“Rivers know this: There is no hurry.  We shall get there someday.”

Habakkuk 1:1-7a CSB –

The pronouncement that the prophet Habakkuk saw.

2 How long, Lord, must I call for help
and you do not listen
or cry out to you about violence
and you do not save?
3 Why do you force me to look at injustice?
Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Oppression and violence are right in front of me.
Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
4 This is why the law is ineffective
and justice never emerges.
For the wicked restrict the righteous;
therefore, justice comes out perverted.

5 Look at the nations and observe—
be utterly astounded!
For I am doing something in your days
that you will not believe
when you hear about it.
6 Look! I am raising up the Chaldeans,
that bitter, impetuous nation
that marches across the earth’s open spaces
to seize territories not its own.
7 They are fierce and terrifying;

Habakkuk 2:4b The just shall live by faith.

v.20, the Lord is in his holy temple;
let the whole earth
be silent in his presence.

Psalm 42:1 CSB – As a deer longs for flowing streams, so I long for you, God.

Remember What God Has Done

Habakkuk 3:1 CSB – A prayer of the prophet Habakkuk. According to Shigionoth

Habakkuk 3:2 CSB – Lord, I have heard the report about you;
Lord, I stand in awe of your deeds.
Revive your work in these years;
make it known in these years.
In your wrath remember mercy!

Failure to Remember can be spiritually fatal!

Psalm 105:4-5 CSB – Seek the Lord and his strength;
seek his face always.
5 Remember the wondrous works he has done

  • Deuteronomy 4:10 CSB – Remember when you stood before me and made an oath
  • Deuteronomy 5:15 CSB – Remember you were slaves in Egypt
  • Deuteronomy 7:18 CSB –  Remember the mighty works I did in front of Pharaoh
  • Deuteronomy 8:18 CSB – Remember how I gave you great wealth and power
  • Deuteronomy 9:7 CSB – Remember, do not forget, how I punished you bc/ you rebelled.

Romans 1:18-28 CSB – 

For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, that is, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what he has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became worthless, and their senseless hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles.

24 Therefore God delivered them over in the desires of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served what has been created instead of the Creator, who is praised forever. Amen.

26 For this reason God delivered them over to disgraceful passions. Their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 The men in the same way also left natural relations with women and were inflamed in their lust for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in their own persons the appropriate penalty of their error.

28 And because they did not think it worthwhile to acknowledge God, God delivered them over to a corrupt mind so that they do what is not right.

Remembers What God Has Done

Habakkuk 3:3-4 CSB – 

God comes from Teman,
the Holy One from Mount Paran.
His splendor covers the heavens,
and the earth is full of his praise.

His brilliance is like light;
rays are flashing from his hand.
This is where his power is hidden.

 

Habakkuk 3:5-6,11-13 CSB – 

Plague goes before him,
and pestilence follows in his steps.

6 He stands and shakes the earth;
he looks and startles the nations.
The age-old mountains break apart;
the ancient hills sink down.
His pathways are ancient.

11 Sun and moon stand still in their lofty residence,
at the flash of your flying arrows,
at the brightness of your shining spear.
12 You march across the earth with indignation;
you trample down the nations in wrath.

13 You come out to save your people,
to save your anointed.

Action: Remember God. 

Today, talk with someone.

Remember what God has done.

Accept What God is Doing (even if you don’t like it)

Habakkuk 3:16 CSB – I heard, and I trembled within;
my lips quivered at the sound.
Rottenness entered my bones;
I trembled where I stood.
Now I must quietly wait for the day of distress
to come against the people invading us.

Habakkuk 2:20 CSB – 

But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let the whole earth
be silent in his presence.

Acceptance means TRUST & COURAGE, not PASSIVITY

Matthew 5:38,39 CSB – “You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 39 But I tell you, don’t resist an evildoer. On the contrary, if anyone slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.

Romans 12:19,20 CSB – Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. 20 But If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink

Example: The Apostle Paul

2 Corinthians 12:9 CSB – But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is perfected in weakness.”

Annie Johnson Flint

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.

Psalm 46:10 CSB – “Stop fighting, and know that I am God, exalted among the nations, exalted on the earth.”

Habakkuk 2:20 CSB – 

But the Lord is in his holy temple;
let the whole earth
be silent in his presence.

The Serenity prayer

God grant me the serenity
To accept the things I cannot change;
Courage to change the things I can;
And wisdom to know the difference.

Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world

Psalm 131:1-3 CSB – Lord, my heart is not proud;
my eyes are not haughty.
I do not get involved with things
too great or too wondrous for me.
2 Instead, I have calmed and quieted my soul
like a weaned child with its mother;
my soul is like a weaned child.

3 Israel, put your hope in the Lord,
both now and forever.

Trust What God is Going to Do

Habakkuk 3:17-18,

Though the fig tree does not bud
and there is no fruit on the vines,
though the olive crop fails
and the fields produce no food,
though the flocks disappear from the pen
and there are no herds in the stalls,
18 yet I will celebrate in the Lord;
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation!

Habakkuk 3 Faith = “Even though…” faith

Walking on the Mountain Heights

Habakkuk 3:19 CSB – The Lord my Lord is my strength;
he makes my feet like those of a deer
and enables me to walk on mountain heights!

Habakkuk 3– Nothing has changed on the outside!

Habakkuk 3—Nothing has changed on the outside, but Habakkuk has changed on the inside.