Ready? All right, if you would turn to the book of Habakkuk. We're going to finish the book tonight with chapter three. Next time, and I'll announce this again at the end of the sermon tonight, but next time we'll be starting the Book of Haggai. We've got three more books in the Minor Prophets, in our study we're doing in the Minor Prophets. Book of Haggai, then we've got Zechariah, and Malachi. It'll be the last three, and so, we're getting close to the end of the list. Anyway, In Habakkuk, if you remember from what we've studied so far, these are basically, some people call them prayers, some call them psalms, similar to what David wrote. A psalm can be a type of prayer. It's saying and not just talked or thought it was sang as a song as we would call it but tonight in chapter three we see he specifically tells in the first verse it's a prayer a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet it is a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet upon Shaganof, which simply means a song or in the form of a song is what that means. And so it's a prayer in the form of a song or a song or a psalm, depending on how you look at it. In this case, it would be a psalm. And like I said, sort of in the fashion of what David wrote and some of the others, Moses wrote some psalms. There were some other men in the book of psalms. There were several writers there. It wasn't all David. Moses wrote some of those. There were some others. If you remember at the beginning of this study, in our introduction, In the first chapter we saw where Habakkuk appears as though he was also possibly the head of the musicians or singers or something or maybe both at the temple. And we'll see a little bit of that tonight in the last verse he mentions something to that effect. But it appears that he had something to do with the music at the temple. And so He prays this prayer or sings this prayer to the Lord. Some of it's prophecy of things that are to come. Some of it is just telling, a lot of it in this chapter is just telling what's already happened with Israel and what God did. uh... god's response to the usual regards uh... blessing to israel uh... and his promises to israel a lot of it pertains to when uh... when they came out of egypt so let's go ahead and start uh... about a trip to three we're in trouble or we were in verse one strollers to all or not have heard not speech it was afraid the lord is spoken to him And it's concerned him. He's a little afraid, but it means he paid attention. He listened intently to the Lord's speech to him. Oh Lord, revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of the years, make known in wrath, remember mercy. So he's asking the Lord to bring back, basically bring it back to good old days of Israel, when they were following the Lord, when they were doing what they should, or at least most of the time were doing what they should. He's asking him to show mercy when he comes upon them with a wrath, because remember up until this point, Habakkuk has been talking about what things that are going to happen soon in Israel as far as the Babylonians and the Chaldeans coming to overthrow Jerusalem. He's prophesied of that. And then he says, God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Selah. His glory covered the heavens and the earth was full of his praise. So Teman and Mount Paran, and if you remember Mount Seir, were in the wilderness. And that was where God came and spoke to Moses in that part of the world, in that part of the wilderness. God came down and God came and spoke with Moses, gave him the law to give to Israel at that place. And His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was still full of His praise. So all the nations of the world, when Israel left Egypt, and they crossed the Red Sea, and Pharaoh's army was destroyed at the Red Sea, Pharaoh and his army were destroyed at the Red Sea, and then all the miracles that took place after that, all the world, the rest of the world heard about these things. These weren't things that were hidden. These things got out. Word got out that the Lord was, the God of Israel was working with His people. The world was hearing about all these miracles that were being performed, and all these things that were going on with these people, and they were watching. Especially the people in that part of the world were watching, because remember there was over a million people, I forget the exact number, but over a million people that was in this group that God was leading, and He was protecting them. Remember, He went before them in the daytime and was protecting them at night. And any time they needed something, He provided manna from heaven for them to eat. He caused water to come out of a rock. to when they were thirsty. He provided all these things for them. They were all miracles. There was no reason that this larger group of people should have survived in that wilderness for as long as they were there. And yet they did. And it was all at the hand of God. Remember, they didn't have modern conveniences. They weren't in automobiles. They weren't probably didn't have horses and carriages. They might have had some kind of wagons or something that they carried their supplies in or whatever, but I'm not sure what all they had. But they certainly didn't have any of the conveniences that a wealthy nation would have. Yet they had all the wealth they needed. And his brightness was as the light He had horns coming out of his hand, and there was the hiding of his power. Before him went the pestilence, and burning coals went forth at his feet. Remember the pestilence? Remember the plagues that he plagued Egypt with before they left? And he stood and measured the earth. He beheld and drove asunder the nations. and the everlasting mountains were scattered and the perpetual hills did bow. His ways are everlasting. So God measured the earth. He had measured out where the promised land was and drove asunder the nations. In other words, remember, He went before Israel. When they would go out to battle, they would take the Ark of the Covenant out in the front. That was the representative of God in that day and his power. And they overthrew all those nations, or we should say he overthrew those nations for them. But he did it through them. And they were a terror to those people. Remember, God told them not to save anybody. destroy everything, and in some cases even told them not to plunder, not to take what was left behind, to destroy everything, even their animals and their possessions. And certainly they were told to destroy their false gods. And those were the things that was Israel's downfall eventually. They got to where they wouldn't do that anymore. They couldn't Humanly speaking, they couldn't comprehend, why are we destroying good stuff? You know? How much more wealthy could we be if we kept all these animals and kept these statues of gold and silver and whatever else they were made out of? They didn't see anything wrong with it. And we see Christians today doing the same thing. You know, well, there's nothing wrong with this, it looks good. Yeah, but what does God say? He tells you to leave it alone, doesn't He? And I'm not just talking about holidays like we talk so much about. But there are other things in our lives that we should just leave it alone. God tells us to leave it alone, and yet we will follow right after it every time. Because it sounds good, or it looks good, or whatever. People today, well, it's religious. It's got the name of Christ on it. It's got to be good. Is it really? Look at how many false churches there are in our land today. They outnumber us greatly. I saw the tents of Cushon in affliction, and the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Cushon is the land of Cush, or Ethiopia, and Midian was not far from it. I remember Moses' wife was from Midian. Some say that she was a black woman, which would make sense if that's where she was from. Those people feared this great congregation that was traveling around, this great group of people. They feared them because they were outnumbered for one, and they also knew that their God was real. They didn't believe in Him. They didn't believe He was the only God. They didn't believe He was the true God, but they believed that He was a God, and they believed He was more powerful than even their gods, their false gods. Yet they put more faith in them. Was the Lord displeased against the rivers? Was thine anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea? that thou didst ride upon thine horse and thy chariots of salvation? Well, of course not. The Lord was not displeased with the earth itself, it was with the people. Thou bow was made quite naked according to the oaths of the tribes, even thou wert. He's talking about the tribes of Israel. Selah, thou didst cleave the earth with rivers. The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttereth his voice, and lifted up his hands on high." When Israel came into the land of Canaan to possess the land, the land of milk and honey that God promised them, it was a a terrible thing. And I don't mean a bad terrible thing. I mean it was a terrible thing when this large group of people came in. And you know you would think all those little nations, all those little city-states that were there in the land of Canaan at the time, if they'd all just banded together, could they have defeated Israel? Well, no. God was with them, remember. But they didn't do that. they tried to fight them off individually. And in some cases, they didn't even know they were coming until they showed up. You read some of the stories in that time period, and you see where the people were just shocked when they showed up. Or there were times where they just didn't know what to do. They thought, what do we do? They're bigger than us. Or some of the walled cities, like Jericho, thought they could withstand them. Because they had a walled city, and in most cases, in their day and time, a walled city could take a siege for sometimes many years. But, again, God was there with them. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation at the light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear. Thou didst march through the land in indignation. Thou didst thresh the heathen in anger. Again, he's talking about them going through the land of Canaan and just destroying everything and everybody. Thou went'st forth for the salvation of thy people. Even for salvation of that anointed, thou would'st, wound'st the head out of the house of the wicked. by discovering the foundation unto the neck silo. Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. The people of Canaan had no chance against the army of the Lord. And there's coming a time when the armies of the Chaldeans come against Israel, against Judah, and against Jerusalem. They're coming as God's army too, but not in a good way. They're coming as God's army as chastisement upon His people, God's wrath on His people. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses through the heap of great waters. When I heard, my belly trembled. Now he kind of changes here. He says, when I heard my belly trembled, my lips quivered at the 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. When Habakkuk heard the Lord speak and heard what he had to say about the prophecy given him, the prophecy of what was to come, with the coming of the Chaldeans and the Babylonians and Nebuchadnezzar, he says, my belly trembled. It affected him down deep in his body. His lips quivered at the voice. And he said, rottenness entered my bones. It affected him to his very bones. He ached all over. He began to stammer and stutter. And it shook him, shook him up. And he said, I trembled within myself that I might rest in the day of trouble. And his prayer is, let me rest in the day of trouble. When the trouble comes, give me peace. That's what we should be praying for, isn't it? When we know, when we see things, you know, things seem to be, or looking like they may be turning around some in our nation. But remember, we're also in the last days. There's no promise that things are going to get better. They may get better for a time. They may start looking like they're heading towards getting better. But are they really? The wickedness that was here before the first of the year is still here. We didn't watch the president's speech last night. We forgot that it was on because it was too late. But I saw some of the news reports this morning. And the people that were causing all the problems before are still in power. They're still there. They're still in Washington. They're still in the states and the governors. The governors and the legislatures, they're sitting waiting and buying their time until it's their turn again. And, you know, the Bible does tell us that there will come a time when they'll be calling for peace, and it'll seem there'll be peace for a time, and then that's when everything falls apart. When everybody thinks there's The time of peace has come. It will be short-lived. Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail. The fields shall yield no meat, the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no shepherd, I'm sorry, no herd in the stalls. Remember, he's prophesying of what's going to happen with Judah, with Jerusalem and Judah. And certainly this is what happened. Their crops failed. The trees didn't bear the fruit that they had been bearing. Why? Because the invading army destroyed them. First, everything that was ripe, they picked it for themselves. And then whatever was left, they destroyed it. Same way with the animals. What they couldn't take themselves, they destroyed. And then He says, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. And this kind of goes along with what He said in verse 16, that I might rest in the day of trouble. when the worst comes and Habakkuk, it appears as though he lived through at least part of the siege and everything that happened there in Jerusalem. And he says, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will enjoy in the God of my salvation, no matter how bad it gets. He says, I'm going to rejoice in the Lord. It doesn't matter. It's how we should be. It should be the attitude we have. It doesn't matter how bad it gets. We still have the Lord on our side. Whatever's happening, even the worst, He knows about. He predestined it. He knew it was going to happen. Nothing happens that He doesn't know about. Nothing happens that He isn't in control of. He's all sovereign. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Now this last verse there, the last sentence in that last verse, to the chief singer on my stringed instruments, is not him saying that that these things, what he just wrote in the first part of this verse is to the chief singer. This is his signing off, if you will. He's ending his letter, his book, to the chief singer on my stringed instruments. In other words, the chief singer is supposed to, he wrote this as a psalm. It's a prayer, but it's also a psalm. The chief singer there at the temple is now charged with singing this and playing this on the stringed instruments. That's what he's getting at. So all this that he just written, these three chapters, especially this last one is a psalm in itself. It's telling of things of old, and it's also giving prophecy of things that are about to come soon. And he's telling his chief singer, Play this. Sing it and play it. That's what the command is. So, that ends the book of Habakkuk. Remember, Habakkuk has some wise words here for us in this last chapter. Chapters 16 and 18 especially. He says, that I may rest in the day of trouble. He knows the nation's about to be invaded. The city of Jerusalem's about to be destroyed. It's coming. He knows it. God's told him. He believes it. He's prophesied of it. But it doesn't matter. No matter how bad it gets. He says, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. And I will joy in the God of my salvation. And I think that phrase, the God of my salvation, is very important to us today. We have to remember who the God of our salvation is. Who saved us? It wasn't ourselves. We didn't go to Him first, He came to us. And we're to rejoice in that. No matter how bad things get, they could be worse. Maybe there is, you know, We think, well, what's worse than death? Well, is death really that bad? Certainly, if you're being tortured, I guess it seems like it's a horrible thing, and it is. But when death comes, how much more better off are we than we are to stay here? And we think things are bad now, but there's been times in history that it's worse, it was worse than it is now. Even in our nation. There's been times where things were worse than they are now. We complain about inflation and high prices and things that maybe we're having to do without now that we didn't used to have to do without. But it's been worse. We're not as bad off as we used to be, physically speaking. Spiritually speaking, Our nation is a lot worse off than it ever has been. Even the Lord's churches are worse off than they ever have been in history. You look at how people have strayed from the truth and sometimes whole churches, sometimes just a few in a church, sometimes maybe it's just the pastor, maybe he's drawn a few others off with him. The time's coming, and it's coming soon, of our Lord's return and beginning shortly thereafter, the beginning of the seven years of tribulation. So we'll stop there tonight. Again, we'll pick up with Haggai next time. And that's all we have for tonight.