speak through

this. And so if you're ever going, I want to

know the voice of God. I want to know when he

speaks. How do I know when he speaks? He speaks

through this. Now that's not to say that God

doesn't supernaturally speak in other ways. God

can supernaturally speak through a dream. God

can supernaturally speak through a friend who

may not hear me for just a second. I'm not saying

if someone comes up to you and says they are

a prophet and they start saying I've got a word

from the Lord for you You immediately should

be like hold up player Now I've had so many people

in my life go God's got a word for you brother

My wife will tell you there's been many people

throughout our life We had people saying when

I was touring as a musician They were like you

you guys are gonna be God has spoken and you

guys are gonna be bigger than any Christian artist

you that has ever been And the funny thing is

is now being on the other side of that I have

learned to say if God hasn't told me first He's

not told you anything Does that make sense God

can speak to you and somebody else can speak

What's the word I'm looking for? Confirmation.

Thank you, babe. God can confirm it through another

person, but they're not going to speak something

he has not already told you. Does that make sense?

So, God can speak through any other means, but

specifically he speaks through his word, and

he confirms things through his word. I will give

you a for instance. Before I ever, this was the

first time that Scott, I don't even know if you

remember, talking to me on the phone a year and

a half ago, asking me about applying because

you were connected through Pastor Kurt. Do you

remember that? And I remember you calling, I

was mowing my grass, you called and I was like,

nope, have no interest in pastoring a church

in O 'Neill. Thank you very much. Bye bye. Continue

on my grass. Didn't think anything else of it.

I fell asleep that night. And then you guys are

going to start getting all the kookies. I'm telling

you, but I'm not a kookie. I dreamt of this building

before I ever saw it. I dreamt that night of

me standing in front of this building. And I

told my wife, I said, she's shaking her head

because she knows it. I said, I dreamt. I said,

I got that call yesterday. And I go, I dreamt

last night I was standing in front of the building.

I was standing in front of this little church

in this town that I've never been to. And she's

like, right? Because it's like, we're good where

we're at. And then the first time I ever saw

this building, I was like, that's the building

from my dreams. And then God begins to confirm

things through his word. And I've told you guys

all the stories of how we got here. But every

time I look in his word, it was God saying, trust

me. Everywhere I look, it was just trust. And

he was confirming over and over and over. That's

how God speaks. Does that make sense? So God

confirms, but He's the one that does the speaking

here, not through somebody else, not through

if you have some sort of a dream before He's

speaking anything or whatever. Maybe you have

a dream that you married a supermodel. I would

say you've had too much pizza that wasn't the

Lord. So, knowing God's will, should motivate

us to pray, thy will be done. Even when God is

speaking to you and confirming things that just

like Habakkuk, when God says, yes, I am answering

you, Habakkuk, but the problem is what I'm sending

is the Babylonians. And he says they're way more

wicked than what we're already experiencing.

And God goes, yeah, I know I'm going to take

care of them too. We still should pray thy will

be done. Even when it's not what you want. Because

here's the thing spoiler alert. He's fully in

control He sees the beginning from the end and

he goes this story You're just an actor in the

greater story of the plan of my of what I'm doing

in the world So trust that what I'm doing with

you is My perfect will just rest it you guys

have heard me use the analogy before of tubing

down the river Is it much more fun and relaxing

to just let the river take you, or do you want

to just sit there and fight against it? If you

fight against it, where do you go? Into the weeds.

Right? Let, even when it's difficult, when you

even see in the river that there's gonna be rapids,

we still trust and just let it take us. Because

here's the thing, those rapids, they look pretty

scary, but you end up getting a little bit of

a thrill from it. You know what I mean? My wife

would go, there have been some rapids in our

life that I would prefer not to have that thrill.

And I'm sure some of you guys would say the same

thing. Without faith, we cannot pray effectively.

I'm going to say that again because I want you

to write it down. Without faith, we cannot pray

effectively. Hearing and knowing the word of

God generates faith. The word and prayer must

always go together. So again, I take you back

to little rockstar boy playing his guitar, I

was singing songs that had already been written.

I'm singing things from the scriptures because

I'm reading, I'm knowing, I'm getting to know

the Father and I'm singing back His own words.

Habakkuk praised this psalm of praise because

he wants God's plan to succeed. God told him

he was working in Habakkuk wanted the word to

prosper Again though this wasn't what Habakkuk

would have chosen he still prays that will be

done So here I want you to hear this if like

Habakkuk you ever become discouraged about the

condition of the church Your life the state of

the world or your own spiritual walk take time

to pray and seek God's mercy Spiritual discipline

number two. Vision. Vision. Ponder the greatness

of God. That's what we're going to unpack right

here from Habakkuk. So vision dash, ponder the

greatness of God. God comes, verse three, God

comes from Taman. So Taman by the way, just so

you know because you'll see this in other places

in the Old Testament Taman is a poetic reference

to Mount Sinai where Moses got Went into the

presence of God and got the Ten Commandments.

So this is a poetic reference to Mount Sinai

so God comes from Taman the holy one from Mount

Paran and Then you see that word over there.

That's a sailor You guys see that in your scriptures

in your Bible? So that just means breath. Take

a second. Take it in. Breathe just a moment.

When you read music, there are breathing moments

in music, right? You know what I'm talking about?

And this is the same thing. This just means breath.

Take a moment for what has been said. Because

what he's about to unpack here, again, it's a

song. What he's about to unpack here is about

to be heavy. So I want you to imagine this with

me. His splendor covers the heavens and the earth

is full of his praise. His brilliance is like

light. Rays are flashing from his hand. Think

of lightning. This is where his hidden power

is hidden. Plague goes before him and pestilence

follows in his steps. He stands and shakes the

earth. He looks and startles the nations. The

age -old mountains break apart, the ancient hills

sink down, his pathways are ancient. I see the

tents of Cushun in distress, the tent -curtains

of the land of Midian tremble. Are you angry

at the river's lord? Is your wrath against the

rivers? Or is your rage against the sea? When

you ride on your horses your victorious chariot,

You took the sheath from your bow. The arrows

are ready to be used with an oath. You split

the earth with rivers. The mountains see you

in shudder. A downpour of water sweeps by. The

deep roars with its voice and lifts its waves

high. Sun and moon stand still in their lofty

residence at the flash of your flying arrows,

at the brightness of your shining spear. You

march across the earth with indignation. You

trample down the nations in wrath. Verse 13.

Does any of the stuff, by the way, before we

go to verse 13, does any of that sound familiar

about the pestilence? Does that sound familiar?

Does any of the other stuff that we just read,

does any of it kind of spark in your brain other

stories that you may have heard? Yes, the Israelites

coming out of Egypt. So he actually starts to

Here is where Habakkuk transitions and he goes,

okay I'm going to now remind myself of who you

are and so he begins to go back and he starts

with the exile and then he hits Deborah and Barack

and judges and then he continues on and then

he gets to 13 and 13 is what God is about to

do but before we do that Here's some things for

you. You and I will more than likely never receive

a vision like Habakkuk, but we can ponder it

and allow the Spirit to teach us from it. So

if you're taking notes, I have this as like a

sub note. God came in splendor. So verses three

through five, we see him describing the brilliance

and power of God. Mount Paran is another name

for Mount Sinai. In this song, Habakkuk is retracing

the march from Sinai to the promised land. Do

you see that? That's why he talks about Mount

Peran as he's starting to retrace his steps.

Then let's go to the next little note, next little

sub note. The Lord stood in power. Are you putting

these up there, Bubba? Oh, there's no note there?

Okay, nevermind. Ignore me. So the Lord stood

in power, verses six and seven. He stands and

shakes the earth. He looks and startles the nations.

The age -old mountains break apart. The ancient

hills sink down. His pathways are ancient. I

see the tents of Cushion in distress. The tent

curtains in the land of Midian tremble. Here's

what's important for you to know this. When nations

go to war, What typically, and let's think about

ancient nations because now it's not this way,

but when ancient nations went to war, the leaders

would do what? Would they move forward or would

they go backwards? If they're wanting to take

another country or take more land, are they going

to go backwards? No, they go forwards, right?

But God, and that's how they would intimidate,

but God, this is what's hilarious, this Habakkuk

says, no, no, no, you see, God literally stands

up He just looks at the enemy and they tremble

He doesn't move forward. He doesn't have to do

anything His mere presence makes you tremble

and if you go and that seems like a lot, okay

Go read any any text? Isaiah John in Revelation

Jeremiah Daniel All of them experience God's

presence and how do they all describe it? Terrifying

Right Yeah, and and it says that Daniel literally

it took him a week to just Replenish himself.

He was so weak afterwards Jeremiah wet Not because

he was seeing God and like oh, this is amazing.

It was because he was terrified When you see

an all -consuming God who was fully in control

Really holy that's what he is full of justice

and you all of a sudden are very aware It's imagine

standing naked in front of the church That's

what it's like to stand before God The one being

who made you knows you knows every thought you've

ever had whether good or bad. He knows your heart

and he's fully in control, that is a terrifying

thought. But here's the good thing. If he's justice,

if he's goodness, then he is love. And so that's

the beauty of the cross of Jesus Christ. Because

all those Old Testament prophets experience what

it is before Jesus comes. And so now, if you

fall before God, it's still terrifying. but Jesus

stands in between and says he's ours. Does that

make sense? So, when it talks about Cushion and

Midian, those are two towns between Egypt and

the promised land. When they find out about the

plagues, when they hear about what happened at

the Red Sea, they're terrified. They're terrified

because they're like, the God of Israel is powerful.

And our gods can't match up to that. So that's

what he's saying. He's unpacking and remembering

the power of God and how wonderful he is and

how he can trust him because even though the

Babylonians are powerful and even though the

Babylonians are scary, he goes, this is what

has happened in the past. You guys have heard

me say this before. Well, maybe I don't know

if I've told this story or not. So my dad is

short, and he is stocky, and he always looks

angry at the world. And I remember thinking my

entire life that my dad is super strong, because

he's got these massive forearms like Popeye.

And my dad grew up fighting all the time, like

literally fighting all the time. And so one day

I'm outside and I'm skateboarding with my friend.

And these two boys that are like, I don't know,

16, 17, I'm 12, they're like 16, 17, they're

trying to show off for their girlfriends who

live next door. And so they start bullying me

and my friend. And then they start beating my

friend up and I run inside because I'm like,

I don't want any of that. And my dad goes, what

are you doing? Because he could tell like as

soon as I came in. I said, what are you doing?

I said, some boys are bullying me and they're

beating Joe up right now. My dad goes, what?

So he storms out the door and these two boys,

they see my dad and they take off, right? And

then I do the classic like, yeah, that's right.

Come and get, you know what I mean? And so. So

next thing you know my dad because my dad was

an engineer for the phone company and so he always

had this Verizon work band that was parked across

the street my dad's at it and he's angry man

like he's waiting on these boys to come back

right and he's just like I'm gonna tear and he

just kept talking about He was going to tear

these, he's like, I don't care if I go to jail.

You don't come onto my property and start messing

with my son and beating up 12 year olds. Like

you're going to, you know what I mean? Like he's

just like, man, he's just winding himself up,

winding himself up. You could see the unsaved

portion of my father coming out. And I'm just,

I'm skateboarding with so much pride and confidence

at this point. And so then I'll never forget

though, we lived on a dead end road. So to come

to our house, you were coming there for a purpose

and these, Car full of more boys about four or

five other boys pull up And they go who's the

guy and they the boys point across the street

to my dad is in his work van And you hear the

guy go this one kid go oh No, I'm good, and they

literally spin out It was like something out

of a movie, and I was just like and it was like

yeah Would you see my dad? You know what I mean

like I could I could like have so much confidence

because of who my dad was And this is what Habakkuk

is doing right now. He's still terrified because

by the way 12 year old me still terrified But

I'm like my confidence is in my dad and so Habakkuk

is going I'm still terrified But do you see my

dad you know what I mean? So that's what's happening

right here. He's like yeah, we remember what

you have done in the past And so we can walk

in confidence when things seem murky and crazy

But do you see a theme, by the way? In Philippians,

we talked a lot about it. We're talking a lot

about it in Habakkuk. Do you see the importance

of remembrance of who God is and what He's done

in the past? It's to remind you that He is always

faithful. He will come through yet again. No

matter how much an earthly father or parent or

grandparent or friend or whoever has failed you

before, the Father never fails. That should be

an amen, but okay. I'll amen myself. And then

so we've got the last one here. My last little

sub note is God marched in victory. And so go

with me back to, let's go to verse 13. You come

out to save your people. You save your anointed.

You crush the leader of the house of the wicked

and strip him from foot to neck. You pierce his

head with his own spears. His warriors storm

out to scatter us, gloating as if ready to secretly

devour the weak. You tread the sea with your

horses, stirring up the vast water." Let me ask

you something. What does you strip him from foot

to neck? If we're thinking about, again, a prophet

who is also around in this time, Daniel, what

does Daniel see? Do you remember Daniel sees

Come on feet He sees a body right and it's in

that those bodies are the parts of the different

parts of the body represent different kingdoms

Habakkuk is seeing the same thing So God confirming

by the way But then here's a part that you need

to know and I want you there's that word sailor

by the way You strip him from from foot to neck

pause Breathe because what I'm about to say next

is going to be heavy You pierce his head with

his own spear Why is that important? Think about

a prophecy in Genesis What does God prophesy

to Eve, gonna crush his head. I want you for

just a moment to think about this. Multiple times

throughout the Old Testament we see enemies being

crushed in the head. What does David do? He crushes

his head first with a gigantic rock then cuts

his head off with his own sword, right? What's

the What's the woman why can't I think of her

name it was just right there who's yes who does

the Jail who does the spike through the King's

head? All of this is reference to and foreshadowing

Christ Hey, you're good. Don't feel like you

have to like You're not bothering me. I'm sorry

to bring attention to you. Sorry If I haven't

said it in a while Babies are totally welcome.

They can preach all they want. But this is pointing

to the Genesis prophecy. And every time it happens,

by the way, it's the enemy's reminder in the

Old Testament that their time is coming. And

then when Jesus comes along, what does he do?

He crushes the head of Satan. He also crushes

what? Death. The only thing that the enemy had

on us was death and Jesus took the keys back

Yeah, yes it like does that like seeing that

about Piercing the head with his own spear. By

the way, this is something else that that just

absolutely smoked me when I was preparing Why

is it important to that you see? Jail do this

do the spike Why is it important that you hear

the spear through his head? Why is it important

that David cuts Goliath's head off with a gigantic

sword that is his own? Why is that important?

Think about it. Here you go. Because everybody's

like, I have no idea. This is about to like blow

your mind. And if it doesn't, you're not safe.

I'm just kidding. How did Jesus defeat Satan?

through death Who had the keys to death? Satan

how did Jesus defeat Satan at his own game with

his own tool? That's what is being foreshadowed

and prophesied throughout the entire time Satan's

not even catching it that Jesus is like oh not

only am I gonna defeat you I'm gonna defeat you

at your own game with your own tools You see

that Okay, maybe I'm the only one that thinks

that's stinking awesome. I was just like man.

That's I was like blah All right, let's let's

wrap this bad boy up number three This is your

next your next note in there bub huh No, no,

we're gonna go to our next our next note. Just

click on the notes Buddy they're on there Please,

for the love of Jesus, Noah, go back there. Eli,

go back there. Somebody, they're there. I showed

you them beforehand. Okay, I'm gonna read verse

16. I heard and trembled within. My lips quivered

at the sound. Rottenness entered my bones. I

trembled where I stood. Now I must quietly wait

for the day of distress to come against the people

invading us. Do you hear that? Does it sound

like that Habakkuk is running the spiritual high?

No. He knows it's still coming. Excuse me. He's

still terrified. And then listen to this, verse

17, though the fig tree does not bud and there

is no fruit on the vines, though the olive crop

fails and the fields produce no food, though

the flocks disappear from the pen, and there

are no herds in the stalls, yet I will celebrate

in the Lord. I will rejoice in the God of my

salvation." Let's bring this home for just a

second. Yeah, click it. Faith is the last one.

Affirm the will of God. Bada bing, bada boom.

Have those been up there the rest? Have you not

been putting those up there? Oh. No wonder why

everybody's looking at me like I'm crazy. Yes,

that should have been up there the entire time

I'm all at that slide. Let's bring this home

for just a second Most of many of you in here

farm a ranch and those that don't Still no farmers

and ranchers or have lived on or have whatever

like you're familiar Though the fig tree does

not bud and there is no fruit on the vines though

the olive crop fails and the fields produce no

food Though the flocks disappear from the pen

and there are no herds in the stalls Though the

corn doesn't grow though the soybeans don't come

in though Whatever alfalfa whatever it is if

you're ranching though my entire Group what do

you guys call those herds there we go though

the entire herd is dead That hit a little little

bit more home for you Though there's nothing

there Nothing's coming up. It's just dead. It's

dead everywhere. I see Though the economy has

failed completely because that's what he say

Verse 18, what does he say? And I will rejoice

in the God of my salvation Though the herds are

dead Though the crops are dead Though the economy

is gone Those things don't save me You're the

God of my salvation. You're the God who saves.

You're the God who provides. You are the God

I can trust. You are the God who goes before

me. You are the God who redeems me. The Lord

is my strength. He makes my feet like those of

a deer. By the way, this is pointing back to

a Psalm that talks about having feet like hind's

deer. and he enables me to walk on mountain heights

for the choir director on stringed instruments."

So here's what he's saying. This is a beautiful

confession of faith because Habakkuk is trembling

in fear and with a quivering lip he worships

in faith. He knows what is coming but says, I

will wait patiently on the Lord. Habakkuk sees

the destruction coming. He saw the economy was

crumbling, but he begins to look up in faith

and his fears begin to subside. He's focusing

on the glory and greatness of God. A mark of

faith is waiting patiently on God. You should

be writing that down. A mark of faith is waiting

patiently on God. When you know God is working,

wait patiently for Him. and let him have his

way. So how do you do that? How do you wait patiently

for him? I'm gonna give you three ways to do

this, and I'm gonna give you the passages to

back him up. Here's how you wait patiently for

him. One, stand still. Exodus 14, 13. So one,

stand still. Two, sit still. Ruth 3, 18. Stand

still sit still last one be still Psalm 46 10

We wait patiently by standing still sitting still

and being still yeah, but Logan aren't I supposed

to do something no if God doesn't tell you to

do something don't do it you wait Yeah, but Logan

I'm surprised you probably like help this thing

along no you shouldn't Now that does not you

do not hear me saying that you shouldn't work

a job Okay, go to work do the things you typically

do while you wait for the redemption of the Lord

But the biggest thing you should you should hear

is you don't do anything Outside of the ordinary

if God's telling you to move then move if he's

not telling you to move don't move Then when

he says it's time move Does that make sense?

Okay. The does that make sense has now become

what used to be you tracking with me. I just

realized that. Thank you. 17 and 18, he says,

I will rejoice. Habakkuk knew he couldn't rejoice

in his circumstances, but he could rejoice in

his God. I'm gonna say that one again. Habakkuk

knew he couldn't rejoice in the circumstance.

Nothing is changing. As we see, everything is

falling apart. Nothing has changed. But he can

rely on God. He can trust God. So the only thing

changing is him. And the last one he says in

verse 19, I will rely on the Lord. British theologian

G. Campbell Morgan said, our joy is in proportion

to our trust. Our trust is in proportion to our

knowledge of God. I'm gonna say that one more

time. Our joy is in proportion to our trust.

Our trust is in proportion to our knowledge of

God. So we can have joy by trusting and knowing

that God is working it out, but if you find yourself

not knowing who God is, then guess what? You

can't truly trust or have joy, because you don't

know it. But when you know Him and you've watched

Him work in your life before, you can know that

He'll come through again. You can't trust what

you don't know. Habakkuk teaches us to face our

doubts and questions honestly. Take them humbly

to Jesus, wait for His Word to teach us, then

worship Him no matter how we feel. or what we

see. It's important that you come back to that.

It doesn't matter how you feel or what you see.

When Elijah is faced with, is it Elijah or Elisha,

when the armies are coming, and Elijah prays

because the armies are coming to kill him and

his assistant, and his assistant's like, we gotta

do something. And Elijah says, Lord, just open

his eyes. And then all of a sudden he can see

the armies of the Lord. Then what continues on

is it says that Elijah puts his feet or his face

between his legs. He gets down on his knees to

pray and he puts his face between his legs and

he begins to pray and he's praying for rain because

it hadn't rained. And he says, tell me what you

see. And his assistant goes, nothing. And he

goes, OK. So then he puts his face between his

legs again. He says, tell me what you see. And

he continues to pray. He says, nothing. And then

the third time, what do you see? He says, I see

a cloud. What does he say? The size of a man's

hand. Then he begins to downpour. Why does Elijah

put his face between his legs? Because he didn't

want his surroundings to dictate his prayers.

You have to shut your eyes and trust that God

is working. God doesn't always change our circumstances,

but he can change us to meet the circumstances.

That's what it means to live by faith. Let's

pray. Well, friends, I hope that this sermon

was encouraging to you. I hope that if you find

yourself in a place of struggle, and you're asking

God, where are you? You can look at Habakkuk's

life. You can look at the book of Habakkuk and

know that God may not change your circumstances,

but in faith, you can have joy where you are

and allow God to change you while your circumstances

are still the same. We can have joy even in the

midst of chaos. Well, if you want more information

about our church you can go to Christ our cornerstone

church .com If you would like to reach out to

me if you have questions, please feel free to

reach out to me at Logan D as in dog Merrick

at gmail .com Have a great rest of your day.

We'll see you again next week