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.
As Christians we are constantly being looked at, observed, and as my grand-mother used to say, smoked over. In other words, there are those that will continue keep an eye on you and I and never on themselves. There are those that will watch you struggle and strain through your pain and trials and tribulations and wonder how you made it through.
Although, you may be going through, and some don’t know how you made it, there are some that will pat you on the back because you are able to sing that familiar songs how I got over. “My soul looks back and wonders how I got over”. You may even strike out a verse that says “I’ve been through the storm and rain but I made, I’ve had hard aches but I’ve made it. I’ve been sick as I could be, and none of my friends came to see about me, but thank God. Hallelujah I’ve made it.
Can I tell somebody this morning that I know that you have been through, I know that you have had some ups and some downs, problems after problems. But can I tell you to believe that God can change your pain into praise. God can change your burdens into a blessing and you can shout the victory I’ve been going through, but I’m coming out.
I know that life has a way of changing its course, I know that life bring about some unpredictable, random, erratic, dispositions in your life, but can anybody shout this morning that I’m coming out of this thang.
I know that you might think that you are too old; I know that you think that you are in the fourth quarter, and you can’t make it another step, but by the help of the almighty God, you are coming out. Because the same God that brought you to it, is the same God that will bring you through it.
Your test will turn into a testimony; your misery was only a part of your mission, because my God is a way maker.
As believers we are to trust in the Lord—He who is the God of our salvation. We are to trust in His care and protection. Even in the midst of judgment, even in the midst of trials and suffering, we can rest assured that God will deliver us. He has promised to bring us through every trial, and to use every trial to strengthen us and too purify us.
Because He has promised that we will not allow us suffer more than we can endure. In addition, He has promised that we will receive the crown of eternal life if we persevere to the end. Come here James, James 1:12 says “Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him”
Therefore, our ultimate response to every trial and tribulation should be to trust God, because He is our Savior, and our God.
When this text unfolds in verse 16, Habakkuk heard God’s warning of the coming judgment. After hearing this warning, intense fear struck his heart (v.16a). Nevertheless, he placed his trust in the Lord, more than ever before.
He was determined to trust in the Lord no matter what happened. My first point: if you can only trust God, if you can only have faith in God, believe that he can, have faith that he will and hope that he shall, God will bring you through.
In chapter three is a song that was intended to be sung by the entire body of believers. The Lord gave this song to Habakkuk because of the bitter days that lay ahead.
Days of great anguish, anxiety, and uncertainty. The Lord strengthened this Minor Prophet to trust Him despite the coming judgment. In return, the whole community would be strengthened in their faith through singing this inspiring song.
But as we look at the text, Habakkuk disclosed and reveals his honest reaction, his feelings, and his emotions.
As read, the prophet’s first response was fear and trembling. He knew that judgment was coming, but he could not know the extent of the destruction, nor did he know the devastation that would affect him and his family personally.
In describing the experience, he says that his heart pounded. His lips quivered. His legs and inner being trembled. He even felt death, decay, and deterioration in his bones.
Apparently, this was a common experience for God’s true prophets and all who had a personal encounters with God, because Isaiah 6:5-7 say’s “Then said I, Woe is me! For I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts. Then flew one of the Seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.
Maybe this was a natural response because they shook with fright; some even have falling flat on their faces before the Holiness of God.
Habakkuk was scared, Habakkuk too, was in fear and awe of the Almighty God, and he was left trembling from his encounter with Him. He also a felt deep concern for the people due to the great suffering they would have to endure.
Understand that He was a representative of God, and a watchman for the people; therefore, he cared deeply for his nation. The knowledge of this disaster and suffering that were coming left him quaking in fear for them.
But Habakkuk trusted and waited patiently for God’s judgment to fall on the invaders (v. 16b). However, you’ve got to know that the prophet’s anxiety, doubts, and uncertainties did not last long. His feelings stemmed from looking only at the judgment to come and the fearsome Babylonians.
I said that it didn’t last long, because as soon as Habakkuk turned his eyes to the Lord, all fear was gone, and then peace and calm followed. When he turned his eyes to Almighty God—the God of his salvation—he found hope and faith. He knew that he and the people could trust the Lord to deliver them through even the greatest of persecutions.
Habakkuk, therefore, found courage, to wait patiently for God’s judgment to come. Yet Habakkuk did not simply accept or resign himself to the situation. His decision to wait patiently for judgment was a quiet but persistent determination to endure whatever would come. And that’s my second point. If we just look to the Lord, wait patiently on the God of our salvation, and then he will bring us through.
Habakkuk declared that he would trust the Lord even in the midst of utter devastation, even in the mist of the loss of all crops and livestock, famine and ruin he said that I will rejoice.
The prophet had gained his voice. He had found incredible courage and determination by looking to the Lord Himself.
In these last couple of verses there arose a crescendo, an increase, a upsurge and a climax, that expressed greater and greater trust in the Lord. I believed that maybe the b clause of 1st John came to him that said: 1 John 4:4 greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
Because Habakkuk declared that no matter what happened, he would still trust in the Lord. Even if all the crops and the animals were destroyed, even if all sustenance were taken from the people, even if complete devastation and ruin were to come to the nation, the prophet said that he would still trust in God.
Not only would he trust in God, but Habakkuk said he would trust and rejoice in the God who saved him, no matter what. In verse18 he said that He would be joyful even in the midst of great suffering.
Can I tell you that this is true strength? This real faith and this is real hope. Only genuine trust and faith in God can produce the fruit of joy in the midst of suffering. However, this is what all believers are called to do. This is what God’s Word teaches
Habakkuk said: Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields are empty and barren; even though the flocks will die in the fields, and the barns are empty, yet will I rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
I need to tell somebody that God sent this tailor made word just for you through Pastor this morning.
Can I tell you that you might have some problems but God has the power to change your circumstance?
In verse 19, God wants the best for us. This is a metaphor that is talking about the red female deer or the gazelle. The gazelle is a creature that is used as an example of what God does with us. 19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights
Habakkuk was about to "go under" when he started this book. Destruction, violence, strife, conflict, injustice, and the wickedness were all he could see.
But he cried out to God and his cry did not go unheeded. The Lord not only answered his complaint but also provided the confidence needed to lift him up. Habakkuk started in the pits, but ended on the mountaintop. His journey was not exactly an easy one, but it was certainly worth it.
I remind about an incident that happen with my grandson while visiting his home one weekend. He and his cousins were out enjoying his new Electric Four Wheeler. They had ran it most of the day, in the front yard and in the back, His father even took him to the road and he rode it in the middle of the street. But then all of a sudden, the Four Wheeler stop in the middle of the streets and my grandson couldn’t understand why.
But I told him that he needed to plug into the power supply and he needed to allow it to recharge. He adhere to my voice and we plug it in for a few hours and after a few hours he got back on it and began to ride because his four wheeler had been recharged. And that’s my third point for the morning. some of us just need to plug in to the Lord who is our real source and allow him to recharge us.
How do we do that Pastor? We do that by Praying more, reading our Word more, Fasting, believing and trusting God more and he will, I said he will bring us out.
You might be going through, but just tell your neighbors, say neighbor, I’m coming out.
Go to the Cross!!!!!!!!!!!
