You may want to open up with me finding the book of Habakkuk in the Old Testament chapter three. I think we all of us who are here tonight would acknowledge that if you live long enough on planet Earth you are going to see and most likely even experience some of life's deepest heartaches and pains. If you don't experience them yourself, you will know someone who has found themselves in some of life's darkest moments. For some, it might be the death of a loved one. For another, it might be total and absolute financial disaster. For another, it might be a failed marriage ending in divorce. For another, it may be the death of a dream But life is filled with heartache and pain. We know that we're living in a fallen world. And heartache and pain cannot ultimately be avoided. The question is not if we will experience some of life's darkest moments. The only question really is when will we experience these times of deep personal challenge. God does not tend to spare his people from some of life's most troubling times. How will we face these darkest moments of life? That's the question. I will never forget when I received the startling news that the gunman had begun firing and had killed a number of people at Wedgwood Baptist Church. Like many of you I was glued to the radio and to the television looking for any information about that tragic event. I remember the next day my dear friend and fellow pastor Dr. Al Meredith the pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church was being interviewed on the television. And in that darkest moment in Al Meredith's pastorate and the darkest moment in the life of that church and in the darkest moment in the life of many family who had had a child or a family member murdered in that event, Al Meredith quoted the passage that is the text for our message this evening. I've never heard that passage so appropriately quoted, but it demonstrated where the people of faith are or ought to be in the darkest moments of life. Turn with me in your Bibles, if you've not already done so, to Habakkuk chapter 3, verses 17 through 19. I am reading from the New King James Version. Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines, Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food, Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills." May we pray together, please. Father, I pray that You will give Your servant the words to communicate the precious truth, the hope, the promise of this passage from Your sacred Word. Lord, I pray that if the words I share this evening should fall from our minds and memories in just a few hours or even a few days, I pray, Lord, that this passage would be marked indelibly in our hearts that we might journey back to this passage in life's darkest moments. And in this passage, find hope and comfort and strength. And Father, may this passage be indelibly imprinted upon our spirits that when we are walking with others through life's darkest moments, we might bring them to this very precious portion of Your Word. And may they likewise receive grace to carry on. Lord, we entrust these moments into Your Spirit's hands to do with as He will. In Jesus' name, Amen. Let me set up the context of this passage for just a moment, please. The prophet, of course, is the prophet Habakkuk. We don't know hardly anything about Habakkuk, but he's not the only prophet, minor prophet, of whom we know very, very little. His name is uncertain as to its meaning, but many scholars believe that the name Habakkuk should be translated, one who embraces. And if that is the appropriate interpretation of his name, then he lived up to his name. Because in the darkest moment of his life and in the life of the nation of Judah, Habakkuk became a life lesson of one who in the darkest moments of life embraces the Lord his God, the God of his salvation, and refuses to turn loose. And it is in the Lord God of his salvation that Habakkuk finds strength and courage and hope to carry on in life's darkest moments. Josiah had been king of Judah. what a godly king Josiah had proved to be. His father and his grandfather had been wicked almost beyond measure, and it introduced so much wickedness and ungodliness into the land of Judah. Josiah became king at a young age. His heart was tender toward God. Convicted by God's Spirit, Josiah began to set about bringing spiritual reform and reformation to the land of Judah. He implemented much that pleased and exalted God. He rediscovered the law of God and had it read to the people. He re-established biblical worship for the Lord God of Israel. He did so much to restore spiritual vitality to the land. However, in the latter years of his reign, the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar was beginning to expand its grip and hold on the civilized world of that day. The king or pharaoh of Egypt, sought to come to the aid of the king of Assyria, who was under attack by the Chaldeans, the Babylonians. And the king of Egypt had to come up through Judah in order to follow the highway that would take him the most direct route to confront the king of Babylon. As he sought to come through Judah, King Josiah refused to allow the king of Egypt to come through. This instigated a battle between the forces of Josiah and Judah and the king of Egypt and his military. The Egyptians were victorious and Josiah was killed in the battle. This was a very, very dark moment in the life of Habakkuk. The strong and extending arm of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire was stretching out in all directions, including toward Judah. And now the king who had restored a measure of godliness was dead. And the future of Judah was bleak, very, very bleak indeed. Habakkuk did not see any of Josiah's descendants who had Josiah's heart for God ready to assume the throne. And in fact, after Josiah's death, the kingdom of Judah was plunged into violence and wickedness. Justice seemed to disappear in the kingdom of Judah. Dark, dark days. Habakkuk cried out to the living God. asking God, please, to purge Judah and restore righteousness. God had been silent for some time, but eventually God spoke to Habakkuk, and He told Habakkuk He would bring judgment upon Judah, and He would do so through the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. This plunged Habakkuk into further darkness, For he wondered, how in the world could a righteous God use the ungodly Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar to bring judgment on his covenant people? How can you judge a wicked people by a people that are even more wicked than your own people? So even this created a tremendous conflict within Habakkuk's own heart. So what you have here is a very, very dark hour in the life of Habakkuk and in the life of the people of God. That is the context in which these words are penned eternally in the Word of God. When you experience some of life's darkest moments, come back to this passage. Camp out in this passage and let God minister to your heart. This passage, first of all in verse seventeen, affirms to us that there will be troubled times when all human hope fails us. Notice again in verse seventeen, though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail and the fields yield no food, Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls, how much more bleak a picture could Habakkuk have painted with words? In the life of the Jewish people, everything that he mentions here was total disaster. The most cherished aspects of their world are falling apart here. It is devastation all around. It is a bleak, dire, and dark moment of life. Our circumstances sometimes also may look devastatingly bad. We may find ourselves in the day of trouble. And it seems that all of our human support systems fail us. Our friends are unable to give us comfort. There seems to be no strength in all of the ways we have chosen to prop up our lives, and we have many, many ways that are more flesh than they are spirit. Everything and everyone whom we have used as our support systems become either unreliable or insufficient. And there we are in life's darkest moment. Is that a total disaster? I suggest it is not. It may be an extremely difficult moment in our lives that may go on for hours or for days or even weeks or months, but it is not total devastation. If God can strip away from us all of the fleshly things we use to prop ourselves up, He has done us a favor. For we do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Habakkuk 2.4 says, the just shall live by what? Faith, exactly. Anything that is not of faith is of sin. The things that we use to prop up our lives in difficult times, if they're not of the Spirit, if they do not increase our dependency upon the Lord, then they are flesh and they need to be expunged from our lives. And how can God do it unless He takes us into a difficult, dark moment when everything we have put our trust in fails us? Our church, Our family, our friends, they all are unreliable and insufficient. If you've not been at that point in life, the question is not if, but when. When will you experience it? And you find that you really have nothing. Nothing on earth. That's pretty bleak. I appreciate the fact that Habakkuk does not stop there. That would be depressing. But he also points out in verses 18 and 19 that there will be troubled times when only divine help can and will sustain us. It will be the grace of God, the strength that God bestows that will sustain us through the darkest moments of life. Look, if you would please, at verses 18 and 19. Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills. Let's look at these two verses for just a moment. Verse 18 speaks of immeasurable and unutterable joy in the midst of immeasurable and unutterable darkness. Look at that. Verse 17 is the darkness. Verse 18 is the joy. How can we have joy in the midst of life's darkest moments? Well, the joy here is not frivolity. It's not even gaiety at all. It is that settled disposition that God is on His throne. He has not abandoned us. That He has a plan and a purpose that He's working out in our lives and in the lives of our loved ones. It is a settled disposition that is rock solid. I heard a preacher just a few months ago who was relating how he and his wife had gone into the deepest pit imaginable with their daughter, her husband, and a grandchild. He said, I have never been that deep in the pit before. He said, I want to tell you something. He said, I found out two things in the bottom of that deep pit. Number one, God is there, and number two, the ground is solid. midst of immeasurable distress and darkness, there can be immeasurable and indescribable joy. But it's got to be the joy of the Lord. Is this possible? Of course it is. Nehemiah chapter 8 verse 10 says, "...the joy of the Lord is your strength." The joy of the Lord is your strength. That absolute conviction, Then no matter what you see or what you're experiencing, God is on His throne. He loves you and your loved ones. He has a plan and a purpose that are perfect and good and acceptable. And He will not abandon those who put their trust in Him. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Well, what is this joy of the Lord as I've just described it? How do you get it? Well, I want to use alliteration here. The alliteration will be all beginning with the letter C. As we look here in the passage, in verse 18, the joy of the Lord is a choice. It is a choice that you have to embrace. It's not going to happen if you don't choose to embrace the joy of the Lord in life's darkest moments. Again, in life's darkest moments, you can turn to all of your human and worldly support systems Or you can turn to the Lord, but it is a choice. Notice what Habakkuk says in verse 18. I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. He is exerting His will. He is choosing where He's going to focus His attention. The problem is in our darkest moments of life, we want to focus on the darkest moments of life. rather than focus on the God of light who reigns over the darkest moments of life. You and I must choose. It is a choice where we will focus our attention. And it better be on the Lord, or life's darkest moment will get you. It can destroy you. Secondly, The joy of the Lord, according to this passage, is a concentration or a focus in life's darkest moments. Notice what he says in verse 18, I will rejoice in what? What does your Bible say? In the Lord, yes. Notice what he also goes on to say, I will joy in what? The God of my salvation. That is the focus. He chooses the focus, the concentration. Again, if you want to focus on the circumstances, when the circumstances look like they're improving, you get excited. And then when they look like they're not improving, it slams you down emotionally. And you're up and you're down. You're on the emotional rollercoaster if you're focusing on the circumstances in the darkest moment of life. But if you will focus as a choice on the Lord who reigns over the circumstances, then there is a steady flow of His grace and His strength in your life. You must not focus on circumstances. The just shall live by faith, not by sight. Lord, it doesn't make any difference what I see. Doesn't make any difference what the doctor tells me. Doesn't make any difference what the banker tells me. Doesn't make any difference what the attorney tells me. What is important is that you are sovereign in this circumstance. You've got a perfect plan that is good and acceptable. You're working it out for me and for my loved ones. And I choose to trust you through life's darkest moments. Third. This joy is a commitment. Notice if you would, in verse 18, I will rejoice in the Lord. I will rejoice. That is the commitment, to rejoice in the Lord. Now wait a minute, you're saying I'm in life's darkest moments and I'm supposed to rejoice? Yes, you are. Philippians 4 verse 4 says, Rejoice in the Lord always. Again I say, rejoice. 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 18 says, Give thanks in all things, for this is the will of God for you in Christ Jesus. I mean, we are commanded to rejoice in all things. Does that mean we like life's darkest moments? No. It doesn't mean we like them at all. Do we enjoy going through life's darkest moments? The answer is no, we may not enjoy it at all. But God's not called us to enjoy them, He's called us to rejoice in the midst of them. to rejoice in God. How do you do that? God, I want to thank You that You are in charge here. You're on Your throne here. I want to thank You. You've got a plan and a purpose for me and for my loved ones. I want to thank You that it is good, it is acceptable, it is perfect. I want to thank You, Lord, that as we trust You, You will not fail. And I rejoice that I've got a God, the God of my salvation, who's reigning over this dark moment of life. Now that's worth rejoicing over. How can you rejoice in anything else? You can't rejoice in your circumstances. You can't rejoice in all of your earthly support system that's falling away, proving to be unreliable and insufficient. All you can do is rejoice in the Lord. Whom have I in heaven but Thee, O Lord, and whom do I desire on earth except for You? When the only thing you have in life's darkest moments is the Lord Himself, you've got enough. You've got enough. So the joy of the Lord is a commitment that we're going to rejoice in the midst of life's darkest moments in the Lord, the God of our salvation. Also, I'd like to point out that The joy of the Lord is actually a part of our covenant relationship with God. Notice, if you would, in verse 18, I will rejoice in the LORD. Now, in your Bible, the word LORD there is in all caps, is it not? All capital letters. Because God's personal name stands in the Hebrew text, Yahweh. Now, if you were with me when we did the series on the names of God, you remember that God has many names, but He has one covenant name, His personal name, which is Yahweh, and He relates to His people Israel through His covenant relationship. So, in the book of Daniel, the first several chapters of the book of Daniel, God is called by a number of names like the Most High God, but in the latter part of the book of Daniel, that's written in Hebrew, He is Yahweh, the Lord. Why? Because He's in a covenant relationship with His people Israel. I'm just telling you, when you see God's personal name in the Bible, represented by LORD in all caps, Don't neglect to realize, wait a minute, God using His personal name, He is reminding us that He's in a covenant relationship with us. So when you're in life's darkest moments, remember you are in a covenant relationship with Almighty God. Now what does that say to me? That says to me that God has me in His hands and He will not leave me, nor will He forsake me. He will not abandon those who are in a covenant relationship with him. He does not abandon his daughters. He will not abandon his sons. I'll tell you something else. He won't abandon those who are going to become his children either. And he knows who's going to become his children. God is faithful. If you are going to be anywhere in life's darkest moments, you want to be in a covenant relationship with the God of your salvation. Because salvation is not just salvation from sin. You do know that. Salvation is past, present and future. Salvation is past in that it is the forgiveness of our sins. Salvation is present in that it is the deliverance from the power of sin in our lives. And salvation is future In that, Jesus is going to come back and take us safely into his kingdom. But coming back to salvation present, it is also the deliverance of God, of his children, through and out of life's darkest moments. That's salvation. In fact, I would say many, many times, maybe even a majority of the times, when the Bible's talking about salvation, it's talking about deliverance from life's darkest moments, right here and now. Because God lives with you in the nasty now and then. It's a covenant. And then finally, the joy of the Lord is a confidence. Notice if you would, In verse 19, the Lord, and that's God's personal name, Yahweh, is my strength. He will make my feet like deer's feet, or hind's feet, your translation may say, and He will make me walk on my high hills. One of the things when we are in life's darkest moment is we sense that we're off balance, out of control, And on a slippery slope You just you just so eat bless you. It just seems like we just don't have an anchor And it is so significant that Habakkuk says he will make my feet like deer's feet The deer the mountain goat the deer they Jump on these ledges rocks on the mountains from one to the other to the other to the other and with great security and agility. Habakkuk is saying, in life's darkest moment, even though I feel like things are out of control and I'm on a slippery slope, God will give me the security of the feet of deer. God is going to plant me firm soil. That's why I appreciate what that pastor said when he said, at the bottom of that pit, the Lord is there and the ground is solid. In your darkest moment, when you put your faith in the Lord and you're in that covenant relationship, he says, I will make you secure. I like Isaiah 43, verses 2 and 3, when you pass through the waters, I will be with you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned. For I am Yahweh your God, your Savior." And then also notice, not only can we have the confidence that God will make our steps secure in life's darkest moments, but we also have the confidence that He will turn that darkest moment into a blessing. You should have known that was coming, because you know God. Notice what he says in verse 19, "...and He will make me walk on my high hills," or high places. From the Jewish perspective, the high places were the places of blessing. You may be in the deepest pit and in the darkest moment of your life, but you can have every hope and confidence that God is going to lead you out of that pit unto the high places of blessing." But please understand, you don't have to wait until you're out of the pit and on the high places to begin experiencing God's blessings. Even when you're in the pit, Habakkuk says, the Lord God is my strength. Paul said, for me to live is Christ. That's the beautiful thing about the pit and life's darkest moments. You discover Christ, not just as Lord, not just as Savior, but as life, as strength, as joy, as hope. The Lord, the God of our salvation, can be trusted to be our anchor in the midst of life's darkest moments. But we must choose to put our trust in Him and let Him become our strength. Again, whether you remember anything I've shared tonight, whether you've written any notes in the side of the page of your Bible, That's not the important thing to me. The important thing to me is that you remember this passage is there. And when you need it, let God draw you to it. In fact, if I were you, I might open up my Bible in the very front and I might write Habakkuk chapter 3 verses 17 through 19 so that when I am in a crisis and in one of life's darkest moments, I know exactly where I need to go. Let's pray together, please. Father, I thank You so very, very much for this precious, precious Word. And Lord, I thank You that You are our strength and the anchor of our souls in life's darkest moments. Lord, I praise You and bless You that You are Emmanuel, God with us. You will not abandon us. You will not forsake us or those we love. Lord, I pray that You will take Your Word. And I pray, Lord, that those who need it most will camp out in this passage in the days ahead, living in this Word, Your Word. And may Your Word be the solace of their hearts in life's darkest moments. For it is in Jesus' name that we pray, Amen.