All right, tonight we are finishing up the amazing book of Habakkuk. This book of the Bible is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of the Bible. Now, maybe do I say that every sermon series we go? I don't know. But this this book, I just I'm falling in love with Habakkuk. It's really amazing. Tonight, especially this chapter is an amazing chapter. I mean, what Habakkuk does here is just amazing. When I when I read the end of the book, it almost brings me to tears as I as I see his response. As you think about it, God has just revealed to Habakkuk. Habakkuk, I'm going to discipline people of Judah. Essentially, it's like God saying, Habakkuk, I'm going to take everything away from you. Everything you know, everyone you love, everything's going to be affected by this discipline. And then, by the way, it's like God says, by the way, it's just and it's right for me to do this. I will be vindicated in what I'm doing here. Habakkuk responds in a way that's amazing. As God says, I'm taking everything away from you. He doesn't respond with angerness or bitterness. He responds with resolute loyalty and trust in God. In verse 16, we're going to see that as he considers the wrath of God that's coming upon Judah, his whole body trembles. Listen to verse 16. It says, I hear and my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My legs tremble beneath me. He thinks about God saying, I'm going to bring this justice and judgment upon Judah. You're going to have this whole Babylonian captivity for 70 years. You're going to come back eventually, but here comes the discipline. And his legs are trembling. His body is trembling. But his example of loyalty, as he looks at that, is so inspiring to me. And just as we think about our lives and we think about, you know, sometimes God lets things into your life or my life that are really hard, like really hard. Maybe it's not quite judgment, but sometimes God allows tremendous suffering in your life. And you look at God and his sovereignty and the things he's allowing into your life. And your legs start to tremble and your lips start to quiver. How are you going to respond to that? And what Habakkuk does here, his response to God in light of God's going to just allow this in my life? It's amazing. It sets an important example for us. What are you going to do when your knees are trembling? When God's going to allow the thing that he can't allow, but he allows it into my life. Habakkuk through clenched teeth and trembling legs says, yet I will rejoice in God. And that inspires me as I read this. Let's remember where we're at in the book by way of review. It's easy to organize the book. I love that. Habakkuk complains to God and he says, essentially, God, this nation's morally corrupt. Why aren't you doing anything about it? How come you're being idle? And God responds, and He says, I am doing a work in your day. Remember that word work? It came up in chapter one. God says, I'm doing a work in your day. He's going to raise up the Babylonians, and they're going to invade Israel, destroy the temple, take the people captive to Babylon for 70 years. Habakkuk hears this, and it's not exactly what he was hoping to hear. And he responds by saying, wait, like, God, you're a holy God, and you can't just turn a blind eye on evil. And doesn't raising up Babylon, that wicked nation, doesn't that count as you turning a blind eye on evil? How, like you being a holy God and doing this, it doesn't match. God responds in chapter two, essentially saying this, I'm summarizing. God says, I will judge Babylon too. I will judge Babylon, too. And he has all these woes to Babylon. We saw that last time, all these warnings and judgments coming on Babylon. I will judge Babylon as well. And by the way, part of God's vision, it kind of raises this question. Now, hold on. If God's wrath and judgment is coming on Babylon and God's wrath and judgment is coming on us, Like who escapes God's wrath? Like who exactly in the world gets to escape God's judgment? And part of the vision that we saw last time is this amazing verse, the righteous will live by faith. And that's what we see in the New Testament as Paul and the author of Hebrews, three times it's mentioned this verse, the righteous will live by faith. Because that question is a question we ask too, who escapes the wrath of God? Who in the world escapes the wrath of God? And the question, the answer to that question is The righteous will live by faith. The only way to escape is by coming to God in this faith. So that's how God responds, the Babylonians will be punished, Habakkuk. And so today we finish the book and it's Habakkuk brought his anger and angst against God to God and let God shape his perspective. And now he allows God's wisdom to shape what he believes. And this is his response. It's beautiful. Let's begin by looking at verse one. Give you the first blank Habakkuk requests justice and mercy from God. Look at verse one, it says a prayer of Habakkuk, the prophet, according to Shigionov. A couple things to notice, this is a prayer. It's an expression of trust and loyalty and confidence. It's a prayer, and it's according to Shigianoff. Now, what in the world is that? Well, we don't really know. That word only happens two times in the Bible. It happens here and in Psalm 7. And it's not like there's an explanation here telling us what it is. So we don't know what it is, but two meanings are likely. It may be a kind of musical instrument. Look at the very end of the chapter. It says, to the choir master with stringed instruments. So maybe it's a kind of instrument. Or it may be, some people think it's a kind of very emotional musical style. And so it's like, as you're reading the instructions of how to sing this chapter, perhaps it's instruction of saying, this is a very emotional poem. pray it and worship to God with that in mind. And this prayer is set in either event, it's set to music. It's the last verse of the chapter says it's to the choir master. So it's meant to be sung with a group of people, not just someone reading their Bible all by themselves somewhere. Notice also three times throughout the chapter, you find the word Selah. So this sounds a lot like a song. It sounds a whole lot like what you would sing and read in the Psalms, but it's his prayer of contentment and trust in God. Come to verse 2, and so here's what's going to happen, just structurally, 3 through 15, that's a unit, and that's going to be Habakkuk dramatically reviewing God's track record of judgment and fighting for Israel and judging the enemies. So he's about to review all of that, but in verse two, basically, what is what he's saying? He's saying, God, I've heard of your track record. I've heard of all the things that you've done, how you've defended Israel in the past. I'm calling on you to revive that work. Look at verse two. Oh, Lord, I have heard the report of you and your work, oh, Lord, do I fear. Stop there. He's saying I've I've heard the report of you. I think that's saying I basically I've heard your track records And I've heard about your work so remember when I said remember the word work in chapter one God said I'm I'm doing a work you could literally say I'm working a work and Here here Habakkuk saying God I've heard about the work you've done in the past. I've heard the report of you and And what he's saying now is he's saying, I'm I'm calling on you to revive it. So he says, oh, Lord, I've heard the report of you and your work. Oh, Lord, do I fear in the midst of the years, revive it in the midst of the years, make it known in wrath. Remember, mercy. So regarding God's work that God had done in the past of judging the nations and fighting for Israel, he's saying, I want you to A, revise it and B, make it known. So he wants he's kind of submitting to God's justice, God's going to come and judge Israel and he's saying, OK, I want the immorality to be judged. But then he ends the verse by saying, but in wrath, remember mercy. I get that you're pouring out wrath, but also don't forget to show mercy to those who trust me. So he's kind of asking for both of those things. God, give the justice, but mercy also. Don't forget that. OK, so now we come to verses three to 15, and this is him, his Habakkuk recounts God's track record of judging the wicked. It's like he's remembering the way that God brought Israel out of Egypt, judged Egypt and brought them to Sinai and battling the enemies in the time of Joshua and the conquest. You see different psalms, so this is organized like a psalm, you see different psalms that are a little bit like this. So Psalm 78, Psalm 105, Psalm 106, these are like historical psalms. If you, I'm not going to look at it, but if you're interested, you can turn over to Psalm 106 and you kind of get the idea of like walking through their history and remembering God was faithful to us in the past and we appeal to him. It reads a lot like that. So I'm going to read verses 3 to 15 all at once. And that's a chunk. So don't get lost in it. But just I'm arguing this is Habakkuk remembering this is God's way of judging the enemies in the past, his track record and fighting for Israel. Look for two things as I read it. Number one, keep your ears open to references about it's very poetic. OK, but but things that remind you of like God bringing Israel out of Egypt and judging the Egyptians. and the seas and the rivers they crossed and past Sinai and judging the people of Canaan. Listen for those kinds of references. And then one other thing that's interesting to me is verses three to seven Habakkuk speaks about God. So he says he did this, he did that. All these things are things God did in the past. And then in verses, I think it's eight through 15, he speaks to God. You did this and you did that. So those two things to be listening for as I read this section. Verse 3, God came from Timon and the Holy One from Mount Paran, Thela. His splendor covered the heavens and the earth was full of His praise. His brightness was like the light rays flashed from His hand. There He veiled His power. Before him went pestilence and plague followed at his heels. He stood and measured the earth. He looked and shook the nations. Then the eternal mountains were scattered, the everlasting hills sank low. His were the everlasting ways. I saw the tents of Cushon in affliction. The curtains of the land of Midian did tremble. Was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Was your anger against the rivers or your indignation against the sea? When you rode on your horses, on your chariot of salvation, you stripped the sheath from your bow, calling for many arrows. Selah. You split the earth with rivers. The mountains saw you and writhed. The raging waters swept on. The deep gave forth its voice. It lifted its hands on high. The sun and moon stood still in their place at the light of your arrows as they sped at the flash of your glittering spirit. You marched through the earth in fury. You threshed the nations in anger. You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck. You pierced him with his own arrows, the heads of his warriors, who came like a whirlwind to scatter me, rejoicing as if to devour the poor in secret. You trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters." It's actually a hard passage to understand. It's heavily poetic. There's a lot of images going on here. But I think it's it's what's happening is he's recounting God's judging the nation. You hear of God's threshing the nation. He's blowing out his bow and his arrows and he's he's defeating the enemies of Israel. I think there's a lot of references here to God fighting for Israel during the exodus and during the conquest of Canaan. So notice a couple of things in verse three. So that God came from Timon and Mount Paran. This isn't a specific mention of Mount Sinai, but it's from the south, these places. It's almost like God's power came from the south as Israel swept to the north in the conquest. One commentator believed that the image here is of a it's like God's power and wrath came like a great thunderstorm. And in verse three, it says his splendor covered the mountains. Verse four talks about rays of rays flashing from his hand. So maybe it's this image of like God's wrath on the Canaanites through Israel came up like a thunderstorm. Maybe verse five says that pestilence went before him and plagues came after him. So what's a famous portion of our Old Testament where it talks about God pouring out wrath via plagues? Well, we think of Egypt and how God crushed Egypt in that way. Verse six, I love verse six. It says he looked and shook the nations. So, OK, what does God have to do to make the nations shake and tremble and the mountains scatter? He just looks at them, just just one look and they're trembling. And you see that in the conquest. I mean, Egypt is crushed and Canaan, all the nations are crushed and they're all defeated before God as he judged the nations through Israel. In verse seven, it speaks of the tents of Kashan and the land of Midian. These are both areas near Sinai, so perhaps it's remembering how these these peoples were disciplined by God as Israel came through. Come to verse eight and Habakkuk starts speaking not just about God, he did this and that, but now he starts speaking to God, your wrath and your anger. He says, was your wrath against the rivers, O Lord? Maybe this is a reference to how, think about all the bodies of water that were physically impacted during the exodus and conquest. So you have the Nile that's turned to blood, and the Red Sea that's parted, and then the Jordan River stands still. Perhaps it's like he's saying, it's not like you were angry at the waters by having all this turmoil in the waters. It's that you were judging the nations of Egypt and Canaan. Verse nine says that God stripped the sheath from his bow and called for arrows. So it's like God was judging these nations, he's calling for his bow, he's calling for his arrows. These are it's hard to understand this, but I think it really is a reference to God judging Egypt and Canaan as Israel comes north. I think the clearest example that this is the case comes in verse eleven. Listen to verse 11 again. So where does this happen in the Bible? Well, it's this battle in the book of Joshua, where the nation is coming into the land and the sun stands still. Don't get hung up over that, but we know that scientifically, it's not like the sun is moving, but we still call it a sunrise and a sunset, because as you see it in the sky, it does move. And so just in that sense, it stands still. Don't get hung up on that. Verse 12 says that God marched through the earth in fury and threshed the nations. So I think it's he's describing he's remembering in awesome detail how God judged Egypt and Canaan. Verse 13 and 14 keeps talking about this, he crushed the head of the wicked in verse 13, he pierced them with arrows in verse 14. Then in verse 15, you have what looks to be another way of describing how God parted the Red Sea, says you trampled the sea with your horses, the surging of mighty waters. So maybe it's like this way of describing it's like God with a powerful horse charged through and parted the Red Sea. OK, so versus three through 15, however you slice this, this is an image of God's judgment poured out on wicked nations. And you get this sense for God's awesome power. But now, horror of horrors, at this moment, the wrath of God is not aimed at the enemies. It's aimed at us. It's aimed at the nation of Israel. God's awesome power and judgment is now going to be poured out in fury on Judah. God's going to use his might and strength and anger to rise up Babylon and to discipline the nation. And Habakkuk is seeing, he's remembering God's power in the past, and he's saying, that's coming at us. So what I want you to see is how he responds, because he remains loyal in the face of coming judgment. And this response is beautiful. How does Habakkuk respond to the judgment of God that's coming? Look at verse 16 again. His whole body shakes. I hear and my body trembles. My lips quiver at the sound. Rottenness enters into my bones. My legs tremble beneath me. What's the scariest you've ever been in your life? Has it ever happened to you where you faced news or you heard of a sudden loss and just you dropped to the ground or your body started to shake? He thinks about how the homes are going to be destroyed, perhaps. Perhaps he thinks about how the young men will be killed and how the temple will be destroyed and the people taken away. And he's shaking because God's awesome power is coming for them. How do you respond when your knees are shaking, when your legs are trembling? When you look at what God is going to allow in your life and you see, it's going to be a terrible diagnosis for me, or there's going to be tremendous loss that I live with now. Some people respond to that in anger and bitterness. Other people are just consumed by fear. But I want you to see what Habakkuk does, because he responds with resolute loyalty to God. Look at verse 16, part B. His body is shaking, his legs are trembling, and he says, I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us. You see what he's saying? He's grappling with the fact that Babylon's going to come, but God has said eventually he will judge them. And he says, OK, God, I'll wait for your timetable of justice. God is going to judge us first and then Babylon next, and I'll wait quietly for that. I'll submit to God's plan, even though it's going to mean incredible chaos for the next couple of years. It's like he's saying what someone else said in Genesis, the Lord of all the earth will do what is right. Says he's going to do it on his timetable and I'll just be OK with that. That's amazing to me that he accepts that. Second, he responds with joy in the face of incredible loss. These next verses are so beautiful, listen to verses 17 to 18. Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food. The flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. That's amazing, and when I read that, I think, like, what if? What's that going to look like to me if I'm facing losing everything, like how am I going to respond? Habakkuk describes a barren landscape. There's no figs, there's no grapes, and there's no olives, and the yields produce no food. I think if we were to translate that to Iowan, we would say, Lord, even if there's a year where there's no corn and no beans, you go out to the field and normally there's lots of corn and beans and it's empty, like nothing. Even if that happens, there's no food. And then more than that, and there's no herd in the stalls and the flock is cut off. Maybe the flock he's thinking about this is going to happen because Babylon is going to come and steal all the sheep. So imagine that no food, no wool, no meat, no clothing, no nothing. Just barren wasteland. Should all this happen, God, as as you say it's going to happen, listen to verse 18. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will take joy in the God of my salvation. There's nothing short of miraculous faith. Habakkuk sees God's going to judge the nation and what's his response? I will still be loyal to God. He says it like this, I will rejoice in the Lord. Remember what Paul says in prison, rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I'll say rejoice. Habakkuk's perspective, get this, even if all that happens, his perspective is still God. In the grand scheme of things, you have still done right by me. Two things can be happening at the same time. Number one, you can think about what God's going to allow in your life and your legs can be shaking. And you can rejoice in the God of your salvation. Both of those things can happen. By the way, do you know who exemplified this besides Habakkuk? Jesus did. Just think about the night before he died. He's sweating drops of blood in agony. And he's expressing loyalty and submission to the Father. I think of it like this, Habakkuk showed his love for God as he remained loyal in the face of suffering. And Christ demonstrated his love for you as he remained faithful in the face of suffering. And isn't that the kind of God you would want to serve? Anyone listening who's thinking, should I really follow Jesus? Isn't that the kind of God you would want to serve? Isn't that the kind of God you could trust? Verse 19 ends the book with this verse. God, the Lord, is my strength. He makes my feet like the deer's. He makes me tread on my high places. So get this look back in verse 16. His legs are trembling in verse 16, but in verse 19, God is making his feet sure and steady like deer on a mountain. It's God who's giving him that strength. It's God who's giving him the strength to trust and rejoice and to stay firm. He's quoting that that phrase comes up before he makes my feet like the beers. That's also in Psalm 18, where David describes how God had delivered him from the hand of Saul. I think it's going back to God rescues those who trust in him. And this goes back to that key verse of the righteous will live by faith. The wrath of God comes. But ultimately, Who escapes the wrath of God? It's those who put their trust in God. So as we end the book, a couple of applications. Number one, if you're listening and you've never put your trust in God, who escapes the wrath of God? It's those who come to Him in repentance and faith, that kind of humility that says, God, I'm banking on you to save me. So have you trusted in God? And second, may it be said of us, when God allows the worst into our lives, that we will cling to the justice of God, that we'll wait for God to do what is right, that we'll rejoice in the God of our salvation and we'll look to God for strength. Because God is a God who gives it and he saves those who trust in him. Let's pray. God, thank you for this book of Habakkuk. Thank you that you are good and you're just. You don't just let wickedness go unpunished. God, maybe it's right for us to pray a similar prayer of, God, we look around and see lots of injustice and immorality, and we yearn for justice. But Lord, in your justice, in your wrath, remember mercy. And we pray all these things in Christ's name. Amen.