We'll be in Habakkuk chapter 3 this morning. Habakkuk chapter 3. Just turn there and hold your place there. And we're going to look at a prophet who saw nothing good around him. But he still chose to lift his voice in praise. We're going to say everything was desolate. There was doom and gloom coming. And he still chose to praise the Lord. He lived in a time, Habakkuk did, in a nation that was going through a national crisis. And he was going through personal despair. But his final words, a song of victory. You know, this book, it's a little different. Habakkuk really doesn't have a whole lot to do with God dealing with the people. This is more of a dialogue between a prophet of God who's in despair just talking with God about it. But what he ends up doing after the whole thing is going ahead and giving God praise. So let's read what real faith looks like. What it looks like when everything falls apart. Habakkuk is a good case of that. And we're going to start there in verse 10 in the last chapter of Habakkuk chapter 3. If you don't know where Habakkuk is, go to Zephaniah and turn left. And if you don't know where Zephaniah is, just go to Matthew and start flipping through those minor prophets, and it's not too far back there, about four books back. Anyway, Habakkuk chapter 3 and verse 10 says, The mountains saw thee, and they trembled. He's talking about God, the great works of God. The mountain saw thee, and they trembled. The overflowing of the water passed by. The deep uttered his voice and lifted up his hand on high. 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. Thresh the heathen in anger. I don't know why I had a problem with that word. Thresh the heathen with anger. Now I'm having a problem with every one of them. Thou wentest forth, listen, thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thine anointed. Thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discouraging, or by discovering this, Well, I'm having all kinds of problems this morning, ain't it? By discovering the foundation under the neck, Selah. Thou didst strike through with his staves and head of his villages. They came out as a whirlwind to scatter me. Their rejoicing was as to devour the poor secretly. Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses through the heap of great waters. 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, although the fig tree shall not blossom." Man, this is a bad time he's describing right here. He's talking about the power of God and the authority of God. And he's coming down and he said, although the fig tree shall not blossom. But listen, he's talking about this authority, this destruction that's going to rain down from God. And he's saying, you know, he says, I trembled in myself that I might rest in that day. He said that in verse 16. And he goes on. But listen, listen, it's fixing to get better. It's fixing to get good. Amen? Now, not for the children of Israel. I mean, this destruction's coming. But I'm talking about what's fixing to get good is the attitude and the atmosphere of Habakkuk's like, of the one that is having a dialogue with God, or the one that is talking to his Lord and Savior. Amen? Listen, when you have a communication line open with God, listen, you can have joy and you can praise any time. He says, 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 be no herd in the stalls. I'm having all kinds of problems, y'all pray for me. We're getting to the point, right? I'm glad we studied in Romans this morning. It's not about the letter, right? It's about the heart, amen? But yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength and he will make my feet like hinds feet. Well, that's like a deer right there, amen? I mean, just amazing and powerful right there. He'll make my feet like a hind's feet. And he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments. Oh, thank you, Lord. Father, we come before you this morning, Lord, thanking you for this being a good God and for loving us, Lord, for taking care of us even when we we don't deserve it. God. Father, for holding us through the hard times, Lord, and being with us and walking with us, Lord. Oh, you've never left us and never forsaken us, Lord. You wouldn't reach down and just, you wouldn't guide our life in a physical way because it would go against the free will that you've given us in our real relationship. But I thank God that you're always there, Lord. and that I can have joy and praise in the fact that you'll always be there and that you've given me a promise in the future, Lord, of life everlasting, Lord, and that you sent your son, Jesus, to die on the cross for my sins so that when I do mess up and the world messes up, and even for Israel, Lord, you're going to give them another chance, Lord Jesus. God, I thank you for second chances this morning, and I thank you for us being able to have that peace and joy in our hearts, even in the hardest times in our life. God, I pray that you help me to preach this morning. Give me an anointing to preach. Lord, I need the unction from you, Lord, an unction from on high to preach this morning, God. I pray that you help me to keep myself away and out of this thing, Lord, and let it be all about you. Help me to remember the things that I've studied, Lord, and help me to recall those things. But, Lord, I pray that you'd help me to be open and have my mouth ready to be used as a vessel to speak to your people this morning. God, I praise you today, and I thank you as for protection in this place, that you'd not let Satan have any part of it. Please put a hedge about us. And I pray these things in the holy and precious name of Jesus. Amen. Amen. So, listen, have you ever had a month, a time in your life where everything that could go wrong just went wrong? Man, I think we've all had that. Amen? I'm talking about the bills stacked up. Boy, relate to that. Me and Brother Mike was talking about that right now. You know, if it doesn't, if the people ain't wanting money, it usually just goes in the trash in the mail, right? There's always somebody wanting money in the mail, isn't there? Now it just comes out of your account. It's like magic, but it's like, oh, I got money. I don't have money. Amen. But the bills pile up. The bills pile up, because if you ain't got no money in the account, none of them can come out, right? But that happens. The bills stack up. Man, the car breaks down. Man, I tell you, I hate when the car breaks down. We've only got the car we got, amen? But the car breaks down, how about a job fell through? I've had that happen before. I thought, man, I'm fixing to get a job, I'm fixing to be able to pay the bills this month, and I'll be able to do it myself this month, Lord. Falsely, God, I got a broken car and got some bills to pay, amen? And then maybe even a doctor visit that didn't go how you wanted it to. And all that, I mean, that can all happen. That can all happen because when the bills pile up and the car breaks down and the jobs fall through or something else, maybe not a promotion that you didn't get that you needed that you wanted and all that all that happens. Amen. Boy, it can affect your health. And it will happen whether you're well or sick. It's not. These problems aren't are not discriminatory. I mean, they'll happen at any point in your life. And when that happens, you get in that place, you look around and you feel like everything stable in your life is just slipping through your fingers. It's not hard to get in that shape sometimes, is it? But what if I told you that even though that happens, your joy doesn't have to go with it? Even though you feel like everything in life is just slipping through your fingers, right? Everything that you know, everything that feels stable in your life is just slipping through your fingers, it's leaving. Your joy doesn't have to go with it. The first thing I want you to see today is rejoicing. When there's no reason left. So people say, how can you be happy in a time like this? Because I've always got G. Listen, there's if you got the right foundation. I was I was just thinking about this sitting in the pew a minute ago, singing that song and watching Brother Ronnie lead singing. I thought, man, this is so great. And I'm fixing to preach about how to have joy in the in the in a bad season. And really the way to do that is your foundation has to be right. And I thought about this in my life. I like things to be cut and dry. Don't we like that? We don't like real complicated things. And that's what I figured out I love about the Word of God. That's what I figured out I love about being a child of God. Is yeah, there's some deep spiritual things in this Bible that I can ponder on and I think about, but the basic stuff about how to get to heaven, about God's not ever going to leave me nor forsake me, about how to have joy in trials, That's all plain and clear, amen. And it's set out, I know what's going to happen in this life. I know the meaning of life. I know the purpose of all this, amen. I know all that. And bless God, now that I know that, I can have a little less stress in my life. You know, most people worry about all that stuff almost constantly. I don't. I know where I'm going to go. Seriously, if you're a saved child of God, you can have this attitude too. Because you have the same foundation that I do. We know how this world began. I don't have to go study in college for 10 years to get a doctorate degree in evolutionary science. That's a bunch of wasted money, my goodness. I know exactly. And by the way, real empirical science never disputes the Bible. Never! I mean, never! So I like it. I like science. I'm kind of a citizen scientist. I don't have a degree in any kind of scientific field. My degrees are in theology, but if you have a degree in theology, you know about some science. You don't even have to have a degree. If you just read your Bible enough, you'll have some knowledge about science that those brainiacs up there in those fancy schools and getting those fancy degrees, you probably know more than they do about the natural world if you just read your Bible. Isn't that amazing? So I've got a foundation of how everything began. I know that it had a beginning. I know who began it. He's the same one that began me. And he said he began a good work in us. And he would see it through. So I have that peace about that. Amen. That ultimately everything's going to be OK. Because I know I have a Creator. I know He created everything. I know it's not going to last forever. This world isn't. So why do I want to live forever on this world? All these people trying to live forever, trying to find the next cure for eternal life and the miracle waters and all these kind of things. going on and you know some of those people have come through some breakthroughs that have helped a lot of people but that's not the reason they did it they're trying to they're just trying to live in this body forever I don't want to I don't want to to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord I don't listen there I don't understand that part of it when I say I don't I mean I don't understand what it's going to be like except the God that never has lied to me or anybody else said that it's going to be better than I can think or imagine. I will tell you this is going to be different. That's what I can't imagine. How can it be? Like I can imagine some better things in our situations here on this earth, better places, better things and things like that, you know, but I can't imagine better being different than what I already know. So that's part of that, but that's one of those deep spiritual things. But I don't need to worry about it. God's told me He's got that all figured out. And that when the time comes, my brain right now couldn't handle it. When the time comes, though, I've got a new spirit, I've got a new body with a new brain that can comprehend all that. That's coming. I know that. So again, I'm not afraid to die. And in this life, I know this, James said life's like a vapor. I'm glad I read that, but I don't have to read that to understand that we're only given so much time. See, so it is all laid out, pretty cut and dry. And that makes my life easier. I'm not having to worry about the new watchtower coming out and some kind of new Commandment from God coming down that I have to apply to my life now and I have to do all these strict rules and stuff. No, I'm just living under grace trying to please the one that loves me and I'm loving him. That's it. Amen. You know, most marriages would work out better if you just loved each other. I think most marriages don't work because they don't love each other. Right? You know, most marriages, if just one person really loved the other one, would be a lot better. Right? Amen. That's just how it is. And if we'll love God, that's all we have to do. He said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. If we love Him, we'll keep... He said, I got to keep... No. No, all you got to. .. You get that? He said, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. Is this on? Yeah. If you love me, you'll keep my commandments. You get that? It's not like the proof of you love... And I've preached that before. The proof that you love God is that you keep His commandments. That's true. But Jesus said, if you love me, then you'll keep my commandments. So what do we have to do? Oh, we've got to love God. You see how He makes it? I like simple things. I like simple things. And God made it simple for us for a reason, because we tend to want things to be more complicated. We tend to try to do things ourselves and read into things, but if we can wipe all that away, We've got a firm foundation, clean framework for life. You see that? It's amazing to be free, to be able to have peace, even in the midst of struggle. The problem herein lies the problem that we have a flesh, that we have what Paul said is a carnal man. That's a man that still a flesh and a mind that still remembers the lust of the flesh, that still is pulled to that out there. Amen? That's the problem now, is that war. But it doesn't mean that you can't have... Just because you got a battle doesn't mean you can't have joy and you can't have peace. And if you're a saved child of God today, let me tell you, you should have ultimate peace in your life. I'm not saying everything's good and working out with people, But I'm saying in your heart and your spirit, you should be settled because you're going to heaven. You should love God and when you start loving God, you will start living a life that's pleasing to Him. Habakkuk realized this. Rejoicing when there's no reason left. Human reason anyway. That's what people will say. How can you rejoice? How can you be happy with this happening? Because I've got something greater. Something greater is coming. Have you ever been on a long trip? I'm not trying to drag this out, but y'all did give me more time this morning since you didn't sing. But have you ever been on a long trip and somewhere you really wanted to go? And the younger you are, the more you'll relate to this probably. Well, I don't know, because the older you get, you're the one that has to drive. But if you went on a lot, and there's somewhere you really want to go, maybe it's 1,000 miles away, 1,500 miles away, whatever, you want to go down to Florida or, I was thinking up north somewhere, but you don't want to go up there. But you're driving somewhere, maybe it's to visit somebody or go to a theme park or the beach or whatever, and you're driving, and man, the hardest part is that drive, isn't it? And I don't like driving long distances, but if I want to get somewhere bad enough, I'll do it. I'll trudge through. I'll even drive straight through so I don't have to split my driving and have two sessions of miserableness, right? That's a word, right? I'll do that. And I'll drive straight through, and then I get there, and when I get there, I can relax, and I'm there, and it's amazing, and it was worth it. That drive, that trudging through drive, that, for some people, I used to have a guy work for me, he said, no, I love to drive, I can't, I'm like, whew, I don't understand that. But, apply it however you want it any other way, but you can't wait to get to that place, and it just seems like Oh, it's another 300 miles. Oh, it's another 200 miles. Oh, it seems like we've already driven 5,000 miles. Amen. And then finally you see the sign, and you're 10 miles away. And the excitement starts. I think the longer we live for Christ, and we know that He's in our life, and we know what's awaiting us in heaven, not completely, but we know there's something better, I think the more excited we get about crossing over. But in the middle of that, see, we're walking on a path to heaven right now, as a saved child of God. In the middle of that path, there's going to be pitfalls. It's going to be heartache. And for some of us, it's going to be a longer road, longer journey than others. And it won't always be good. Man, you might even get a flat tire. Overheat, water pump goes out. I mean, all that kind of stuff happens. Get sat on the highway of that middle of nowhere and you have no clue of where you're at. That can happen on a long trip and that can happen on this trip of life. But you know what you've got on your mind the whole time? I've got to get this car fixed because I got a destination. Right? You didn't lose the joy and the drive to get where you're going, did you? You didn't lose that. You knew that at the end of that trip, it was all worth it. You're really not even that worried. You're like, I'm worried about my car, but I'm worried more about getting it fixed so I can get to where I'm going. Right? I'll deal with any kind of major issues with the car when I get back home. Right now, we've got to get to where we're going. Right now, we're on a path. And we can have peace even in the midst of struggles and trials and breakdowns in life and everything else. Verse 17, he says, Although the fig tree shall not blossom, Neither shall fruit be in the vines." See, at this time, they're having an agricultural disaster. Israel is. They're having an agricultural disaster and famine and all that. And for agrarian society, I mean, they grew wheat and they grew grains and things like that. It's a disaster for them. And this is what he's talking about. He says, he says, the fig trees not blossoming, neither shall fruit be in the vines. The labor of the olive shall fail. And olive oil, that was a big deal right there. And the fields shall yield no meat, the flocks shall be cut off from the fold. You say, well, yeah, they didn't have plants, but they had animals. Animals eat plants, right? And so it says, flocks shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls. Everything is gone. Fruit, food, flocks, even the hope of harvest is gone. It's a total collapse. But it's also a setup for real faith to shine. You see that? See, too many times we look at disaster as disaster. But when you're a child of God, there's always, there's always a light at the end of the tunnel. And sometimes there's light right in the middle of the tunnel. Amen. 2 Corinthians 4, 8, 9 says, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. I love this verse. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, cast down, but not destroyed. Listen, you might be surrounded by pressure. But listen, child of God, you are not without hope. You are not without hope. Hold on to the hope. Amen. Because it's real. And by the way, the hope you have is not a wish. The hope you have is real. The Bible says it's a living hope because the hope you have is grounded in Jesus Christ, the risen Savior, who's sitting at the right hand of God the Father, and who is coming back one day to rule and reign with a rod of iron. And the Bible says we will reign with Him. And then after that thousand years, when the beast and the false prophet, when they're loosed out of that bottomless pit and cause chaos for just a short time, Jesus takes care of it all, then there's a great judgment, amen? And then the earth and the heavens pass away, and there's a big bang at the end, not the beginning, and it burns with a fervent heat, amen? And then there's a new heaven and a new earth. When we get saved, the old man dies and the new man becomes new and all things become new. At the end, all things become new. The new body and the new spirit that we're going to have is going to have a brand new habitation, a brand new earth, a brand new Jerusalem, a brand new heaven. Oh, man. By the way, that's all real. I know this, so I don't have to worry. About the future, you see that? Wait a minute. I'm in the midst of this trouble and strife. Man, I don't like it. I hate it. I don't want to be in it. But my mind can go over here and say, oh, but one day. Oh, praise the Lord. It won't always be like this. Amen. Listen here. Troubled on every side. We've seen that, right? But not distressed. Perplexed, but not in despair. Yeah, I've been like, why is this happening? But I don't have to despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Cast down, but not destroyed. Amen. Listen, you might be surrounded by pressure, but you're not without hope. The world can fall apart around you, but I'm telling you, if you got Jesus, He'll hold it all together. That leads us to the second thing that you need to see today from this passage is that joy doesn't come from circumstances. Happiness can, but not joy. You know, you can buy happiness, but you can't buy true joy. People get those mixed up. Joy and happiness can go hand in hand, but they can be exclusive. Okay? Actually, if you're happy, you probably have joy, but you can have joy without being happy. That's your flesh being happy. You understand what I'm saying? You can buy that. You can buy happiness. I mean, I always use an example. If you've ever gotten a new car, even a new used car, new to you, whatever, and you drive it around and you financed it, if you financed anything, and you drive it around or you use it and stuff, after a little while, the newness wears off, but the payment still comes. Amen? After a while, the happiness wears off, and then the drudging of the payment every month still happens. But with joy, You don't buy that. You can't really do stuff to get joy. Joy is something that God gives you. It's a byproduct of being a child of God. Amen. Verse 18, he goes through all that in verse 17. He says all that happened, no more food, no more plants, flock's dead. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. He said, Oh, praise the Lord, it's all going awry around me. It's all falling apart. But praise the Lord, I'm saved. Praise the Lord that I got a place in heaven. Praise the Lord that I got a Savior, a God that looked down from heaven and said, Habakkuk, man, you got a weird name, but I love you, brother. Amen. Yeah, people will have a hard time pronouncing that, but it's going in the book. Woo-hoo! Amen! And he said, Praise the Lord! And you know what? Listen, your name's in a book. If you're a saved child of God, your name's in the Lamb's book of life. And God's looking down at you saying, Just praise me. You don't have to, all that stuff's going around. Yes, I know, I've got it all under control. But remember, I've got something better planned for you. Habakkuk said, oh yeah, Lord. I will praise Him, the God of my salvation. It's not fake joy. It's not blind optimism, and people think that, but it's not. You remember, I said I've got a solid framework in my life, a foundation. I know the beginning, and I can see the end. Because the Bible tells me. Now, God knows the one from the other. But he's laid out the framework and the path of all life, of all civilization, of all purpose and meaning is right there. And I've got it. I've got the basic of it, the overall view of it. Now I get in there to some of these specific parts and it keeps this old human brain moving. But bless God, I know it's all figured out by him. Hmm. It's not a fake joy. It's not blind optimism. What Habakkuk has there and what we can have today is a faith that says, I've still got God. And you know what? Still got God and still got Jesus. And that's enough. That's enough. You know, Paul had that thorn in the flesh. People argue what that was. I don't know. But some kind of physical ailment that bothered him pretty good. Asked three times for the Lord to relieve him of that. And finally God told him, Paul, my grace is sufficient for thee. That's not always the one we want to hear, but it's the right one. And when it is, we do hear it, we know it's right. Because He is enough. He is enough. We've still got Him. He's still enough. Psalm 1611 says, That will show me the path of life in the presence's fullness. thy presence is fullness of joy. What? In thy presence is fullness of joy. I think sometimes we just have part joy. He said I know I'm going to heaven and I like that idea but man I just I just can't get excited about it right now. You're probably not real close to him. I'm not trying to be mean I'm just saying get try to get close to him do it and get over the try as hard as you can to put those thoughts of your struggles and trials out of your mind and go over there and start reading the book of John or something and just realize how good God is and what he's got in store for you oh man I'm telling you it'll help you joy doesn't live in the bank account doesn't live in the diagnosis and it definitely doesn't live in the headlines amen joy Joy lives in the presence of God. That's where joy lives. And when you get in His presence, like that Psalm said, you can experience that fullness of that joy. So stay with me. Stay with me just a few more minutes because what we talked about leads us to this final point. We have strength. When you're a child of God, you have strength when the ground is shaking. Verse 19 says, The Lord God is my strength. He says, Why do I put my faith? Why do I praise Him? He's the God of my salvation. But listen, He says, The Lord God is my strength. He said, I can't do this alone. The country's falling apart around me. There's nothing to eat. Amen? The people are miserable. And we know that God has told us it's about to happen. Babylon was about to come and take them away. But he said, the Lord is my strength. And he will make my feet like the hind's feet. I read into that and it's like a deer, that power, that surety that a deer has. I mean, that dude can jump precisely over a fence, amen, and just go and turn on a dime. And those rear legs are a lot of the reason. There's power in those things. And He said, He makes my feet like Hines' feet. And He will make me to walk upon mine high places. So you may feel unstable. God will give you sure-footed strength though. Listen, He lifts you above the chaos so you can stand even when everything else falls. Psalm 18 and 33, I want to leave you with this. He maketh my feet like Hines' feet. You see that? Did you recognize that from Habakkuk? These are two people that love God, that praise God in the midst of trials. And they had the same thing to say, He maketh my feet like hinds feet and sitteth upon my high places. So you don't need flat ground to walk strong. You just need a God that steadies your steps. He's not By the way, God's not always removing the mountain. Sometimes He's just getting you conditioned and fit to climb it. Listen, if God removed a mountain and you could walk through, you'd be in the same shape you was on the other side of the mountain. But if God gets you fit and you climb that mountain, man, you are going to feel great on the other side because you're going to be in a lot better shape. Amen? Can you get that? Why doesn't God just take care of all the problems in the world? Because we wouldn't have care, we wouldn't be the people we are. We would be so spoiled rotten. God knows these things. Listen, life may fall apart, but your joy doesn't have to. And when you've got nothing left, friend, you still have Jesus. And remember, He's enough. He's enough. And when the fields are empty, When the fields are empty, when the flocks are gone, He's still enough. Just rejoice anyway. Just rejoice anyway. Because your God hasn't changed. Your circumstance might have changed, but your God hasn't changed. Just rejoice. Give Him praise. Man, I'm telling you, all of our lives would be so much better if we just give Him praise. Man, I started practicing that years ago. Man, if I have a close call on the road, somebody, you ever been there, you know, somebody's coming over and you're like, please, please, good. You know, messing with a radio phone or whatever, and you're driving, you're thinking, man, I might have to hit the ditch or what am I gonna do? And you're like, just get over, please, so we don't have to have, and then they finally get over, you know what I do? I don't say, man, you idiot, you know, I used to do that. Right, I used to have some choice words to say about that person. And of course, I would excuse myself for doing the same thing, but you know, now that I do, I was like, praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, God. Man, I could have been dead in that ditch. We could have had a head-on collision. That other person, man, they've got a family, too. Thank you for helping them. Thank you for letting them see. Amen. Man, give Him the praise. You've got to start looking at things differently. I work construction all my life, but if you climb up and down ladders, And you go and you have to, like sometimes I'll have a set up and I'll have a six foot ladder over here. And for some reason, I got an eight foot over there and I'm climbing up and down a six foot ladder all day. And your brain remembers how many steps you're climbing. That's how it works. And all of a sudden you get over and you start and you get up on that eight foot ladder and you're on the same rung away from the top as on the six foot. So your body, and you go to step down and when you get to the second from the bottom, you think you're at the bottom. And you go to step back, man, it's easy to hyperextend a knee. And I can remember the first time I did, after I started doing that, praise the Lord, I remember doing that, I said, oh, praise the Lord. Thank you, Jesus. Just thank you, Jesus. Because I know how bad that could have been. Amen. Amen. Rejoice anyway. Just rejoice. Start praising. Man, you start praising Him more, I'm telling you, things will start to change a little bit in your life. Just your outlook will start to change. And by the way, sometimes your perception makes all the difference. Makes all the difference. Amen.