Habakkuk 3:16–19 (ESV) I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble
to come upon people who invade us. 17 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, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
Habakkuk 2:4 …”but the righteous shall live by his faith”
First notice the disturbance faith can know.
Habakkuk 3:16 I hear, and my body trembles; my lips quiver at the sound; rottenness enters into my bones; my legs tremble beneath me. Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble to come upon people who invade us.
Principle: You can be in severe inner turmoil and yet still have vital faith.
Undeniably, that very disturbance you experience may be evidence of faith.
Habakkuk 3:2 O LORD, I have heard the report of you, and your work
Habakkuk 1:5–6 (ESV) “Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. 6 For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, who march through the breadth of the earth, to seize dwellings not their own.
John 12:27a (ESV) “Now is my soul troubled….”
Luke 17:22 And he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.
Secondly, the destitution faith may face.
17 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, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
Principle: faith does not guarantee my level of comfort. Faith may have to exist in utterly destitute circumstances.
Philippians 3:7–8 (ESV) But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
Thirdly, the joy that faith can confess.
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places.
Principal: In the middle of desperate circumstances faith can not only persist and endure but can actually rejoice.
There’s a certain defiance about this joy.
There’s also the location of the joy. “in the God of my salvation”.
This joy and confidence are not from ourselves but come from
divine enabling.
Philippians 4:13 (ESV) I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Fourthly, the tradition faith should receive and pass on.
verse 19 To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.
Principle: faith should be ready to use the prayers of God’s Word.
First you don’t hide your fears.
Then you fill your vision and your mind with the God who comes to save. verses Then you look again at your circumstances and delight in the joy that no one can take from you.
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