August 11, 2024. Sermon Title: I Will Rejoice in the Lord My Savior.

First Mennonite Church

August 11, 2024

“I Will Rejoice in the Lord My Savior”

Text: Habakkuk 3:1-19

As we saw last week, Habakkuk, the prophet, was complaining before God about the dire situation in Judah. There was lawlessness, abuse of power, and injustice. The common people were suffering greatly from all kinds of abuse without anyone to defend them. But Habakkuk’s heartache was compounded by the fact that God was not answering his cries for help and intervention. And in the end, when God did appear, it was only to reveal to the prophet about the impending catastrophe coming upon Judah. The ruthless and unstoppable Babylonians had set eyes on Judah and were ready to devour it. God was sending them to punish the Judeans for their sins.

This is how Yahweh described the ruthlessness and unstoppable Babylonians:

They are a feared and dreaded people;
    they are a law to themselves
    and promote their own honor.
Their horses are swifter than leopards,
    fiercer than wolves at dusk.
Their cavalry gallops headlong;
    their horsemen come from afar.
They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
    they all come intent on violence.
Their hordes advance like a desert wind
    and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings
    and scoff at rulers.
They laugh at all fortified cities;
    by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—
    guilty people, whose own strength is their god.”

Upon hearing such terrible news, the prophet bows before God in worship, and he says: Lord, are you not from everlasting?
    My God, my Holy One, you will never die.
You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment;
    you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.

And the prophet concludes by telling God that the wicked are like the unscrupulous fisherman who casts his dragnet and pulls whatever is trapped inside. “Therefore, says the prophet, “He sacrifices to his net
    and burns incense to his dragnet,
for by his net he lives in luxury
    and enjoys the choicest food.”

Yahweh’s description of the Babylonian’s trust in their might, when God says that “they are a guilty people and whose strength is their god,” and Habakkuk’s description of the fisherman’s trust in his dragnet that because it provides for his luxurious lifestyle set the contrast regarding where or on whom Habakkuk places his trust.

The Babylonians were arrogant because they had the power to do as they pleased with the nations. Their strength, numbers, and fighting skills were indeed their god and they were law to themselves. The fisherman offered sacrifices to his dragnet and incense to his net because it secured him a lavish lifestyle. These two descriptions are illustrative of why people worship what they worship. We worship what gives us a sense of security. We offer homage to what we trust.  We trust what provides for life: our jobs, businesses, investments, etc. We trust what gives us satisfaction: entertainment, parties, travel, hobbies, etc. We trust what gives us a sense of security: a larger police force, a powerful army, technology, modern medicine, a well-funded retirement fund, etc. We trust what we can control, by placing those we want to run the system and institutions in government. We are tempted to trust only the things we can have a say on. And let me say, that is why we are constantly restless, worried, and dissatisfied. And unless we wait before God for him to reveal to us his perspective, we will continue trusting the earthly things that give us temporary security or men/women who tell us we can trust in them to fix the world.

The prophet Habakkuk shows us what to do and whom to trust. Even when he was surrounded by utter social decay, rampant abuse of power, and unspeakable suffering, he could rejoice in the Lord. Even when his world was only going to get darker, where there would be no escape but slavery, torture, destruction, and exile, he could still rejoice in God his Savior.

With all this in sight, chapter three ends with a prayer or song:

Lord, I have heard of your fame;
    I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord.
Repeat them in our day,
    in our time make them known;
    in wrath remember mercy.

Though the fig tree does not bud
    and there are no grapes on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
    and the fields produce no food,
though there are no sheep in the pen
    and no cattle in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

The prophet lived in the countryside, where ripe fields and abundant livestock had always been signs of God’s blessing and sustenance for his people. Yet, during Habakkuk’s times barrenness and drought were the sight throughout the landscape. Nothing seemed alive. The rivers were dry. Dry leaves flapped at the scorching midday breeze. And animal skeletons were strewn in the fields. And the people were searching for food and water everywhere. It was in that gloomy world where the prophet exclaimed: yet I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.

19 The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

In chapter two, after the prophet was told by God the terrible news about the Babylonian invasion, Habakkuk spends time waiting before God. Then when God tells the prophet that he will also punish the Babylonians in due time, Habakkuk’s eyes were opened. The prophet was not only convinced that God is indeed a moral God and that even when he seems absent or indifferent about the affairs of the world, nothing escapes his sight. Habakkuk got to see the world from the perspective of God. God is trustworthy. God is always present. We can rely on him, even when we cannot see any evidence that he is present. But the power to trust and to rejoice in the Lord only comes to us when we get to see the world from God’s perspective. The person who gets this sense of divine perspective is the one who can trust and rejoice in the Lord!

  Was the prophet too naïve to speak so confidently in the midst of such awful situation? Was he a fool to believe he could escape unscathed from all that was going on and coming soon? How was it possible for the prophet to maintain his optimism in the midst of such bad times as his?

Habakkuk’s knowledge of God’s trustworthiness greatly differed from the source of trust of the Babylonians and the fisherman, metioned. The Babylonians trusted in their strength and the fisherman in his net, but Habakkuk trusted Yahweh, even when the prophet could not see any evidence of God’s presence.

So the question for us is, can we trust the Lord even when there aren’t any signs he is present or close to us?

What darkness surrounds you these days? What have you been crying for before God for which He seems indifferent or silent? 

Is Jesus enough when our health fails us? Is Jesus enough when we lose our jobs? Is Jesus enough when we see the problems of our world getting worse? Is Jesus good enough that you can rejoice in him? Can you rejoice even when something breaks your heart? Can you trust and rejoice in the Lord as you face that challenge you have at hand? Whatever that is? A health issue? A financial matter? A relationship issue? The future? Let us remember the words of Paul, Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? 

37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-37-39).

Without faith and hope in God, our lives would be empty and unstable. That is why Habakkuk said, “The righteous shall live by faith.” Habakkuk knew firsthand the depth of these words. In the midst of a wasteland and violent world, Habakkuk affirmed his trust and hope in Yahweh. In the midst of hopelessness, Habakkuk rejoiced in the Lord his Savior. In the midst of an uncertain future, Habakkuk declared his confidence in the Lord when he said, “The Sovereign Lord is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,
    he enables me to tread on the heights.

May we find strength and confidence in the Lord. May we rejoice in the Lord even when everything around us seems gloomy. Let us say with the prophet: “Even when the world crumbles down, even when everything looks gloomy, I will rejoice in the Lord,
    I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Amen!

Pastor Romero