The joy of Habakkuk
Hab 3:16-19
16 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.
17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls:
18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
19 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.
KJV
Preachers tend to be their own fiercest critics. I am one of these, I frequently notice all the faults in a sermon, things that I have not made clear, places where I have allowed myself to be side-tracked. But normally their wife comes a close second in the criticism stakes. For example, Rhonda has pointed out to me that recently that a lot of my sermons have been of the “Woe, woe, calamity, doom” type. That I have talked about the wrath and judgement of the Lord, as is right, but I have concentrated to much on these topics and not moved on.
Well this afternoon I am going to talk about joy. It is good for a preacher to fairly frequently turn to the subject of joy as it occurs over 330 times in the bible. The bible, despite its popular image, is not a miserable book, but a joyful one. The Church sometimes seems to be miserable, but that is not God’s intention for it. It is called to be a joyful group of people.
We will be considering the joy of Habakkuk, one of the lesser known prophets of the Old Testament. We will look at the source of his joy, what it’s effects were and how this joy can be in our own lives.
What is joy?
The first thing that I need to mention is that while joy has many similarities with happiness, it is not the same thing. When the Bible talks of joy it is not so really talking of an emotion but a state of mind. Not something external, but something internal.
Joy is not something that happens to us from outside over which we have no control, but something that arises from within us and is not dependent on our circumstances of the time. It is not a short-term, changeable feeling, but a long-term decision.
What was the source of Habakkuk’s joy?
In the face of things, Habakkuk should have been thoroughly miserable. His country had lost its independence and was under attack, being invaded by the Chaldeans (otherwise known as the Babylonians). He was a prophet of the Lord, from whom the people had turned to the worship of idols. What’s more the message that God had given him was not particularly pleasant. He had been told by God that famine would hit his land, that the three major food crops for his people would fail, the wheat, the figs, the olive crop and that the flocks from whom they were dependent for meat would be lost and taken away from them, probably by the invading army.
This vision of the future, given to him by the Lord was so fearsome that it caused him to tremble in the innermost parts of his being. He became unable to speak or to move.
What was more was the fact that the invading armies were raised up by God to discipline his own people, so much so that he refers to them as ‘his troops’. So it seemed that the Lord had not just abandoned them, but he had turned against them.
He had plenty of excuses to mope.
But before this he was told of the invasion and the defeat of Israel, he was reminded of the great acts of God in the past. God showed him how he had worked mightily and powerful for his people in the past, and for their salvation.
Then he chose to trust God for the future. He trusted the God that who could bring devastation could also bring salvation and rescue. The God who had promised to discipline Israel had also promised to love it, and to keep it as his special possession.
The joy of Habakkuk arose from his trust in the all-powerful Lord whom he served. It arose from God’s promises. God had kept all his promises in the past and could be relied upon to keep his promises for the future.
But more than that; he did not just rejoice in what the Lord would do for him, he rejoiced (some translations say delighted) in the Lord himself. One of the great catechisms of the reformed Church, when asked what the purpose of man is, replies:-
“to glorify God and to enjoy him forever”
A sheer enjoyment of knowing and loving this almighty God, just as friends and relations and husbands and wives enjoy being with each other. Those of us who have been around the Salvation Army for some time might remember the musical ‘Glory!’ about the early days of the army in Folkestone. It is based on the book ‘the Old Corps’, a series of true stories and episodes in the life of these early Salvationists. One of them is the story of a man who was held in a bondage to drink, even after his conversion. He was advised by one of the old saints of the corps to breathe the name of Jesus in prayer whenever it was tempted. It worked. But the book goes on to say that he soon began to pray his name for sheer pleasure, even at times when he was not tempted. He enjoyed the Lord.
It is very true that God not only commands us to but also enjoys us worshipping him. In the same way, we should enjoy worshipping him, enjoying praying to him and enjoy knowing him, loving him, serving him, spending time with him, no matter what the circumstances of our life are.
Habakkuk’s joy truly arose from his faith and trust in God’s promises and his salvation and also from God himself. He made a conscious decision to rejoice in the Lord, he did not wait for things to improve or for some emotion over which he had no control to hit him.
What were its effects?
This joy had some dramatic effects in his life.
Firstly was strength. Strength to carry him through his difficulties and to cope with them. Not necessarily to stop unpleasant things happening to him, or to get rid of his problems, but strength to deal with them and to face up to them. God does not promise us easy, problem free lives, but he does promise us the strength to bear our struggles and difficulties.
Secondly he describes:- ‘he will make my feet like hinds’ feet’ – or like the feet of a gazelle, a sure footed and swift animal, able to escape from its enemies and pursuers. The troubles of his life, while still present and after him, had no control over him, because he was focussed on the joy of the Lord.
But more than that “he will make me to walk upon mine high places”, he will bring him to deliverance. He will bring him to somewhere better than he was before the trouble started.
Habakkuk’s decision to rejoice in God, his promises and his salvation, transformed him from a trembling wreck, unable to move or speak into a victorious man of God, despite the adversity.
The joy of Habakkuk in our own lives
We sang earlier:-
Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
In these circumstances we can chose to focus on the troubles, or we can chose to focus on the God who is faithful through them. We can mope or we can enjoy, not the troubles, but God. We can rely on his promises and his salvation. No matter what else we lose, he will not take that away from us.
It is easy for me to say that standing up here. But we are told in Nehemiah 8:10:-
the joy of the Lord is your strength
We can chose to accept the strength of God to cope with our problems, enjoying him and trusting in his word.
Our faith is truly a happy one.
If anyone has reason to be joyful, it is us Christians. Chose the joy of the Lord.
