SERMON: Habakkuk (Joy in God)
TEXT: Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)
SPEAKER: Josh Hanson
DATE: 6-3-21
You can watch the sermon here.
You can find the sermon notes here.
As always it’s a joy to be with all of you this weekend at Gateway Church. And the one thing I always want you to know — and this is true if you’re worshipping with us in person at our North Main campus or are joining us online — the one thing I want you to know is that God loves you and that I love you too.
Last week, we began a new series — well — it’s kind of new. For the past few years we’ve returned to our Finding Jesus series — a series where we look at different books in the Old Testament and see how the whole Bible is ultimately telling one story — the story of Jesus. In previous years we’ve looked at the Pentateuch — the first five books of the Old Testament. We’ve looked at the Major Prophets — the writings of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel. And last year we looked at the first half of a group of books known as the Minor Prophets.
Now the sermons in this series are a bit different than how I usually preach. How so? I’m going to introduce you to a book of the Bible that you may or may not be familiar with. Then I’ll give you an overview of the book and then we’ll then focus on one section of it. Finally, I’ll show you one way to find Jesus in our book. Because — as I said earlier — the whole Bible is ultimately pointing us to him.
And in this year’s version of our Finding Jesus series — we’re looking at the final six books that are part of a group known as the Minor Prophets. We looked at the first six last year and this year we’re looking at the remaining books in this group. And — today — we’ll be looking at the book of Habakkuk. So if you have your Bible, please turn with me to Habakkuk chapter 3.
Last week we looked at the book of Nahum and in coming weeks we’ll look at Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. And I hope that you’ll grow to know and love these books of the Bible and spend time in them — finding Jesus — and the joy that’s found only in him.
The only other thing I want to mention — before we jump into Habakkuk — is something about the name that’s been given to these books — the Minor Prophets. If you were here last week, you know that these books are called the Minor Prophets — not because their content is less important than the books known as the Major Prophets — they’re called the Minor Prophets because of their size. Generally speaking, the Minor Prophets are much shorter in length than the Major Prophets. Yet — even though their content isn’t any less significant — the Minor Prophets are likely the least familiar part of the Bible for most of us. But hopefully that won’t be the case after this series.
So let’s take some time to get our bearings in the book of Habakkuk — and I hope you’ll see that Habakkuk is a book you’ll want to go read for yourself.
First, what do we know about Habakkuk? Well — and get used to this first point — you’re gonna hear it every week — Habakkuk was a prophet — which means he spoke on behalf of God. He lived during the late seventh century BC — making him a contemporary of Jeremiah, Nahum — who we looked at last week — and Zephaniah — who we’ll look at next time.
Now — we don’t have much information about Habakkuk — but we know that he was a prophet to the nation of Judah. We know that he’s from the tribe of Levi and was one of the temple singers. His name means “strong embrace of God” (Herbert Lockyer, All the Men of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1958), 131.) — which — once you understand what’s happening in this period of history — you’ll realize that it’s a very fitting name — because the people of Judah are in need of the strong embrace of God.
Now to give you an idea of what’s going on in history — the Jewish people are divided into two nations. I’m sure you remember that there were originally twelve tribes of Israel. And these tribes eventually ask for a king. The first king was Saul. Next came David. Then David’s son — Solomon — was king.
After Solomon, there’s conflict over who should be king and the nation ends up dividing over the matter. Ten tribes join together and keep the name Israel — they’re in the north — and two tribes join together and are named Judah — they’re in the south. And this division takes place roughly 300 years before Habakkuk’s lifetime.
Now — for quite a while — neither Israel nor Judah experience external conflict — meaning war with other nations — but they have some significant internal problems. Evil kings. Moral corruption. The people abandon God. Things are a big mess — which you can read about in the books of 1st and 2nd Kings.
But here’s what’s crazy. The people of both Israel and Judah assume that the lack of external conflict — the fact they’re not at war with other nations — is because God approves of the way they’re living. But — remember — they’ve abandoned God. Yet they think that God approves of their behavior. That is until the Assyrians show up.
The Assyrians come from the north — invade and conquer Israel — displace many of the remaining Israelites — sending most of them to go live in foreign lands. This all happens around 732 BC — about 150 years before Habakkuk. Down in the south — in Judah — things are a little better than in Israel — but not much. They don’t get conquered by the Assyrians, but they are under their control until the capital of Assyria — Nineveh — falls in 612 BC. At that time, Egypt comes in and overpowers Judah. Only to be followed by the Babylonians who come in and defeat Egypt in 605 BC. And — it’s during Habakkuk’s lifetime — that the Babylonians will conquer Judah.
And what we find in this book — is a dialogue between the prophet and God. And this dialogue occurs just before the Babylonian’s invasion of Judah. So there’s a new world power on the rise — a wicked and evil nation — and this nation is about to come in and conquer the people of God.
So that’s the setting for our book. Now, let’s turn to the book itself. What’s the layout of the book? The book is made up of three chapters with fifty-six verses — so it’s pretty short. Something that’s a bit different about this book is that — instead of speaking on behalf of God to the people — Habakkuk speaks to God on behalf of the people. (Stephen R. Miller, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi (Nashville: Holman, 2004), 53.) That’s the dialogue I was mentioning earlier. Though Habakkuk’s a prophet — he’s acting in a priestly role here — he’s acting as an intercessor on behalf of the people of Judah.
But unlike some of the other prophets we’ve looked at — instead of proclaiming judgement upon the people of Judah — due to their disobedience and rebellion — we find Habakkuk asking God questions about all that’s going on. In fact, Habakkuk is known as the “questioning prophet.” And you may be wondering, “Well, what kind of questions does he ask God?” Questions like, “Why is an evil nation rising up in power? And why will this evil nationconquer the people of God?” Habakkuk asks questions that are similar to ones people have today like, “If God is good and all powerful, why is there evil?” And “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
But here’s what I want you to know about Habakkuk’s questions. God graciously responds to him — God answers his questions. (Miller, 52.) God isn’t afraid of or offended by our questions. He is gracious and answers our questions.
In chapters 1 and 2, Habakkuk struggles with two questions. The first is, “Why is God allowing evil to go unpunished?” And the second question is, “Why is God using the Babylonians to judge Judah’s sin when they — the Babylonians — are way worse than Judah?” (Miller, 52.) And — as I said earlier — God answers Habakkuk’s questions. God tells him that judgement will come for the Babylonians. But it will happen according to his — God’s — timing and not Habakkuk’s. And — until that time — Habakkuk is told to trust God.
In chapter 3, we see things take a turn — this is the chapter our passage is from. In the midst of some weighty questions — questions about evil and judgement and being told — by God — to “trust me even when you don’t have all the answers or the answers you want” — Habakkuk praises God. And the prophet writes down the lyrics to his song — a song of praise that he sings to God in spite of the difficult days that are ahead for him and the people of Judah. In fact, Habakkuk praises God — in advance — for the days that will come after the difficult days have passed. Days of joy — days of hope — sung about in a hymn of joy and hope — sung as difficult and hard days are just on the horizon. And — the result of all of this — is that we find Habakkuk going from questioning God to praising him as the prophet rejoices not — in what his eyes can see — the oncoming Babylonians — but in what his spiritual eyes see as he trusts in his God.
Which leads us to the section of the book we’re going to focus on today. So let’s turn to our passage. Hopefully you’ve had time to find Habakkuk chapter 3. We’ll begin in verse 17 as we discover a way to find Jesus in the book of Habakkuk — and in all of the Bible.
“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. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)
“You deserve to be happy” — at least that’s what we’re told. Now — what makes us happy has changed over the years and it’ll continue to change. But the chase of being happy — the idea of us having a fundamental right to be happy — or at least the right to pursue happiness — has been with those of us living in the US — since our nation’s founding.
And companies have found success in tapping into our desire to be happy — marketing aimed at our desire to be happy is quite successful. These companies want us to believe that we’ll be happy after we’ve purchased their product and — for sure — they’re gonna be happy after we purchase their product. Just listen to some of the ways we’re marketed to.
Today — being happy — is often circumstantial — just ask any parent who takes their kids to the happiest place on earth. The happiness seems to disappear at nap time when the kids get cranky! Even Disneyland can’t compete with a cranky — “I need my nap now” — toddler.
And — something we're taught to think — is that things need to change if we’re unhappy. A new job might do it. Or a new car. A new house. A new spouse. Maybe a new church. And in the pursuit of happiness we keep making lots of changes. And when happiness is the goal — changes will always continue.
Yet one study found that — for example — unhappily married adults who divorced or separated were no happier, on average, than unhappy married adults who stayed married. The study also found that divorce did not reduce symptoms of depression for unhappily married adults or raise their self-esteem compared to unhappy couples who stayed married. In fact, 66% of unhappily married adults who stayed married found themselves to be happy in their marriage five years later. (Does Divorce Make People Happy? Findings from a Study of Unhappy Marriages by Linda J. Waite, Don Browning, William J. Doherty, Maggie Gallagher, Ye Luo, and Scott M. Stanley)
The point isn’t to encourage unhappy marriages — and it’s definitely not meant to encourage divorce — I’m just pointing out that happiness is circumstantial. And circumstances change. Sometimes all we need is a little patience — with our circumstances — instead of making a change.
And we can’t ignore that there are times when things — outside of our control — mess with our happiness. I’m talking about big difficult things — like a bad medical report from your doctor — or the death of a friend or loved one — but I’m also thinking of things that are more of an inconvenience — like when a coworker quits and you’re asked to cover their workload and yours — or when the quick route home is now under construction and will be for an indefinite amount of time and so — yippie! — you’re taking the long way home. There are big things and — not so big things — that can affect our happiness.
And this shouldn’t be all that surprising to us because we live in a fallen world. Living in a fallen world — a world influenced by sin — an imperfect world full of imperfect people — contributes to the elusiveness of lasting happiness. We’re often left feeling unsatisfied even after making changes that were supposed to make us happy. Being unhappy is a real emotion we all face — an emotion we’re told to rid ourselves of because — happiness is the goal.
Yet it shouldn’t surprise us that happiness is often fleeting since it’s based on our circumstances which are constantly changing. Being happy all of the time isn’t possible — though we keep chasing after it. But — good news! — a deeply rooted and satisfying joy — not based on circumstances — but on God — is offered to us. Offered to us because Jesus chose joy even when the circumstance he found himself facing was not a reason to be happy. Yet “Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame.” (Hebrews 12:2b NLT)
The joy of fulfilling the work he was sent to do — along with the joy of being back in the presence of his Father — along with the joy of reconciling the people he loves with their God — this is the joy that was awaiting him. This is the joy he focused on even when the circumstances he experienced — including his death on a cross — were happiness thieves. And because of his choosing of joy — we — those loved by him — those changed by his love — can choose joy no matter the circumstances we face.
But — before we get ahead of ourselves — let’s look at the tough times Habakkuk — and the people of Judah — are facing. Back to verse 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...” (Habakkuk 3:17 ESV)
So the circumstances are bad. The fig trees aren’t producing figs. The vines aren’t producing grapes. The olive trees aren’t making olives. The fields aren’t producing a harvest. And the flocks of animals are gone.
We’re not even talking about the Assyrians oppressing them, or the Egyptians being in control, or the oncoming invasion by the Babylonians. For now — the circumstances being described is a time when basic things — things needed to live — are gone. No food. No harvest. No animals.
And there’s an increase in the severity of the loss. Fig trees not producing figs — is a loss — but not significant. Think of it like dessert — it stinks not to have it — but you can survive. Vines not producing grapes means no wine. Again, an inconvenience but not much more. No olives — well — now we’re past inconvenience and getting to something you need for survival. Olive oil was used for cooking. No oil and your cooking options are limited. Add to that — no harvest — no grain — and now a staple of the diet is lost. Starvation is a real threat. And — finally — the flocks are gone. And it’s not just the meat. No animals means no milk. No wool. No oxen to help with the farm work.
A loss of one or two of these things might be survivable. The loss of all of them at once is an economic disaster — a devastating dark cloud on the horizon for the people of Judah.
Now — hopefully we can laugh at ourselves — but we recently experienced the chaos of no toilet paper on the shelves. I don’t know who you are — but some folks will never have to buy TP again. For a while, soups and other easy to make foods were missing from the shelves. Kids were doing online schooling. Looking back — some minor inconveniences.
If only that was all we experienced. Some folks lost their jobs. Families experienced the death of loved ones — including Gateway families. All of life — from business to work to the church — were affected. But our 2020 doesn’t even touch what God says is coming for the nation of Judah.
Not just no toilet paper on the shelves — we’re talking no grocery stores. Then the electric grid is gone — so no electricity. Hospitals, fire stations, policemen and women — all gone. Oh and this is just the precursor to a wicked and evil nation successfully invading us and it will be “submit to them or death” — for the next 70 years. Families will be split up — many never seeing their loved ones again. How happy do you think you’d be if this was our circumstances?
Yet — just before this description of what he and Judah will experience — our prophet reflects on the destruction of Israel. He thinks of the outcome of the Assyrians who were so proud of their invasion of Israel. So — while hearing God’s reason for why Judah will be conquered by the Babylonians — including himself — Habakkuk sings, “I trembled inside when I heard this; my lips quivered with fear. My legs gave way beneath me, and I shook in terror. I will wait quietly for the coming day when disaster will strike the people who invade us.” (Habakkuk 3:16 NLT)
Though the news caused him to be afraid — “the Babylonians are coming!” — though he shook in terror and his legs gave out — he says, “I will be patient and wait for the Lord’s timing.” He both admits his fear — because of his circumstances — and he places his faith in God.
And what’s the result for Habakkuk? Joy! Let’s read our verses again.
“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. To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.” (Habakkuk 3:17-19 ESV)
Habakkuk chooses joy even when God tells him that things are going to get worse before they get better. And — not worse for a quick minute — worse for 70 years. That’s an entire lifetime of difficult circumstances. And yet Habakkuk looks past the difficult circumstances — and looks well into the future — to the joy awaiting him and the people of God.
He chooses joy over despair. He chooses joy over fear. He chooses joy over hopelessness. He even chooses joy when his world is falling apart.
Now — it’s easy for us to assume that times for joy — like our happiness — times for joy are when things are going good for us. Those times when we think that God’s blessing us because our bank account is full, our health is good, we get the promotion at work, and our teenagers think we’re wise instead of idiots. Yet none of these good things are necessarily God things. And as much as it pains me to say — not even our teenagers thinking we’re wise.
What’s my point? Be careful to not confuse good times with God’s blessing. Because what does that mean when we’re in the midst of not so good times? Well if good times mean we’re being blessed by God, bad times must mean we’re either being punished by him, or he’s forgotten about us, or something like that. And Habakkuk’s teaching us something radically different. He shows us that God is worthy to be trusted even in the midst of difficult circumstances. And in trusting God — during these difficult times — we discover a joy that surpasses all circumstances — a joy in God.
Listen to how another Bible translation describes the joy in the life of someone who knows God. “I’m singing joyful praise to God. I’m turning cartwheels of joy to my Savior God. Counting on God’s Rule to prevail, I take heart and gain strength.” (Habakkuk 3:18-19a MSG)
Or as one author has written. “The literal [wording] is ‘I will jump for joy in the Lord; I will spin around for delight in God.’” He goes on to say, “This is the hilarity of faith! — joy at its best with circumstances at their worst! What a victory! May it be ours!” (J. Sidlow Baxter, Explore the Book, vol 4 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1980), 212.)
So when the horizon of your life — at best — looks grim and — at worst — is hopeless, Habakkuk says, “Be filled with joy! Joy because of your God. Look past your circumstances and look to your God!”
Now there’s a part of verse 19 that sounds strange to us — the part about God making our feet like the feet of a deer. Again — another Bible translation helps. “He makes me as surefooted as a deer.” (Habakkuk 3:19b NLT)
Why do I bring this up? Because the promise to us is that no matter how difficult the circumstances are that we face — God is our security. He’s our guide. He puts our feet on solid ground. Though earlier Habakkuk said his legs were shaking — after thinking about who God is and his faithfulness to his people — Habakkuk sets his eyes on his God. His God — who made his legs — has placed them on secure footing. His God who enables him to overflow with joy even in the midst of difficult and unknown circumstances. Habakkuk knows that his God is mightier than the Babylonians. He’s proven his strength and power and faithfulness in the past. God did so with the Assyrians. He did so with the Egyptians. And Habakkuk knows — with certainty — that God will do so once again. And this gives him hope. This gives him confidence. But — what I don’t want you to miss — is that this gives him joy in spite of his circumstances. And it’s a joy that’s a result of his faith in his God.
Now something about our verses — that I’ve yet to tell you — is that there’s not a single command. So there’s no “be joyful” — that’d be a command. There’s nothing for us to do in our verses. Not a rule to follow or a command to obey. Just a description of the joyful life of those who trust in God — a joy for those who live by faith — just as Habakkuk lived by faith.
And you may wonder, “Where in the world is Josh getting all of this live by faith stuff? How are living by faith and our joy related to each other?” Well it’s not from our verses — but it is from Habakkuk. Earlier God tells Habakkuk these words: “The righteous shall live by his faith.” (Habakkuk 2:4b ESV)
Now — in the New Testament — it takes three books to explain this one verse. Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews all focus on the idea of the righteous living by faith. As Warren Wiersbe writes, “It takes three books to explain and apply this one verse!” (Warren Wiersbe, Habakkuk (Colorado Springs, CO: David Cook, 2002), 411.) And in these New Testament books, we find that the “living” the righteous do — is an eternal living. A way of living made possible because of what Christ has accomplished in his life, death, and resurrection.
Remember — both the Babylonians and the people living in Judah have done evil things. Neither are free from sin. Neither are guiltless. Yet the Babylonians will be destroyed and the people of God will be filled with joy — even as they experience the consequence of their sin. And what separates the two groups is that one is a people of faith — a people who live by faith in God — and the other is not a people of faith.
And what does living by faith look like? We’ve already looked at the book of Hebrews and the joy that was set before Jesus as he headed to the cross. Just a chapter before, we find a laundry list of Bible folk — people who lived by faith — who demonstrate what “the righteous shall live by faith” looks like. People who had joy in all kinds of difficult circumstances because it was a joy in their God. Whether the circumstances be “Noah, build an ark” or “Abraham, sacrifice your son” or “Moses, lead my people out of slavery” or others who “shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight, 35 and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life. 36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth. 39 And these all were commended for their faith.” (Hebrews 11:33b-39a NET)
Similar to Habakkuk — whose joy and hope were based not on what his physical eyes could see — but on what his spiritual eyes saw based on the promises of God — we the people of God today — can easily lose hope and experience a loss of joy based on what our physical eyes can see. But if we turn our spiritual eyes to our promise making and promise keeping God — we will live by faith. If we turn to his Word to us — we’ll find how all things will come to an end. The book of Revelation shows us what our spiritual eyes are to be focused on today. The New Heavens and the New Earth. Jesus returning to make all things new. Though the wicked may rise in power — though evil may seem to be winning in our world — we do not despair. But like Habakkuk, we live by faith. We sing songs of hope. We rejoice in our God.
Dear Christian, someone has said, “God is as committed to our joy in him as he is to his ultimate purpose in the universe.” (David Mathis) This is why Jesus focused on the joy that was before him instead of the cross that he would be killed on. He looked past the cross because of his desire for you to find joy in him.
May our commitment — to our joy in our God — increase. So we sing songs and dance and rejoice in him no matter our circumstances. May you be joyful in all circumstances because your joy is in your Savior and God. Let’s pray together.
Father, Son and Spirit, be the reason for our joy. May you be the rock solid foundation for our joy — a joy in all circumstances — that only you can be. May our eyes look past our circumstances and to the joy awaiting us — an eternal joy — a joy unimaginable — a joy that’s guaranteed.
Jesus, you have made joy possible for us. Though the cross loomed on the horizon — you looked past it — knowing that not only your joy but ours was on the other side of it. We will never thank you enough for what you’ve provided. Our hope. Our life. Our eternity. Our joy — to name a few.
Spirit of God, we need you to fix our eyes on Jesus. This world wants to distract our eyes from being on him and we are too weak and faithless to keep our eyes on him alone. We need your power, your strength, your joy and delight in Christ — to be our power and strength — our joy and delight in him.
And for those desperate for joy, may you open their eyes to see the beauty of Christ and the work he accomplished for them on the cross. May they find the joy that only Jesus gives. And we pray all of these things in his name. Amen.
May you be joyful in all circumstances because your joy is in your God. Amen.
God loves you. I love you. You are sent.
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