God Wants to Hear You Sing!

Horatio Spafford was a businessman in the city of Chicago and often worked with crises, the great Chicago fire that started purportedly when a cow tipped over a lantern, burned much of the city.

Charles Spurgeon, or D.L.

Moody, was having an evangelistic meeting that night when the alarms of Chicago began to ring.

Moody had never dismissed gospel service without giving an invitation to respond to the gospel.

But he did that night.

He was fearful for the lives of the people.

And he didn't give an invitation that night.

He regretted it the rest of his life.

He wondered if someone might have left that meeting and stepped into eternity without Christ.

There was a man in that meeting that night.

His name was Horatio Spafford, and he would deal with all of the insurance claims from so many that lost all of their possessions in the great fire.

Well, he figured that he would work through all of that and kind of needed a break.

And so he sent his wife and four daughters ahead to where they were going to settle in Jerusalem.

They would sail by boat across the northern Atlantic, and he would meet them after all of his business dealings were finished.

Well, as his wife was going across the Atlantic, their ship had struck another ship, and his wife survived, and his children all perished.

So he made his way to England to meet his wife.

And as they sailed across the ocean, he asked the captain if he would waken him, regardless of the time of night when the coordinates met where his children had perished.

And he did.

So he goes out on the bow of the ship, he looks down into the water.

I've seen the original transcript of the song on Brevorp House Stationery, Chicago, hanging in the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, just beside the garden tomb.

How fitting that it hangs just close to the garden tomb.

Spafford goes back to his cabin and he writes, When peace like a river attendeth my way, when sorrow like sea billows roll, whatever my lot thou hast taught me to say, it is well with my soul.

The last verse of that song is different in our modern hymnals.

In the last phrase of the song.

I was in Israel 2019.

I had heard that the original telegram that Spafford's wife had sent him was in the hotel.

I went to the hotel looking for the transmission, and the man in the lobby said, It's not here, but his transcript of the hymn is just down the hallway.

So I went down there and I found it.

First verse the same, second verse the same, third verse the same, fourth verse, and Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll.

The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend.

Our hymnal says, What?

Even so.

Praise the Lord, O my soul.

His doesn't end that way.

And Lord haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll, the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend.

Even songs in the night.

Oh my soul.

God wants to hear you sing.

Habakkuk has been overwhelmed by his trial.

The Babylonians are coming and they will destroy.

He's in this back and forth conversation with God.

Chapter one, Chaldeans are coming.

Chapter two, here's the character of the people.

Chapter three, verse one.

Fellas, I'm going to transition to this mic if you don't mind.

There's quite a bit of reverb.

Jude, can you help me with that?

Okay.

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigeonoth.

Everybody see verse one?

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigeonoth.

And I want you to say that with me.

Ready?

One, two, three.

Shigeonoth.

Has anyone heard anyone at Walmart use that word this week?

I didn't think so.

Shigeonoth.

Oh Lord, I've heard thy speech and was afraid.

O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years, and the midst of the years make known, and wrath remember mercy.

Verse 17.

Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the field shall yield no meat.

The flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall not be herd in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord.

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Father, thank you for the reading of your word today.

Help us in our time together to grab a hold of something eternal.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Thank you for standing.

Please be seated together.

In 2022, I read this article on Christianity today.

Two Chinese women were detained because of their involvement in an underground house church.

They were taken to a detention center in northern China and placed among others who did not share in their faith in Christ.

Exhausted, uncertain about the world and what would happen next to them.

And having very little control over their circumstances, the two Chinese Christian women began to sing.

They sang a Chinese Christian hymn called Sing a Heavenly Song.

At first it was just the two Christian women singing, then other women began listening.

And eventually they began joining together in praise.

One of those women later described it simply: we started singing, then everyone was singing.

Obviously, what strikes us is not just that they were singing, but the circumstances in which they lifted their song to God.

And here in Habakkuk chapter 3, that's exactly what is happening in the life of the prophet.

Habakkuk 3 · chapter mention

As we know, Habakkuk doesn't begin with a song, it begins with a complaint.

Notice the first verse of chapter 1, the burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see, O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear, even cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save.

Chapter 3 begins with the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shiganoth.

Now, what's interesting about this, there are lots of songs in the Bible.

There is a hymn book right in the middle of our Bible.

We call that the Psalms.

But here in the minor prophets, in the end of the Old Testament period, a prophet writes a song, a lament, of praise to God.

The word Siginoth is a musical term we'll look at in just a moment.

It describes a song with unusual wondering, emotionally intense character.

And suddenly Habakkuk isn't simply talking about God.

No, he begins singing to God.

I want everyone to take a deep breath.

Ready?

One, two, three.

The only prerequisite of praise is breath.

Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord.

The man who began the book asking how long now says, Oh Lord, I've heard thy speech and was afraid.

The man who began by questioning God's ways now remembers God's works.

The man who was focused on what Babylon was going to do now becomes overwhelmed by what God is going to do.

The man who began with the burden now begins to worship.

We are 21st century Americans writing about a 6th century BC Hebrew culture.

When we read the Bible, we ought not read it like the New York Times or our Facebook scroll.

Did you know there's an app now for doom scrolling the Bible?

What in the world has happened to the world in which we live?

But there are musical terms in scripture.

For example, we won't take time to look at these, but you should have them in your notes.

There is Miesmore in Psalm 3 or Psalm 23.

It's a song intended for musical accompaniment.

And we might well expect that for David, who was the sweet psalmist of Israel, the harp player, who would give a song and say, this is to be played upon the flute, this is to be played on a stringed instrument, this is to be accompanied by some type of musical accompaniment.

And there is the mashil, that's Psalm 16 and many others.

It's a choice piece or what might be a song that is notable as being a great song associated with instruction, a song that teaches a principle.

If you have children, you know this to be true: that when you set a truth to music, it indelibly marks the heart of a child.

And that's why God said to his people to write their history orally before written tradition, they would orally pass down who God is and what God had done through Mashil.

How about miktem?

These are songs that are associated with atonement or forgiveness that were to be sung by the people of God and many others.

And now we come to Habakkuk 3, verse 1, and we have the prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shigeonoth.

Habakkuk 3:1

Now that's of note to us today.

Also found in Psalm 7.

It's a Hebrew word, or the root of this comes from the Hebrew word shaga.

It means to reel about through drink or to wonder.

It's a song that was composed under intense emotional and mental pressure.

Accompanied by stringed instruments.

It was a performance instruction, shiggy enough, designed for corporate worship to tell a congregation how to sing this song.

For example, some songs are lighthearted, some songs are designed to make you happy, some songs are designed to make you laugh, some songs are designed to make you dance, some songs are designed to make you sad, some songs are designed to give you an opportunity to lament or to consider all the immense emotional, spiritual pressures of your life.

That's what we have here in Habakkuk.

In other words, sing this song with appropriate emotional and spiritual resonance to lament, to meditate upon what God is allowing in our lives.

The word means it was rhythmically erratic, it was irregular and wondering.

It's a song that would make you think about all the reeling and wondering of your life.

If you're with me, will you still say amen?

So these musical terms help us understand that many psalms were provided a melody, they were provided an encouragement in the various instruments that were to accompany them.

Many psalms necessitated a particular style or a tone to convey the message of the psalm.

This is way, God's way of contextualizing how to feel about what you're singing, what to believe.

By the way, I love that choir song this morning, didn't you?

I believe.

It's called the creed.

Credo comes from the Latin.

It means I believe.

Isn't it good to hear old and young alike?

We had two young ladies here on the front line today, and we did that on purpose because whether you're eight years old or ten years old or eighty years old, there's some things that we believe about Jesus Christ.

I believe.

So the melody here is erratic.

It's reeling, it's full of emotional and mental intensity.

It's to be played on stringed instruments.

It's to have a tone that is shocking of the senses.

Let's review really quickly here.

And we don't have time to review, but we're going to anyway.

Chapter 1, we have the coming of the enemy.

Chapter 2, we have the character of the enemy.

In chapter 3, we have the coming and the character of God.

I don't know about you, but I happen to believe we've sung too many songs about the enemy.

Tabag wants us to sing our praise to God.

God wants to hear you sing.

Paul and Silas were in a midnight prison for preaching.

The Bible says in Acts 16 at midnight, Paul and Silas sing praises to God.

I don't know what you're going through in your life right now, but I can tell you one thing I know about what you're going through.

In the midst of the trial that you're facing, God wants to hear you sing.

We've told God too much how big our enemies are.

And we've not told our enemies enough how big our God is.

God wants to hear us sing.

Let me get through this quickly.

First of all, Habakkuk sings of God's fear.

If you'll allow us to get through this quickly.

Verse 2, O Lord, I've heard thy speech and was afraid.

O Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years.

In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy.

God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Perancelah.

His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

Habakkuk speaks of the revealing God.

It was God that revealed the nature of what was going on in the world to Habakkuk.

He's the revealing God, he's the remembered God.

Revive thy works in the midst of the years.

In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy.

We'll talk about that tonight.

The revered God, his glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

It was the Babylonians who wanted to preach and proclaim their greatness all over the world.

But it was not their greatness that would cover the face of the earth.

It was the glory of God that would cover the face of the earth.

Seeing of his fear, seeing of his glory.

That's verses 3 through 7.

His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.

His brightness was as the light.

He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power.

Before Yahweh went the pestilence and burning coals went forth at his feet.

He stood and measured the earth.

He beheld and drove asunder the nations, and the everlasting mountains were scattered.

The perpetual hills did bow.

His ways are everlasting.

I saw the tents of Kushan and affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble.

He said, He spoke of the glory of his coming.

His coming, he said.

He saw the glory of his holiness.

There was the glory in verse 4 of his radiance.

His brightness was as the light.

There was the glory of his power, the glory of his subservient creation.

Oh Habakkuk is speaking no longer about the greatness of Babylon or the threats that they posed.

He's speaking of the greatness of his God.

Seeing, he said, of the greatness of his sovereignty.

Notice verse 8.

Was the Lord displeased against the rivers?

Was thine anger against the rivers?

Was thy wrath against the sea?

Thou that didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation, the bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribe, even thy word, thou didst cleave the earth with rivers, the mountains saw thee, and they trembled.

The overwhelming of the water passed by, and the deep uttered his voice, and lifted up his hands on high.

The sun and the moon stood still in their habitation at the light of thine arrows.

They went at the shining of thy glittering spear.

What was under Jehovah's command?

He says the seas were under his command.

Can I just remind you that when waves are over your head, they're still under his feet.

He said, the seas are under his command.

Verse 8, the rivers and the bow are under his command.

Verse 10, the mountains are at his command.

Verse 11, the sun and the moon stood still in their habitation.

This God of creation is Lord of all.

The Babylonians worshiped the sun and moon.

Our God made the sun and moon.

The Babylonians worshiped the creation.

Habakkuk worshiped the creator.

There is nothing greater than God, and nothing created can be greater than he that created it.

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

You say, Pastor, what is the explanation for the holding together of this whole planet and this universe?

It is the greatness and power of our Almighty God.

Sing of His sovereignty.

He is Lord, He is Lord.

He is risen from the dead, and He is Lord.

Sing of His advance, verse 12.

Thou didst march through the land in indignation, thou didst thresh the heathen in anger.

Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for the salvation with thine anointed.

Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundations unto the neck.

He speaks of God's march and his judgment and his salvation.

Verses 13 and 15 describe God's crushing of the enemy.

Then he sings of his awe.

Someone said we use the word awesome way too much in our world today.

How many of you have a favorite football team?

Will you raise your hand?

How many of your teams won yesterday?

Was that awesome?

Tennessee lost by three after recovering an onside kick with a minute and twenty seconds left.

They needed 35 or 40 yards to kick a field goal.

That is not awesome.

There is nothing truly awesome.

Only the greatness of our God.

Are you in awe of the greatness of our God?

Seeing of his awesomeness.

Notice in verse 16, he said, When I heard, when I heard of who God is, when I heard of what God had done, he said, My belly trembled, my lips quivered at thy voice.

Rottenness entered into my bones, and I trembled in myself that I might rest in the day of trouble.

When he cometh up unto the people, he will invade them with his troops.

Did you ever hear the Quakers?

Who quaked and trembled at the thought of the greatness of God?

And can I just say ever so quickly, we have lost sight of the awe of our God.

Stand in awe and sin not.

And the only way we come to know the awe of God is to spend time in God's presence, not hearing about the greatness of God, but experiencing the greatness of our God.

Sing of his awe.

Habakkuk's fear has shifted.

No longer does he fear the Babylonians, he's come to fear Jehovah exceedingly.

Well, notice the last one here.

He sings of his sufficiency.

And this is where I wanted to get you this morning.

Verse 17.

Do you have your Bible there?

I'd like you to read it with me if you can.

Verse 17.

Although the fig tree Shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat, the flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls.

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Habakkuk is talking about catastrophic infrastructure failure.

Look at verse 17 again.

He says, There are no figs.

There is no fruit.

There are no olives.

Now the olive in the Mediterranean culture is more than just something you put on your salad.

It's the basis of ointment and fragrance and medicine.

David said, Thou anointest my head with oil.

It is that which you would put upon a sheep to protect their skin, to protect their eyes from insects and from germs, no olives.

And the field shall yield no meat, no grain.

And because there's no grain, there's no cattle and no sheep and no meat, no fig, no fruit, no olive, no grain.

And in the midst of all of that, nothingness, he finds a source of rejoicing.

No money in the bank, no money in the savings account, no money in the coffers, no money in the freezer, no money between the curtains, nothing in the garden, nothing on the store shelf, nothing at Publix, nothing in the pantry.

There's nothingness surrounding Habakkuk in his life.

It's easy to sing when the coffers are full.

It's easy to sing when we are healthy and strong and vital, and everything in our life is so structured in which we can sing, God is so good.

But that is not the basis of Habakkuk's song.

Notice Habakkuk discovered something that produced a song in the midst of turmoil, and that is this.

He discovered in the midst of nothingness, he discovered the character and faithfulness of God.

And I want to talk about that.

He discovered the faithfulness of God.

He discovered what we say so tritely, that Jesus is not all we need until he's all we have.

And when he becomes all we have, we discover he is all that we ever needed.

It's the power of nothingness.

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on Jesus' name.

And may I just say to us American Christians, because that is what I am, and that is what you are.

We have learned to trust in the wrong things.

We evaluate our success by the wrong criteria.

Even sometimes, as believers and members of a church, we measure our success by the wrong criteria.

What is the measure of our success?

Is it not the faithfulness and character of God?

He is sufficient for us, or he ought to be.

Oh, God wants to hear you sing.

This catastrophic infrastructure failure leads Habakkuk to this conviction to believe in the sufficiency and the goodness of God.

Notice what your Bible says here.

He says in verse 18, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

Notice this.

Which led him to a conviction of will to be satisfied in God.

Habakkuk came to learn that things can never produce the joy that a believer may discover in God himself alone.

Luther was an Augustinian monk, happened to be a musician.

He was a young seminarian.

He was a private singer for wealthy patrons.

He would come and sing as people would eat their dinner.

Became an Augustinian monk, became frustrated with the Roman system.

It was a man by the name of Tetzel that was selling indulgences.

Luther became frustrated by the excesses of Tetzel and others in the Catholic Church that would exorbitantly require sinners pay for their.